golden gates

In four days, we saw more than 10 apartments and realized we need over 1000 square feet, an outdoor space, parking options, and preferably a little storage available at the ready. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find in one of the country’s most expensive cities, right? I’m a perpetual optimist in this regard, I truly believe our new home IS out there, even if through multiple Craigslist entries, calls, and bizarre landlords we did not find it.

What we did find was that Fort Cronkite — the western side of Sausalito — is lovely. Rodeo Beach is popular among surfers, especially if you’re into “shortboarding”, or something. There’s a whole new lexicon around surfing that I’ll need to master soon if I don’t want to give myself away as a east coast lackey.

We also found Marin County to offer up some beautiful towns with vintage shops, gourmet delis and yoga studios — my favorite combination. Thankfully we found Chacos, Keens and flip-flops to be the predominate footwear. We found it essential to spend the days with layers available, since a foggy, cool day in Pacific Heights is a warm, bright day in Marin. We found out why the Inner Sunset is called this. And we found a Starbucks directly across the street from the Apple store in the Marina area, perfect for tea sipping and hijacking a free wireless network — both musts in the relay race that apartment searching is in this popular town.

One of the highlights, if not the most memorable highlight, was being awoken at 3 am one night to a fire drill in our hotel. This seemed like a joke and yet what hotel manager would, in their right mind, pull this kind of thing. After the slight loss of hearing in one ear, we headed downstairs and came across a sea of hotel mates in the lobby. And gosh, I just love these raw moments of humanity where we are stripped to our pajamas (or whatever is easiest to throw on in 30 seconds), thrown into a random and frantic scenario, and as a result, shell shocked by the vulnerability we find ourselves in together. I had to take a photo.