We didn’t really recognize our travel fatigue until we got home to our 350 sq. ft. studio apartment in Albany, CA. We love our little town (about 1 mile square), our neighbors and merchants. Even cleaning up our overgrown back yard is a welcome task. Sleeping in our Queen size bed is so-o-o-o-o delightful after 13 months of squeezing into a 4′ x 6′ bed. Yippee! We forgot how relaxing it is to do most of our shopping, movie-going, dental appointments and dining out, all within walking distance in the ethnically rich town of Albany. As U.C. Berkeley “Family” housing is here with families from all over the world, few places can match such cultural diversity… in a small town setting.

Everybody loves this sweet town, especially its excellent schools, thus the ridiculous cost of the real estate here. The front part of our house provides a home for a mom that needed great schools to challenge her smart elementary school-aged scholars. It really makes me happy to see these children playing outside with the neighbors, likely making lifelong friends just as my son did. Sweet!

We will always have our home and Albany friends waiting for us (and bike rides with Shoey!), but the chance to be city dwellers was too great an opportunity to bypass. It is only 30 minutes away on the BART train so we expect lots of visitors (hint….hint….).

We have been in San Francisco for more than a month, living on a houseboat on an urban creek. We are the “floating home” on the far right, directly under the freeway overpass. WOW! Besides the resident sea lions (Lety goes crazy trying to get those “big dogs” off the docks), the kayakers, and bird life, there are many exciting things to see and do here, all on bicycle, that we just have to blog a little bit. Coming soon…San Francisco!!!