Nice place to live in California?

[marvel]

I think the swap idea is great. I know Australia makes it hard to move here as well. But a distant friend recently married someone from Carolina and moved there, I think if you are looking for a partner maybe its a bit easier than moving a whole family. I would be quite happy to be able to at least spend a few years in the US at the minimum.

I work for the government here in Australia which is not exactly a boom area that I can transfer to the US with.

 

[pixiewings71]

We pass it on the way up to Lincoln, I believe. Off of 80 right? Maybe that is why you get to DLR faster than us. We have to go through the mess in Oakland to get over to 5, where all you would do is go 80 to 5. Unless I'm completely mixed up, which wouldn't be unusual for me.

Actually we go 12 to 5 and that's it. So that's why we get there faster. The time we drove from Berkely it took longer.....DBF works in Berkely so we have gone that route a few times in the past. We are about 2 min. from 12 at the far end of Suisun, we hit 12 and it's immediate pastures etc.

I am looking up Suisun City right now, looks perfect.

I am kind of figuring out that buying a place across the next year or so would be good pricewise, then I can work out how to get there !!

Grumpyswife - Oregon sounds wonderful. I have never been there but everything I have seen or heard about it, makes me want to go there for some reason. Looks like a nice place to bring up a family. And its not that far, we are used to having to travel for ages to get anywhere, Australia is a huge place and very spread out.

Lavenderpeach - yards in Australia used to be big but over the years townhouses, as well as big houses on small yards have become the norm. Thanks for the info on pricing, I will keep checking the info.

mareeld86 - you either have to marry someone,or arrange work overthere so you can go for a few years, I haven't checked many of the details yet, I am enjoying this part first, then worry about the details later
happy to let you know how I go. PM me if you would like to keep in contact.

Pinkbudgie - trees, cows and vineyards, sounds great. We loved driving through the woods into Yosemite a few years and ago and really enjoy the whole SF bay area. I am a 49ers fan as well Definetly an option.

Thanks, we like it a lot.

We do live in a nice area don't we? I think this is the perfect location. We can be at the ocean or in the mountains within a couple of hours. We are lucky to live close enough to Napa and Sonoma counties to enjoy everything that they have to offer. Especially the beautiful coastline and campgrounds. I love Salt Point.

Yes, we do....Salt Point...never been there, more info please!!!!

We feel the same way about Northern CA. Salt Point here we come in August it's our favorite place too. My DH family started camping there before it was even a State Park.

Definitely need more info on Salt Point.......

 

[momrek06]

We just moved to CA in Sept '08 from MA. We certainly picked a great year to relocate as the winter the Northeast had was horrific. Snowed almost daily. The temps were freezing. Even this April Easter weekend back home was freezing cold temps, rainy and windy. I spoke to a good friend back East on Wed and she said it was snowing, not sticking but snowing just the same. She said it is so cold and the sky is always grey and overcast AND that no one absolutely NO ONE back East wants to hear about OUR weather here in the OC.

We have settled into Newport Beach and love it. I am about 17 miles to DL!!!

We try and get there weekly.

We have NO plans to move back at all...visit absolutely live there NO WAY. I actually cannot believe more people do not live here...sunny every day, comfortable temps, no humidity!!!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

I love Ventura County. Port Hueneme, Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo. Thousand Oaks to the south and Santa Barbara to the North.

What she said!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Actually we go 12 to 5 and that's it. So that's why we get there faster. The time we drove from Berkely it took longer.....DBF works in Berkely so we have gone that route a few times in the past. We are about 2 min. from 12 at the far end of Suisun, we hit 12 and it's immediate pastures etc.

I love that part of the drive up to Sac. We have an hour with in the pastures and about an hour on the freeways. And a pit stop at the new IKEA! That gives me an idea. I didn't know 12 hit 5. I'm going to look up the route on google and see if it might be faster (or easier) for us to go that way instead of through Oakland. Talk about a confusing mess!

 

[ACDSNY]

Yes, we do....Salt Point...never been there, more info please!!!!

