evan

All the leaves are brown, red, orange, chartreuse and saffron here in Montreal, yet we're off to wt:San Francisco tomorrow morning (early) to visit friends and family. I love going to see my parents and brothers and sister-in-law and nieces, but I also like going back to see the Bay Area (California).

It hasn't always been like this. It used to be that when I went back, it felt like I'd never left, and that the life that we've made here in Quebec was just a story I told myself. San Francisco seemed real; Montreal seemed distant. San Francisco was where I was supposed to be; Montreal was where I stubbornly and irrationally insisted on staying. (The fact that I stayed in a room in my parents' house didn't help with the stepping-backwards feeling.)

But it's been a few years, and Maj and I have been married here, had a baby, and made a business for ourselves. Even though we don't own a house (yet), we're putting down roots. Now when I return to California, it feels like a visit -- like traveling to just another destination. And you know what? California is a fabulous place to visit. Northern California even more so. San Francisco is a spectacular place on the edge of the ocean with music, art, redwood trees, organic food, and a sense of humor about itself that no other town quite has.

It will be good to get back to SF for a while. It will be nice to take the baby around to see people and things that she hasn't ever seen before. We'll be in Palo Alto to stay with my folks, visit my brothers in San Francisco, up to Petaluma and Oakland to visit friends, and maybe even down to Big Sur for a campout next weekend. I've got the Web 2.0 Conference that I'm covering for LinuxWorld. And I'm sure there'll be more in there; we need ot dip the baby's toes in the Pacific sometime soon.