always willing to take full advantage of our few consecutive overlapping days off, ash and i set out to northern california last week to relax and experience our potential future home turf. i'd been to davis, california very briefly on two occasions. given how much ash and i love ann arbor (except its location and, consequently, the weather), i felt this seemed like a place that we'd be very happy settling down: college atmosphere in a small(ish) town; bigger cities nearby; easy one-day-drives to most things awesome (berkeley, san francisco, marin county, muir woods, napa, lake tahoe, yosemite, etc); exceptionally tolerable (if not generally quite pleasant) weather and lack of snow; good schools; quaint and homey downtown; more parks than you need; fresh food/farms/orchards everywhere; eco-consciousness (e.g. campus is covered in trios of waste receptacles: trash, recycling, and compost. they actaully serve food in compostable containers); friendly folks; a focus on the outdoors; a general wholesome feel; etc, etc. as an example of the outdoorsiness of it all, the town has more bikes than cars. a "green belt" composed of bridges, underpasses, and trails connects virtually everything, enabling people to get wherever they want on their bikes by crossing as few streets as possible. and where a street crossing is unavoidable, you see things like this:
we'd by all means miss the san diego friends and beaches if we were to go elsewhere, but this place sounds pretty higgsy if you ask us. we had five days to spend together, so off we went. this was significant for us because we left the bean behind in chicago for the first time in her life in the very capable hands of both grandmas, who didn't strike me as being particularly upset about the plan.
first thing we noticed as we deplaned in suburban sacramento was the perfectly pleasant smell of fog and soil. we'd forgotten what it smelled like outside of a city (ash calls the city fartsville-- definitely not that bad unless stinkbottom pulls a fast one, but chicago is by no means the amazon). we rented a car and drove the short 20 minutes into davis. we were way fortunate to hear that a good friend of mine from high school and college was now living with her husband and son in davis-- suzanne (formerly beck, now nitzkin), aaron, meyer, and roxy (spaniel mix) were kind enough to offer their home and wonderful hospitality for several nights beginning with a delicious homecooked meal composed entirely of ingredients grown/raised within 30 miles of where we sat and ate them.
suzanne and meyer in front of chateau nitzkin
the exceptionally shortened story on this home is that apparently suzanne decided to look a few things up, talk to a few people, become her own general contractor and build this thing from scratch. out of a full year of hard work and predictable frustrations emerged a fairly stunning home with an awesome dining room chandelier on the northern end of town. aaron works in solar energy, and through methods we will never understand, their house is energy efficient enough that their total electricity bill for the year they have resided there amounts to zero bucks. all that's left to wrap up are a few minor details and the landscaping. included in the back yard schematics are places for several fruit trees and a chicken coop. you read that right. strong work suzanne, really.
when we weren't being entertained at the nitzkin home, ash and i happily fended for ourselves in town, strolling in and out of restaurants, parks, communities, campus, arboretum, downtown streets, indie movie theaters, and of course the farmers' market. all lived up to the pregame hype. a truly warm and pleasant community, complete with free and available down parking. true to form, we also spent a fair amount of time in cafes. this is the one area that really seems to be lacking in davis, especially in light of the predominantly young, studious, northern california demographic. there are only three cafes downtown that we noticed, all packed to capacity every time we visited. someone needs to do something about that. below is a picture for the archives: mishka's will be moved to a larger venue down the street prior to our next visit...
one of too few local cafes
uc davis itself is beautiful, complete with huge lawns, open spaces, trees, and a great student union. wrapping around the southern edge of campus is the arboretum. while we've seen more robust arboretums, the walk had its high points, including some of the local wildlife in action.
uc davis arb
it's very easy to spend time there..... plus, we caught a glimpse of one potentially significant reason we were in davis to begin with-- when i was a senior in high school i went with my friends corey and brew to tour california colleges. i was so captivated by the "mushroom houses" at davis, introduced to me by the girl who gave the campus tour (who lived in one of them and whom i also had a crush on). this is a small community of student housing comprised of very small abodes (officially called the "domes" as i was reminded on this trip), wherein those living there are quite self-sufficient, apparently showering outdoors and growing much of their own food in a commune style setup. seemed pretty sweet to me. anyway, we are sorry to hear that they are likely to be torn down very soon due to old, allegedly carcinogenic construction. we may have caught them in their last days:
another potenial picture for the archives.
we took 24 hours out of our davis adventure to catch two nearby hotspots: napa and berkeley. as we checked in to my first B&B upon arriving to napa, the dude at the front got a phone call with a cancellation for that evening. he then asked us if we'd like a bigger room. easier decision. this place was so sweet-- complete with a larger-than-necessary bedroom and a larger-than-necessary bathroom. couldn't have been more relaxing.
