ChadBrad wrote:
I make a ton of money, can afford the real estate and taxes, like being within a few hours of the most beautiful coastline and mountains in the world, Hawaii is an easy weekend trip, weather is great, my healthcare at Stanford and UCSF is world class because world class docs like living here, pot has no discernible effect on anything, and crime is only bad in the bad neighborhoods like everywhere else.
The real question is why don't people live here? Answer: they aren't good enough to compete in the economic engine of America. Every state tries to recreate Silicon Valley every few years and they always fail. California is for winners. Losers slink off to Seattle to talk about how great the coffee is in the rain. Then Seattles losers go to Portland and do the same thing.
yeah, not really the case. Some people just like different things. I lived in LA for years and had a great job but gladly left California for the NW first chance I got and haven't once thought about returning, even for a visit. Had several job offers to return to LA but would only consider it as an emergency option. Yeah I'll take a road trip down there someday and Northern California definitely has some areas worth visiting, but the southern half of the state has almost no appeal to me. There's also just something about the general LA attitude that I can't stand, and if you are living in LA, all the nice areas in the state are farther away than they look on the map due to traffic.
And for what it's worth, I much prefer the Oregon coast to the Southern California coast. I never made it to Yosemite, but here's part of the reason why:
"Each year, Yosemite National Park welcomes over five million visitors. If you’re visiting Yosemite in the summer, particularly Yosemite Valley, expect extremely high visitor concentrations, resulting in extended traffic delays, extremely limited parking, busy trails, and no lodging or campground availability. Expect delays of an hour or more at entrance stations and two to three hours in Yosemite Valley. "
yeah, no thanks. Enough of life in LA is already built around traffic schedules, I couldn't stand to have my outdoor recreation dictated by the traffic seasons as well.