Is it normal to have fallen in love with California? (live, expensive)

[Plantweed]

Originally Posted by jen5276

So true, unlike NYC (where I am stuck at the moment) which equals high living costs, LOW quality of life. I can't for the life of me figure out why people love it here...

They love the smell of liquid garbage in the morning; smells like...victory.

[jen5276]

Originally Posted by Plantweed

They love the smell of liquid garbage in the morning; smells like...victory.

lol! so true. The smells, especially in the summer, are so bad.

[asitshouldbe]

It is normal and the obsession can drive you to the poor house at least in my case, temporarily anyway.
Our first visit was in 2003, I was bit by the California bug, when I got home I was obsessed with thinking and daydreaming about in CA. The smells, the landscape, the people, the weather, the everything.
I could not get enough, we had to go back every summer for 2 weeks, that's not cheap, the first year we had 4 adult and 2 child airfare, then we had another child, add in the car rental sometimes 2, one for my older kids, then you have the resort and all the attractions. $$$$$
We wont be going this year, we were planning on going but my health had other plans. I will miss it.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Oleg Bach

Yes - having hitch hiked back in the early 70s along highway one in northern California - I fell in love with her...after all these years I can still see the beauty of this area...as for LA....I remember arriving there and not being able to see across a parking lot because of the smog...I left the city within 10 minutes....it's a dump/

The air quality in Los Angeles is MUCH better than it was in the early 1970s. Heck, the air in L.A. is cleaner than it was 10 years ago, let alone 40 years ago (although I admit, it's still not great).

[cynwldkat]

Ca is my love--my home--spent 56 years of my life there and miss the heck out of it but just cannot afford the living cost. There is no other place I will ever really consider "home". There is the not so great things about CA but still it is my home and what I am familiar with. For now I am working on making the south my home and it's sure not easy but sometimes we just do what we have to...sigh....
I can promise you anything bad you can say about CA I can also say about any other state plus...and for each and every bad thing there is a good thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by cynwldkat

Ca is my love--my home--spent 56 years of my life there and miss the heck out of it but just cannot afford the living cost. There is no other place I will ever really consider "home". There is the not so great things about CA but still it is my home and what I am familiar with. For now I am working on making the south my home and it's sure not easy but sometimes we just do what we have to...sigh....
I can promise you anything bad you can say about CA I can also say about any other state plus...and for each and every bad thing there is a good thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheer up, as they say you can not go "home".

It has changed since it was "home" for you and while parts will look the same, they aren't. I know I have left and came "home" several times and well .... can't find that "home" anymore. Enjoy where you are and it will be OK.

[missnice104]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

Fremont weighs in.

Pick your lo-CAL right and you will never want to leave. It's heaven on earth for the people with the drive and vision to make it work and the passion for living here at the edge of the world. There is no place like this. She will return your love for her if it is true.

Follow your passion. Start by choosing better than Fremont. Chase the dream and make it real. It is out there--in every golden sunset, every spectacular vista, crashing wave on the coast, towering redwood, spectacular meal, sublime glass of wine, or crisp clear morning sky. It's there in the myriad of cultures, the wealth of inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit, the attitude of tolerance and the care for the well-being of fellow Californians and California, itself. It's there in the palpable spirit of Manifest Destiny that lingers to this day, in the imagination of people who have risked everything they know to be part of this, and in the minor blues chords of a Grateful Dead or Steely Dan anthem to life in a place that works by a different set of rules.