our b and b--highly recommended
the highlight of the napa trip was a visit to the new oxbow market. we were told that the hog island oyster company had set up shop there and to give that a shot. i'd never tried oysters but was more than up to the task. delicious. we struck up nice conversation with the dude at the oyster bar, who comped me "the one that put us on the map," aka the hog island sweetwater oyster. "you might note an aftertaste of melon and cucumber." whatever, just lemme try it. very much unlike when people talk about overtones in wine, there was a palpable and delicious suggestion of melon and cucumber, increasing with each bite, and enhanced by a sip of white wine. i felt so f*kkin cultured. then we walked down the market to the venezuelan counter and ate two of the best arepas we'll ever have. got some cupcakes to go at the next stand and headed back to the B&B for the complimentary wine/snacks to top off a memorable afternoon.
the interior of oxbow market
...as if i'd been handling oysters for a lifetime.
also guesting at our facility that evening were some representatives from neiman marcus. we'll never shop there. after several sips/glasses of their wine and hearing about apollo ohno ("he's so cheap"), the conversation continued (to pregnant ashley) with "we have some lotion for you that will prevent stretch marks." after about three minutes of back and forth about how she didn't use any lotion during the bean's gestation and emerged without a trace, the final word from the woman's own mouth was "it really comes down to genes." similarly, another dude was super fired up on his lotion "that sells for up to $1,600 per bottle." again, that ended with "you can go to the dollar store and get some witch hazel that will do the same thing, but we'll never tell you that." god bless wine as an honesty mechanism.
we reverted back to our room, where ash opened up her most recent bon appetite cooking magazine to a page dedicated to oysters-- low and behold they mentioned a total of four oysters out of all of the oysters in the country and included the hog island sweetwater. turns out that you can go to the bay where they're farmed (tomales bay, north of san francisco), and spend a day picnicking while they bring you as many oysters on ice, fresh outta the water, as you'd like. (suzanne and aaron, it turns out, have done this and endorse the experience whole heartedely. we were *this* close to making the trek the following day but decided to save it for another time. lookin forward to that.)
the next morning after a home-cooked breakfast and conversation with some other guests about how great a companion a parrot can apparently be, we headed out from napa to berkeley to see the town and hang out with two very good friends, steele and wilkes, who currently live in san francisco. at some point, wilkes asked me if we'd seen the domes while we were in davis-- of course i told him the story, and he told me his sister in law lived in them at the time i visited initially. still pending is word on whether she gave campus tours in 1993 and was perhaps the chick i had a crush on and thus a contributing factor regarding where my family and i choose to live the rest of our lives.
breakfast
after the predictable events of a friday daytrip to berkeley including the bear's lair (twice); a day, then a night walk through campus; and dinner at raliegh's, we headed back to davis.
our final day in davis included the farmers' market. while the breakfast i got there at my stand was real tasty (a whole egg, cheese and turkey bacon sandwich, plus half an arugula, goat cheese and egg sandwich from a place called fatface), ash's breakfast took the cake. four bucks got her more oatmeal than she could eat, complete with a dressing bar loaded with stuff found throughout the market. she chose strawberries, flax seeds, walnuts, almonds, cherries, apricots, prunes, brown sugar and cinnamon. bigger serving, more delicious. other toppings were available. that oatmeal's the go-to next time for sure.
coming from chicago, what a luxury to see so much variety on a january morning: tons of greens, broccoli, berries, potatoes, citrus, apples, mushrooms, baked goods, meats, plants, etc... this is a fairly well known farmers' market nationally; we can't wait to see it in full summer swing. we spent the afternoon in particularly multicultural fashion: an afternoon documentary at the local theater called Budrus that chronicalled a west bank town's efforts to reroute the israeli security fence, followed by an ethiopian buffet. that night, aaron introduced us to the board game settlers of catan. i came in last place and dreamed about it all night. not sure what else to say about it, except that it's a pretty sweet use of time. we'll do a rematch at some point i'm sure. quick note on aaron: great guy (truly), just don't stack warm cookies on the same plate around him. not acceptable.
faculty glade
unfortunately, the following morning brought with it the inevitable end to our vacation. it served every purpose: more sleep than we'd had in months, relaxation, time alone, getting a feel for the region, meeting up with old friends, and was complete with a drive around what might potentially be our next little sub-community (barring, of course, the job market in 18 months). it was easy for us to conclude that davis is really an exceptional place to settle down. thanks so much to the nitzkins-- it was great to meet the family.
