Home to 48 degrees and the gray rain again….

But before we left sunny CA, we had the chance to visit Monterey Aquarium with the many species of river otter, spend some time climbing the soft-sand-and-jagged-rock beaches at Pacific Grove, where we witnessed a sea lion playing with its newborn baby, watch surfers, visit a mall and eat artichoke pizza (with really fresh artichokes,) buy strawberries for a dollar at a roadside stand and eat them right there. I also had lunch with a friend in San Jose. San Jose is kind of what Phoenix would be like if you dropped it in between San Francisco and Monterey – a flat, strip-mally, dry, warm city – functional, but not beautiful. Well, with less grackles than Phoenix (I do love those grackles!) I much preferred the part of Silicon Valley with hills and greenery – Redwood City, where Oracle lives, and Mountain View. And of course Pacific Grove, about an hour south of San Jose, with its quirky little bookstores and restaurants and Monarch Butterfly sanctuaries, seemed a lot like Port Townsend, with better weather and more dramatic beaches. I’m really sorry I missed the chance to go North of San Fran to Marin County, where I was supposed to visit this March but my health got in the way. I’ve heard lots of good things.

I like Seattle, but I have to say I was feeling whoever wrote this for the Seattle Times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2004371152_moeletter27.html
I’ve never moved away from a place simply for health reasons, but I might have to start this year. Hey, who knew living with so much drizzle could be bad for someone with mold allergies and asthma? I felt so much better after a few days in the sunshine and warmth. Plus, it turns out not sitting at my computer all day makes me feel a lot better.

Turning 35 tomorrow: where to go next, what to do next. What to do until the sun comes back to the Northwest?