Why did you move or going to move to Inland Empire ? (San Diego: transplants, low crime)

[Fontucky]

I'm more than happy to school you:

The mountains around Temecula are dense with vegetation. It's a biome known as "chaparral, and I dare you to try and walk through it.

The hills are are another biome unto themselves, which is a sparse sage/grassland variety and is brown and olive drab most of the year.

The real mountains to the North are chaparral at the lower elevations and pine forest at the higher elevations.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Buptink

What do you miss about the mountains? While I was staying in Temecula looking for a job I saw that the mountains have hardly any vegetation on them, just small dry shrubs. The IE seems visually unappealing. I'm sad my children are being forced to live there.

The Sanbernardino Mnt range is made up of 3 sets of mnts.
San Gabriel,mnts to the north, San Jacinto mnts to the south and SanBerdo mnts in the middle. From Temecula, you viewed mostly the San Jacinto mnt's. You and I have much different perspectives when it come to mountain views. I lived at the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains(for 25 yr's) and was minutes away from "The Rim of the world" leading up to Crestline,ArrowHead and Big Bear

File:Wpdms shdrlfi020l san bernardino mountains.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The only thing I didn't like was the train tracks being so close.
Some here might remember the "Train Derailment/Pipe explosion" of 1989.
A train, overloaded with pot ash, lost it's dynamic brakes coming over the Cajon Pass.
The train jumped the tracks and wiped out a block of houses. A week later while cleaning up the wreck, a natural gas pipeline exploded. This could all be seen from my back porch. (Duffy St. was the next stree over from me)
San Bernardino train disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

From Temecula, you viewed mostly the San Jacinto mnt's.

And the Santa Ana Mts. And the Palomar Mts.

[Twinkle Toes]

Gawd! I just hate it that there are no fireflies or cicadas up in those there visually unappealing mountains! I feel SO sorry for that guy's poor kids who are forced ... FORCED ... to grow up in such a horribly despicable area like Temecula!!!!!!!

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

Gawd! I just hate it that there are no fireflies or cicadas up in those there visually unappealing mountains! I feel SO sorry for that guy's poor kids who are forced ... FORCED ... to grow up in such a horribly despicable area like Temecula!!!!!!!

The wine capital.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

And the Santa Ana Mts. And the Palomar Mts.

You mean that those aren't hills?

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

The wine capital.

But in this situation, I think we're talking about the whine capitol!

[Buptink]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

Gawd! I just hate it that there are no fireflies or cicadas up in those there visually unappealing mountains! I feel SO sorry for that guy's poor kids who are forced ... FORCED ... to grow up in such a horribly despicable area like Temecula!!!!!!!

They are forced by my ex-wife.

I think people "love" wherever it was that they spent their growing years. If you were raised in the IE then I'm sure you think it's beautiful. I was raised in the midwest, with tall trees perfect for treehouses, and shady streets, miles and miles from interstates. I was raised in a place with four distinct seasons, with snowball fights in the winter and lazy bike rides in the summer. Here you will see children playing after school no matter what the weather.There is nothing quite like the sight of a backyard full of twinkling fireflies and the sound of cicadas always brings back childhood to me. If you have never seen fields of fireflies then, of course, you wouldn't miss seeing the annual show. What do you see in the IE that you would miss? Sand? Interstates?

I spent five weeks in the IE. Every single day was over a hundred degrees. The playgrounds were deserted because the equipment is too hot to touch and there are no trees tall enough to shade them. There were no birds singing. What is heard is the constant hum of the interstate three miles away and the thump of rap music vibrating whole neighborhoods. The only time I saw children was when they were going to or coming home from school. The schools in CA look like prisons. And after school the children stay inside.

My children spend every summer here in the midwest with me. It is very difficult to be away from them during the school year. But even if I was offered a job in the IE I could not go. It is simply too fast-paced and yes, visually unappealing.

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by Buptink

They are forced by my ex-wife.

