A Visit to LaLaLand...

Nancy and I were just out in Oakland, California visiting our youngest son, his wife, and our brand-new two month-old granddaughter(!) That particular patch of La La Land is such a contrast to what we have and experience at Little Farm that I thought I’d write a bit about it.

First and foremost, that place is crawling with people! At home in Maine, the population density is 21 acres per person, out in Oakland there are 12 people per acre – 250 times greater! Tim and Viveka live in the lovely community of Piedmont, yet even there houses are built chock-a-block right on top of each other, often only feet apart. Every single inch of available space seems to have some part of a house sitting on top of it. While I love the sense of community this affords, I must admit it all sort of made me itch. We sought out some wonderful rail trails and local parks for walks with our granddaughter, but these too tend to be overrun with people.

Second, the weather. The Weather Underground ten-day graphical forecast for Oakland showed a seemly endless succession of sun symbols, punctuated with sun symbols with very tiny little cloud icons attached. They hadn’t had rain there in several weeks. This is very unlike Maine, which is splashing through the second wettest Summer in history (only surpassed by the “Summer that Wasn’t” of 1915). Invariably, mornings are cloudy there. But equally invariably, that cloudiness quickly clears and the afternoon skies are classic coastal sapphire blue. Lovely, but boring after a while.

Third, the prices. Six-dollar gasoline was the first thing that tells you you aren’t in Kansas – or Maine – any longer. Food prices are equally astronomical. We went to a local supermarket to shop for the week and ended up spending a solid hundred bucks more than we would have back East.

Fourth, the food. Unlike here, where a restaurant desert stretches from Westbrook to North Conway with vanishingly few exceptions, Oakland had seemingly endless and varied options for really, really good, high-quality, healthy meals that actually tasted of something other than salt and pepper.

Fifth, the Teslas - and other EVs. I have to say that I saw more Teslas during our ten days in Oakland than I have ever seen before, not to mention the Ioniqs, Konas, EMustangs, Bolts, EBimmers, EMercs, EAudis, etc. I suspect that the penetration of EVs in that part of California is almost exactly equivalent to the penetration of pick-ups and oversized SUVs around here, sad to say.

All this having been said, in spite of this having been a miserably wet and cloudy summer in Maine, and the "somewhat" more conservative attitudes of most Maine folks, frankly, I’m glad I’m home. For me there is no place like Little Farm!