meyer, suzanne, aaron and david dine on a german pancake below a most tasteful chandelier
despite our first time away from stink, we skyped with her frequently which made things somewhat more tolerable. frankly we're not sure she missed us, however. the grandmas threw a g*ddamned five day party that included new foods and more stimulation than she could possibly ask for. at one point, samina gave her an entire mashed up avocado in one sitting. she reportedly loved it and subsequently slept for about 45 straight hours without so much as moving her head. she's of course growing physically and cognitively-- and at least gives the impression of being excited about meeting chief in a few short months. ash and i are very excited for that, of course. in anticipation, we've traded in our pontiac sedan for a SWEET toyota minivan. this thing is awesome. i missed it while we were away. we'd love nothing more than loading the family in it next summer, driving across the great plains and over the rockies, and settling down in davis, california. fingers crossed.
bean when mom and dad are in charge
bean when the grandmas take over
*******************
david really overdid it transcribing our davis trip in one sitting, so i offered to finish things up for this entry with a quick update on our other goings-on. david of course has been on straight vacation for two weeks, ending today with the superbowl. good timing. the first week we spent in davis, and this past week he has been enjoying banking some hours with the bean and catching up on some studying. we loved to study even before we had no time to do it--now it's a real luxury.
bean and dad enjoy some father-daughter bonding time
i am about halfway through my final clinical rotation in the ccu and have loved every minute of it. the faculty did a smashing job matching me to both a unit and a preceptor i absolutely adore. i look forward to going to work every shift and have certainly come a long way already in terms of my clinical skill, knowledge, and nursing practice. it's been really great to experience what my life will be like--i love the 3 days on, 4 days off schedule; although the shifts are very long, they tend to fly by and then i have most of the week to hang out with bean, do some studying, cook and relax (although it was initially a big adjustment having whole days where i never laid eyes on bean awake). i could get used to this. while it's an ideal lifestyle with one bean though, i can see how with two, particularly one very tiny one, the first year or so of my career as an rn will likely exhaust me immensely. i can only hope to find a job as stimulating, interesting, and satisfying as the unit i'm currently on. here's hoping the stars will align and they can make some room for me a few months from now, since apparently this alleged nursing shortage is a mere urban myth in the city of chicago.
as for bean, she continues to become a bigger girl by the minute and also to somehow get cuter and slightly fatter by the minute as well. after carefully considering rolling over by herself for the past 7 months, this has now become bean's main method of transportation. we're not just talking one roll here or there. bean regularly executes a meticulously choreographed series of full and half rolls along with some scooting and pivoting to get where she needs to go (or at least to get somewhere she decides she wants to be when she arrives), a routine we call "ninja bean." this of course means that we finally have to keep a closer eye on her as she's now capable of rolling off things/into things/under things. she has been lunging from her now expert seated position, and on her tummy she's just starting to propel herself backward. on her back, she can pelvic thrust her way clear across a room in a matter of seconds if the mood strikes her. i have attempted three times now to upload a video of her repertoire without success, so you'll just have to imagine it.
the beautiful big girl
while bean is by no means behind developmentally, we began thinking that perhaps the reason she approaches physical milestones in such a leisurely manner may have something to do with the fact that we still swaddle her 3 layers thick nightly. while we realize we may be the only people on this continent still swaddling our 8+ month baby for sleep at night, any sleep deprived parent can understand that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. a few times i tried putting bean down for a nap without swaddling with disasterous results, and i just wasn't willing to sacrifice our increasingly long stretches of sound sleep so bean would crawl sooner (the idea being that babies practice a lot of their physical skills in the crib overnight).
however, bean had gotten strong enough that she was flipping onto her tummy in her mummified state, wiggling around, and getting her blankets all over her face without any hands to remedy the situation. for fear of bean rebreathing too much carbon dioxide, we agreed to bite the bullet and stop the swaddle, cold turkey. the first night, bean fell asleep no problem, but woke up absolutely terrified and crying hysterically a few hours later. we assumed we were in for a long night and at least several more as she got used to her new sleeping arrangements, but she was able to wake up a few times that night and put herself back to sleep, and by the next night, it was as though she'd never been swaddled in her life. again, all parents can appreciate that both good and bad times in a baby's life tend to be pretty time limited, so we're enjoying the continued nights of extended slumber (without worrying about her suffocating) while they last. plus, she's really cute in her crib.
bean awake
other than that, bean continues to try new fruits, veggies, and whole grains (now too numerous to count) without much protest, and this month started on dairy products as well. generally, if she's being fussy about a new food, pouring some prunes on top of it somehow makes it delicious to her. still no teeth to speak of, but who needs 'em? after a few weeks of contemplation, she has again become very vocal with an impressive variety of sounds and tones to choose from. we love hearing her talk to herself in her crib when she wakes up for good in the morning. she continues to enjoy time in her jumper, playing with her toys on the floor, and helping mom cook in the kitchen.
we hope everyone is surviving the cold and will check back soon to fill you in on our various adventures!