Definitely need more info on Salt Point.......

Salt Point is about an hour north of Bodega Bay on Hwy 1. It's a great area with both cliffs, pine trees, meadows and plenty of wildlife (deer, raccoons, foxes, seals, birds). There's a underwater reserve for diving. Stump Beach is a little north of the campground on Hwy 1. There are two campgrounds, one on each side of Hwy 1. We typically stay in the small loop of Gerstle Cove. A wildfire went through in the late 90s so the pine trees are finally growning back. It's not a fancy campground with showers and hookup for trailers, but it does have flush toilets (I still remember the old days of the outhouses ). You can find info at Reserve America's website as it's a State Park.

Here's the description from Reserve America...Salt Point State Park includes six miles of the Sonoma Coast, ranging from sandy beach coves to steep bluffs and sandstone cliffs. At the top of the coastal ridge there is a large prairie and pygmy forest. Wildlife includes the long-tailed weasel, wild pigs, brown pelicans and other water birds, blacktail deer, raccoons, coyotes, and a variety of rodents. The park has miles of hiking and horseback trails. The area is also the site of an underwater reserve for divers.

MacKerricher State Park just North of Fort Bragg, CA is another great camping spot on the coast.
MacKerricher State Park offers a variety of habitats; beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest and wetland. Tidepools are along the shore. Seals live the rocks off the park's Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a formal tidal lagoon. During winter and spring the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching. The park is popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians and bicyclists. Fishing is also popular, with trout in two fresh-water lakes. The park has a wheelchair accessible nature trail.

 

[brergnat]

I live in Irvine, which is, in my opinion, UTOPIA. It has EXCELLENT schools, beautiful parks, shopping, dining, entertainment, and it's 10 minutes from Disneyland! What else could you ask for? Oh, and it's been named the "Safest City in America" for 3 years in a row (based on per capita crime stats).

The only problem? The price of housing is INCREDIBLY high. We rent a 3 bedroom apartment, and DH is military so we get housing allowance that pays for it. But, if we could live here forever, we would! In fact, we have decided that when DH retires in 10 years from the military, we are going to come back to Irvine to live! We LOVE it here! It's like, the most perfect little place to raise a family ever.

 

[momrek06]

I live in Irvine, which is, in my opinion, UTOPIA. It has EXCELLENT schools, beautiful parks, shopping, dining, entertainment, and it's 10 minutes from Disneyland! What else could you ask for? Oh, and it's been named the "Safest City in America" for 3 years in a row (based on per capita crime stats).

The only problem? The price of housing is INCREDIBLY high. We rent a 3 bedroom apartment, and DH is military so we get housing allowance that pays for it. But, if we could live here forever, we would! In fact, we have decided that when DH retires in 10 years from the military, we are going to come back to Irvine to live! We LOVE it here! It's like, the most perfect little place to raise a family ever.

ITA!! We lived in Corporate Housing in Irvine with DH's company before settling down in Newport Beach and Irvine is FABULOUS!!!

 

[kaoden39]

Salt Point is about an hour north of Bodega Bay on Hwy 1. It's a great area with both cliffs, pine trees, meadows and plenty of wildlife (deer, raccoons, foxes, seals, birds). There's a underwater reserve for diving. Stump Beach is a little north of the campground on Hwy 1. There are two campgrounds, one on each side of Hwy 1. We typically stay in the small loop of Gerstle Cove. A wildfire went through in the late 90s so the pine trees are finally growning back. It's not a fancy campground with showers and hookup for trailers, but it does have flush toilets (I still remember the old days of the outhouses ). You can find info at Reserve America's website as it's a State Park.

Here's the description from Reserve America...Salt Point State Park includes six miles of the Sonoma Coast, ranging from sandy beach coves to steep bluffs and sandstone cliffs. At the top of the coastal ridge there is a large prairie and pygmy forest. Wildlife includes the long-tailed weasel, wild pigs, brown pelicans and other water birds, blacktail deer, raccoons, coyotes, and a variety of rodents. The park has miles of hiking and horseback trails. The area is also the site of an underwater reserve for divers.

