I came back home to Ca. last year after being on the east coast for over 20 years and for the life of me I can't remember whatever possessed me to leave in the first place.
Yeah taxes are high, cost of living is out of control and the state government is a bunch of left wing liberals run amuck but there is no part of the country I would rather live.
Get out of the San Jose - Sunnyvale area, I spent a lot of time there 25 years ago and hated it.
I live on the Central Coast love it, small towns with awesome weather from San Simeon and Cambria down to bigger places like Santa Barbara (a bit expensive but nice) Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo, all are awesome places to live.
Vendzilla I'm going to be spending this weekend in the mountains, taking the bike up to the Ponderosa Lodge in Quaking Aspen.
http://www.brewersponderosalodge.com/
http://goo.gl/maps/BEXrc
It's a pretty cool family run place with a bar, restaurant, store and lodge all in one building, they only have two rooms they rent out but surprisingly getting a reservation was not a problem at all.
And they are actually having a live band Saturday Night
It would be a sweet weekend run from The Valley,
http://goo.gl/maps/lKfVC
I'll let you know how it goes.