At Home in California

We have made our final move to Chico, CA!  Chico is in Northern CA, about 1 hour south of Redding and 2 hours north of Sacramento.  We sit right up against the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, so although we are not in the mountains, we can take a 30 minute drive and enjoy a taste of the alpine.  I find it quite beautiful here.  I've been able to experiment with our SLR film camera, so at some point when I get the photos developed and scanned, you can see some of the pretty sights of the place we live.

Some of the things we've enjoyed about Chico so far are Bidwell Park, which consists of a huge trans-city park and bike path, as well as Upper Bidwell Park, which has hiking trails, swimming holes, and a great creek for wading.  We ride bikes around town, hike, and visit the weekly farmers market (which is huge!).  I've put in a vegetable garden, which amazes me because it had to be done in April.  In Washington, that's hard to do.  I  remember planting lettuce in April and having to cover it a few nights so it wouldn't freeze!  Here, I would have been behind if I waited any longer.  

We're also looking for work pretty vigilantly.  The teaching scene in California is sad and dismal, so both of us are branching out into the more "diversified" portions of our resumes. We've both managed to pick up some part time work (I am subbing and Michael is working with kids with disabilities), but we haven't abandoned the search for something full time!  

We're beginning to meet a few people here, too.  It's the first time in a long time that I have moved somewhere and not known a soul.  It's kind of boring!  We need to make some friends so we can focus some of our energy on something other than ourselves. :-)

So here are a few pictures of our house (we are borrowing it from Grandma, since she's been relocated to my mom's house).  We're busy moving our stuff into it and reorganizing it.

Home sweet home!