Has covid made you question where you live?

[El Chupacabra]

There is a possibility of me getting a dream job that pays north of 110K. I am pretty much wiped out financially. Am I going to be able to get by?

Am I going to ski? How far is it to decent skiing? I used to kayak surf. Am I going to get my ass kicked?

I am used to the Seattle area and Chico, CA. I found folks really nice. Am I going to be ostracized because I am from the NE. When I lived in Seattle everyone was surprised when I said I was from NY. I don't fit the stereo type because I am from upstate and reasonably chill and I don't have a thick accent

Salinas is more affordable to live in than the Monterey peninsula. Salinas has a lot of typical suburban California sprawl, and big agriculture. It used to have some significant gang problems, don't know if that's changed. Look into cost of living, especially rent and home purchase prices.

Monterey is nicer, more foggy. If you've seen the HBO show "Big Little Lies," that IMHO accurately shows the rich bitchy types who populate Carmel, Pebble Beach, etc. (Less murder though.)

People are friendly enough. Not going to ostracize you just for not being from there.

I wouldn't live there again. Mostly because I grew up there and I prefer having more seasons than two. (1- fog/sun, 2- fog/ rain.) I never skied while growing up - nearest is probably Kirkwood, but it'll be a good 5 hr drive to there. I don't surf, so no idea there.

[dunfree]

Bear valley was the quickest (~4hr) & choice of many living down there, followed by Kirkwood (another 20-30 min), followed by north lake (another 30+ On top of that for 5). It’s 3.5 hrs to Yosemite valley. The areas grown a lot and changed a lot and there aren’t many people from there and there are several institutions (nps, Monterey institute) that regularly churn through people, and there are lots of tourists so ime there wasn’t lots of resentment.

there’s lots of hiking around there, some weird climbing in the pinnacles, backpacking in the los padres, surfy type stuff. The mp is Quite nice, expensive, and it was newlyweds & nearly deads. There are lots of Greenwich level rich people around to visit their 3rd 4th or 5th homes, sometimes.

[YaBoyBlue]

Bear Valley is 3:45 from Watsonville if the roads are clear, Kirkwood is only 9 mi longer drive but for some reason it always takes longer.

There’s definitely nice old neighborhoods in Salinas, but the sprawl has not been kind. It’s also an urban island surrounded by farm fields which aids the rural feel (a bonus in my eyes, especially if you can live near the edge of town). There are lots of smaller communities that are close but are very quiet and feel like small farm towns. I’ve done a ton of road riding through all the farm fields and I love it out there.

Don’t underestimate how fucking windy it is, the Salinas valley is hot and arid and as soon as the fog pulls back it’s blowing. They built wind turbines just south of town there for a reason. But, you could be 10 min out of town near Prundale or San Juan Bautista and be in the hills and it’s not an issue.


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[muted]

Just don’t move there because you think there is good mountain biking in town because the sea otter classic is held there. But Santa Cruz is close at least. And the race track is sweet if you like sports-of-the-motoring kind.

[skifishbum]

At least you are "at the beach." Life could always be worse. Summers here are brutal in the valley with limited water access. Only bugs me during the work week though.

Limited water access?
There is 420 lifetimes worth of floatable water
Within the 350 miles a tank of gas on the 4 runner takes me
What is limiting you from these waters?
I water my garden with potentially unlimited water cause no one is metering,
With water rights from red pine lake
Sure we live in the high dessert but there is an assload of recreation water and enough water to keep way to many green grass lawns

[Marshall Tucker]

Cost of housing here is quite high,

I don't know how you do it. Co I work for, we had a lotta operations over the hill, Palo Alto / Milpetas etc. So I'm talkin to a controller on the phone, shootin the shit, year or two ago, says "I'm thinkin of buyin this lot that went up for sale.4k sq ft and right at a million." "dude. That's a HOUSE here. and not that big a house. and that house comes with an acre lot. for s little over 1/2 that."

I know the salaries are higher but Christ. I just can't imagine.

[liv2ski]

CA property prices can be crazy the closer you are to water. I was showing my wife homes in N. Vancouver for $3M CDN and she said $3M? WTF? To which I reminded her that is the average price in our hood. Real estate prices can be nutz anywhere, if you live where people want to be.

[Name Redacted]

CA property prices can be crazy the closer you are to water. I was showing my wife homes in N. Vancouver for $3M CDN and she said $3M? WTF? To which I reminded her that is the average price in our hood. Real estate prices can be nutz anywhere, if you live where people want to be.

Yeah, and that's only like $2M in real money.

[LegoSkier]

Just don’t move there because you think there is good mountain biking in town because the sea otter classic is held there. But Santa Cruz is close at least. And the race track is sweet if you like sports-of-the-motoring kind.

