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Boy, you must not live anywhere near Silicon Valley where I live, LOL!</p>
<p>I too grew up in So Cal, left after H.S. and have lived all over since, now on the East Coast. I’ve gone back for reunions and family visits, etc. I miss some parts and not others. I do not miss the smog, traffic and high cost of living. People measure distance there by “commuting time” and not mileage. I do miss terribly the beautiful mountains after the Santa Anna winds clear out the smog, esp after a snow fall. I miss living 1hr from the beach, mountains and desert all at the same time. I like going back to visit, but as they say, you never can go back home.</p>
<p>The northern part of Calif is several magnitudes grander than south. </p>
<p>There’s nothing like Carmel-BigSur-Monterey Pennisula anywhere. Unmatched grandeur of Yosemite. Every parts of Lake Tahoe has distinct character. Skiing is superb (have I mentioned Sqaw Valley yet ? ). If you travel furthter up mystic fogg-shrouded Mendocino Coast you will find the majestic giant redwood forests. Then of course I left my heart in you mean where. Northern California I wish I never left you golden gate.</p>
<p>By comparison, much of Los Angeles feels like a third world city. Beside beautiful beaches, much of Socal is endless urban sprawl, the the inland areas are hot and smoggy.</p>
<p>Ahhh yes. Endless sprawl, strip malls, mundane housing developments, traffic, ridiculous housing/apartment prices. </p>
<p>I can’t wait to leave.(from the far Northern Bay Area/Wine Country, here)</p>
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<p>I think you are confusing a couple of different definitions of “laid back.” California laid back does not mean unmotivated or lazy; it means casual, open, and friendly, as opposed to uptight and formal.</p>
<p>If it were a separate country California would have either the 6th or 7th largest economy in the world, depending on what sort of a year France had. It didn’t get that way by being filled with a bunch of people devoid of serious motives.</p>
<p>Emeraldkity, I have to say that I love California as well. It is difficult for me to justify reasons to go there, since I have little business there, but, I love it. Especially San Francisco. I have not been there for many years but I loved it and I did not want to leave. If I could justify some reason to live there I would. I am going to make it a priority to spend some vacation time there as soon as it is practical.</p>
<p>edvest1:</p>
<p>Head due east from San Diego and you don’t have to go far at all before being in the Cuyamaca mountains with pine trees and shortly after that dropping into a pristine desert landscape - in the largest state park in the country - Anza Borrego desert state park. It has some beautiful and wild landscapes and you can easily be places where you’re the only one for miles around. </p>
<p>The Mojave desert, Death Valley, San Bernardino mountains, southern Sierra range, southern coastline, etc. are all also beautiful locations. All of California from the southern end to the northern end and the central portion are all very nice and quite varied. </p>
<p>I agree with you about how nice the Monterey area is - I used to scuba dive there a lot when I lived in the Bay area. I also used to ski the Tahoe area as well as go camping there. Now I just go to Mammoth or June mountain or sometimes southwest Utah and even to the San Bernardino mountains for skiing.</p>
<p>I’m no fan of big city areas so I’m not crazy about the LA basin or the Bay area but it’s also nice to have places to work and some commerce I suppose. Even though San Diego is a large metropolitan area and has its share of traffic problems and freeways I somehow get a different feeling here than in the other two big metro areas of California. It could be because there’s still open and wild land closeby here and the mountains and large hills break up the metro area.</p>
<p>Not all of Ca has traffic!
Emeraldkity- I hope you also had the pleasure of flying in and out of our wonderful little airport.</p>
<p>Northern California sounds heavenly, especially places like Carmel and Monterey. Does anyone live in or near these areas? Sadly, I’ve never been west of Dallas :(, so I have to rely on The Travel Chanel to get a glimpse of them.</p>
<p>But no one yet has mentioned the earthquakes. You natives----how many quakes have you experienced? Were you around when the Northridge one hit?</p>
<p>Poetsheart:
I’ve experienced a bunch of earthquakes but no bad ones. Many of them are hard to tell for certain whether they’re quakes or not because they’re barely felt or heard. Others leave little doubt. I’ve lived in California for over 30 years now and have yet to have anything knocked off a shelf or anything. The most active fault line is the San Andreas and other faults close to it. That doesn’t run through San Diego however. It’s way east of here in the desert then runs up through LA and then up through the Bay area so they usually have worst quakes. IMO the risk associated with quakes is generally far less than living in areas with tornados (which are virtually non-existent here), hurricanes, snow, ice, and severe thunderstorms (also rare here). Quakes certainly can show you the power of mother nature though and like many natural events, it’s only a matter of time before it strikes someplace.</p>
<p>Clint Eastwood lives in Carmel - used to be the mayor. It’s a pretty expensive area to live. Monterey has a CalState U. The weather there is typical Northern California coastal with a fair amount of low hanging clouds and cold air right on the coast but it’s particularly beautiful when it’s sunny out. This weather changes just a couple miles straight inland where the low-hanging clouds suddenly disappear and it’s brighter and warmer. This is all caused by the influence of the cold ocean water. The ocean is interesting in that area since a lot of the coast is protected by bays and thus has fairly calm water. There are a fair amount of seals, sea otters, and the like. Scuba diving in the kelp forests is interesting but the water’s always cold so it means a full wet suit with hood, gloves, booties which is a bit of a pain (but not as painful as the cold water).</p>
<p>I think you should come visit.</p>
<p>Which Northridge one? There’s been more than one bad one. My aunt and uncle from Northridge have lived through a lot of them, 2 of them pretty bad.</p>
