Central Cali - Best Cities - Which ones do you prefer?? (Fresno: home, private schools)

[Snort]

Hey, cynscooking!
Please tell me your story about living in France. It's always been a dream of mine to live there some day. How was/is your experience there? I'm a coastal California mouse, so, unfortunately, can't give an opinion about Exeter. I can tell you that Lompoc has grown quite a bit over the past decade or two, adding a nice sushi place and some big box stores. Orcutt is a bit more sedate and residential (also with a nice restaurant- Chez Rick) and really just a satellite to Santa Maria. Excellent winery nearby named Rancho Sisquoc.

[cynscooking]

Just wanted to say thank you to rkbo305 & Adriatica. Its hard finding a place to live and any information helps! Thanks again..

Hey, Snort
What would you like to know about France. I love it but love home "california" I love more! In France there is great food, its very pretty and if you like wine it is soooo cheap! As for food every department or county has there own specialty dish or cake, bread ect. It reflects what the community fiinds in its own back yard. I am sorry to say that for me the food is fresher and tastier in France. You do not find GMO, the meat has less or no horomons added and the fruit is better too. That is why I would like to move some where with a farmers market. :-) The country is very pretty and there is lots to visit, what would you like to know?
Maybe you can give me a little more information about Lompoc, as I am looking into that area too. Its about the only beach city thats in my budget. Are there hills and open spaces, any trees, and parks? Are the people nice and open minded? My husband practices physical thearpy and acupuncture. Do you think that would work in Lompoc?

Thanks again,

[NorthernCalifornia]

Cali is an awful term.

Try Merced.

[NorthernCalifornia]

Chico/Paradise area probably just got a lot cheaper, fire surely scared away some people. If you're in the construction/building trades there's probably some work for you there, too. In terms of the physical environment it's much nicer than anywhere in the Central Valley proper.

[cynscooking]

I do not like cali either but its not that big of a deal, I am originally from Southern California and we say so. cal. .. Thanks for the help everyone... I will look into Merced... Lompoc looks nice too.

[impala666]

Central Cali - Best Cities - Which ones do you prefer??


Confites...San Antonio...San Nicolas.

[SanAntoQT]

I lived in Madera, just south of Fresno, for a couple of years in the mid 90's. It wasn't a bad little town then, but don't know how much it's grown since then. Of course, I would warn you to steer clear of my ex-MIL...the original wicked witch of the west! *lol*

[JoeyT]

BTW I prefer to call it ****hole.

Is that he*l-hole or sh*t-hole?

[JAF1976]

Originally Posted by MWJamesLDS

Some one was just asking about Visalia, I wrote a decently long post on it. Its a nice central CA city. just under 120,000 people, the metro is about 3x that. Close to the mountains, 2 hours to the beach, 3 to LA. Cheap rent in nice homes. Lots of good people, nice parks. Oh I just realized its the same poster.

Anyway, other nice part about visalia is that it is only 45 to Fresno, lots of people commute to it from visalia. So if there is something you want to do that visalia doesn't have, fresno probably will.

If I had to choice of anywhere in the central valley it would be either visalia, or exeter. Visalia has it's fair share of gangs, and crime but it's a nice mid sized town, and there seems to be money there.(or at least there used to be)

[Snort]

I used to live for years in Santa Barbara and always seem to gravitate back. Now my wife and I are up in the Santa Cruz area (at least for one year) and then we'll see.
Anyway, Lompoc is a still very 'small town'. I'd guess it's mostly Mexican nowadays, but there's a little mix of other nationalities. I've heard there are some gang issues, but I don't know if it's really all that big a deal. Lompoc seems pretty sleepy. As far as beaches go, you won't find anything really close by as in other towns in SoCal. Jalama is a nice, but windy beach down a windy road. Surf is another beach beyond the railroad tracks, but has been closed off the last few times I visited over the years (snowy plover nesting). Lompoc is still very agricultural and I think most people would enjoy escapes to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara for a little more life and variety.
Lompoc also has Vandenberg, which is just north of town. You'd probably get to see a missile or two launch every so often.
Lompoc is fairly arid, but you get cool breezes almost every day, including summer. There are some open spaces for sure, but I don't find it the prettiest landscape. The 'parks' in town are not really developed and nothing to write home about. La Purisima Mission though is very nice and worth a visit. I think they still do an operational farm a la olden times. The people are as friendly as most places. This is not a snobbish or yuppie town by any stretch of anyone's imagination. I'd guess they're pretty down-to-earth. I couldn't say if acupuncture would be popular there (maybe better in Santa Barbara), but I think physical therapy would be in demand anywhere.
About France, I've always liked it when passing through. I've lived in Ireland, Italy, and Spain for years, but always thought France was beautiful. I wish I could find a way to make a living there.