karenincalifornia's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 39,806 | The College Scholars by karenincalifornia - last update: May 7, 2009 |
College Tuition Instead of Traveling | Yayyyy - Mommy and Daddy are forking over the $$$$ |
Major Jetsetting is Being Deferred IndefinitelyThe good news is these little rascals got themselves into world reknown universities. The bad news is it's not free. Money that we used to spend on visiting the ends of the earth will now be eaten up by these fine institutions of higher learning. Our trips will be closer to home, and my aspirations will be more apropos of our financial situation, such as aiming to have a VT Top 5 page for places like Novato or Rohnert Park, CA. Stay tuned, if these destinations appeal to you...
And I am here because . . . ?
Like most people on VT, I'm here because I love to travel. My husband and two children share that love, and what I enjoy most is discovering parts of the world with them. I stumbled across VT in 2003 when I was seeking - and found - information about Montenegro. Since then, I have relied heavily on information from other VT members who either live in or have traveled to places we have visited. Having that personal contact and being able to pepper real people with questions, rather than rely solely on guidebooks, have made our traveling experiences so much better!
There is good and beauty in every part of the world, and invariably, that is what we find, no matter where we go. It might be the people, food, wine, an interesting shop, the landscape, sunrises, architecture, history, foliage, fauna, just about anything. When I build my pages, I do so with the goal of highlighting the beauty that captivated us while we were there. I hope I can provide to others the same type of helpful information I have gained from VTers through this site.
Home Sweet Home
Home is a place that, even at the end of a fantastic trip, makes you look forward to your return. Marin County, my home, just north of San Francisco, is that kind of place for me. Not only is it one of the most beautiful spots on earth -- it is a part of the world that is so very interesting. At the same time just about everyone knows it is a target for humor. And I'll admit, I'm not above poking a little fun at my own home. So, that being said, what is the the REAL Marin County like?? She is beautiful, but she is crazy.We can't decide if we want you tourists to visit us or not. One day we say bring them over by the boatloads. The next day we say keep all the riff-raff out.
We assembled 50 nude women together to spell out "PEACE" to protest the war in Iraq, thinking that would do the trick. It didn't work. Six and a half years later - we are still in Iraq.
Click on photo of nudes spelling PEACE
We spend our time debating rights of cats vs. rights of birds. We must imprison our cats in our homes, otherwise the bird population in Marin will be decimated. We are not birdless....yet. |
| Gallinas Marsh, San Rafael, CA |
Cell phones and "cheap" real estate We hate it when obnoxious people use cell phones on public transportation or in restaurants, but we are always prepared to answer our own incoming calls.
We are champions of affordable housing, but "affordable housing" here costs over $400,000. We still try to pass it off as affordable anyway. We say this "affordable housing" is a good thing, but no one will allow it in his or her backyard. |
| The hills of Marin County |
Wine, tennis, herbs, trains We think we are wine connoisseurs just because we live south of the wine country, but come to a party in Marin County and you will likely be served rot gut Two Buck Chuck ($1.99/bottle).
We are very picky about our celebrities. We let Andre Agassi live here, but draw the line at Martha Stewart. We like to think we have scruples after all.
We spend years debating whether to build a light rail through the County. Too much money for something used by too few, some argue. However, we didn't hesitate to spend $17 million on a short bike trail tunnel through a hill. |
Environmentalists of Isolationists? Many Marinites moved here to get away from the rat race of the big city. Yet, despite our vow to take life at a slower pace, we are only too quick to object to whatever is appearing in our backyard, like a neighbor's second story addition, a soccer park, a bus route going to a hospital, a cell phone tower, a rooster or a wild turkey.
We are a strange breed of environmentalists. We'll fight tooth and nail against the smallest development, citing impacts on wetland birds, flora and the fauna, yet our vehicle of choice is the humongous gas-guzzling greenhouse gas spewing SUV or van. |
Solitude We can find that here, too. Sometimes, when things get to loony out here, everyone just needs to get away from it all - even if just for a short while. And to be quite honest, this is what I like best about Marin. The open space, the natural beauty, the thousands of acres of beautiful countryside, the charming tiny little towns, even its quirky character are all elements that make Marin County so unique. Every day I am home, I feel as if I am on vacation. There is so much to see, do and explore, I know I could explore a new corner everyday and still not see it all. |
| Marin County bluffs overlooking Pacific Ocean |
Exhilaration Marin County has the San Francisco Bay on the east, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. The Pacific side is unspoiled and hopefully always will be. I find it exhilarating that there is a place in California without a strip mall. |
| Apple pie made with Marin County apples |
Four seasons of Marin In the north San Francisco Bay area, there's never a time that something is not blooming or ripe for the picking.
What my backyard produced this year...
Cherries, but the bird ate them all. Asian pears, but the raccoons outwitted me when they ripened and picked them all. Meyer lemons, but some varmint stripped the peels off (Marin wildlife have a hankering for lemon zest). A few apples this year -- and just enough to make this apple pie!
Lots of roses, mint, eggplant, jalapeno peppers, basil, oregano, arugula, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Totally organic. You won't find any of those nasty pesticides in my yard. |
| Gang of four at Palazzo Pitti, Firenze, IT |
We usually travel in a pack My favorite fellow inmates, ski buds, golf partners and traveling companions.
The Gang of Four - my daughter, husband, me, and my son.
Marin County, for all her goofiness, is a wonderful place to visit, live and raise a family! For more information on specific towns in Marin County, see my San Rafael,, Inverness, Mill Valley, Novato, Olema, and Point Reyes Station pages.. . . . Note about copying (an unconventional approach in these days of proprietarianism)If you see anything you like on my pages and want to copy it, you are free to do so. You don't need to ask my permission and you don't need to give me credit. I gain nothing by keeping these pictures to myself, and I lose nothing if they are copied. If you want them, I would be flattered (if I knew about it), but you don't even have to tell me. |
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 Comments for karenincalifornia | | | | |
pchamlis Mon May 25, 2009 17:29 UTC
Look who's the featured member. :) 91 as always. | Samanthi Tue May 12, 2009 19:56 UTC
Hey Karen, Thanks for your comments and stopping by....... | JLBG Tue Apr 28, 2009 09:54 UTC
Are you settled with your vacations in France or did you cancel for tuition? Finally, after a few more years, your "peace" body writing will be successful! Good job, that was worth it. BTW, what letter were you? | Jenniflower Tue Apr 28, 2009 06:30 UTC
Congrats on your kids' achievement re getting into varsity! It'll be so worth the effort and $$$ now :) My mum helped the 4 of us through tertiary edu, we had part time jobs too which helped loads, it was tough but so worth it!!! |
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