Quote:
Originally Posted by Jammie
Wow and California and Hawaii were always the "dream" states that everyone wanted to live in. They seem to have their negatives, too.
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Well, you take the good with the bad. I love California, and couldn't imagine living anywhere else, but much of the state's natural beauty is directly related to the natural disasters that plague us. You can't have rising mountain ranges (which are still growing) without volcanoes, earthquakes, and mudslides. You can't have extremely dense and varied plant/animal life without the excessive precipitation totals, which in turn cause floods, avalanches, and terrific winter storms. If you're smart about it, California's natural disasters (with the big exception of forest fires) are very avoidable. We don't get hurricanes (well, we had one back in the 1850's), or devastating tornadoes (though we do get lots of small ones), so things could be worse. The trick is, look at the topography like a scientist, and realize that everything exists because of powerful (and sometimes dramatic) natural processes. It makes the geography (and geology) a lot more interesting!