BajaNomad - The Golden State

The Golden State

sargentodiaz - 8-7-2013 at 12:12 PM

Showing Tarnish Around the Edges

My wife and I [and out little Chihuahua] took a quick trip to Tijuana. I couldn't help but seeing the signs of decay in my home state. Just little things. But, lots of them to show how things aren't going all that well.

I guess the main thing was the growth of weeds and trash on the hillsides next to the freeway. Instead of the lush growth of ice plant, the ground was mostly bare with scraggly wild plants growing here and there. And when we stopped to eat or fuel up, things weren't as clean and bright as before.

And then there was the faux Spanish architecxture.

Finally, there were the Left Lane Road Swine [hogs is too nice to call them]. No matter the number of lanes or the speed limit, they're going to drive in the fast lane without EVER looking in their rear view mirror or moving over for faster traffic.

And, I guess the things that struck me most was the thick smog cloaking everything – even in San Diego.

No wonder I saw so many rental trucks filled with personal belongings heading out of state on the way back. I would never live there again either.

mtgoat666 - 8-7-2013 at 12:29 PM

I love California! Great place! Incredible state!
:bounce:

everywhere has problems, nowhere is perfect,... but CA comes pretty dang close to perfect!

bajaguy - 8-7-2013 at 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
I love California! Great place! Incredible state!
:bounce:

everywhere has problems, nowhere is perfect,... but CA comes pretty dang close to perfect!

Maybe you will be happy with a train to nowhere and paying more taxes to support a dysfunctional government :bounce:

LancairDriver - 8-7-2013 at 12:39 PM

Really? Kind of depends on which side of the trough your on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWoOaYi8vbA

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
I love California! Great place! Incredible state!
:bounce:

everywhere has problems, nowhere is perfect,... but CA comes pretty dang close to perfect!

DavidE - 8-7-2013 at 01:39 PM

Please treat this as an honest question...

What is YOUR favorite USA State and how is it better or worse than California or Mexico?

Most mainland Mexicanos react in horror when I show them images of barren, rugged Bajas Californias. Juancho, last week wrote back and said "Nice beaches but where are the palms?"

DocRey - 8-7-2013 at 01:45 PM

Ever see the landscape along the freeways in downtown L.A.? There isn't any. Weeds & trash. Keeps the convicts busy. Sad.

luv2fish - 8-7-2013 at 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DocRey
Ever see the landscape along the freeways in downtown L.A.? There isn't any. Weeds & trash. Keeps the convicts busy. Sad.

Ever been to La Utah ?? Very beautiful conservative state, 5% flat tax and oh yeah a portion SR 15 just south of SR 80 has a 80 M.P.H
speed limit.

chuckie - 8-7-2013 at 02:55 PM

A lot of people live in South Dakota, you can tell by the licence plates.....Colorado was nice till it got Californicated....Utah-New Mexico.....In the mountains of either, If I was going to move back....(I aint)

Bubba - 8-7-2013 at 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
I love California! Great place! Incredible state!
:bounce:

everywhere has problems, nowhere is perfect,... but CA comes pretty dang close to perfect!

Ditto, especially the Central Coast. :bounce:

805gregg - 8-7-2013 at 06:11 PM

The roads could use some work, but the rest is ok. I just spent 14 days going through Cal, Navada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Wash, Oregon and back to Ca, I prefer Ca

chuckie - 8-7-2013 at 06:28 PM

Must be something they put in the water....

Marc - 8-7-2013 at 07:47 PM

Worth a thousand words.

[Edited on 8-8-2013 by Marc]

bajadogs - 8-7-2013 at 10:17 PM

For every rental truck that leaves, a couple show up. The human population of California never will decrease until something really bad happens to the planet.

But, I support your efforts to encourage people to leave or not come here even though we are the gateway to Baja. So you went from Vegas to Tijuana... and California was the ugly part? How far away from the freeway did you get? We keep the off-ramp strip malls ugly so passers-by just buy crap and just keep passing by.

