August 2017

Surprise! In August we had TWO HOUSES! Because WHY NOT move everything twice, since we are obviously professional movers at this point. This post will cover the first location we stayed at for the first half of the month, before breaking our own rule, and moving to a new location after less than two weeks.

Location #1: PALO ALTO

Moving In

We were less adventurous this month - we moved into the new apartment with no immediate plans of vacation, camping, or road tripping. Maybe we are finally getting the message that we keep making this harder on ourselves than it needs to be. Of course not, it’s us - and therefore we were in TWO places this month, so forget we even mentioned that. The more adventure we can do, the better. That’s what this year is all about, right?

Overall, the move in went rather quickly this time. As we mentioned during the July move-out, it was a Wednesday so another long day of moving, working, and moving again. However, this time we were ready to start exploring Palo Alto, and therefore we were extremely efficient. We may have even ran a few times from the apartment to the car, but nobody saw us, and therefore there’s no proof of our craziness. Unless you count this entire blog.

This apartment complex is small and only a single story, so it was much easier to unload everything without worrying about stairs. Suitcases and the dirty clothes hamper could just roll right in.

The Place

This apartment belongs to our friend, Elizabeth. She was kind enough to offer her place as part of our Airbnb adventure while she traveled Europe. Due to some complications planning we were only able to stay for 10 days of her trip, but it was a great chance to get to know the city and the commute.

This apartment complex is a small community, and that every apartment has a gated front yard that leads to the front door. The front yards are a good size, large enough for our friend to have a small garden and some patio furniture. It’s rather delightful coming home to the outdoor setting. Inside, it’s a traditional one bedroom apartment with a living area, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. She does have in-unit laundry that’s “European Style” (her words), basically a washer and dryer in one. Now that’s idea if you’re low on space!

Similar to last month, since this is our friend’s apartment we are not going to go into details. Privacy invasion!

But we will say, this apartment was right off one of the main streets in Palo Alto, and for some reason it was extremely hard for us to find the driveway (even though it’s in plain sight and we have visited her countless times there over the years…). We may have driven by it at least 5 times during our stay and completely missed it forcing us to do awkward u-turns on a busy street, or drive through another driveway to get to ours.

Thanks again for letting us live at your place, Elizabeth :)

Restaurants

Palo Alto has a TON of restaurants and great places to hang out, given it’s a college town. For those out of towers, it’s where the main Stanford University campus is located. There are two main “downtown” areas that we explored, California Ave. and University Ave. Since we were only there for 10 days, we went out to eat just about every night.

Lotus Thai Bistro - We ate here on our first night in Palo Alto, and stumbled across it when walking down California Ave. It’s on the smaller side, maybe seating for 50 people max. There was an older couple next to us who asked for advice, they said we looked like we had been there before with how quickly we ordered our food. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much advice for them, but that does say something about our love of Thai food. Or maybe it means we need to start being more adventurous with our orders… Either way, we were very pleased with the food at Lotus, this is an absolute returner.

Palo Alto Pizza Co. - We always park in the parking lot behind Palo Alto Pizza Co. and my goodness, the smells just waft over to the cars and practically drags you into the restaurant. After smelling that pizza goodness, you have no choice but to eat there. Pizza is good, smell is better. For all those crust connoisseurs, Katelyn loved the crust (on par is Asconas for those Danvillians). We went there with one of Sean’s colleagues and friends (who you will see more of in our upcoming European travels). Anyways, back to the pizza! We all enjoyed the pizza and beer, and had no complaints.

Local Union 271 - We had been to this restaurant before, but I think we remembered it better than it was. Not that it was bad, it just wasn’t all our minds talked it up to be. [Sean’s update: Maybe we remembered it being better last time was because the last time we went there it was to have many, many drinks?] It’s farm-to-table, so their menu changes a bit throughout the seasons. The decor matches, with lots of wood, metal, succulents, etc. Portions are big for farm-to-table, and everything we’ve ordered has been good. No disappointments, we will likely return again for their cocktails, ambiance, and food.

The Tap Room / Palo Alto Brewing Company - If we remember correctly, Sean was not overly impressed with the beers. He got a flight of IPAs and Katelyn got the Kolsch. It’s the everyday tap room/sports bar. They had some old fashioned (go ahead and laugh, I have no idea what old fashioned is) arcade games, TVs, etc. Cool ambiance, but no real reason to return.

Unami Burger - We had been here before too - we may be seeking some comfort in knowing where we are eating now that we’ve been on the road for 5 months. We stopped in here after drinking at the Tap Room. It was late, we split a burger. Easy peasey. We like Unami Burger, they have unique burger combos - but watch out, they can get finicky with any substitutions. Even miss picky eater Katelyn doesn’t ask for substitutions at Unami (this is big news folks).

Cal Ave Wine Bar - I think this place was our favorite from the month. It’s a cute, classy little wine bar that offers a ton of drinks and cute tapas and desserts. We visited on our last night and enjoyed the whole shebang. We had the sparkling wine flight and the chardonnay flight along with bruschetta, brie and apple grilled cheese, and bread pudding dessert. Great date night spot. We will likely return.

Activities

We were only here for 10 days, and most of those days were spent watching Ozarks on Netflix. Real classy, we know. Also, Elizabeth has one of those unlimited data plans on her phone, therefore not needing to get other internet for her apartment. So we were crafty and would download Ozarks at work, and then watch it later that night.

We also spent a lot of our time planning our Europe trip. BUT, GUYS…. HOW DID YOU PLAN YOUR EUROPE TRIP A MONTH BEFORE WITH NO INTERNET? ARE YOU CRAZY? The answer - yes, slightly, but we are all a little crazy. We spent a few hours a week at Sean’s office using the internet there to research/book/reserve for our trip. And to answer your next question, yes, we did plan the entire trip about one month out. It is possible.

We were only here for one weekend, that was mostly spent at Sean’s office planning for Europe and at the Earthquakes game! #GoQuakes

The second weekend living in Palo Alto involved us going on a road trip to Tahoe immediately before moving out (typical us). We drove up on Friday night and enjoyed the weekend with our friends Batu and Gülin soaking up the sun, paddle boarding, and relaxing on the lake. Before heading out on Sunday we took maternity photos for our friends and enjoyed the last few hours at the beach - the weather was perfect and the scenery was stunning.

Of course we arrived home and had to immediately reload our cars to move into the next destination - downtown San Jose. To say that was a long day, would be an understatement. We bet you didn’t realize how much strategy and energy goes into moving each month to an completely new and surprising location! Coordinating times, spots to leave our stuff (if needed), directions, managing check-in times, etc. Good thing we are becoming pros at this by now (ha!).

Would We Live Here

If we suddenly came into millions of dollars and could afford to live in Palo Alto - yes, yes we would live here. There is a reason everyone wants to live in Palo Alto. The houses are stunning, it seems all the streets are lined with trees, there are great schools, and a lot of activities, etc. Sean’s commute was desirable - only 25 minutes on a single street. Katelyn’s was also about 25 minutes on multiple freeways, but nothing out of the ordinary for her. If we had more time in the area, we know there are great hiking trails and it’s right near a train station - so easy access to everything from an Earthquake's game to San Francisco. Anyone willing to make a donation to the "Katelyn and Sean live with the smart/rich/techies fund”? Let us know.