Most Peaceful & Sunny Place in Nor Cal? Fortuna? Redding? (Santa Rosa: crime, how much)

[noihoforus]

Check out Nevada County.

[.highnlite]

Hands down, the sunniest and most peaceful place in North CA, Fort Bidwell, not only dogs sleep in the street, but horses too, a close second is Cedarville.

[Pacifico]

Though not quite Norcal, you may want to consider the central coast. Specifically San Luis Obispo and surrounding locales like Paso Robles, Santa Maria, Morro Bay, Nipomo etc. However, SLO isn't exactly affordable and in spite of the good number of retirees in the area, finding abundant employment in the healthcare sector may be a challenge. Actually that goes for most types of jobs there.
As for Norcal, some potentials that come to mind are: Santa Rosa, Chico/Paradise, Ukiah, American Canyon?, and the stretch of towns from Sacto to the NV border (Roseville, Grass Valley, Lincoln to name a few)
In Socal some possibilities might include Santa Clarita, murrieta/temecula. Though three aren't quite as scenic or beautiful as all the above.

[StandingLenticular]

I've enjoyed Paradise, CA so far. Cooler and greener than the valley with decent amenities including a couple theaters. Need more? Chico is only a 15-20 minute drive and has a University, lectures, arts, a great music scene, some of the best local food in the nation, and one heckuva park.

[caligirlz]

Folsom Folsom Website - Homepage

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by pch1013

Fortuna is *not* sunny, at least compared to areas farther inland.

I would add that Fortuna is not sunny even when compared to the more overcast parts of the Bay Area right along the coast.

[oldtrader]

Fortuna average 177 sunny days, and 177 rainy days per year. Average is 48 inches of rain per year, and high of 69 in July and 40 in January. Cool year around, without getting real cold in winter. Forget about snow most years, then if snows gone in short matter of hours.

[Redding sucks]

Looking for peaceful & sunny place in CA. Redding would be the last place to consider. It's anything but peaceful unless you like: axe murderers burning their victims alive, 5th most unsafe city for women, more panhandlers then street corners, over 600 sex offenders, over 200 recently released prison inmates bused in to master their craft & with few law enforcement officers that care about the area because their jobs are being cut. Redding was the worst place I've ever lived & glad to have gotten my wife & I out. Most if not all those things you mentioned can be found in the Santa Cruz,CA area. If you live close to the beach you'll have some fog, but just inland as little as 1 or 2 miles you get little fog. If you're remotely interested in Redding go spend a few days there. Go to the shopping areas, the parks, downtown - you will want to run away as fast as you can. My wife never went to town without a loaded gun, & we had to have loaded guns at home. Home invasions are very common. Mostly what you'll see walking around town are aggresive panhandlers in every parking lot, & tweakers walking around talking to themselves & cursing any normal looking person. Tweakers are scary, dangerous & totally unpredictable with one exception - they all steal from you given the opportunity. Shasta County sheriffs dept will not do anything to help you if you see or know of drug activity - they refuse to arrest known meth dealers & their buyers. I know this from personal experience. Our neighbor was a known meth dealer with a long rap sheet, a felon, had outstanding warrants & the sheriffs dept refused to do anything. I'm so glad to have my family & myself out of there. Check out Santa Cruz, you might like the natural beauty & the unique people you meet there. Good luck.

[CousinMaynard]

idk about recommending ukiah or any town in mendo county to someone looking for family friendly atmosphere.

its basically adverstised itself via the news that it is one of the drug capitals of the country and has attracted that element. the county had to finally have a referendum to go back to stricter cultivation laws it got so bad. its also the best/most lax county in the state to be a welfare bum. not accusing everyone up there of being a dopehead lowlife, i know good people up there. but nobody whos spent time there could deny its an issue. and unfortunately, the economy hasnt been to kind the logging and fishing industries as of late, the area's biggest chunk of legit economy.

san jose/the south bay is one of the sunniest areas in the entire country, an average of 320 sunny days per year i think. there are first growth redwoods up in the santa cruz mountains, and the ocean is at the bottom of those mountains. of course there are salty neighborhoods here too. there are also areas you'd never that element existed.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by CousinMaynard

San Jose/the south bay is one of the sunniest areas in the entire country, an average of 320 sunny days per year i think. there are first growth redwoods up in the santa cruz mountains, and the ocean is at the bottom of those mountains. of course there are salty neighborhoods here too. there are also areas you'd never that element existed.

This is true but San Jose fails the affordability test.