A girlfriend from Iowa is having her younger brother move out to live with her and her boyfriend. He has never been out to see the West Coast, and he’s moving here. The more she talks to him, the more she is convinced that the poor boy thinks he’s moving to San Diego.
This is a mistake I think a lot of young people make when they move to the Golden State. We have a lot of coastline, but a lot of it is frigging FREEZING. The warm sunny beaches make up a very small percentage of what California has to offer. Hot chicks in bikinis, riding around in convertibles, dying to flash earnest young men? Only on TV, man.
What you are far more likely to see in every part of the state is a migrant family ekeing out a living, in a ramshackle stucco house. Redneck families with an assortment of scrap metal in their yard. A landlord pulling away in a Mercedes, going back to the “right” side of town.
I’m not saying that we are all hand to mouth vagabonds. There are plenty of affluent families of all races, creeds, and colors. But there is a neighborhood in every town that never makes it to the sitcoms and dramas on TV, and I think her brother is in for a huge slap in the face. Poor boy.
Having said that, I love California. I grew up in the far North of Northern California, and sneered at those fools on TV who referred to the bay area as Northern California. As far as I am concerned, it’s still Central California until you get to Sacramento.
But it is a glorious state with so much more than beaches and movie stars. I love the rolling hills between Vacaville and San Francisco, I love the red dirt and manzanita bushes around Whiskeytown Lake. I am in AWE of the variety and scope of CA’s natural offerings.
My other girlfriend (the other Jen)is moving to Coarsegold, which is south of Yosemite. I went to see her new palace today, and was struck again by these thoughts as I drove through the stucco shacks in Madera and then hit the dusty plain on highway 145. The geography changes abruptly and starts climbing….
See?
1 comment:
I feel the same way about california. I went to san francisco once. The entire city reeked of urine and a bird pooped on my camera. Oh and it was completely freezing. It wasnt pretty....
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