Can't say I agree with that. Goat Trail in Fort Ord in spring is one of the best cruiser single tracks ever. https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/387...-41-goat-trail

The north part of Fort Ord (the old sand dunes) actually have really good riding when its rainy and the sand is packed down.

[Ottime]

I don't know how you do it. Co I work for, we had a lotta operations over the hill, Palo Alto / Milpetas etc. So I'm talkin to a controller on the phone, shootin the shit, year or two ago, says "I'm thinkin of buyin this lot that went up for sale.4k sq ft and right at a million." "dude. That's a HOUSE here. and not that big a house. and that house comes with an acre lot. for s little over 1/2 that."

I know the salaries are higher but Christ. I just can't imagine.

People with money do stupid shit, IMO. Not that we paid even nearly that much, but there are plenty of homes for sale for a million. Your contact likely has the cash flow to build his dream house on that lot.

We bought in April of 2011 after strolling our kid through the neighborhood and saw housing prices had finally dropped from the Great Recession. Having lived here for already 18 years, I had good contacts on the real estate world, and had someone help us make it happen. Our housing cost almost doubled from when we rented, but we are building equity and own our stuff.

If you are just showing up from out of town, even from over the hill, and watching he market from a computer, and have money to spend, why not buy an empty lot for a cool million. I guess.

Like I said, we are not getting rich living here. My Tacoma has 365k on it. I drive that exclusively around town to not put miles on the Outback. My surfboards last more than a decade. I do my own fiberglass repair. My own ski repairs and mounts. But almost all my ski gear here. Used. But I can watch whales while I wash dishes (okay, that happened once) and walk out my door for almost anything I need. Outside of skiing and surfing, we rarely get into a vehicle on the weekend.

We do it by keeping a budget and paying our bills and recreating with all the free stuff available around here.

[plugboots]

Can't say I agree with that. Goat Trail in Fort Ord in spring is one of the best cruiser single tracks ever. https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/387...-41-goat-trail

The north part of Fort Ord (the old sand dunes) actually have really good riding when its rainy and the sand is packed down.

Yeah, I love that trail, and agree with the rest.

[Benny Profane]

Of course, this was a problem for those that wanted to escape populated places before Covid, but now it's a pretty crucial element to consider, especially later in life.

Where Americans Live Far From the Emergency Room https://nyti.ms/3cOQbPo

[whipski]

My decade + career as an urban paramedic resulted in this philosophy of life: If God wants you, you can't hide and if not you ALMOST can't be stupid enough. So many times I told people: You have no business being alive. However there's a line of stupidity that if crossed, it seems God can't help you. I saw cardiac events and traumas that you could hit the trauma center with a golf ball from their location perish and be left for the coroner. Anyway I like it in the boonies and I can always drive to the city for culture or advanced health care.

[muted]

Can't say I agree with that. Goat Trail in Fort Ord in spring is one of the best cruiser single tracks ever. https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/387...-41-goat-trail

The north part of Fort Ord (the old sand dunes) actually have really good riding when its rainy and the sand is packed down.

Looks sweet! Since I haven't lived in Santa Cruz for a very long time, I shouldn’t have offered my opinion.

[Chugachjed]

Being quarantined after knee surgery has made me think a lot about living in Alaska. There's endless possibilities of things to do here if you are healthy and can walk. If you cant there's fuck all to do and its too cold to sit outside and play guitar. I'm thinking about moving to the big island somewhere. At least there I could go spear a fish or sit outside and not freeze my ass.

[Bobby Stainless]

99.84% of TN has not got Rona. I think Im good here.

[m2711c]

easily achievable numbers if you don't bother to test in the first place......

[Bobby Stainless]

easily achievable numbers if you don't bother to test in the first place......

We tested 100k more than CO. 148k total. Besides FL, the most of any Southern state.

181 deaths.

[unitofstuff]

Am I the only person who cringes at “perfect weather” ?

I like snow, wind, rain, clouds, sun, heat, I want all of it.


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I spent my first 20-ish years living in places with four distinct seasons and then spent a few years in southern California. It took me a while to figure out that not having those seasons really kinda fucked with my head. Maybe I'm just a special, sensitive snowflake but it made a big difference to me. Kinda like circadian rhythm being off, but on a much longer timeline. I'm much happier being back somewhere with real seasons.

[AK47bp]

I spent my first 20-ish years living in places with four distinct seasons and then spent a few years in southern California. It took me a while to figure out that not having those seasons really kinda fucked with my head. Maybe I'm just a special, sensitive snowflake but it made a big difference to me. Kinda like circadian rhythm being off, but on a much longer timeline. I'm much happier being back somewhere with real seasons.

I guess that’s probably a big part of it, where you grew up and “came of age”.

Similar to how the generational differences are defined. Not so much a linear time frame but the culture and environment that was dominant while your personality was forming.







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