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You nailed it. I moved to CA in 1973, bought my first home here in '78, upgraded to another home in a nice town on the SF Peninsula in '83. Both my wife and I are sick at what the evil far-left has done to CA. We bought a summer home in Idaho in '18 and my wife moved there permanently in the '20 pandemic. The day her school district shut down, she grabbed the dog and took off for Idaho.

I really miss the CA weather and natural beauty (especially during the winter), so I come back to CA when I can. The cold, dark, gloomy, and wet winters in the Inland Northwest really get to me. That's probably because I spent my first 16 years in upstate New York enduring that every day. When I moved to CA when I was 21, I realized I could have 250 days of sunshine vs 250 days of gloom. So it's hard for me to go back to that in North Idaho.

So I put all the government crap out of my mind and enjoy our beautiful area. Yesterday I hiked about seven miles and 1,200 feet elevation gain at the Montebello Preserve on the SF Peninsula. I went from Redwood forests and streams in the canyon to the top of Black Mountain. It's hard to beat. At 72, I don't have a lot more years of that type of hiking left.

That's the ocean out there under the fog bank...

Nice, congrats! I have desert mountains but I love it here and pine forest/aspen mountains are 30 minutes away. My bugout spot in between has Pinyon pines, scrub oak, 6,500 ft elevation, elk, deer, turkeys, bears, etc. And a locked gate with a sign nearby that reads “If You Can Read This, You Are in Range”.

North Bay Native (Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake Counties our family territory). Days like the one you just described are why I stay. I left the Bay Area in 2007, and headed to Butte County. I do miss the ocean, but the political/social aspects of life here are far, far more to my liking, and I do get back to the coast a few times a year. I understand the culture here, and fit in. Can’t say that about Bay Area any longer, and it breaks my heart. For example, wore my “Reagan as Che” T-shirt to the grocery store (Winco) yesterday. Two knowing smiles, and three (!!!) people actually said something positive. The gal who rang me up told me of visiting the Reagan Ranch with her dad, a ranch hand, when she was a little girl. “God, I wish there were men like that around today.” My friend, wearing the same shirt in Santa Rosa, has had people berate/heckle him. No thanks.