At first I was going to say Monterey... Until you mentioned night-life. Other than that, the area is gorgeous with TONS of activities and some of the best Nature in Cali!! Unless you really LOVE the city, I'd avoid the SF area. Check out Santa Cruz - very laid back, some great bars, great nature, on the ocean, "green" friendly and still close to SF.. It's also not a terrible drive to Hollister hills. You can check out my website for pics of the Monterey area and Hollister hills: www.jeepcali.com...


~jk

 

It all sounds nice. Is it ridiculous expensive in that area?

 

Well, that's hard to say. I moved out here from Michigan so Monterey struck me as insanely expensive.... Then I moved to Redwood City.. Monterey was actually cheaper than here!! As far as Santa Cruz - not really sure.. Me, personally - I'd spend a little more money to live in a nicer area as some of the "bad" areas are, well, REALLY bad..

To give you an idea, though... I was paying $1,100/month in Monterey for a really nice condo rental. The equivalent here in RWC would be $1800/month.. I would guess Santa Cruz is in the middle but I'm just not sure..

Check out craigslist for rentals around Santa Cruz. Imho, that would be the coolest/funnest place to live, but I'm not sure how the employment situation is there...

 

CA rent is high-

...but food for thought:

You are young...
Look into roomies if you plan to rent a place.


...So far ...my 21 year old has had pretty good luck going by instinct and rolling the dice

 

Dizzy...............How come you werent at hollister??? And dont use the its a long drive excuse!!! lmao

 

Personally, if you want to be in the mountains, move to the mountains. I love it here. As for driving distances, without traffic it takes me 2.5 hours to get to my sisters place in SF. With traffic, well, you can add an hour to that

Rent is also WAY cheaper here. 2bdr apartments for 825 a month. My sister pays 1700 a month for a 1bdr in SF.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about Santa Cruz. That's one of my favorite "towns" along the coast. It's a good mix of urban feel with small town charm

 

Howdy,

Well there is the city and there is the country. If you want concrete jungles, then down south is fine, but I can go wheeling out of my backyard. We don't have a nightlife, but who needs that when you can go climb a mountain and hang out by moon light. I do suppose you need a job though and there arn't any up here. Unemployment in Shasta county in about 15% at last count. Oh ya and it is as hot as hell in the summer...


Steve
(Redding,CA)

 

Things are pretty pricey here too. Average home around here is 650K, you can get a dump of a rental still for $800, nice place is over $1000, there's some of the best 4 wheelin in the world here, but only for 3 months out of the year because it snows or snow blocks the trail until then. Awesome skiing, but there's also next to no women here either. Because of all the genderization that's taken place, it's 70% guys to 30% gals. Unacceptable! I've heard SF is very expensive, but I don't think there will be too much sticker shock for me. Santa Cruz sounds awesome as well as the Monterey area

 

It's a 4 hour drive for me from Foresthill...

This next year though, I'll be living part-time in Spanish Bay (Carmel) and that is only an hour away.

I'll make it out there then