How to avoid being the "ugly Californian" in Colorado? (to live, move to)

[ColoradoPro]

Ok - some of the biggest complaints I have for you to avoid (and i know this because I am a Colorado Native but have lived in San Diego and LA):

1: Make full and complete stops at stop signs, no more "cali stops".

2: The same goes for red lights. Please please please - remember that the LAW is different here - you HAVE to stop at all red lights regardless of if you are turning or not - too often I see the guys who think they can just make their right turn without so much as even hesitating, and our intersections weren't designed for it - you will cause a crash.

3: Do not pass on the right on the highway - it's illegal, contrary to what you might see many people doing - this also goes along with your driving - if you can't go the speed limit, don't be in the left lane and just assume people are going to pass you on the right - I know from driving on CA highways for hours and hours on end, you are almost guaranteed to find 3-4 people who are so full of themselves that they won't get over for anyone - that's fine in CA where you are allowed to pass on the right - not here.

4: Get your CO plates as soon as possible, it will save you from a bunch of angry glares.

5: Unless you're from Northern Cali (ewwww), don't talk about the "Mountains you used to go skiing snowboarding at in CA" (IE: Big bear) - those aren't mountains, they are piles of dust covered with man made snow in the middle of the desert. (Now if you are from northern CA, you have a leg to stand on with Mammoth).

6: Follow the previous winter driving tips, and as an addition: If you are sliding, please please please remember that holding your foot on the brake like a vice is NOT going to help - let off and gently reapply pressure until you are getting maximum braking power without the wheels locking up. It's a humurous day when you get to watch a guy slide all the way down a hill and slam into a pole when all he had to do was take his foot off the brakes and re-apply traction from their wheels.

I'm sure there's more I missed, but that should get you started. For the most part, you should do fine, especially since you are aware of the "problem" so to speak.

[crash1122]

What, no Trader Joe's??? hee-hee we Cali people sure do love our TJ's. I live in the best part of Cali (Central Coast, San Luis Obispo area) and we hate how LA and Bay Area people are all moving here, jacking up our home prices, causing traffic, etc...so I can understand how Colorado people feel about us coming over there, acting like we own the joint. I appreciate all the tips about how to "fit in" and when we move there in 2 years I will be sure to apply them! Specially the part about learning how to drive in snowy weather

[GearJammerOne]

Originally Posted by Nadine

I am a native and it makes not difference to me where someone is from---unless they do as the previous people tell you not to do. Libbers can rub us. And not learned why we do what we do, to just barge in an not ask question. For instance my farrier lives in the mts. Houses are being built near his ranch. They criticized him for always having a rifle in the window of his pickup (not unusual of rural people especially ranchers) They had a tissy because last winter and this spring he has killed 27 coyotes. After live stock. Those people have been feeding them and drawing them in for gosh sakes! They thought different when coyotes came into their yards in broad daylight and killed their standard poodles. ---Don't criticize until you really understand a why or wherefore. Ask questions. So maybe you feel silly doing so but believe me that is better than giving yourself a bad rep. Colorado is not the only state that feels the same way. I maynot be trilled at a Bronco, Rapids, Rockies, Avalanche etc game with someone sitting beside me rooting for the other team but if done in good fun, not die hard, it can be fun.

Very nicely put Nadine. I couldn't agree more....

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by crash1122

What, no Trader Joe's??? hee-hee we Cali people sure do love our TJ's. I live in the best part of Cali

People who say 'Cali' annoy the **** out of me. Nobody from anywhere except California calls it that.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by sterlinggirl

People who say 'Cali' annoy the **** out of me. Nobody from anywhere except California calls it that.

People who call California "Cali" (which is a city in Colombia) annoy me too. But not as much as you annoy me.

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

People who call California "Cali" (which is a city in Colombia) annoy me too. But not as much as you annoy me.

[crash1122]

Wow I haven't even moved there yet, and I'm already pissing people off. I was just joking, no need to get your panties in a wad. Thanks for the heads up though, now i know how touchy some people are about it, I will be sure to type the w-h-o-l-e word out if I am ever brave enough to post again, hee-hee!

