Riding across the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (the 520) in Seattle.
Our month long stay in SF was filled with visiting friends, enjoying our house sit kitty buddies, a trip to Chicago for Rich, a visit from my sister Kathy, and a trip to Colorado for me, and loads of cycling and hiking with friends for Rich.
A walk in SF with local and visiting friends. Rich on an urban hike with his friends Mike and Fred. Just three retired guys wearing hats and having fun.Dinner with good friends. How amazing to be able to host a dinner party. Rich, my sister Kathy, and me after a bakery stop. Enjoying the pastries and the views from Alta Plaza Park in SF.Dinner with the upstairs neighbors, Gisela and Randall.Rich having a moment with our mailing address.
Oh yes, a word about our mailing address and our residency. We are California residents. It’s where we pay taxes and vote. We are lucky to call home a place where our city and state want us to vote. We’ve heard of other full time travelers from other states who are getting removed from the voting rolls due to using a mailbox service, and having to re-register and make their case for voting. Thank you San Francisco for making voting accessible.
Sunset light for a family photo. My mom with all four of her children in Colorado. July on the Grand Mesa means wildflowers. A dramatic sunset in Grand Junction making a lovely backdrop for Lorilie the ranch Dalmatian.And a dramatic sunrise to bookend the night. Yes, there was smoke in the air from western fires.With Mom and Chuck at the Fruita Farmers Market.Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Rich is single handedly wrangling two cats! A chill contemplative cat moment.Dinner at our friends’ house in Oakland. We miss these kind of get togethers when we’re on the road.
Keeping in touch with our friends in the US is so important to us. During past visits we’ve run ourselves ragged trying to see as many of our friends and family as possible. It leads to exhaustion. Our solution this trip was to stay longer, thanks to our good friends Nancy and Mike who let us stay at their house and take care of their kitties for the entire month of July.
With friends, Robin, Jeff, and Rob, sitting in a beer garden in SF. July in SF means down jackets.Crocheted birdies on a street tree on Page Street in SF.As if having two cats to look after and cuddle wasn’t enough, Gisela and Randall got kittens!Which of course meant kitten cocktail parties.Following one of Nancy’s walks in GG Park for a book she is working on.
A month of San Francisco socializing done we got into a rental car and headed towards Seattle. We stayed two nights in Ashland, Oregon, just long enough to marvel at the huge trees and go for a walk in Lithia Park. We spent the hottest part of the day hiding from the heat in our hotel room.
Now that’s a tree. And another huge tree in someone’s front garden.Worrying but helpful signage.Will we get a handle on fires by letting nature handle it? And letting fires burn?Our walk in Lithia Park was thankfully mostly shaded.
From Ashland Oregon we went all the way to Seattle in one day so we would have time to spend with our dear friends Christine and Cecily before they left for a trip.
A walk in Saint Edward State Park. Rich rode there and met us. Picnic with new friends Chris and Katherine who we met in Borneo.Warm summer evenings. Something we rarely had in San Francisco. Dinner outside – without jackets!Rich was thrilled to go for a ride with Annie, who showed him a great Lake Washington loop. Off they go!Erika shared some of their garden bounty with me. Even though the weather turned to grey the shorts stayed. On the ferry to Whidbey Island to meet up with more friends.Linda and Steve, fellow nomads. You can follow their nomad journey here.
We were fortunate enough to book two house sits during our time in the Pacific Northwest through Trusted House Sitters, and our first sit in Bellingham was about to start. If you are interested in house sitting we do recommend THS.
The Happy Travelers, enjoying a PNW summer.
Still to come, the sit in Bellingham, back to Seattle for another ten days, then down to SF to get ready to fly to France to be reunited with our touring bikes again.
After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.
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Less Car, More Life 