Jeff & Kate Kerr

***<< Avila Beach (one of the best kids
beaches ever), >>

Oooh, ooooh, ooh. I STILL have dreams about moving to Avila beach.
We positively love that area of Cali and had wanted to move to San Luis
Obispo. We decided it was WAY too expensive and moved to FL instead.
Sometimes I wish we'd at least tried Cali first.
We looked at a house up on the hill in Avila beach that I've never
forgotten.
It was white and oldish style with a porch that wrapped all around. (a
mere
$300,000 ten years ago). I decided I wanted to stay a homeowner and we
couldn't have been if we'd moved there.***


$300,000 ten years ago? It's got to be worth at least a million now!

A few years ago Unocal was ordered to clean up huge oil spills in Avila
Beach. They had to tear down all the shacks across from the beach (you
know, mom and pop type stuff - the ones we used to go into barefoot in
the summer and get snow cones because we were boiling in the sun). The
stores across the street have changed, most are gone now. But the beach
is nicer, no more tar to clean off when you get home. And a huge
playground, and easier parking.

Yes it is expensive - the whole central coast is. We got lucky, we were
living in Northern CA and my dad offered us this house - we couldn't
afford to stay up in the north bay anymore, so we took him up on it.
Now my husband is back in his old stomping grounds and surfing again.

I still miss the falling down shacks on the beach, just like I miss
Aspen soda (which hardly anyone has heard of). But I'm back home now
and I love being able to raise my kids in the same area I grew up in,
just a few miles from their papa (who, although he has at least 18 years
of schooling - he's a doc - loves and fully supports our unschooling the
kids).

Enough rambling for now - funny, I've been on this list for over a year,
off and on, but I've never introduced myself. Well, there's a bit of it
anyway.

Kate
who loves this list and feels like she knows everyone and will try to
post more frequently.