[Don Plumley]

I'm traveling but will chime in with what PorschePilot said - it's a great part of the world to live in. I have also lived in both halves of the state and truly love the Bay Area. Now I'm sitting in Newport Beach as I type this note and SoCal has its advantages, but Sonoma County is home for me.

Santa Rosa as a city has some sketchy areas, but nothing like Long Beach. There are some great communities, such as Windsor, Sebastopol, Petaluma - just depends what floats your boat. Yes, there are some traffic issues, but compared to SoCal, nothing. There is a bunch of freeway work going on right now that acerbates the situation, but the end result will be much improved traffic flows.

Here you are less likely to be judged on what you are wearing and what you are driving. Wealth is more subtle. Lots more tattoos and aging hippies, and it is a tourist area so on big wine weekends everyone seems to show up on the roads.

The downsides (from a SoCal perspective), we have three seasons, the beaches are cold, lots of microclimates so you have to be selective where you live if you like outdoor dining, schools generally suck in comparison to good SoCal neighborhoods (Irvine). You will probably be a little further from an airport.

The many upsides include great driving roads, Sears Point, Laguna Seca; Tahoe in 3 hours. SF in 1 hour. Wine and Food focus - many amazing great little neighborhood restaurants; A less urgent lifestyle. Cows and open fields; trees and beauty everywhere.

Let me know if I can answer any specific questions.