I just remember my dad and uncles and whatever dogging on California all the time. Its so ridiculous. It makes me cringe when Idaho folks are doing it now. I mean, sure. It sucks that they can move here and buy houses for cash. But, Oregonians can do that for some other states, and have absolutely done so too. There isn't a chance I would move my family to Iowa from Oregon just so I can buy a house in cash.
Same as the only people bitching about Portland don’t actually live IN Portland. Why do the people who live IN Portland love it?
Been all over the country this summer, currently on the East Coast, spent a lot of time in the Midwest including Minnesota and Wisconsin. Can't wait to get back to Cali. It's better. Period. Fwiw,.we lived in the Bay area before and San Diego now. I am a socal guy. Norcal is nice, but the weather is better in SD and we have such an amazing plethora of things to do, from the beach, desert, mountains, big cities, small towns. It's not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
The coasts are the best. When I drove across country Utah was beautiful but other than that most placed sucked. Boston and upstate New York were cool. I couldn't wait to get back to the west coast, though.
I mean, I enjoy most places, I love travel and exploration, but it's hard to argue with the amazing variety of California. Fwiw, drive from SD to the twin cities earlier in the summer, had a lot of fun in Wyoming, spent almost a month exploring the twin cities and there are cool things to do there. Had about a week in Madison just now, I enjoyed it the last time I visited (25 years ago) and so this time, I would certainly be interested in spending more time there.
