I was born in Long Beach, California. At some point, when I was very young, we moved to South Gate, California. Then, just before first grade, we moved to Cerritos, California. From there, I moved to Bellflower, California. I went to Cal State Long Beach. The point is, I've lived, grown up, gone to school, and worked in Southern California my whole life. Until now.
For those of you unfamiliar with Southern California, I'll explain it this way. I lived in the suburbs on Los Angeles. So, while I was about 20 miles away from L.A., that entire distance is city. It's city for 30-40 miles in every direction from me (except southwest, because the coast is closer than that). There are parks, of course, but generally I've been surrounded by concrete and freeways and buildings and streets and industrial areas and freeways my entire life.
OK, this is where I live now...
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| View from just outside my bedroom door |
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| View from the backyard, overlooking the valley |
I'm not complaining, it's beautiful here. It's just a big change in lifestyle. I'm used to popping down to the store any time I want to. Going out to get fast food on a whim. Now, the nearest fast food is 20 miles away. And going shopping for anything at a department or discount store involves a trip to Fresno, which is about 30 miles away. So, a trip to Fresno takes planning and usually involves more than one person. We have to coordinate trips and make sure we're hitting all the stores while we're down there, because we may not be back for two or three weeks. So, we go to Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and wherever else all in the same trip. Sometimes it takes hours!
I will say though, the trip to Fresno is beautiful. We go from oak tree covered foothills, down to more sparsely covered hills, then to wide open ranch land. We nearly always see hawks flying overhead or perched on the fences, too.
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