I grew up in Connecticut. After living all over the country I ended up in the Seattle area. I love it and I’m staying.
I’m all about the west coast. I was born in alaska and lived there most of my life. Now I’m going to USC in LA, and it still doesn’t get any better than this. I’m guessing right now the temps are in the high seventies, and I’m going surfing on wednesday. I don’t care if I ever even see the east coast of this country.
I live in San Diego currently, and as a rural Michigan native, the transition to west coast living was a definite 180 degree turn.
If you’re thinking of moving out here, we’d be glad to have ya. Everybody here seems to be a transplant from somewhere, it’s a rarity to know someone whos whole family tree was created and maintainted in this area. Its cool to talk to people around here and find out how they ended up here. A lot of people, (including myself) have moved out here because of the Military, but then there are other people, like a guy I talked to a while back, who came here from Utah for a vacation then went back home packed up his stuff and his family and moved out here for good.
There are a ton of people here though.
One thing I’d recommend you think about before making the big decision is when you leave the East Coast, be sure to leave it ENTIRELY. One thing that bugs me, and I’m guilty of this too in certain areas, is how people talk about how good things were back on the east coast. “The food is better in NYC” “The Phillies are a much better team than the Padres” “Jesus! does it ever get cloudy here?” “are we ever going to get another fucking rainy day here?” “People in Chicago can drive so much better than Californians”
You know, the Padres might suck, but they are all we got, the food might have more of a Mexican flare than an italian one, and no, it’s never cloudy here. 95 of 100 days is a picture postcard day, and like one of the previous posters said, “its hard to be in a bad mood when its sunny and 72 every day”
Brad
Hey Patricia, one day several years ago, four of us went up snow skiing in March, then made the hour and a half trip back home and took my buddy’s boat out on the river.
The weather was so warm we were in shorts with no shirts (couldn’t talk the girls into the no shirts part, dammit) laying out and getting a tan.
Best of both worlds during the same day…
Aloha jcbart:
You did not quite go far enough west. Next time add 2500 miles, I grew up in the Seattle area, the place is wonderful, however Hawaii…
Magical
Wow, see, I knew it. Most people who live out west, whether raised there or a transplant from the east (or anywhere else really), love it and would never leave. Makes you wonder why so many of us live in the Boston-New York-Philly-Balt-DC corrdior.
But yes, the more I travel out west, the more I realize how different it is from the east. The scenery, climate, and openness of the west is amazing. Next time we head that direction, we’re gonna make our home base in Phoenix, since we haven’t seen that city yet.