Doggie Days of summer!

As most of you know we recently uprooted our pretty pup, Sierra, from her big fenced in yard, forced her to ride in a truck for 10 days cross-country, teasing her with pastures, fields and forests across the Midwest only to end up in the middle of a concrete jungle in California.  She expressed her unhappiness by looking at us as though she’d like to snack on our faces for lunch and consistently shedding her fur like a stressed geriatric.  So, we tried to appease her by taking her on daily outings to the area parks. 

Fortunately we have a city park right across the street, about 50 feet from our front door…that technically doesn’t allow dogs.  But, that doesn’t stop us from taking her there to pee, poo, chase squirrels and entertain the very loud elderly gentlemen who congregate there at sunrise to drink coffee and yell at each other from across the park.  Such a nice way to wake up each morning.  We also tried taking her to the dedicated dog park about 5 minutes away.  Visits here include a lot of sniffing and little pooing, but hardly any running or playing.  This must be what parents feel like when their kids stand alone in the corner of the playground.  And poop.

So, we ventured out from the city parks to some regional parks around East Bay where Sierra could run around without being attached at the hip (literally and figuratively) to her humans.  These larger parks have tons of space for our four-legged social outcast to run free, some hiking trails for her often lazy humans to exercise and beautiful shorelines and views.  The parks we frequent include Oyster Bay, Albany Bulb and Point Isabel. 

Oyster Bay was actually converted from an old landfill, which is an impressive use of an unimpressive property.  Sierra's favorite part is the jackrabbits who run around the park burrowing holes and tunnels.  Don't say anything, but they totally mess with her. They pop their heads up out of the ground, whistle at her then jet back down under the surface only to pop back up at a different hole (whack-a-mole style).  She's mystified by it.

The Albany Bulb has its very own doggie beach (photos courtesy of a stranger on Flickr who didn’t protect their photo rights – thanks!), which Sierra very tentatively approaches when we throw a stick in the water for her to catch.  Usually she only wades in ankle deep and waits for the waves to bring her the stick.  The Bulb also offers many interesting and intricate trails with hidden gems of hippy artwork (and possibly hippy shacks) among the landscape.  

But our favorite park is Point Isabel, which offers leisurely trails (with no threat of hippy interaction) and amazing views (uh, on a clear day) of the San Francisco skyline, the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Not to mention the café/shop that sells goodies for humans and doggies!  SOLD!  Sierra gets butts to smell and fields to run in, and her humans get deliciously warm coffee on those cold, blustery July mornings - no, really.

We were very proud of finding our doggie so many fun places to visit, and even thought she might be coming around to the idea of her new home.  Then the Fourth of July came and we realized our conveniently located loft/apartment meant we were conveniently located near a few of the local fireworks shows and our newly happy pup spent the entire night sleeping (and shaking) in the closet, with the doors closed.  Damn.  I hope dogs are as resilient as kids.

Speed dating with apartments.

Ain’t change grand?  Or is it love?  Either way, the sarcasm applies to how I feel about this week.  Dan and I flew to the Bay Area this week to find our new home in only five days time.  In theory, it sounded easy peasy.  In reality, not so much.  We started looking in East Bay (uh…for those of you geographically challenged, that’s east of San Francisco, across the bay), which had lots of options for people who hate dogs and loving paying to do your own laundry because hardly anywhere allowed pets or came with a washer and dryer.  Side note: I find it interesting that landlords will allow you to have a child in your apartment, but not a 40lb furry friend.  I suspect the kid would be louder and do more damage.  They’d probably end up peeing on the floor too. 

We narrowed our search to Downtown Oakland and the Lake Merritt area.  Both have lots to do and offer easy public transport into the city.  By the way, did anyone lose their ghetto?  If so, you may try looking for it in Oakland.  They have a few there.

A funny thing about living in the Bay Area, people who live in San Fran say, “Oh you HAVE to live in the city, no one ever goes out to East Bay.” People who live in East Bay say, “It’s so not worth living in the city, everyone’s flocking to East Bay.”  Oy.  We thought for about a minute to switch our home hunting efforts to the city.  After all, San Francisco is very pet friendly, there’s tons of shops, restaurants, parks…and it’s a good thing because the apartments are so small you don’t have room to actually live there.

By the end of the week we settled on a loft in Downtown Oakland (pics below).  It was the purtiest one we found, with the most amenities and space for the cash-money.  Plus there’s about 573 coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and a train station (that goes into the city) within walking distance.   Take that snobby San Fran dwellers!

You're doing what?!

In the summer of 2005 I moved from my rural home in eastern Kansas to the city of Orlando, Florida.  What did I know about Orlando? I knew it was hot, that it rained once a day and that it offered a wide variety of vacation options for you and your family.  I went there looking to broaden my horizons, experience new things and to see how people live outside the farm.  What I found was a bunch of white dudes from the northeast driving around in their big expensive cars, throwing parties in their big expensive houses and showing off their super skinny, expensive wives.  Alas, Orlando was not all bad.  I also found Park Ave CDs, Brian’s Restaurant, the Winter Park Farmer’s Market, and Jess Egan (the only known offspring of June Cleaver and Martha Stewart).  But then, Orlando, you went too far.  You built one too many strip malls.  You franchised one too many Starbucks.  You almost had me back when you opened two H&M locations, but then you put them at opposite ends of the city and nowhere near my house.  Orlando, I gave you five years of my life; you gave me some good times, some good friends, and probably skin cancer from all the sunburns, but that remains to be seen.

And so, I am venturing out again to find a new place to call home and to see how people live outside of strip malls.  My new home will be in the land of the Bay Area in California.  Or more specifically the East Bay/Oakland area, which is across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco.  (I'm poor and the price per square footage on rental units is much less there compared to San Francisco.)

Return here each week as I chronicle the epic move from coast to coast (LITERALLY!) and all my new experiences as a Californian!