First Look At Our New Town

Hello fellow adventurers, travelers, and what have yous! Last time I shared my cross country journey to California. Today I would like to tell you about our first day in our new home, San Luis Obispo, and the week or so of hotel hopping.

I remember it now so fondly, but back then it was a nightmare. Driving into town with our highest hope that we were going to get this apartment, only to be crushed by not instantly getting it and the incredibly low chance that the lady would call us back. Not only were we exhausted (running on two hours of sleep and driving the entire day before does that to a person), but now our spirits were at an all time low. All we wanted to do was unpack our stuff, relax, and fully grasp the fact that we made it to California. But alas, we had work to do. First, we booked a hotel room for the night and tried to figure out what we were going to do. Since check in wasn't until 3 and there wasn't exactly a whole lot we could do at the moment we decided to explore the town we would hopefully be living in.

We wandered around downtown and stumbled upon sidewalk chalk art and a mini craft fair outside the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (soon to be Amy's church). It was a beautiful sunny day, which we enjoyed tremendously, but still a shock from the rainy chill we had left behind. Wandering around town we took to looking for open houses and checked craigslist every two minutes. Unfortunately rent out here is crazy expensive so paying for a studio apartment here is like paying for a small house in Wisconsin. I think that was the biggest shock for us, but we continued on.

The first night we stayed at the Ramada Inn and treated ourselves with Olive Garden take out, in hopes of lifting our spirits (thanks Bill and Julia for the gift card! You saved our lives). After that the days kind of run together in a blur of finding free WiFi to apply for jobs, going to interviews, and apartment hunting.  We spent two nights at a Motel 6 in SLO (San Luis Obispo), and continued our search. Not having much luck and feeling frustrated, we were debating if we were meant to be out here and if we should head back to Wisconsin. We weren't going down without a fight and not completely out of money we decided to find a hotel near the beach (we were hotel hopping anyway, might as well find a good one). So, we spent the next few nights at a Motel 6 in Grover Beach, walking distance to paradise.

That first night we watched the sunset on the beach. It was just what we needed. A peaceful sunset to calm our nerves and lift our spirits. It was like someone telling us to hang in there and not give up. I also found ten, well eleven (it had a mollusk on it so I threw it back), sand dollars. According to another lady that was searching for them, they are extremely rare to find unbroken. Apparently not that rare I found ten on my first try. No, I did not share and I'm not ashamed! It was my first time ever finding a sand dollar and they were mine. I'm sure she found some, it is not like they are that difficult to find. Anyway.... Another day gone without an apartment or a job, but soon our luck would change (I bet it's from all those lucky sand dollars I found fair and square ha).

That night, or the next (like I said, things kind of blurred together), we were eating at the Denny's next to our hotel when Amy received a call from our to be old landlord-we just got new landlords, but that's another story- asking our story and why we were looking for an apartment. After hearing Amy out she felt for us and sounded like she really wanted to help us out, all we had to do was fill out the application and go to a showing of the place. There were a couple others looking at it too, but Erin (old landlord) and Mary (really sweet realtor lady) liked us the best. Yay us! We still had waiting to do, because we were not one hundred percent that we got it and didn't want to get our hopes up.

But we did! We moved into our neat little apartment and cannot be
happier. Our house is kind of build into a hill and there is an upstairs and downstairs. We live in the downstairs and the layout of the house still confuses me. The downstairs layout does not match up with the upstairs, but I don't care, at least it is a place to live.We moved all of our stuff in and rewarded ourselves with another Olive Garden picnic dinner on the floor of our new home. It would take us many months until we obtained any furniture, but eventually we got a couch and TV stand when the upstairs neighbors moved out. Oh, and the nice realtor, Mary, brought us bookshelves she wasn't using. I can't believe how lucky we got. Not only do we have an adorable apartment, walking distance from downtown, but we have the nicest landlords (new and old) and realtors.

So, we have been happily settled for the last sixish months-wow has it been that long already- and have been in the process of getting new landlords. I found a job with a temp agency and am currently working at a non-profit as an administrative assistant. Amy is getting through grad school and will be getting into more research soon. And with that dear friends, I wish you a fond farewell! I'll see you when I see you. Much love