MacKerricher State Park just North of Fort Bragg, CA is another great camping spot on the coast.
MacKerricher State Park offers a variety of habitats; beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest and wetland. Tidepools are along the shore. Seals live the rocks off the park's Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a formal tidal lagoon. During winter and spring the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching. The park is popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians and bicyclists. Fishing is also popular, with trout in two fresh-water lakes. The park has a wheelchair accessible nature trail.

We like the other side of the highway. It has more trees and has spots that offer great privacy. There is a pygmy forest thee that you can hike to too. The tide pools are so cool. Our kids were able to see so many sea creatures in their natural enviroment.

MacKerricher is so beautiful too I just am not fond of the way into Fort Bragg. But I love Fort Bragg, as a young adult before DH and kids Fort Bragg was where I wanted to live. It's a great town.

 

[pixiewings71]

I love that part of the drive up to Sac. We have an hour with in the pastures and about an hour on the freeways. And a pit stop at the new IKEA! That gives me an idea. I didn't know 12 hit 5. I'm going to look up the route on google and see if it might be faster (or easier) for us to go that way instead of through Oakland. Talk about a confusing mess!

Well, you'd have to add about an hour to get from Oakland to where we are. Give or take 15 min. or so but yes, mapquest it and see what you get. We like that part of the drive, and now the fields are covered with wind turbines too, those are really neat to see, especially at night when the red lights are flashing on them.

Salt Point is about an hour north of Bodega Bay on Hwy 1. It's a great area with both cliffs, pine trees, meadows and plenty of wildlife (deer, raccoons, foxes, seals, birds). There's a underwater reserve for diving. Stump Beach is a little north of the campground on Hwy 1. There are two campgrounds, one on each side of Hwy 1. We typically stay in the small loop of Gerstle Cove. A wildfire went through in the late 90s so the pine trees are finally growning back. It's not a fancy campground with showers and hookup for trailers, but it does have flush toilets (I still remember the old days of the outhouses ). You can find info at Reserve America's website as it's a State Park.

Here's the description from Reserve America...Salt Point State Park includes six miles of the Sonoma Coast, ranging from sandy beach coves to steep bluffs and sandstone cliffs. At the top of the coastal ridge there is a large prairie and pygmy forest. Wildlife includes the long-tailed weasel, wild pigs, brown pelicans and other water birds, blacktail deer, raccoons, coyotes, and a variety of rodents. The park has miles of hiking and horseback trails. The area is also the site of an underwater reserve for divers.

MacKerricher State Park just North of Fort Bragg, CA is another great camping spot on the coast.
MacKerricher State Park offers a variety of habitats; beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest and wetland. Tidepools are along the shore. Seals live the rocks off the park's Mendocino coast. More than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a formal tidal lagoon. During winter and spring the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching. The park is popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians and bicyclists. Fishing is also popular, with trout in two fresh-water lakes. The park has a wheelchair accessible nature trail.

We like the other side of the highway. It has more trees and has spots that offer great privacy. There is a pygmy forest thee that you can hike to too. The tide pools are so cool. Our kids were able to see so many sea creatures in their natural enviroment.

MacKerricher is so beautiful too I just am not fond of the way into Fort Bragg. But I love Fort Bragg, as a young adult before DH and kids Fort Bragg was where I wanted to live. It's a great town.

Thank you for the info. I bet the girls would LOVE that.....I'll check into it more and perhaps plan a weekend camping trip.

 

[kaoden39]

Here is the link to the state park page on Salt Point.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=453

 

[Malela9]

I have been blessed to live in So. Calif. my entire life. And , while the weather here is wonderful, the smog , traffic and massive amount of people are not. Also, our adorable governor keeps raising our taxes. I will probably die here , because I can't afford to move, and I can't be that far away from Disneyland.( I am only 20 minutes away!)
Just remember when you visit , the grass is not always greener on our side!