J.P. - 8-7-2013 at 10:30 PM

I have lived in some beautiful places , but the Gold Country was Great. For me California was a good place to work but in retirement cant afford to live there.

Barry A. - 8-7-2013 at 10:37 PM

Utah is my fav------------Cedar City, or close by. Several Family memebers already have moved there. I love the entire state------absolutely the most physically beautiful, bar none.

The Eastern Sierra of CA is hard to beat, tho, but I wish that Navada would annex the area.

I am a 3rd generation Californio, but am about ready to give up on CA forever.

Barry

[Edited on 8-8-2013 by Barry A.]

paranewbi - 8-8-2013 at 05:24 AM

Walked the river-mouth yesterday a few blocks from my house that splits the US / Mexico border here in Imperial Beach. Made a comment to my wife that those half built barren hills over in Playa Tijuana would be filled with million dollar houses and irrigated manicured landscape if here in the US...ala La Jolla.

How we forget that the scraggly landscape along our blighted cities is actually more indicative of the natural terra firma that was here before we 'beautified' this California. Sans the trash, we might all be living in a place as beautiful as that we desire to visit...The Baja.

danaeb - 8-8-2013 at 06:05 AM

How was Tijuana?

ncampion - 8-8-2013 at 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajadogs
For every rental truck that leaves, a couple show up. The human population of California never will decrease until something really bad happens to the planet.

But, I support your efforts to encourage people to leave or not come here even though we are the gateway to Baja. So you went from Vegas to Tijuana... and California was the ugly part? How far away from the freeway did you get? We keep the off-ramp strip malls ugly so passers-by just buy crap and just keep passing by.

Actually more people are leaving than coming (except for the illegal immigrants). The only real population growth is in the bay area - go figure. Actual population growth last year was 0.8%

"Much of the growth statewide was due to new births. More people continue to leave the Golden State than come in from other parts of the United States, with a net loss of around 66,000 last year.

But foreign immigrants coming into California outpaced that, with a net gain of about 84,000, according to the finance report."

Reference:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/CA-population-grows-to-37...

oxxo - 8-8-2013 at 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ncampion
But foreign immigrants coming into California outpaced that, with a net gain of about 84,000, according to the finance report."

I could be wrong, but I think the whole United States was built on foreign immigration! My ancestors were illegal foreign immigrants and so were my wife's and they never became US citizens either, (and our fresh off the boat ancestors never bothered to learn to speak English) they and their progeny just stayed here and built the US into the industrial/military power that it is today.

California......or???

bajaguy - 8-8-2013 at 08:12 AM

Interesting reading.........

Best 25 places to retire:

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/retirement/2012/10/16/best-plac...

Best states for retirement:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/06/retirement/best-states/index...

10 most tax friendly states for retirement:

http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/retirement/T006-S001-10-m...

How does your state rank:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/retirement/best-places-retir...

KurtG - 8-8-2013 at 08:15 AM

I have always been amazed when people generalize about California. The state's various regions are so diverse that they may as well be different worlds. While California, like any state, has it's problems I have never regretted my decision to live here. I decided way back in the 1960's that the central coast area was the best place in the US for me, one crucial thing in making that decision was that while there would be growth it would be limited by topography. Also, the climate is not too bad. I have friends and family in Minnesota's north country where I grew up who spend $7-800/month in the winter to heat their homes. All in all I think that I will finish out my days right here, with as many Baja trips thrown in as I can manage.

chuckie - 8-8-2013 at 08:36 AM

Thats true, I know I do...I lived and worked in California a good portion of my life....left and work forced me back. I did a stint in Ukiah, Mendocino County and loved it..Then a consulting job with LA County, living in Irvine and hated every minute of it..Thats when I quit and bought a ranch....Baja is best...

cessna821 - 8-8-2013 at 09:06 AM

Have to put a couple of points here.

