Living in California in Fall 2015

[DanteGabriel]

I have a slightly different suggestion (which will be more expensive because railways), which would be to take the Amtrak surfliner from SF to LA. its a beautiful route, about 5 hours long, and you leave the driving to the train driver. Then, drive the shorter distance from LA to San Diego and back.

 

I know you were planning on taking all your luggage with you, but it might be doable by train.

 

Having taken Amtrak a significant distance up the West Coast a few times, I have to warn you: delays are likely. Amtrak does not own the track on the West Coast so a lot of times, their trains end up waiting while a freight train lumbers flatulently past. I took a train from San Francisco to Santa Barbara and was a couple of hours delayed. Another time I took a train from San Francisco to central Oregon and arrived 10 hours late.

[Lord of Oop North]

 

Having taken Amtrak a significant distance up the West Coast a few times, I have to warn you: delays are likely. Amtrak does not own the track on the West Coast so a lot of times, their trains end up waiting while a freight train lumbers flatulently past. I took a train from San Francisco to Santa Barbara and was a couple of hours delayed. Another time I took a train from San Francisco to central Oregon and arrived 10 hours late.

I had heard that this was been improving recently, so... decided to look it up. For reference, the Pacific Surfliner's recent on-time performance ...

 

June 2015 - 77.5%

Last 12 Months - 80.3%

[DanteGabriel]

I had heard that this was been improving recently, so... decided to look it up. For reference, the Pacific Surfliner's recent on-time performance ...

 

June 2015 - 77.5%

Last 12 Months - 80.3%

 

Well, that'd be encouraging news. I admit -- the last trip I took on one of those trains was in 2007 -- the 10-hour delay meant I listened to the crazy Pats-Chargers playoff game on the radio instead of watching at my friend's house. 

[Arataniello]

 

Our first trip will be from Berkeley to San Diego (La Jolla). It sounds as if it would be best to split this into two parts instead of starting our California vacation with a gruelling 8-hour (?) trip in a foreign country with an unfamiliar car.

 

So, board hive mind: what is the best place to stop, roughly half-way between Berkeley and La Jolla? Concrete tips for lodgings would be much appreciated.

 

Nothing more concrete than perhaps trying to stay somewhere near San Simeon, so you can see Hearst's pile of opulence.

Back in the day, when doing the drive from LA to SF, I think we stayed in Ventura and then Cartmel.  But I can't remember the names of the places we stayed (this was back in the mid 90s).

[Mudguard]

Okidoki. Next question.

 

Our first trip will be from Berkeley to San Diego (La Jolla). It sounds as if it would be best to split this into two parts instead of starting our California vacation with a gruelling 8-hour (?) trip in a foreign country with an unfamiliar car.

 

So, board hive mind: what is the best place to stop, roughly half-way between Berkeley and La Jolla? Concrete tips for lodgings would be much appreciated.

Halfway between Berkeley and La Jolla is Los Angeles.  Depending on how old your kids are, a trip to Disneyland could be fun, but tickets are really expensive now I think.  

 

Halfway between Berkeley and LA is Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, home of the General Sherman tree, one of the largest living trees by volume (also 275 feet high).  Your avatar actually looks similar to the tree, so I think you're almost obligated to pay your respects.  There's also guided tours of a neat cave.  Both of these are accessible to kids.  Probably would have to add an extra day to your trip to do this though.

[Happy Ent]

Halfway between Berkeley and La Jolla is Los Angeles.  Depending on how old your kids are, a trip to Disneyland could be fun, but tickets are really expensive now I think.  

 

Halfway between Berkeley and LA is Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park, home of the General Sherman tree, one of the largest living trees by volume (also 275 feet high).  Your avatar actually looks similar to the tree, so I think you're almost obligated to pay your respects.  There's also guided tours of a neat cave.  Both of these are accessible to kids.  Probably would have to add an extra day to your trip to do this though.

 

We will visit Disneyland, but make it a day trip from our La Jolla apartment.

 

The General Sherman suggestion is brilliant.

[JoannaL]

In Californa there are not only the biggest trees (Sequoia) but also the largest (redwood) and the oldest (bristle cone pines, up to 5000 years old). So it is about time that you visit, and you should really plan some time for sightseeing.

 

About the car issue: We have also been to California at an university (although for 2 years, and in the LA area, Caltech). What worked for us was to buy and sell the car on campus (at Berkeley there will presumably also  be a large organized postdoc community, it worked very well for us to get a lot of useful information and items that way). There may be another problem though if you own a vehicle in California for more than a month you need a Californian driving licence (if I remember correctly, it may also have had something to do with residency). At least we had to do this (written and practical test) It was quite insame because in theory you could drive to the practical test with a rented car and an european driving licence,  fail it and then drive back home).

