I’m happy you “escaped” from California...LOL...
I spent 16 weeks in California in the military and that was about 17 weeks too long...:o))
Where were you stationed in CA? I ran into a gal in GA DDS when my husband was renewing his driver’s license last week and she was stationed at 29 Palms 30+ years ago. She loved it; at least she said she did and I thought that odd as it’s sooooo desert! You have everything there; desert, beach, mountains, cities, millions of people and cars and high costs!