Things I’ve Learned In Northern California

Perhaps it’s the fact that every week I write out my thoughts to share with the internet, or maybe just the fact that I value and seek out wisdom, but the truth is that everything I do is a learning experience. Good and bad, I try to learn valuable lessons from my experiences.  Sometimes I have to learn a lesson several times before it sticks, but I do try to analyze my experiences so I can learn from everything I do.

My stay in Northern California has been a learning experience.

I’ve been to California before, but the bay area is a world of it’s own. It’s different here and they know it. In fact it’s in stark contrast with my last visit to California when I stayed in South Central LA with a friend’s family. Both experiences have taught me some interesting lessons about life and what people value.

Things I’ve Learned In Northern California

Susan (foodiemcbody) is FUN! She has been so lovely to spend time with and get to know. And we’ve had some fun adventures. :)

Is it possible for me to just spend all my time traveling to visit you amazing bloggers? Everyone I’ve met so far has been a million times more wonderful than I imagined and I’ve fallen in love with them! I really love our community of people online trying to be healthy and hope I get to meet everyone one day.

You don’t know anything about a place really until you visit. This isn’t something I’ll go in depth about, but places can really surprise you. Despite seeing this area in the news and in movies, I had no clue what it was really like. It always takes visiting a place to better understand it.

I love nature. I’ve always thought I loved cities more than anything else. But my time here has made me realize I’m not as infatuated with city life as I once thought I was. My favorite experiences have been the parks I visited, the time spent walking through the redwoods, the view from Susan’s porch in the trees. Cities rock, but I’m starting to think I much prefer having my own space. Or I like at least having my own natural space to escape to.

Good food and wine is important. One thing I LOVE about this area is how concerned everyone is with eating good food. I thought Oregon was big on eating local healthy food, but this area takes it to a new level. The farmer’s market at the Ferry building in San Francisco was the most amazing and overwhelming this I’ve ever seen. Then there are little farmer’s markets everywhere and the grocery stores who all take care to have fresh local produce available. And even though I don’t drink wine, they have some of the best wines available and people really enjoy them. I love that good food is something people value here.

Many cuisines I’ve never tried are amazing. I’ve said it a few times on twitter and my food blog – my food world has been rapidly expanding while I’ve been here. So far I’ve had Afghan food and Indian food … and in the two days I’ve got left I’m going to be eating Burmese food, Ethiopian  food, and who knows what else? It’s been amazing to have access to a lot of different types of food that I’ve never tried or had access to before. I’ve loved trying them all because I realized I love them all! Since I like spicy food the types of food I can eat has rapidly expanded in the last few days and will continue to grow since I enjoy trying new things. One thing I love about the bay area is the amazing diversity here in both the people and the cuisines available.

Food blogging rocks. I’ve talked to Susan about this a bit because she was fascinated by my way of food blogging as tracking my food.  I’ve learned that it really does help me keep myself accountable to myself and to other people for what I eat.  Even the smallest things are things I have to stop to take a picture of, which makes mindless eating nearly impossible. I have to consider whether it’s worth the effort to photograph and whether or not I want it to be something I show everyone that I ate. I’ve noticed that when I do take days off food blogging the eating can get out of control pretty quickly if I’m not careful. Food blogging has completely changed the way I eat for the better.

I’ve learned a lot of other things too, but not everything is appropriate for this blog. ;) Those are a few of the lessons that have really stuck with me lately.

I’ve had such a fun time here that I hardly want to go. But then again, I know I’m going to pick up Kepa from the airport in a couple of days and that’s so exciting that I can’t hardly stand it.  There are many more miles to go on this particular adventure. :)

Have you learned anything lately?

1. California!
2. Nine Lessons Learned in 2009
3. Lessons Learned From The Biggest Loser Season 7
4. Ways I Learned To Love My Body Article
5. Favorite Posts & What I Learned in 2008

Tagged as: bloggers, lessons, lessons learned, travel