a midwesterner's adventures in northern california: Forest Knolls

The area I live and work in is sort of strange, in that it's very rural yet less than 10 minutes from a very urban area.

This is as big as I could get it... that tiny green arrow is
Forest Knolls. Fairfax is the nearest urban area. You
might want to google map it yourself to see better.

By rural, I mean there are cows, turkeys, and horses along the main road going through. Mitch & Julie's neighbors have chickens. Woodacre, the town my mom stayed the night in, is very residential but there are horses right smack dab in the middle and a goose that honks constantly across the street from a cottage I might live in.

Horses, in the middle of the residential area!

So it's sort of like the edge of the Chicago suburbs, except it's a lot closer to the city.

I feel compelled to make a list of differences:
-Each town seems more tightly packed. Tight streets, tight houses, few big fancy yards and long driveways to get to the garage are rare.
-Few chains! No big strip a la Randall Road or North Prospect or Roosevelt Road. I haven't seen a McDonalds, Target, Burger King, or Taco Bell in days. Granted, I have seen A subway and A Jack in the box, and beyond that I probably wouldn't recognize a California Chain.
-It's hilly (majorly hilly), so there's no grid system. I constantly have no idea which way is North and it's a little uncomfortable.
-Gas prices are different when paid by cash versus credit/debit and are advertised as such: