Hmmm, here we are, spending another fine day in California, so that must mean it's time for...one more park...one more hike...and yes, one more lake. Yawwwwnnnn. We're becoming soooo saturated with all this...natural splendor...and whatnot...that we hardly even notice it any more...JUST KIDDING! We live for this stuff, dude! (Did you like that? I'm practicing my West Coast Surf Lingo--not that I don't use the term "dude" at home, but it has much more, I don't know, "authenticity", out here...or some such nonsense...) After yesterday's long uphill climb, we scaled back a whole lot for this morning's excursion. Even as fit as we are, I think we all felt the after-shocks of Hood Mountain in our fatigued leg muscles. So we unanimously voted for a "gentle walk" in Annadel State Park, the entrance to which lies within spitting distance of our condo. With many options open to us in the park's vast wide-open spaces, we chose a relatively simple path that would take us through the forest and around Lake Ilsanjo.
The terrain proved so comfortable that I even had energy to construct my own little rating system that I intend to apply to all future Family Hikes. What's the scale, you ask? Well, there's E for "easy", M for "moderate", C for "challenging", S for "strenuous", and K for "kick a--butt". As an example, I'd call the Hood Mountain Trail an S/K and today's ramble an E/M. (Patent Pending.) Anyway, we still managed to rack up a 4-mile roundtrip through the hushed, serene woodlands. Yeah, just one more day enjoying the Great Outdoors and the bounty of nature...
In the afternoon, however, we had quite a different agenda: an appointment with a Real Estate Agent (the very same one who helped Husband's colleague and her husband find their home) to explore the area and start getting a feel for some pertinent relocation details...like which neighborhoods are most desirable, where the best quality schools are...what's a decent local coffee joint...or how to avoid gridlock on Highway 101 at all costs--you know, critical stuff like that. Josh drove us around for several hours, providing a running color commentary of both factual information based on statistics and news reports, and informed advice fueled by his experience living and working in Sonoma County. At the end of the extraordinarily productive and helpful day, what we came away with actually turned out to be a reversal of opinion for Team WestEnders. When we arrived in Northern California, armed with all of my research accumulated during the Mid-Atlantic Wintertime, I thought we wanted to move to Santa Rosa. The seeds of change were planted, though, when we spent the day in Petaluma with Husband's friend and were charmed by that town's character and atmosphere. Then Josh reinforced the "pro" column for Petaluma by extolling its virtues and enumerating a veritable laundry list of reasons why it would be a better choice for our family.
And I'm totally willing to accept that...EXCEPT...I have pages and pages of notes on every aspect of Santa Rosa, from education to shopping to recreation to, you name it, I've got it...and now I'll need to START OVER? Ay yi yi. Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me this next year--that is, after I overcome the last remnants of opposition from the male contingent and get everyone reconciled with the WestEnders Transcontinental Migration. Something tells me I'd better rest up for this...
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