We don't fall into step with the rest of the country here. This is a place that is genuinely different. A jaded few may tell you otherwise, but look around--does your heart beat faster when you round the bend on Twin Peaks and see the whole City laid out before you? Do you celebrate freshness in your food and demand that those preparing it use the crisp, vibrant local ingredients you've come to love? Do you seek out bits of local flavor like Fernet-Branca, Cioppino, Dungeness crab, the freshest produce, grass-fed beef, freshly shucked oysters, Mexican, Thai, Korean, Japan, Chinese, French, Italian cuisines...and the finest wines in the world to reaffirm your connection with the favors of California? Do you romanticize about living life in the footsteps of Jim Morrison, Jack Kerouac, Jack London, John Muir, Ronald Reagan, Howard Hughes, Steve Jobs, Robert Frost, Harvey Milk, Ansel Adams, Dave Brubeck, Jerry Garcia, Walt Disney, Frank Zappa, William Hearst, Jack London, Gen. George Patton, F. Junipero Serra, John Steinbeck, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and many more? Do you dream of catching glimpses of the sun on the Bay, waves crashing at La Jolla, endless rolling farmland of the Central Valley, towering trees in Humboldt, the yellow sandstone of Death Valley or the frosty white, rocky peaks of The Sierra? Do you look forward longingly to the next course in your tasting-menu meal, imagining savoring a creation never sampled before, from a chef yet to be discovered? Have you ever tried a Russian River Chardonnay? A Russian River IPA? A Drakes Bay oyster? A Mission Burrito? A little Humboldt green?

Have you ever seen the fog pour over the Golden Gate Bridge and drop the temperature about 15 degrees in ten minutes? Does your pulse raise on Columbus Ave. walking south, in the shadow of the Financial District? Does the Mission, Castro or Russian Hill ever call you? Have you ever ordered a cocktail in the Tenderloin past 2am? Have you climbed Mt. Tam? Drunk Absinthe In North Beach? Have you had an Irish Coffee on a chilly June afternoon? Ever had izakaya in The Richmond? Have you ever tried the chicken and waffles with spicy syrup in Fairfax? Tri-tip in the City? Have you ever had a Prather Ranch Beef cheeseburger? You haven't lived, if your answer to any of this is no. And California is a place to live.

California, particularly Northern California, is a world all its own. Of course you fell in love with it! Someone who doesn't love it has lost his zeal--his passion for living. It's easy to see both her flaws and her reflections of the ordinary. To witness these is to justify a simpler existence, free of the magic that makes California what it is. Its a way of accepting what you know--what is comfortable and what doesn't test your resolve to live life to its fullest.

Those who connect with California on a level deeper than infatuation, however, are those who discover its surreal allure. They are those who refuse to make lasting life decisions based on mere job openings, cost-of-living hype, or ease of success. They are guided by passion. They make decisions with heart and head. They are called foolish by people who are less adventurous. But, they are the finest, most purely driven example of the American spirit still present in the world.

Does your infatuation with California place you among us? Only time will tell.

Dalparadise, your response is beautiful. I too, love Monterey California and Santa Barbara when I visit. You give people like us hope that you can live anywhere and pursue your dreams if you put everything youcan into it. California is so beautiful, and I love it!!!

[CTC]

I was born in SF, moved away when I was 13, but still visited often (family). I moved back for a few years circa 2000, fell in love with CA again, but in the end couldn't handle the crowded BA or the living expenses and high taxes. (and too far from skiing for me).

Still, it is a great place for many reasons; warts and all!

[dalparadise]

I still am knocked out to be living here, every morning I walk to the cable car to ride down into the Financial District.

SF is an incredible place. Only a relatively very few get it. But once you do get it, it stays with you.

[YellowHorse]

Originally Posted by california_dreamer1

OK so I visited California for the first time last year and have fallen in love with the state and become obsessed with moving out there. I simply find the weather outstanding, the food tastes amazing, heck even the water tastes better. Of course the state is filled with stunning views, especially driving around PCH. I also find that the people are very nice and friendly, at least compared to the East Coast.

I have since visited the state multiple times already and and now am dying to move out there. I swear I have traveled all over the US and the world and never felt like that about a place, except maybe Hawaii to an extent. California has a dream like quality that I have never seem anywhere else in the US.

Is this a normal experience or am I crazy?

Oh yeah did I mention that I find people here sooo much chill? I mean evertime I come here even I a normally anxious person becomes uber chill.

When I first came down here, people would ask where I was from and then say I must like it down here in Cali a lot better than where I'm from, my response of, "no, I don't like it down here at all, I want to go back and never leave" was not the typical response, nor what they normally heard from transplants. I'm the minority, you sound more like the typical person who comes here.