<p>One advantage of San Diego living is that it doesn’t seem to be afflicted by bad earthquakes as some areas of Southern California. But we’ve had two horrendous wildfires in the past 5 years.</p>
<p>Speaking of earthquakes: I am a 5th generation Californian by birth and my family has experienced many of the recent quakes in one way or another. A series of small quakes hit SF after one ancestor arrived in 1850; family members offered aid and assistance during the earthquake that hit SF in 1906 since they lived out of the path of the fires and in the Golden Gate Park area and on Lafayette Square; Most missed it though since many lived in the mother lode at the time; my mom told me about being with her father who was doing surveying in 1925 in Santa Barbara when that quake hit; I remember the Concord quake in 1955 very well, it was my first experience with an earthquake; my sister’s home had structural damage during the Loma Prieta quake in 1989; my cousin’s home was rebuilt after that quake as well; I was affected by the Sylmar in 1971, I felt it; living in LA for some of my life little quakes happened rather often.</p>
<p>I am more afraid of tornados, hurricanes and the like. I guess it is what you are used to. I live in an earthquake zone now and I roll with them when they roll through. I guess every area has its good and bad.</p>
<p>I graduated from HS on the Monterey Penninsula and lived in California through part of my college years. My mom moved us there to be near family friends back in the days when Pacific Grove wasn’t much more expensive than other places in the USA. Nature was so integrated into the fabric of life there, a constant presence, with the sea all around, the little stands of forest running through the town. </p>
<p>Last winter I spent some time there with my kids. I’d move back there in a heartbeat, save the price of housing. The coast is always there, the nature infused lifestyle, the Bach Festival in Carmel. the value placed on poetry and whimsy. Though there has been some development, it feels a timeless place. </p>
<p>My family left partially due to long term fears about the earthquake danger. Here in tornado country where I now live, we do have basements. In an earthquake, a doorway seems little protection. Now I think, how silly. Should have lived in the place I love the most, risks be damned. But events carry one along. </p>
<p>The SF Bay area is seems quite intense these days, with the traffic, the oppressive mortgages, the parking, the development. I lived in California in a gentler time. But rather than laid back, I felt that people lived in California with a bit more passion than elsewhere, less bound by societal constraints. Innovation is appreciated, rather than looked at with mistrust. So the artwork is brighter, the cuisine more innovative, writing, computer development, business development, etc are affected. Awareness of the Pacific Rim placement influences things. I think life is just plain more fun, in a spectacular setting.</p>
<p>I have never been to the Bay Area or the Shastas. I have never been mid-coast. I have been to Lake Tahoe many times. I have been to the Southern California coastal area for my last time.
I have no problem with the scenery, the topo, the flora, or the fauna and I envy the temps. It’s just that there are so many people at all the fun stuff. So many at all the pretty stuff, too. </p>
<p>Southern California, the Land of Lines. (I don’t do lines.)</p>
<p>Some of the prettiest stuff in California to my mind are the oak studded ranch lands of the coastal range. Rolling hills, open space down to the cliffs and sea. There’s always coastal access somewhere, or trails into wilderness, so all can enjoy, and where I go, it’s not crowded.</p>
<p>I’ve wondered, do California people take their scenery for granted? The climate is one thing, but those mountains, cliffs, the ocean…</p>
<p>First time there, from the flattest part of the East Coast where we live (the shore), I couldn’t believe the place. This is the US? Closest we have is the beautiful Maine coast, similar but with much smaller cliffs and mountains.</p>
<p>Around here everyone goes to Florida (how many times can you go to Disneyworld?), never venturing out West. It amazes me how many NJ people have never been to California. Other than warm winters, admittedly a big plus, FL to me is NJ with palm trees. Our vacations are often to CA. Been all over the state by now, still can’t get enough of it. </p>
<p>Last time was a couple years ago, in SoCal (do CA people use that term, or is it like “Frisco”). Visited nephew, a Dartmouth student who, along with a bunch of his D friends, was taking winter term at UCSB (they must be on the same calendar). At the end they were in tears…he said had they not been at a school like Dartmouth half of them would have transferred.</p>
<p>People who don’t live in CA are often frightened of earthquakes way out of proportion to the actual danger. Here in San Diego you feel the ground shake a bit every now and then, but nobody ever gets hurt or has their house destroyed.</p>
<p>If you want to be afraid of something in SoCal, fear the wind-driven wildfires. We had huge fires in 2003 and again last year. Both times more than 2000 homes were destroyed here in San Diego county - more than 4000 gone in less than five years. All the earthquakes in the entire history of California combined never destroyed 4000 homes.</p>
<p>“Nature was so integrated into the fabric of life there, a constant presence, with the sea all around, the little stands of forest running through the town.”</p>
<p>What a great line, GreatLakesMom. Makes me want to jump in my car and go…</p>
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Not “Southern California”. The correct term would be “LA basin” and parts of San Diego. The majority of Southern California is empty and wild. </p>
<p>If one sticks to just the few miles along the coastal strip in Southern California it is built up though. I’m always thankful for Camp Pendleton separating San Diego county from Orange county and offering some natural coastal land.</p>
<p><a href=“I%20don’t%20do%20lines.”>quote</a>
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I have the same sentiment. </p>
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One nice thing - no private beaches in California and a requirement for beach access in areas with private development.</p>