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Not for me. In fact it has increased the appeal. A few years ago we moved from a house 30 miles from the ocean to one a block from the ocean. I am not into laying on the beach but I love walking, running and biking along ocean paths every day. I have seen whales breaching on my morning walks. More r...

Look in zip code 95124, specifically in the Union School District. Small homes can be had between 800K and 1M. You will suffer if you have to drive very far up the Peninsula but there are limited public transit options that may work depending on where you are going. Why don't you just tell us so we ...

How about Santa Rosa? A little cheaper than Santa Cruz because it's farther from the beach, but still an easy drive to SFO.

Santa Cruz does have condos under 400K. There are more over that number, for example a newly renovated 770 sq ft 2/1 was just listed for 450K. If you are willing to go smaller than 900 sq ft I think you can find something in your price range. And while SFO is about 90 minutes from Santa Cruz, San Jo...

Room and Board. Large selection and we were very impressed with the quality.

I have had at least 5 Forerunners and I wouldn't be without one. The model I have now is the 25 with the chest strap HRM, about $140, HR strap extra. I just checked the website and saw they now have a Forerunner 35 with wrist based HRM for $200 which might also be a good one. It looks more like the ...

Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Loved it - very funny, heartwarming without being sappy. Made on a low budget in the New Zealand bush, so it's a gorgeous film as well. Saw The Lobster at the same theater a few weeks earlier. Weird movie. It was interesting in a bizarre sort of way, but I wouldn't recomme...

We just finished a whole house remodel and a second story addition of about 700 sq. ft. Like you we had given a budget to the designer, but once we got bids from contractors we realized it was going to cost us more than double that original budget. I then looked at every "move-in ready" pr...

Our HOA hired uniformed, off duty cops to provide security during the summer only, evening to early morning hours. That was what worked best after many failures and repeated trespassing and vandalism incidents. Our pool was exactly like yours with a too short fence and the roof of the pool house acc...

We just got an earthquake policy from USAA. It has a high deductible and so-so coverage, but we want to be able to rebuild if the house is destroyed without decimating the retirement accounts. In a small or moderate quake it will probably pay nothing, so it's really just catastrophic coverage. "...

DH has Zeal Optics sunglasses which he likes very much. They are high quality and have a range of prices starting at about $80.

I think that San Jose and Los Gatos, or possibly Santa Cruz, are your best bets. The hills you see from the hotel can be great hikes. Sierra Azul Open Space is both remote and steep. Not as remote but in the same general area is Quicksilver County Park. There are some great hikes there and May is wi...

I just saw your follow up that you are not going to Monterey! You could still do Santa Cruz as a day trip as it is only 90 minutes each way. I would seriously consider Santa Cruz over Half Moon Bay, both because you are likely to get much better weather and Santa Cruz is a lot more fun for the kids.

I live on the Central Coast and have a few ideas for your Monterey side trip. First off I agree with others that you should stay over at least one night, probably two, and that you should drive down as far as Big Sur. While there, stop at Nepenthe, a restaurant on the ocean side of Hwy 1. It is tour...

Just about the most fun I have ever had was hiking the Narrows in Zion NP. Rent the gear in town (Springdale, UT) start early, and check weather reports to make sure there is no danger of a flash flood. Most of the hike takes place in the river so it is completely unlike a hike on land, also the she...