Well, we made it. We've set up shop in military housing in the San Diego metro area. I'm not sure if I'm living in the (619) or (858) area code at the moment, so I'm not sure what to title my blog. I think I'm in the (858), which is very close to our former Hawaii area code of (808). I would kind of like the symmetry of that if it's true. But then I'd have developed a pattern and I'd only want the Navy to move us to places where the area code is (8x8). So then I'd be stuck living near Los Angeles (818), Asheville, NC (828), someplace in New Jersey (848), Trinidad/Tobago (868), or someplace in Pennsylvania (878). And then there's the fact that we're still going to buy a house, so our area code may end up changing again in a matter of months. So stay tuned - I'm sure you're all clamoring to know what the title will be for the next three years. Riveting stuff, I tell ya.
Over twenty days we flew about 4,400 miles and drove about 2,200 miles more. We visited family in Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado and got stop for a night in Albuquerque, NM and Yuma, AZ. It was an amazingly stress free trip with no complications. Maybe it was great planning on our part, maybe it was dumb luck - probably both - but it is certainly nice to be with your spouse for 24 hours a day for 20 days and come out of it still liking each other. The southwestern United States has some amazing geography and this road trip was my first time experiencing it. I'm hoping we get the opportunity to do some adventuring in the southwest at some point in the future when we have more time to explore.
We got to San Diego on Tuesday morning last week and were into our military housing by 1:00pm. So far I have to say I am much more impressed with Lincoln Military Housing, the company that runs military housing out here, than I was with the housing company in Hawaii. I'm sure hiccups could develop down the line but the application process was a lot more straightforward here and I felt like we were getting consistent, accurate information from the staff here. (That didn't happen when we moved to Hawaii.) Also, I called maintenance today to schedule some appointments to fix a few things around the house. They'll be here in 24-48 hours. Wha???? In Hawaii you'd be lucky to get an appointment a week later, even if it was something semi-serious like your hot water heater was leaking through a wall into your laundry room. (That happened to us and the HI maintenance people weren't nearly as alarmed as we were. Moist walls? Tropical temperatures? Mold anyone?) So far I'm giving Lincoln a gold star for their service. We'll see if that keeps up.
Our house is very nice. It's a three bedroom, more than enough space for us. I have no idea on the square footage - I'm terrible at estimating that stuff. The yard is easily five times larger than our yard in Hawaii and the dogs love it. (Yes, they're here too. More on that in a second.) The house feels even larger than it is since we have practically nothing in it. We had our Unaccompanied Baggage shipment delivered the day after we moved in so we've got some clothes, an air mattress, a bean bag chair and some kitchen utensils. It's amazing how much stuff you don't need when it's not around.
We dropped $500 restocking the pantry the day after we moved in. That was two shopping carts full of stuff. I don't think I've ever spent that much money at a grocery store before in one outing. But we had to buy just about all of our food anew, plus we had to get things like cleaning supplies, dog food, aluminum foil, etc. It adds up. We also did some major shopping this weekend and purchased a couch and washer and dryer set. I didn't realize that housing didn't supply a washer and dryer, and we decided to get a set instead of using a laundromat until we potentially buy a house. Of course the new house might come with a washer and dryer, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We picked up the couch yesterday and it has been a welcome addition to the living room. Two people sitting on the floor or sharing a bean bag chair was getting old. We actually bought a matching chair and ottoman but that won't be in stock for a few weeks.
The dogs arrived with no problem, thanks to the coordinated effort of our friends back in Hawaii. I was a little nervous that the airline wouldn't let Toivo on the flight because his crate is just an itsy-bitsy bit smaller than it should be per their guidelines. Luckily they let him on the plane and we picked them up on Wednesday night. They're loving SD so far, especially Toivo. The weather has been in the low to mid 60s so he's been content to spend most of the day outside. In Hawaii he would get too hot, especially in the afternoons when the sun would back our backyard. He's loving life right now. Zoe is just happy to see us again. I was worried that she'd think we abandoned her. She's flown half-way across the Pacific twice in less than two years. She's a tough cookie.
Zac checked into his new job last week, but due to the Veteran's Day holiday weekend, he didn't have to go to work for real until today. As a matter of fact, he just got home and I want to hear how his day went. I'll try to put together my initial impressions of California for next time. There are more than a few . . .
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