 

If you decide to rent, it may be much cheaper to do it directly there than trying this from Europe (at least that was the case 10 years ago)

 

 

[Happy Ent]

Alright, the transition has been made, and we’ve now been in God’s Own Country for a week. Spent a few days in DC, now two nights in Berkeley. Car has been rented, forms for school enrolment filled out.

 

Current problem: [i]sweetness[/i]. We’re slowly panicking because we can’t find food that doesn’t seem incredibly unhealthy to us. The DC hotel breakfast was a shock to us. (Everything was sinful food. Like having desert for breakfast.)

 

We’ve found Safeway on our own, and just came back from a trip to Whole Foods. It’s not heaven, but at least the WF selection has some food that we want to buy. (Every local supermarket in my home town in Lund has healthier food.) Fruit and vegetables were OK, but insanely expensive.

 

I found tiny packs of oatmeal at incredibly inflated price. (This must be the single most basic food known to man. Where I’m from, it’s dirt cheap. For some reason it’s a niche luxury item in the US.)

 

Remaining problem: bread. Everything tastes and feels like sponge cake. Apparently the other Whole Foods in Berkeley has some “artisan bread” (normally known as “bread”) that looks good. We’ll see. It’s still very white.

 

Stuff I’m unable to find:

 

dark bread (Schwarzbrot, rugbrød.) Had the same problem when I moved to Sweden (which also had silly bread ten years ago.)

 

crisp bread (Knäckebröd).

 

Help! Do I need to start baking my own sour dough bread?

 

How do you Americans on the board stay healthy? One meal per day? Never eat lunch out?

[jurble]

How do you Americans on the board stay healthy?

We don't. We gain weight, panic, exercise and diet, lose some weight, get lazy, panic again.

Eventually we surrender and ride tiny scooters.

[Fragile Bird]

I've never been to Berkeley, but maybe you can search for bakeries to find real bread? http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurants-g32066-zfg9901-Berkeley_California.html

[IheartIheartTesla]

I dont eat oatmeal much, but the instant stuff from Quakers is pretty cheap (about 20 packets for $2-3 I imagine). The flavored stuff tends to be more sugary and calorific....

 

Also, you should probably try to find a farmers market. I imagine Berkeley (or at least its environs) must have those. They tend to be more expensive, but you might find more varieties of breads there as well as produce and whatnot.

[Whitestripe]

Ent: I'll defer to the boarders who actually live there, but my sister is in the East Bay and shops at Andronico's http://www.andronicos.com/category/products quite a bit. I think she goes to the store in Solano Ave, but I see that there is also one on Shattuck. (Her house is in Albany, right on the Albany/Berkeley boarder) she also gets produce at the Berkeley Bowl.

[Kat]

Alright, the transition has been made, and we’ve now been in God’s Own Country for a week. Spent a few days in DC, now two nights in Berkeley. Car has been rented, forms for school enrolment filled out.
 
Current problem: sweetness. We’re slowly panicking because we can’t find food that doesn’t seem incredibly unhealthy to us. The DC hotel breakfast was a shock to us. (Everything was sinful food. Like having desert for breakfast.)
 
We’ve found Safeway on our own, and just came back from a trip to Whole Foods. It’s not heaven, but at least the WF selection has some food that we want to buy. (Every local supermarket in my home town in Lund has healthier food.) Fruit and vegetables were OK, but insanely expensive.
 
I found tiny packs of oatmeal at incredibly inflated price. (This must be the single most basic food known to man. Where I’m from, it’s dirt cheap. For some reason it’s a niche luxury item in the US.)
 
Remaining problem: bread. Everything tastes and feels like sponge cake. Apparently the other Whole Foods in Berkeley has some “artisan bread” (normally known as “bread”) that looks good. We’ll see. It’s still very white.
 
Stuff I’m unable to find:
 
dark bread (Schwarzbrot, rugbrød.) Had the same problem when I moved to Sweden (which also had silly bread ten years ago.)
 
crisp bread (Knäckebröd).
 
Help! Do I need to start baking my own sour dough bread?
 
How do you Americans on the board stay healthy? One meal per day? Never eat lunch out?

 
You should be able to buy a big canister of Quaker instant oats at Safeway for a lot less than packs of oatmeal at Whole Foods. Get the Safeway club card. It's worth it. 
 
We don't have a lot of dark bread here. I mean, you can get whole grain bread but it's usually going to be not as dark as what you'd find in Europe. Go for the local sourdough varieties. Semifreddi's is baked in Berkeley and is my favorite, but Acme also has a lot of good breads. Both of those you should be able to find at local stores. Andronico's is going to be as expensive as Whole Foods but they usually have a really good bakery selection. The bakery at Safeway is crappy, Berkeley Bowl is awesome for produce. 
 
You can get knäckebröd at Andronico's, I know for sure. They at least have the Wasa brand. It's probably at Safeway also. My family usually gets it at Ikea, seriously. My mom loves the Ikea food store and it's right there in Emeryville. I just met her in Iceland after going to Sweden and Finland and she had brought a suitcase full of Ikea rye crisp (and other dry snacks) so she could save money on food there. I know as an American I'm usually shocked by the price of food in your part of the woods.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

Don't worry about finding healthy food. Whole Foods has got you covered.

