146 Ridgewood Drive
San Rafael, California
Front of House
(Intervac No. USC 3734)
Home Exchange
Website


Who we are: Peter and Mary Jo Bassing. We are middle-aged. ("middle" if one lives 110-120 years). We have a grown daughter, on her own. We are both lawyers. Peter practices law in San Rafael and Mary Jo is retired. We love to travel. We have exchanged houses on one occasion, as have friends and relatives, and we now have good friends in Europe whom we got to know as a result of such exchanges.

Where we live: Our house is ideally situated in the city of San Rafael, in Marin County, California. Marin County is the county immediately north of San Francisco; it is at the other end of the Golden Gate bridge. San Rafael is in about the middle of the county. To give you an idea of the size of Marin County, you can drive from the Golden Gate Bridge, where Marin begins in the south, to where Sonoma County begins, in about 40 minutes. The whole area (including San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, the "East Bay" (Berkeley, Oakland), Santa Clara County ("Silicon Valley") and the Peninsula) is referred to as "the San Francisco Bay Area" or simply the "Bay Area".

Thumbnail Bay Area Map Click HERE for a Bay Area map.

Napa and Sonoma counties, just north and northeast, are well known for their vineyards and wineries. In fact, many tourists come to the Bay Area just to visit the "wine country" of the Napa and Sonoma valleys, which are about an hour from our house and make an easy day trip. Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties are mostly agricultural or wilderness, and offer many opportunities for hiking, biking and other outdoor activities. It is only 200 meters from our front door to an entrance into an "open space" area of 130 hectares(320 acres) with extensive hiking trails and interesting vistas. Marin has the added advantage of being very close to San Francisco (25-35 minutes) and to several beaches -- including Point Reyes National Seashore-- and is itself a popular tourist destination.

San Rafael is also very close, in time (about 30 minutes), to Berkeley. The original campus of the University of California is in Berkeley, and the town itself has the cultural offerings found in a university community as well as its own particular identity.

The Sierra Nevada mountains, including Lake Tahoe and many ski areas, are a three-hour drive, and Reno, Nevada is not much farther. You can reach Yosemite National Park in about 4.5 hours.

Our house is on a quiet street in the hills, about a five minute drive from the center of town and Highway 101, a main north-south route in Northern California, and our proximity to it makes travel to other parts of the area simple.


Compass Rose Click HERE for a Map of our location

The house: We have a two car garage, a garden in front, and a deck and small private garden in the rear. The house has a very open feeling. The living room, dining room and kitchen have many widows and spectcular views of San Francisco Bay and parts of Marin, Sonoma and Napa Counties. Just below us is architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Marin Civic Center.

The kitchen has modern appliances including a dishwasher, garbage disposal, double oven, microwave, and an automatic ice maker in the refrigerator. A clothes washer and dryer are in the garage. Most of the garden is watered by an automatic sprinkler system.

You may have use of our computer, with a high-speed DSL line for internet access. If you have a laptop with wireless you can use your own, throughout the house, as the internet line is routed through a wireless access point.

The house is about 1,750 square feet (160M2), excluding the garage. It has seven rooms: a living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms -- one of which we use as a home office-- and a "family room" for TV/DVDs. There are two bathrooms. We appreciate your not smoking in the house, although you can go out on the deck to smoke.

The car: You will have the use of our 2003 Honda CRV automobile with automatic transmission and air conditioning. The car seats five comfortably.