We are still on the San Fran Peninsula. It’s amazing...even on the busiest weekends, I can drive a couple miles into the mountains to the west and have complete solitude. I do pass more people on the trails than during the winter, but it’s not bad. We don’t do fairs, festivals, or events much any more, so it’s not a problem.
We drove over to Concord yesterday for Mother’s Day Brunch with our daughter and boyfriend. On the way home, I-680 was gridlocked for maybe 30 miles, but it was on the other side of the freeway. Our southbound side was pretty clear sailing.
We bought a summer home in North Idaho, but my wife moved there permanently after COVID. She’s visiting our SF Bay Area house for a week to attend to some personal business, but she’s skedaddling back to beautiful Idaho tomorrow morning. She’s a native from Castro Valley; I got here after graduating from college in ‘73.
I lived in Mountain View and Sunnyvale for 14 years, but left in 2000 when I felt the the area between Palo Alto and Santa Clara changing for the worse.
My friends and I used to hike in Redwoods State Park, The Pinnacles, and thought nothing of driving to Monterey for Sunday dinner.
A few people here on FR have told me that Monterey still largely retains it’s old character, just more crowded.