I feel the way you did about Southern CA. Last time I visited there, the atmosphere was like Venus. I forgot all about those several mile high dark-brown/red smogbanks hovering perpetually over the Riverside/San Bernardino area. I couldn't wait to get back to my house in rainy overcast hippieville.
That's a pretty vile part of the trip when I'm making the drive between Pocatello and San Diego. Burning eyes and coughing from the north end of Temecula to the point where I-15/I-215 rejoin on the way up Cajon Pass.