Calling All California Transplants

[jrussell]

I moved to Northern Va in 1972 from north of Los Angeles.

The longer you live in NOVA the worst your allergies get. I suppose this is due to pollen in Spring and Fall and mold in Winter.

The thing that I cannot understand and was confirmed by a recent trip to southern california, is the thing that I call "outside smell" in Virginia. It is something that we take for granted in Virginia. If you have a business meeting in the early spring to late fall you aviod being outside ... even if it is NOT hot and you don't sweat. It has nothing to do with your sweat glands and happens to skinny women and little children. If you even just open an outside door and stick your head outside for a minute, you will take on a weird odor. When I went to California recently I experienced no such phenomenon even when running around or being in a car in traffic all day.

I have a friend from New Mexico who visited Va this year and confirmed that it DOES NOT exist there either.

I suppose this "dog breath" phenomenon is due to pollen, mold, clay soil, and perhaps TOO MANY POLITICIANS per square mile (LOL). GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even with all of the people crammed into too little space in Ca, there is not this foul odor.

......... as further comparison points:

First let me preface this with this : I am a white conservative wasp ... I am what you might call a "lib".

The people in Ca are much friendlier and less fake than people in Va. I moved here (as I said in 1972) and wore a lot of collarless but colorful tshirts versus white collared shirts or collared tshirts and kids here made fun of me asking what country I was from and why I was wearing pajamas to school. By the way, I am white and blond. A kid moved from Germany and had an accent. Kids were unmerciful with him ... an Aryan European This did not happen in Ca. I was the only person who treated this "foreigner" with respect.

People in Northern Virginia are ignorant and at the same time selfish and arrogant. Most people are too busy to stop and talk, will not "let anyone in" in traffic, ask "how are you" and then do not pause to hear an answer (they don't really care how you are doing), and find all kinds of ways to elevate themselves over others .. be it what kind of car they drive, where they went to school, how many plastic surgeries they and their wives had had, etc. Often times people with more money & with a lot of education are more "open minded". Somehow this does not happen in NOVA.

As far as the traffic in NOVA versus the traffic in CA ... people in Ca will let you in. And do not ask for directions in VA , people will give you the wrong directions just to be cruel. As far as traffic goes, the state of Virginia takes tax revenue from NOVA and spends it on roads in the rest of the state. NOVA has 4% of the land in VA but 25% of the people. Most of the state is experiencing a population loss and yet their roads are being improved. NOVA is growing and might have 50% of the population in as little as 15 yrs ... but will have maybe 2% better roads.

If you are thinking of moving to NOVA DONT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[needtoescape]

I think the 25 years that you have been away from Southern California shows in this post. Things have changed here in a HUGE way.

[Hazel Eyes]

Originally Posted by Sunset_Va

Fostoria

My "Southern Hospitality" is wearing thin with people trying to escape other areas problems and not stay and face them where they live currently. I have no doubts you will not be a burden on where ever you chose to live. My experience with a few of the people that have moved to this area, has been they try to instill their former way of life to this area instead of adapting to local ways of living. Not always, most of the people that move to this area bring much personality and friendliness.

As long as transplants don't bring their issues to Va, welcome.

This has been my home for lifelong, I am not prejudiced, and did not mean to offend you. But in the end, realize you are condemning me for speaking my mind whereas, in your post, and the other comments, the "Mexican Transplants" you are detesting so much, you are essentially saying...."Stay In Mexico". I realize the debate, illegal vs legal.

Did not mean to come across here as a harbinger of ill feelings.

The only difference with Californians, aka, U.S. citizens and illegal aliens are, we are American and we speak ENGLISH...And, our "California ways" were instilled in us by our parents who were from other states..

BTW..My ancestors started their new life in America in Westmoreland County, Virginia in the 1600's ...Maybe they didn't feel welcomed in Virginia and that's why they moved on to Georgia..Hmmmm

[Ulysses61]

I'm a native Southern California, but lived in the Appomattox area of Virginia for one year. I love Virginia, the countryside and the friendliness of the people. However, the oppresive humidity made me leave. It was absolutely unendurable, also the bugs at night.

Virginia is a much cheaper place to live than in California. You can get a gorgeous home for $500,000. You can't get much in a good area for that in California. Before moving to VA, I would definitely visit and spend some time there. You may experience culture shock. I did feel "compelled" to visit church on Sunday, (I never went), but this was rural VA, away from DC.

[badger74]

As a former resident of SoCal (Thousand Oaks) and Seattle, the weather is not really a plus except for Fall which I loved. Summers are hot stormy and HUMID. It's very buggy compared to the West Coast. You just have to adjust to it. What we love are the old things and sense of history that is immediate and everywhere. The WC has no history to speak of. If you don't appreciate the old you will miss much of what there is to like. The other things we like are the abundant country roads, farms, and mountains. The best thing of course is the LOW COL. A retirement income will go twice as far in central VA than most anywhere on the WC. And it is sunnier than Seattle.