[Whitestripe]

We also got really delicious fresh pasta and sauce at a market somewhere in Berkeley. I can't remember where it was. I'll have to ask my sister next time I talk to her.

[Happy Ent]

Thanks for all the help here. We managed to find a product called “European Style Whole Grain Bread” at Trader Joe’s. Also, they seemed to have bread that at least looks inviting. (We did have a few slices of some other sourdough bread we got at Whole Foods. Also, some cut meats. I found it very sweet, as if somebody had sprinkled sugar on the salami. Can there really be corn starch in those products as well?

 

The good thing is that I’m sure after only a week or two more, our pallets will have adjusted to the sugar overload and we won’t be able to tell! Comfortable fatness awaits. I can’t wait.

 

More observations and questions:

 

I realise that all the “healthy”-branded products advertise their “low fat” or “low sodium” or “gluten free” content. That’s not what I’m looking for. What I would like is the “we did not mix insane amounts of high fructose corn syrup into this stuff” label. Question: would this disgusting ingredient be enumerated under “sugar” in the ingredients listing? Or is that the source of the strangely unaccounted-for carbohydrates I can see on the package? Where do I learn about this?

 

We did ask for yeast in the Trader Joe’s, but were told that that’s only available around the holidays. That sounds insane. So: where do I find yeast (not dry yeast)?

[Happy Ent]

Don't worry about finding healthy food. Whole Foods has got you covered.

 

That’s what everybody told me, but I was severely disappointed. My local tiny minimarket at home in Sweden, 50 meters from where I live, as more healthy food (just branded as “food” there) in greater variety, except maybe for the fruits and vegetables (it’s a tiny store). Every sizeable supermarket (those large enough to have parking) I’ve seen in Sweden his a better source of healthy food.

 

But we’re getting there. Thanks again for all the help, our panic is abating.

[Happy Ent]

About oatsmeal:

 

Sweden: Axa Havregryn https://www.mathem.se/varor/havregryn/havregryn-1-5kg-axa, 1.5 kilo bag (what I normally buy, available everywhere), costs 21.95 SEK. 

 

US: Quaker Instant Oatmeal Original. http://www.amazon.com/Quaker-Instant-Oatmeal-Original-12-Count/dp/B001M09BQQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1438823788&sr=8-3&keywords=instant+oat 4 boxes of 11.8 ounces, which would be 1.33 kg. Amazon prize 8.03 USD.

 

So the price per kilo in Sweden is 14.6 SEK = 1.69 USD.

The price per kilo in the US is 6 USD.

 

So oatmeal is roughly 4 times as expensive, as far as I understand. 

 

Am I misunderstanding something? Is “instant oatmeal” something else than “oatmeal”? (What would non-instant oatmeal be?)

[Happy Ent]

About yeast: I’m talking about yeast for baking. Bread, cinnamon rolls, etc. Like in the picture on this page: http://www.kvalifood.com/recipes/bread-baking-technique-7-fermentation-of-doughs-timelapse-videos

[Tears of Lys]

Poor Ents. Yes, it does seem to be exactly as you say - everyone touts how healthy their product is without actually **being** healthy for you.

High fructose corn syrup **generally** is labeled as a separate ingredient, but that doesn't mean you can always avoid it. 

As for oatmeal, do not buy the "instant" oatmeal. You're paying more for the so-called convenience of the product. It cooks up within about a minute or so. Instant foodstuffs generally can be prepared in the microwave, and as we all know, microwaved food is the only way to go! :P You could look for steel-cut oats, no "instant" in the name, and it might get you where you want to go. I have no familiarity with the product you're used to, so that's as much as I can tell you.

It sounds like you're shopping close to your living quarters without venturing out into the outskirts to find sustenance. That's probably why you're running into such high prices. It's a result of the high demand for land around the university, driving up the price of land and therefore the price of products sold in the nearby stores. (Although Whole Foods is insanely expensive wherever it's located, they're generally found around college towns.)   There are areas around most major cities known loosely as "ethnic" areas - places where a particular kind of people tend to settle in clusters.  For example, around Detroit, Dearborn has a large Arabic population, a Polish area, etc., etc.   You might try to seek out some of these areas.

 

 

Have you returned from La Jolla yet?  THAT'S truly God's country (if God had an unlimited budget and could live on a cliff by the ocean.) 

You MUST keep us entertained updated with your American Experience.  I'm sure you're in for some  "interesting" days ahead.  

 

ETA: As for fresh yeast, as opposed to dry in tinfoil packets, try to buy some off of a local bakery or pizza shop, as they buy this stuff in bulk.   It wouldn't hurt to make friends with the owners of these shops.  Just don't get chatty first thing in the morning when the lines are long!