I think people "love" wherever it was that they spent their growing years. If you were raised in the IE then I'm sure you think it's beautiful. I was raised in the midwest, with tall trees perfect for treehouses, and shady streets, miles and miles from interstates. I was raised in a place with four distinct seasons, with snowball fights in the winter and lazy bike rides in the summer. Here you will see children playing after school no matter what the weather.There is nothing quite like the sight of a backyard full of twinkling fireflies and the sound of cicadas always brings back childhood to me. If you have never seen fields of fireflies then, of course, you wouldn't miss seeing the annual show. What do you see in the IE that you would miss? Sand? Interstates?

I spent five weeks in the IE. Every single day was over a hundred degrees. The playgrounds were deserted because the equipment is too hot to touch and there are no trees tall enough to shade them. There were no birds singing. What is heard is the constant hum of the interstate three miles away and the thump of rap music vibrating whole neighborhoods. The only time I saw children was when they were going to or coming home from school. The schools in CA look like prisons. And after school the children stay inside.

My children spend every summer here in the midwest with me. It is very difficult to be away from them during the school year. But even if I was offered a job in the IE I could not go. It is simply too fast-paced and yes, visually unappealing.

I grew up in Newport Beach, about a block away from the ocean. And no, I don't miss it. You worry too much. Your kids aren't going to die just because they don't live near cicadas and fireflies. Lots of us didn't grow up around that, and we all survived. I doubt your kids are as unhappy as you appear to be.

[jennyquatro]

Originally Posted by Buptink

They are forced by my ex-wife.

I think people "love" wherever it was that they spent their growing years. If you were raised in the IE then I'm sure you think it's beautiful. I was raised in the midwest, with tall trees perfect for treehouses, and shady streets, miles and miles from interstates. I was raised in a place with four distinct seasons, with snowball fights in the winter and lazy bike rides in the summer. Here you will see children playing after school no matter what the weather.There is nothing quite like the sight of a backyard full of twinkling fireflies and the sound of cicadas always brings back childhood to me. If you have never seen fields of fireflies then, of course, you wouldn't miss seeing the annual show. What do you see in the IE that you would miss? Sand? Interstates?

I spent five weeks in the IE. Every single day was over a hundred degrees. The playgrounds were deserted because the equipment is too hot to touch and there are no trees tall enough to shade them. There were no birds singing. What is heard is the constant hum of the interstate three miles away and the thump of rap music vibrating whole neighborhoods. The only time I saw children was when they were going to or coming home from school. The schools in CA look like prisons. And after school the children stay inside.

My children spend every summer here in the midwest with me. It is very difficult to be away from them during the school year. But even if I was offered a job in the IE I could not go. It is simply too fast-paced and yes, visually unappealing.

Yes, to see green and trees! Although growing up in SoCal I like knowing the ocean is somewhat close. Otherwise, I totally agree with you. We've lived in the IE (Murrieta area) for over 30 years! We moved here from Cayucos (sleepy beach town just north of Morro Bay & San Luis Obispo) because my mom was very ill - she subsequently passed away in her mid-40s.

And then we had our daughter, got decent jobs, bought houses (not at the same time) and we're still stuck here. Murrieta had around 4,000 population - now it's over 100,000 and is like any boring suburb anywhere. Starbux on every corner - 99 cent stores, furniture stores (mostly out of biz now), etc, etc. If ONLY we had sold when the market was good, but then it was expensive everywhere. Hindsight, as the saying goes, is well, you know. At least we didn't get stuck in San Bernardino or outlying areas!

I still long for the day - hopefully soon - when we get out of here. It's brown, trafficy, conservative and generally boring. At least it's not too far from the beach, mountains, LA & San Diego - skip the OC, I grew up there and left the minute I turned 18.

We'd move back to SLO in a NY minute, but since they were wise and had slow growth policies there, the housing costs are prohibitive. Fun college town, yet with a small town feel. They saw the water crisis coming - we still haven't. Golf courses should not be built in this semi-arid land. What a waste! As Mark Twain said "Golf spoils a good walk."