Things to do with kids in Roseville/Granite Bay?

[Ludachris]

Originally Posted by x15

In Granite Bay the median price home costs $540,000 and you are looking at buying a 400k home significantly cheaper then the median priced home.

DQNews - Sacramento Bee Zip Code Chart

In Navato and San Rafael, you can find multiple zipcodes where the median price of a home is less than the median price of a home in Granite Bay.
[94945,94947 and 94903]. Its also more expensive than Moss Beach or Pacifica. [94038 and 94044] and Petaluma, Santa Rosa or Sebastopol. [94952,94954,95409,95407,95405,95404,95403,95401 and 95472].

DQNews - San Francisco Chronicle Zip Code Chart

If you had family in Sacramento or you owned a Sacramento based business that meant that you had to be in Sacramento, in that situation, I can understand why you might want to live in Granite Bay. But when you don't and when you aren't that enthusiastic about living in Sacramento in the first place, I don't understand why you are looking for a place here.

If your goal is to live closer to family in the bay area, then why not actually live closer to them IN THE BAY AREA.

If you look at the people whose inner voice is telling them that they don't want to live in an area, generally when they move to that area, they spend a great deal of energy resenting it. Citygirl really never wanted to live in Seattle and was just unhappy the entire time she lived there. Mossy has never been particularly happy in any place she lived in the Sacramento region. She has moved often and none of the moves seems to have improved her outlook on Sacramento.

My hunch is that you too are in that category. It sounds like you were happy in Denver and in the bay area but you have doubts about the Sacramento region. Listen to those doubts.

It really does get hot in the summer time here. If you don't feel comfortable with that don't move here. You really can get socked in with fog in the winter time. If you don't feel comfortable with 4 weeks of no sunlight in the winter time again don't move here (we average about that much tule fog in an average year). If you don't like living in suburbia again, don't move to Sacramento. Its just about entirely suburban filled with big box retailers including the downtown grid area, which has a Target and for a while was going to get a Walmart too if the economy hadn't crashed. If that really bothers you, again, you really aren't going to like Sacramento.

There are people who grew up in the midwest and when they move here from Ohio or Indiana or Illinois they are really happy because they are used to living in flat suburban areas and the climate in Sacramento is much nicer than the one they had in the midwest, so moving here is a real improvement in the quality of their life. Those people love it here and get excited about the prospect of moving here.

But you aren't in the category. You have a lot of doubts. You really aren't sure that moving here is an improvement over what you had in Denver. Listen to those doubts. Moving is expensive and there is no reason to move to some place that you really aren't sure if you want to live there.

You seemed to like the bay area, you seemed to like Denver. You never have seemed that sold on Sacramento. That is okay. Not all people are meant for all locations.

We've found a number of homes we liked in Granite Bay for under $500k, all of which have highly rated public schools (which is the biggest factor in our area choices) - we haven't found any in the Bay Area that are comparable in that price range with schools that are as highly rated. Forget about the median price range, I'm talking actual homes and the schools that are near those homes. Again, we just don't care to sacrifice school districts and other things in order to scrape by in the bay area. We're not enthusiastic about living in the areas we can afford in the bay area.

We do have some family in the Sacramento area, though most live in the Bay Area. We don't think it'll be a big deal being a 2 hour drive away, especially now that we're a 2 hour flight away.

My biggest concern about moving anywhere in NorCal from where we're at now is that it's not going to be as nice as it is here, especially in the price range we're considering ($400k-$500k). In the Bay Area, it's almost impossible to find anything in that range that we'd be happy with in a good school district that compares to the area we live in now and the type of house we have. I'm working hard to convince my wife that it will be "almost as nice", as she loves it here and I can understand why. What we love about the bay area can be found on weekend trips once per month.

The hotter weather doesn't scare me as much as it does my wife - we quickly adapted to a colder climate, I'm sure we can adapt to a warmer one. And fog/rain don't bother me. Suburbia doesn't bother me, so long as the area has plenty of things do to as we have here.

What you take as me not being sold on Sacramento is my asking questions about an area we've never lived in. We know it's not the Bay Area, and in some cases, that's what we like about it. The areas in the Bay Area I like we cannot afford. And even if we could I don't know that I'd want to spend that much money to live in those places. I know that we'll be compromising no matter where we move to in NorCal compared to where we live now. I'm just trying to make sure we don't compromise too much. And Granite Bay, from what we've seen, seems to be a pretty good fit from the outside looking in.

And if it isn't, we'll be renting for a while to make sure. If we find that we absolutely can't stand it and think a shack in the bay area would serve our family better, we may try that. I was born and raised in the Bay Area. I'm not in a hurry to move back. I'd like to be close to it, but not in it - as hard as that is to believe. I know the typical bay area belief is that everyone would live there if they could. Having moved away, I can see how much we used to sacrifice to live there and we're not really willing to do that right now, especially now that we have kids.

