Even with all the crap that goes on in California there are still some nice things about the area too. Like deciding to take a short trip to Disneyland. Right now the g/f and I are relaxing in the Blue Bayou restaurant. It is kind of fun to watch people pass by on their boats for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
I went to Disneyland on my honeymoon - not my choice, but didn't have a dog in the fight since I'm not into the honeymoon hype. Went to Disney World just for my kids. Basically it's Hell for most straight adult males. Sorry, nothing there that appeals to me.
Disneyland wouldn't be a place I would honeymoon at. As for Disney World, while owned by the Disney, it is not Disneyland.
True, Disney World is not Disney land, but they have the same things like rides, characters in costumes, etc.
The one in Cali is a little like if you had the first Vegas casino, still operating with only relatively minor renovations. What was revolutionary in the 1950s is now stale and hokey. I am glad I went, though.
This, and a few select rides, are really the highlight of the park. I haven't been to California Adventure yet, so I can't comment on it, but there's the sense of overpriced hype now.
California Adventures was a really stupid idea in my opinion. It was supposed to be the West Coast version of Epcot. That didn't happen. What we got is DCA which has never lived up to Disney other parks. Why would CA residents want to go to Disney to see tourist spots of CA when all of those things are within hours of where we live?
I once had a (surpringly) nice lunch in a restaurant (maybe it was also The Blue Bayou?) overlooking the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland Paris. And, since it was Paris, I even had a bottle of wine.
I've got some friends who really, really like Disney World but I just don't think I'd get into it myself. I like the smaller, less expensive theme parks without all the hype and WAITING and CROWDS. Maybe they've gotten better at handling that kind of thing over the years. What do y'all think? It seemed to me those friends spent more time and energy gaming the system than they did just enjoying the trip but, since they were such fans, didn't mind the hassle. Anyway, looking forward to hearing more about life in SoCal. It's terra incognita to me. I can't imagine why anyone would want to live there so you're going to have to convince me you're not nuts.
I understand even Southern CA varies as to weather so you can't do a straight compare there, can you? Right now, though, it's mid-upper 80's. Sunny. Not too bad for this time of year. This year has been drier than normal, though, so the heat / humidity combination hasn't been quite as oppressive as it usually is this time of year. I was thinking more along the lines of population density in places like LA and the resulting problems (traffic, high housing prices, etc.) I've got a friend from HS who lives in SF. To be polite, he's a loon. I guess they congregate on the left coast.
Well, it's true we have our own little micro-climate along the beaches, which means it's about 10-15 degrees cooler here on average than it would be downtown. But there are still far fewer extremes overall than you'd find just about anywhere else in the U.S. Today's typical of any day from March to October...sunny, 71, humidity 66%. It only gets really unpleasant here when the humidity dips down into the teens. It's a treat for me, coming from New York, where you've got maybe 10-20 really beautiful days a year, in between Too Hot and Too Cold. Right now there's a breeze blowing the curtains, and I haven't used the a/c since a few oddly hot days at the beginning of May. Oh, also: no snow/sleet/freezing rain, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, rarely even any thunder when it rains (and it usually only rains between Thanksgiving and Easter), and what the locals call a monsoon is really just heavy rain. It's true I'm spoiled because I work from home; if I had to commute I think I'd be a little crazed. But, again, coming from New York, I'm amused at what Angelenos consider "traffic." If they have to slow to 40 mph, they call it "traffic." Where I come from, "traffic" is when everything comes to a dead stop for miles. YMMV. And, yeah, the cost of living is a little steep, but it's a tradeoff for, for example, being within shouting distance of the beach and the Pier, the mountains (an hour's drive from ski country if you're into that sort of thing), every conceivable type of restaurant on the planet, four multiplex theaters and a couple of art houses, live theater, art galleries, a symphony orchestra that performs for free, the annual Twilight Dance series...I could go on... They call us the Left Coast for a reason.
I don't work from home (there are a few in my relatively small office who telecommute) but, since it's only 15 minutes drive on a bad day, I consider myself pretty lucky. Needless to say, I live in a pretty small town. There are major cities / airports / cruises / football / baseball and all the accompanying "stuff" less than an hour away. I used to live in a much larger town but I just don't miss the daily grind (to me, that's what it was) and, when I do feel the need, it's close enough. I know I can get along in that environment or, at least, I used to do pretty well in it. But anyway, that's not what this thread was all about. I wanted to hear K1A on a good day telling us about what's keeping him in socialist wonderland. Oh yeah, where I live really is pretty darned conservative. I'm practically a lib by local standards.
I'd be interested in that as well, for a couple of reasons. One, if you look at voter registrations, it's not a socialist wonderland at all, and two, this is the Green Room.
In Disneyland itself, none of the restaurants offer liquor. The only restaurant that does is in Club 33, but, you need to have a special membership as well as the bucks to pay for the membership.
The community that I live in as well most of the surrounding communities are rather conservative. Unfortunately, the nut jobs who live in LA, SF, and Sacramento kind of outnumber communities like mine.
In 2002 there were 15,303,469 registered voters; 44% were Democratic, 35% Republican, and 21% unaffiliated or members of other parties.
I really liked SoCal. There's a lot that's the same as this side of the pond. But to steal from Pulp Fiction, it's the little differences. Especially the weather.
Another advantage, if you live in one of the independent cities within L.A. County, is responsive local government.
In the same way that it's easier to brake a VW than a semi, I agree. But it's hard to imagine breaking the entire United States into populations of under 100,000.
But that's what I was talking about...the difference between living in a borough of NYC with a population of 4+ million and a town of 100,000 residents where you can get to know the city council on a first-name basis. Not what you mean when you say "smaller governments."