[mpsgirl]

I'm not a Colorado native (I'm here courtesy of the military...like many people here in the Springs I've found), but I am from Idaho and I imagine a lot of the things that bother people here are the same that Idahoans complain about. I'm from what USED to be a rural farming community not terribly far from Boise...but with the influx of people moving to Idaho, there's little farming land left. Fields that I remember playing in when I was a kid are now sprawls of houses, built so close to one another that you can hear your neighbors speaking quietly in their own homes, and a patch of grass so tiny that you're better off cutting it w/ scissors rather than buying a lawn mower. Land used to be dirt cheap in Idaho...not anymore.

But, at least in Idaho, it wasn't all Californians. Land in ID is still some of the cheapest in the country so a lot of people from everywhere are moving there...in my experience though, it's been the people from CA that stood out the most. People in CA have been selling their tiny little plots of land for large sums of money, moving to Idaho and buying MASSIVE amounts of land for their houses, but the unfortunate part is that they were so used to living on a slab of concrete that they don't know how to take care of any of the land, and so now all the land they just bought in my town has gone to crap and it's an eyesore.

The driving in bad weather was the only other common complaint where I'm from. We don't get as much snow in Idaho as Colorado does, but most of our winters are spent with sheets of black ice everywhere. One winter I was run off the road by a lady sliding down the road on the black ice. Like mentioned above, she had her breaks on hard and wouldn't let up. My options were get hit or go into the ditch. I chose the latter. The lady finally got her car stopped half a mile down the road and while I was waiting for a tow truck, she came walking back to me to see if I was alright, and sure enough, she said it was her first winter here from California and she'd never seen a real winter before. I almost lost it on her.

I've noticed though here in CO that there are a lot of Texans in the same boat as Californians though in terms of nuances that tick people off up here...particularly driving. I couldn't care less as long as I'm not put in any danger, but I completely understand where people are coming from when they complain about the poor driving habits of people from California (and other states w/ similar driving laws) because we simply don't have the traffic to warrant driving like some of the far more populated states.

[crash1122]

mpsgirl, I dont blame you for being upset at the inexperienced driver. At least the lady came back to see if you were ok!

My point with my first post was that it seems like every state has a problem with people from other places moving there and ruining it, so to speak. Like I said before, we dislike the LA and Bay Area people, not to mention the "valley" people (Fresno and Bakersfield) coming over here every weekend and causing traffic, etc. Oh, we also hate it when people say "San Lewie" instead of San LEWIS for our town San Luis Obispo. Only out of towners do that. I guess what it comes down to is that when you live in a great place, its natural for others to want to move there. Im sure in any beautiful state that happens. It has happened here in California, Hawaii comes to mind, and of course Colorado. It also seems to be universally common to assign labels and steriotypes to whole groups of people, regardless of your home state I'm just as guilty at that!

I would hope that anyone moving to a new state would try their best to fit in and be good citizens. Which includes learning how to properly drive in bad weather. That is my goal, and i'm sure most people from other states who post in the Colorado forum feel the same way.

[mpsgirl]

Originally Posted by crash1122

mpsgirl, I dont blame you for being upset at the inexperienced driver. At least the lady came back to see if you were ok!

I wasn't trying to crack on just Californians (Oh, but the only reason the lady came back to check on me was to ask me not to call the police on her for reckless driving...she feigned politeness for the moment until she found out I had already called them w/ her plates lol...live and learn for her I suppose)

But I think the driving issues comes with anyone that moves to a northern state from a warm-weather state. I will admit I've noticed this trend....there is an inordinate amount of "Californians" that move to everywhere else in the country, but that's because there's a constant influx of people moving TO California...and regardless of how long you've lived in CA, once you've lived there, you're automatically tagged a Californian. I think a lot of people move to CA hoping to make it big in one industry or another and then realize they can't afford to live there, so they move to another state and already have the stigma of being a Californian...

So that would be my take on why there's an automatic stereotype of "Californians" being the bad ones.