I love California - to visit - and do this twice yearly as I pass through.

My retirement is summer in Italy on Lake Maggiore - the weather, the culture, the people, the cars, the wine!

Winter in Baja Sur - the weather, the people, the fishing, the gardening, the almost tame humming birds - and the lack of stupid regulations thought up by politically correct halfwits!

oxxo - 8-8-2013 at 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajaguy
10 most tax friendly states for retirement:

http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/retirement/T006-S001-10-m...

That does it, I'm moving to Alabama! :lol:

oxxo - 8-8-2013 at 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by soulpatch
Uh, and?........the whole of the USA is in a decline.

Yes, I agree, the decline started 400 years ago when the first illegal immigrants arrived here from Europe. :light:

DavidE - 8-8-2013 at 10:19 AM

Ya could live in Joysee ya know...

I like the new City Manager position in Santa Ana - with benefits 500K / yr.

The people that DO NOTHING make all the money now. In 20-years the USA will be neck and neck with Pakistan for economic position.

David K - 8-8-2013 at 07:25 PM

Born in California and lived here my entire life except for 6 months in Australia (1970). I would consider living in Baja California, or another American state if I could, financially. What I do to make money requires me to live right here. Same thing with my esposa, work anchors us to California, but the climate is pretty hard to beat (I am talking San Diego County)... the costs are high because it is so desirable here.

mtgoat666 - 8-8-2013 at 09:07 PM

Y'all do know that California is the center of the world, don't you?

Felicity California to be exact. Perhaps dk can post a map of the exact center.

Ateo - 8-8-2013 at 09:11 PM

Anyone who doubts the obvious, beautiful, reality of California has never truly been here. It's AMAZING.

- Huell Howser

bajaguy - 8-8-2013 at 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ateo
Anyone who doubts the obvious, beautiful, reality of California has never truly been here. It's AMAZING.

- Huell Howser

How long ago did he say that???

TMW - 8-9-2013 at 11:45 AM

I moved to CA in 1978 following two bad snowbound winters in the mid-west. I wanted a warm climate and San Diego was a good fit. Loved the ocean, mtns and desert. Moved to TX in 1996 for about 3 years and while I liked the people I missed the ocean, mtns and desert. So back I came. I don't get to the ocean much except in Baja and I don't like the crowded CA freeways. I only take I-5 thru LA when I absolutely have to.

sargentodiaz - 8-9-2013 at 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by danaeb
How was Tijuana?

Not a whole lot different from when we visited 10 years ago.

My wife did all the driving and I would give her a medal if I could. Even then, TJ drivers are sometimes more expectant than here in Vegas - they didn't have to signal but there was no doubting what they were going to do.

My wife's family lives high on one of the huge hills overlooking the river - further upstream than the main road from Otay to Ensenada. Don't know how on earth they get running water but the house was well-built. A huge change from when that part of town was comprised of carboard and couregatted tin.

Found a nice motel in the playas [and the night manager turned a blind eye to our Chihuahua] As for the dog, she was great. Waited all day until we got into the room and laid down her daiper to wee wee on. However, she didn't like Mexico one bit!]

We should've stayed longer and perhaps will turn it into a vacation next time.

Mexitron - 8-9-2013 at 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TW
I moved to CA in 1978 following two bad snowbound winters in the mid-west. I wanted a warm climate and San Diego was a good fit. Loved the ocean, mtns and desert. Moved to TX in 1996 for about 3 years and while I liked the people I missed the ocean, mtns and desert. So back I came. I don't get to the ocean much except in Baja and I don't like the crowded CA freeways. I only take I-5 thru LA when I absolutely have to.

I was in TX for almost 5 years---same with me, nice folks, cheap houses but I miss having mountains, ocean and Baja at my back doorstep...plus being a landscaper here is a lot more enjoyable with the cool weather. Traffic is the biggest problem but just have to learn to work around it.