Moving to an entirely new part of the country is complicated. Not only do you need to find a house, but that house needs to be in a neighborhood, and that neighborhood will have schools, etc. So, moving to San Francisco involved a lot more thant just looking at boats as it did in my imagination..  Hmm.   We started looking for places to live in SF.  We  spent a few very long days walking around in town SF.  

Cool houses and dirty neighborhoods.  Lots of homeless.  I am not adverse to those things and like the idea of the kids moving to a more urban environment as a contrast to our home in Atlanta.  But, schools are a serious issue.  As new folks to SF it would be nearly impossible to get our kids into good private schools. In addition to $50,000 per kid, we would need to have them perform like well trained monkeys to even get in since the local schools are so competitive that kids from out of state are at a significant disadvantage.  

To even give it a real effort would require that we force our kids to take the SSAT, which means a lot of tutoring every week in addition to regular school work. And, they will have to fly out to SF often for the various school interviews.  Nope, not willing to do it. So, we looked at surrounding areas.   East Bay is a suburb.  Same as suburbs in Atlanta.  Too similar.  Not worth moving because it won’t actually offer a new adventure, just the same lifestyle in a different spot.   Then we visited Tiburon.  Across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Very different feel.  Lots of boats, bike riders, runners.  Very small town.  Teresa could take a ferry to work most days.  Hmm. We looked online at houses in Tiburon.  One house had a dock.  That led to the discussion of boats over breakfast.  Hmm. Long story short -Tiburon here we come.  

We don’t yet have a house (note from the future, if you zoom in closely on the hill above the marina there is a pink house. That was our rental house for year 1.) and nothing is set in stone, but that is our desired destination for this new adventure.

The idea of living near the water led Sam and me wanting to know more about boats.  Then it led to an awesome father/son trip to the Ft. Lauderdale boat show.  Huge jump there from sort of thinking about boats to a boat show- but that is reality here in our house.  We get an idea and then jump in with two feet pretty quickly. Sam had a blast!! Power boats, sailboats, catamarans, and a huge number of accessories that looked cool even if we did not entirely understand their function.

So, Sam and I became obsessed with boats as something we could focus on as a family if we moved to SF.  He wanted a super yacht.  I focused more and more on sailboats.  The difference, he was unfettered by reality while I considered both cost of the boat and of the diesel to run it.  Plus, having grown up on powerboats I am just not that interested.  They strike me more as just another means of conveyance like my car or motorcycle while there is something primitive and elegant about a sailboat in my mind. So my thoughts began to run rampant.  Maybe we could get a house with a dock.  Maybe the kids would join the school sailing teams. Wait, what, the schools have sailing teams???  COOL. There are three yacht clubs in Tiburon (one of whcih is SF’s oldest), so perhaps I could fulfill my life long dream of wearing white pants and a blue blazer with boat shoes!!