[quasi888]

There are many parallels to the thinking process that my wife (and kids) and I went through when we were living in the Bay Area and contemplating moving to Roseville, and what Ludachris is experiencing now. We are proof that, yes, you can leave an area that you love and have firm attachments to, and move to the Sacramento area, and not only be happy, but embrace it as 'home'. Are there things we still miss about the Bay Area? Definitely. Is living in the Sacramento area a compromise? In many ways yes, yet, in many ways, no. At this stage in our lives (and that truly is the operative phrase), we have gained more by moving to Roseville than what we have lost by moving from SF. I can fully relate to Ludachris' reflection about how much we had to sacrifice when we lived in the Bay. Different sets of priorities as you go through life's stages.

Would I move back to the Bay Area (assuming we could afford to live wherever we wanted)? Probably. But then, that's the same thing I said over 20 years ago about L.A., when I had just moved up to Berkeley and was a freshman at Cal, and was planning on moving back immediately after graduating. You just never know where you'll call 'home'.

[CADRMNDANES]

Originally Posted by Ludachris

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

You're welcome!
Also have your wife check out this website. ~~ Sierra Moms ~~ Friends, Family, Community

[CADRMNDANES]

Originally Posted by wburg

Just so you know, almost none of those things are in the sub-suburb of Granite Bay. Except for a handful of items, all of them are in Roseville, in Sacramento, or are an hour or more away by car.



No, what she has been told is exactly right--and it's also exactly what the above poster told you. There are plenty of things for you to do near Granite Bay--all you have to do is hop in your car and drive to them. But relatively few will actually be located in Granite Bay.

I have to disagree!

When they were small we took them almost every day to different parks in GB or Roseville.

Zoo in Folsom. **Less then 15 minutes away. **

Swimming lessons at Johnson ranch. Swimming lessons in Loomis.
(Johnson Ranch is a health club. Also has tennis lessons).
**Less then 1 minute from GB actually on the border of GB & Roseville**

Swimming/fishing/boating at Folsom Lake (Only a block from us).**There are two GB entrances.**

Library holds story time (also large book stores) GB Library
**Borders books is on Douglas 5 minutes from GB**


Music & Art Lessons at Children's Creative Arts Center **In GB**

Tricks Gymnastics and Polka Dots Dance Studio **GB/Roseville Border**

Horse riding lessons. **In GB**

Soccer**In GB**
Baseball**In GB**
Tennis**In GB**
Riding Bikes**In GB**
Golf lessons for kids at little golf course on Eureka Rd. **In GB**
Indoor playgrounds from bounce houses to climbing centers.
***Some are in Roseville, Rocklin, Rancho Cordova and Folsom
Less then 30 minutes****

John’s incredible pizza company ***In Roseville. Less then 15 minutes***

Golfland SunSplash ****In Roseville by HWY 80***

Magic Circle Repertory Theatre ****In Roseville***

Antique Trove ***In Roseville***

two hours of both the Pacific Ocean and the Sierra Mountain Range.

Denio's Farmers Market ***In Roseville***

Movie Theatres ***In Roseville***

Mall Galleria at Roseville ***In Roseville***

Camping

Gold Panning **depends on where you go 45 minutes to couple of hours**
Gold Mines & Caverns

Trips to Old Sacramento - Train Museum is their fav. **30 min**

Other Museums in Sacramento **30 min**

Rivercats Baseball Games **30 min**

Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville (close to GB) has a wonderful park and Indian Museum ***In Roseville*** Close to the GB/Roseville border

The fairgrounds in Roseville always has activities. ***In Roseville***

Apple Hill (by Placerville) in the fall. ***Less then an hour***

Old fashion holiday festivals in Grass Valley or Nevada City.
*** 45 minutes***

Six Flags & Marine World in the Bay Area. **1.45 hours**

San Francisco **2 hours**

Nimbus Fish Hatchery ***close to Folsom 15 minutes***

Jelly Belly factory. Less then 2 hours

[CADRMNDANES]

I have family members in the Bay Area also. Would I want to move there? No.
They are planning on moving when they retire.

[CADRMNDANES]

Originally Posted by x15

.

In the winter time when the tule fog comes in you can go for weeks without seeing the sun and in the summer time its gets really hot. I understand why people who could only afford to live in West Oakland, or Richmond decide to move to Sacramento, but you can afford to buy into a nice part of the bay area, so why move to the Sacramento region?

You don't have to settle for Sacramento so why are you settling for Sacramento?

Granite Bay is NOT Sacramento. We don't get a lot of fog here in the winter. Usually when it's foggy in Sac, it's not here. We are at the base of the foothills.

[wburg]

Originally Posted by CADRMNDANES

I have to disagree!

No, we agree--there are lots of things to do in nearby cities like Roseville, Folsom and Sacramento, as well as within the region.

[d_deathrage]

The Tule Fog is normally tops out between 1000 and 1500 ft. Granite Bay is around 430 ft.

If you live their expect tule fog. If you want to get away from the majority of the fog head up to Auburn at 1230 ft or elevations higher than that.

[CADRMNDANES]

The Tule Fog is nothing like Roseville, Sac, South Sac, Elk Grove or Stockton areas. If there is any, it burns off quickly.

[sms1967]

Good luck finding a Marin or Orinda home for the same price as Granite Bay. If you can do an 840 square foot, 2 bedroom being held up with duct tape, it's yours for the taking at $500k. If you want more home than that, better head east... GB, El Dorado Hills, Rocklin and Folsom all offer that.