This week is our last in San Francisco—after four years as city-dwellers. It also marks the end of five years of California living since I moved to Santa Rosa from North Carolina. For Stephanie it’s been nine since she moved from France. On Sunday we’ll be picking up a rental car to begin our journey across the country (to catch a boat in Philly). I’m sure we’ll be back, I’m just not sure when or for how long.

Which means this week we pack. We’ve already spent the last several weeks selling most of our furniture, (in truth I’ve been getting rid of stuff since January), so the hope is that we’ll be leaving with much less than we came with (or accumulated over the years). Then on Friday we’ll be taking everything that’s left up to a 5×5′ storage unit in Santa Rosa where it will remain for the next year or so.

What’s important enough to keep? Books—a lot of which are cookbooks. We still have CDs—need to rip some for the trip. Pottery and objets d’art. All of our kitchen stuff. A select few pieces of small furniture. Clothes—some of which we’ll be leaving with my parents in Austin (so we have something to wear when we return). And that’s pretty much it.

It’s a little funny thinking we won’t be seeing any of our stuff for a year or more. But it’s also kind of refreshing, like we’re creating a personal time capsule. Complete with inventory in Google Docs!