WE BE COOL! …well, we’re moving there at least

After several months of discussions, hemming and hawing, making decisions only to change our minds, and consulting with plenty of informed people (including a certain 4-year old who thinks that he knows everything), it is now official…we are moving to Cool, CA!

Heading into town

My first experience with Cool came back in March of 2011. We were new to the running “scene” and Michaela’s first ever ultra race (Way Too Cool 50k) was located in the heart of Cool. At the time I was injured, so I was content to hang for the day in and around the fire station which is pretty much in the middle of town (if you want to go so far as to call it a town). The town consists of one major street where you can find the fire station, a small variety of bars/restaurants, a grocery store, a Subway, and a gas station. Did I mention that there is one traffic light (it’s a blinking yellow light with a stop sign, not even a full stop light)? I thought it was a cute little place, but was about as “country” a place as you’d find in Northern California and would never have considered living there, as I’ve always considered myself more of the “city” variety. Further, to get to Cool you have to travel through Auburn, down a windy road into the American River Canyon and then climb 4 miles of windy road to reach your destination. Considering how car sick my wife and son get, just making the drive to visit friends up there has resulted in some barf-bags and car cleanup.

No Hands Bridge in the canyons below

So now you have the general idea of what I thought of Cool…it’s a cute, endearing little town that has access to some of the greatest running trails in the country but is also about as “country” a town as you’re likely to find around these parts.

Fast-forward 17 months of countless hours spent running those trails, drinking beers in the local saloons, spending time with friends that live up there, and basically just soaking in the laid-back country lifestyle and I can proclaim that I’m a convert. It’s really something to spend the day up there where everything seems to move at a noticeably slower pace, then drive back down to the hustle and bustle of Roseville/Citrus Heights (and this isn’t New York City we’re talking about here). I can literally feel my blood pressure inch up the further down the mountain I get.

I don’t remember where the idea to move there actually came from…I think our friend Kirk and I came up with it over beers one time after I mentioned that Michaela wanted to move to Auburn, at which point I latched on to the idea and made it my mission to get Michaela on-board (it didn’t hurt that we couldn’t find anything worth looking at that we could afford in Auburn). Once we started looking in Cool and she could see some of the awesome houses that were available to us, and she realized that she could make that drive without getting sick, she was in.

Where does this leave us? Well…we officially locked down the house today and have a ton to do! We are looking to have a yard sale this Sunday morning, followed by as much packing as we can get done. We will be looking to start moving in on August 10th, with most likely the big move either the 11th or 17th.

An aerial view of Cool with Forresthill Bridge in the background

One thing that you may be wondering is how this will impact our lives (I know I am!)…well, for me…my company is most likely going to be moving offices to Folsom at the end of the year, so my overall commute time will change from the 25 minutes that it currently takes me to about 45-50 minutes. While that is about double the time, it is a very scenic drive that I’ve already tested out and I really don’t mind. Admittedly, I will need to get up earlier in the morning to leave the house earlier, but I’ll get used to that. Michaela will also be adding to her commute time. Right now she literally works 5 minutes from our house, so it’ll add about 25 minutes to her commute as well, but she assures me that she is up for it.

Michaela and I have already spoken with Guinness and Jack and they both seem to be on-board with our decision. When we promised them a large property with plenty of new smells to explore, they both gave their nods of approval (so that was a relief).

Probably the hardest transition will be for Landon. We will be looking at the pre-schools in Cool (which are highly rated) to see which one is the better fit for him. He will obviously miss his friends and teachers at Kindercare very much, but we’ll make every effort to still get together with them whenever we can (as of now we don’t have a date set on when he’ll make this transition). As a child I moved around quite a bit and while it always seems hard at first, kids are very good at making new friends quickly. Landon will be extremely excited to learn that his new house is within a 2-minute walk to a nice big park, about a 5-minute walk from the local (gated) community pool, and a 10-minute walk to the community golf course (ok, I’m excited about this one but he will be too, once I teach him how to play).

As for everybody else, don’t you worry…it’s only a 25 minute drive from Roseville so there should be plenty of visits for our friends and family.

So that’s our news. It’s an exciting time for us and we can’t wait to move in and get settled. We look forward to having you all out to visit to introduce you to Cool.