It has been a little more than year since we moved to Sacramento and purchased a new house in the midtown/downtown area, and just under a year since we moved into our house (and my last blog update).
Sacramento was a compromise location for both of us with mostly sunny skies, mild winters, an active horse culture and related resources, a regional airport for easy long distance travel, trains connecting the city to others, an urban city center where we could afford to buy a house and live, and basic amenities within walking distance of our home. But we knew it had problems as well, such as increased state bureaucracy and fees, blazing hot summers, a vast encircling hellscape of suburban squalor, long drives to get to the horses (and trails), and anemic public transit.
So how are we doing?
By and large we are content.
Last year's summer heat was extreme and we are steeling ourselves for blistering heat over the next few months, but the mild winter was nice, although to be honest I appear to have acclimated to the warmer temperatures and am embarrassingly cold whenever the thermometer dips much below 60 degrees (F). The horses too seem to have adapted.
Boarding the horses at Gibson Ranch is quite nice and we are mostly happy with their living arrangement, although Elayne makes the half hour drive from our house to the stables every day (sometimes twice!) to provide extra care and have daily horse activities. When both horses are sound and shod I try to join her once a week for riding. We can just about eke out twelve miles of riding around the ranch, but for anything longer or more diverse we need to trailer them for about an hour (or longer). The quality of the footing on the local trails is by and large inferior to what we had in Oregon (most of which were also closer). The endurance riding is not as nice as in the Pacific Northwest (Tevis not withstanding), with the rides more expensive, not as well organized, and with little socializing.
We have mostly finished updating our house. In addition to painting the interior and exterior we converted the creepy storage space in the back of the garage into a climate controlled workout room. Outside we've enhanced the landscaping and Elayne has reclaimed the raised beds in the back for fruit and vegetables.
The neighborhood is pleasant and we walk to grocery shopping, haircuts, medical care, restaurants and movies. We can ride our bikes to places further away (REI, organic food coop, and what have you). The interior is relaxing and comfortable. But it can be noisy with volume of traffic driving by and the prevalence of very loud motorcycles playing overly loud music -- I suspect the warmer climate is why this is such an issue here (that plus the usual overcompensation of what I call
little man syndrome). Our property tax doubled after buying the place -- the restrictions on taxes in California mean that they can increase very little until you sell, and then city immediately raises the amount to the current maximum amount all at once -- and we had the honor of paying sales tax on our truck, which we had purchased (used) in Oregon six months before the move. In California all trucks are considered commercial vehicles and the yearly fees are high.
Travel is more convenient than when we lived in central Oregon because there is no need to find someone to care for the horses while we are away and the Sacramento airport offers many more destinations than our old place. Last summer we went horse camping on the coast with friends and in the fall we took Topaz and Taylor to the spectacular Moab endurance ride (in Utah). We drove to the Grand Canyon in September and backpacked from the north to south rims over four days. We escaped January's cold (down to the low 40s) with a trip to visit my mother and sister, Lois, in Florida (with a non stop flight from SMF to MIA) and then continued on for a scuba/snorkel trip in Roatan, Honduras. In March we took the train to San Francisco and back (well, to Richmond, where we transferred over to BART for the trip into the city itself and to the San Francisco airport) as part of our Global Entry appointment at SFO. In early May we flew to Hawaii for more scuba and snorkeling.
Upcoming trips include an August drive to central Oregon for the National Championship endurance ride followed by horse camping up by Lake Tahoe. We then take off for the UK where we'll hike around the Cornwall peninsula on the coastal path, ride horses in Exmoor, cycle around the Cotswolds, spend nearly a week in the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Sark) before winding down in London. I have a short weekend in Portland to visit friends and of course Elayne has numerous endurance rides to attend.
In January of next year we have a big trip to Raja Ampat Indonesia (via Manila, Jakarta and Sarong) for more tropical adventures (including scuba and snorkeling, of course). In May we return to the Grand Canyon for more exploration and day hikes plus a single day rim to rim hike.
Beyond that we are planning more regional trips such as a rail and road trip around the western US, and thinking about bucket item trips like to the Galapagos Islands, Africa (safari, horseback riding, summit Mt Kilimanjaro, scuba/snorkel on Zanzibar -- obviously I'm leaning into this one), New Zealand and Australia.
Mostly because of all of this travel I am more happy in our new home than Elayne, who has given up a lot better riding options back in central Oregon than what she has available here, not to mention all of her close riding friends she left behind.
And so what does the future hold for us?
Currently we are in our active "go" years of retirement, and so if there are no catastrophic changes (and I'm looking at you, 2024 elections) we'll keep on riding and traveling while using Sacramento as our home base. If we eventually slow down and no longer feel the need to do physically demanding things like horseback riding, then we will have more lifestyle options available which we will review at that time. I still long for a life in Europe (maybe France) but we'll cross that road (or ocean) when we get to it.
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