We're Not in Seattle Anymore...

Richmond thoughts:

• The bugs are terrible. Even if I am barely outside at all, and cover up and/or use my non-DEET hippy bug spray when I am outside for longer than a 3 minute dog potty break, I end up with at least 2 new mosquito bites per day. And they stick around for 1-2 weeks. I think I just need to get used to having legs that look like I have the chicken pox on a daily basis. Somehow they still don't bite Tyler, go figure.
• It has been, apparently, unnaturally cool here lately. Which means that we haven't seen triple digits in a while and there has been rain off and on. Still got up to 90 yesterday and I was melting at the dog park.
• The bicyclists here are crazy. Not hardcore, spandex wearing, eye on the prize, Seattle crazy. But no helmet, no lights at night, not obeying any road laws whatsoever (again, not the Seattle technique of going from car to pedestrian or rolling through a stop sign - but more along the lines of going the wrong way down the street against traffic) Richmond crazy. I think it's a wonder that there aren't more bike accidents here.
• Pedestrians have a prolific "meandering jaywalk." In Seattle we make a big deal about our jaywalking, but that's a joke when you see the people here. Seattle jaywalking still involves looking both ways, often still at a corner, and briskly getting from point A to point B. Here in Richmond, jaywalking is deciding you actually would like to be on the other side of the street and at that very moment, meandering into the road, preferably at a diagonal so you can spend as much time in traffic as possible, and strolling across the street at a leisurely pace, regardless of which cars were coming at that time or how many lanes of traffic it may be taking you to get to the other side. Also included in this are: walking down the middle of the street when there is a large sidewalk available, driving your motorized scooter down the middle of the street against traffic. Ironically, getting drivers to stop for you at a crosswalk is almost impossible. Who doesn't stop for a pregnant lady at a crosswalk?? At least 20 Richmond drivers in a row, that's who.
• Turn signals appear to be optional. Slightly pulled out into an intersection at a green light and not moving? A new guessing game! Are you: (a) stalled and can't go, (b) lost and don't know what's going on, (c) turning left but are confused as to how to communicate this to the other drivers, (d) stopped for an invisible family of ducklings that only you can see. Option C inevitably wins, but I still root for D. There need to be some billboards up about what the stick to the left of the steering wheel does to educate the public. We're constantly seeing wrecks on the freeways and I can only guess that they were among the large group of people that feel that letting people know you are changing lanes is an unnecessary wrist movement, particularly when you are busy on the phone. 
• Taxes here are confusing! I was excited about the 5% sales tax (compared to Seattle at almost 10%), until I realized that food is taxed here at 2.5% (way to support your low-income classes Richmond), and dining out food is taxed at something close to 12%. Which makes it very painful when you try to go out to Thai and have the worst Thai food you can imagine paying for, and terrible service, and still have to pay over $40 for it! Not to mention the fact that we'll have to pay VA income tax since we'll have been a resident for 2 days over their cut off. You would think with all this tax money that they could teach their residents some traffic safety and throw in a food waste collection program for composting!
• The dog park is a social mecca. Our most recent craigslist purchase (a bookshelf/dresser for the nursery) was from a couple that we had met at the dog park and they've offered to pick up a few more things from Ikea for us when they go, since it's a 2 hour drive out there and Ikea shipping is a bit ridiculous. Yesterday Rue took a treat from a stranger for the first time ever! It helped that the lady was giving them giant dog biscuits - who can pass that up?
• The peaches and tomatoes here are incredible. There is a great farmer's market about 15 minutes away, that's like the Ballard market, only you don't have to drive through awful traffic to get there or deal with horrible Ballard parking once you're there. The first time we went we bought 12 lbs of tomatoes and I made a bunch of tomato sauce, the next time we bought a huge bag of peaches and have been eating them every day! Not to mention the amazing freshly made donuts, super friendly vendors (can't find basil? the friendly tomato guy will tell you which vendor has some today), and lots of other delicious food (there is a bagel truck!). 
• The River park system here is incredibly. We've only checked out Belle Isle but have been very impressed. Rue also learned she loves water! Here are some photos from the expedition there a few weeks ago as a reward for getting through all these words (and a naked tomato photo, before I threw them all into the pot):