[fintstone]

I grew up in an eastern state but lived/worked all over the nation and overseas. I always loved the idea of living in CA, My wife, kids and I had to move there for about out a year in my early 30s for work, but we knew it was temporary, were broke, and put down no roots. Still, we enjoyed seeing some of the sights. Went back on a business trip or two in my early 40s to LA and hated it...smog and bumper to bumper traffic...and scammers/homeless bums everywhere. Later, went back to take my car for an engine rebuild/install and things seemed better. Clear skies and tooling down the PCH in a hot rod 70s targa made it seem like the place I dreamed of. By my late 50s, I was better off financially and when I went there for business, I stayed in nicer hotels and had more time to visit nicer areas. Went to the beach, etc. Loved it. Almost like on TV. Took my wife out to pick up another 911 Targa and we stayed a day or two at the nicer hotel...took her down the coastline. Time of our lives. Started considering jobs there. Looked at the cost. I was relatively wealthy in comparison by now...where I lived, but would be quite worse off in CA., would have to buy a tiny house, give up the big yard and 3-car garage, etc. My standard of living would be about what it was 30 years ago. Add in the traffic, politics, high taxes, crime, etc...and I think I will have to just visit. Kids are gone now and I have not been back for over 10 years, but would love to vacation there. When the fires and riots end...I think I will take the wife out for a few weeks...but can't imagine moving there unless there are massive changes. While I will never move anywhere very cold again after being stationed in Minot ND in the military...much of the south/southwest seems much better...even Florida.

Sadly, a lot of the nicer of those places (where i live/have lived) are quickly becoming "little LA" or "little NYC" due to others fleeing and bringing the same ideas that ruined those places with them. How people can move to a place because it seems "wonderful" and then campaign tirelessly for the rest of their life to make it the same as where they left is beyond me. If you move to a place where taxes are low...and then demand increased services, pretty soon, taxes go up. Same if you demand endless social programs. If you fight against having tough law-and-order, pretty soon, crime goes up. Ask for lots of affordable, but high-density housing and you get crowded streets. Protect the bears, deer, or fish or...and the people that lived there and depended on them for food/income suddenly are hungry and angry...and there are bear attacks on humans living in subdivisions. Suddenly, Mayberry is LA...without the beaches or high salaries. Remember that when you retire to a lower-cost area, you don't bring new jobs, just demands and more traffic...and more money than the locals whom you outbid for housing...driving prices up for them/everyone. Especially if it is largely a tourist area and the jobs are mostly service jobs. While the prices and tax increases may still seem low to you, they are often devastating to the locals.