 

[Judy from Boise]

Even though you completely ignored my advice.......

I wanted to let you know what a great time we had spending a week in your city summer of 07.

We had a great view from out hotel

you can see we were well positioned to walk the river promanade, we walked to the aquarium , and the immigration museum, we were able to see the Pixar exhibit at the MOMA including the zeotrope! Of course lots of shopping too.

We also spent a great day at your zoo. We really enjoyed all the exhibits

so the moral of the story is it is always more fun to be a tourist than to be a native
and I really did enjoy your city ( we also did the trolley riding, and ate at Hard Rock Cafe and got the Tshirt!)

 

[marvel]

love the photos, we go to the zoo all the time, we live 15 mins away.


I know what you mean about grass is always greener maybe it does seem so much better because we have so much fun on holidays there. But for some reason I am really drawn to the US since I first watched happy days, ok, showing my age a little

I love the fact that you can drive a few hours and be at the ocean, or the redwoods, or the mountains, or in fact a short flight away from the south, or mexico. We are so isolated down under that to go anywhere outside of Australia, is a minimum 8hr flight.

We just cannot seem to get enough of the US, and each trip seems to get longer and longer. Our last trip was 7 weeks and cost a small fortune, and yet less than a year later we are going again!! And we are just a regular working family.

I think I would be satisfied with maybe 2 or 3 years living there, but I would not discount a move one day. Somewhere down the track we just have to do it for while, or I will never feel satisfied.

Oh, keep the places coming. Irvine sounds great.

I love the very name Newport Beach, it would sound great as my address.!!

 

[momrek06]

I love the very name Newport Beach, it would sound great as my address.!!

You know marvel, we have only lived here in CA since Sept '08! All our family and friends back home in the East said that to me once we got settled and started giving out our new address!!

We love it here!

 

[Mike_M]

I'm probably biased since I was born and raised there but for me, Northern CA (San Francisco Bay Area to be specific) is a much more pleasant place to live than Southern CA. So California is a fun place but I believe I would get burned out on it if I lived down there.

To me, Northern CA feels Less crowded, is more sceanic (IMHO), more temperate climate, more diverse landscapes (Redwood forests, foothills, the SF Bay, Lake Tahoe) and you are still only a few hour drive away from LA so it's close enough for weekend trips.

 

[azdisneylover]

D

I think I would be satisfied with maybe 2 or 3 years living there, but I would not discount a move one day. Somewhere down the track we just have to do it for while, or I will never feel satisfied.
Arizona is pretty close to Disneyland...........

I love the fact that you can drive a few hours and be at the ocean, or the redwoods, or the mountains, or in fact a short flight away from the south, or mexico. We are so isolated down under that to go anywhere outside of Australia, is a minimum 8hr flight.
What about New Zealand, or New Caledonia?
QUOTE]

 

[Brady's Mom]

I will have to chime in for even further north than "Northern California." Eureka or Arcata in the very north of California are great places to live. I don't live there now, we live in Utah scared. But, I grew up in Eureka and loved it. But, I have to laugh when my born and raised in San Francisco DH calls the Bay area Northern California - Can't you read a map??? It's in the middle!

 

[pixiewings71]

I will have to chime in for even further north than "Northern California." Eureka or Arcata in the very north of California are great places to live. I don't live there now, we live in Utah scared. But, I grew up in Eureka and loved it. But, I have to laugh when my born and raised in San Francisco DH calls the Bay area Northern California - Can't you read a map??? It's in the middle!

We may be in the middle, but we are still Northern Californians.

 

[kaoden39]

I will have to chime in for even further north than "Northern California." Eureka or Arcata in the very north of California are great places to live. I don't live there now, we live in Utah scared. But, I grew up in Eureka and loved it. But, I have to laugh when my born and raised in San Francisco DH calls the Bay area Northern California - Can't you read a map??? It's in the middle!

You know I live in the bay area and theat has been my eternal question. How can we be Northern California? We are in the Northern part of the bay area though.