We decided to move to a sunnier location and settled on Colorado. However, after this past winter we are tired of the cold and can't imagine living in Colorado anymore, even though it has a lot of sunshine.

We've now set our minds on Northern California. The problem is, it's such a huge area it's hard to do enough research to figure out which areas are best to consider. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Here's what we need:

* Plenty of sunshine!

* Clean air (this is a huge MUST HAVE on our list)

* Within one hour of a large city (for husband to find a job, for daughter and I to visit for cultural events, good-size museums, large food coop or organic grocery store)

* Wooded areas for hiking, with streams running through them

* Affordable land/housing--we want to live on as many acres as possible for peace, and we also want to grow our own fruits/veggies. We probably can't go higher than about $300,000 (ouch!), I'm thinking (depends on how much our current home sells for in this market), and the land needs to include a home on it.

* Community with homeschoolers/unschoolers, vegans/vegetarians (raw foodists a HUGE plus!), those interested in yoga and Eastern Philosophy, artistic individuals.

* Climate not too hot or humid. We want the sun, but we want to be comfortable, also. ;-)

Any suggestions???

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

I love Northern CA. We lived there for 9 years. Lok into areas in teh East Bay instead of South Bay.

I love SF, but it is VERY very expensive.. Always cold and foggy.

San Ramon and Danville are excellent places to consider. One hour or so away from everything and you cn always BART to the SF area.

I love CA. We did just what you did tho'. After living in SF Bay for 9 years, we wanted o move to a less expensive place so we moved to Denver. After seeing few winters here, I am also tired of it. But I am not sure I can move back to CA. Would love to some day, bt not right now.

God bless and enjoy your stay in CA.

Take care
A Iyer

Wendi, I think you may find that you will be abke to get all you want in Norther CA bay area. But you mention that you are looking for house like in 300,000 range.. This is precisely why we left CA because we cannot even find a condo in that price range. Just my thoughts and observations living there for several years. Good luck to you and I know you will love CA.

Take care
A Iyer

Thanks, anuiyer7. I just looked up San Ramon and Danville. They both look very nice, but we are wanting something a bit more rural. We want to feel like we are living in the country, but are able to drive about an hour (or less) to get to a big enough city to meet our needs.

I hope you'll be able to return to CA as soon as you decide that's what you definitely want to do. If it wasn't for such a long, cold spell this winter we'd be there in Colorado before the end of the year.

Thanks, again!

Love,

Wendi
XOXOXO

I lived in Monterey Bay for 2 years, which is an hour and a half south of San Francisco. The Bay areas have strange weather - every single day of the year it's about 65 degrees & foggy. HOWEVER, on our drives going from Monterey to San Fran, I would always notice that as soon as we got far enough east of the ocean, it was normal weather - i.e., sunny. If I remember correctly, it was places like Salinas and San Jose that were sunny - those are also more moderately priced places to live - and frankly, not particularly nice. But it sounds like you're not looking to live downtown, anyway, so around there you can probably find some good, affordable backwoods places. There are alot of redwood trees, pine trees, and hiking in that area of California.

Btw it's about a half hour drive east of the ocean where it gets sunny, that's where Salinas & San Jose are. And they're about an hour from San Fran.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2008 07:33PM by sunshine79.

Hi, I live in Vallejo. It's a bedroom community about 40 minutes North East of the City. We love the location (very central to the whole Bay) and the property prices, Vallejo also has a very nice artistic community. If you are looking for rural places, I recommend the wine country. Glen Ellen, Sonoma, Napa, it's just gorgeous. Very expensive, too, though. If you look a little more towards Middleton, or Calistoga, Harbin, I believe it gets a little more reasonable. Also very rural, beuatiful, but farther away from the City.

I used to live in Santa Rosa, also, lots of rural areas in the vicinity. Vallejo is very hot in summer and mild in winter, Santa Rosa is a bit cooler and a bit wetter. Except for the famed cold summers in the City itself, I think theweather is nice and sunny all over the Bay.

If you are looking for clean air in the Bay area, however, you might want to read this and then judge for yourself:
(just some random google links on the planned LBAM spraying, I do not know what the recent developments are
[www.monaloca.com]
[www.aigeanta.net]
[www.lbamspray.com]
[www.nasda.org]

Happy choosing!

I miss CA. I have lived in both somewhat southern CA and in the Bay area.

I'm jealous.

Someday, I hope to return...

The best city in northern California is San Francisco (744K people in SF, but 7M in the greater metropolitan area), but finding a rural home one hour away from San Francisco for that price is impossible (or very difficult). The next big city north of San Francisco (that is not a suburb of San Francisco) is Santa Rosa, with 150K people. There might be houses in that price range an hour away from Santa Rosa. By the way, one of the best places for organic farming is Sebastopol, which is right next to Santa Rosa. So the food would be great in that area.

Eureka is a small city that might fit your needs. It has a population of 25K people (if you included its suburbs, its 43K people), and 2 large organic supermarkets. You could easily find housing in your budget within an hour of Eureka, and there are a lot of local organic farmers. I live 1 hour south of Eureka in a small rural town called Garberville. One negative about Humboldt county is that the largest contributor to the economy here is pot growing, which causes the price of real estate to be higher than it should be based on the other economic factors of the area. The other negative (though it could be a positive) is that this area is a temperate rain forest, so it rains a lot during the winter months.

Eureka isn't super sunny, but an hour south in Garberville is actually a lot sunnier. Big homeschool community too, yoga, artists, etc. Climate is very temperate.. not TOO cold in winter, not TOO hot in summer. Just right. And Eureka/Arcata has its share of cultural activities.

In between Eureka and Santa Rosa, there are Ukiah which has a great health food store but I don't know much about the economy or cultural stuff.

Love,
Uma

I've lived in Sonoma County for the past 12 years and it's paradise. I agree with Bryan that Sebastopol is the organic farming leader of the north bay. Sebastopol has the cleanest air, proximity to hiking & the coast, progressive folks (yoga enthusiasts, vegans, artists, musicians & aging graying ex-hippies), an hour+ north of SF/20 minutes to Santa Rosa, not hot or humid due to proximity to the ocean, Whole Foods Market in town, plenty of lots with acreage for gardens BUT real estate is not cheap. Every Sunday morning in the summer Sebastopol has the best farmers market in the county. I know...I sold there!

Good move nixing Danville/San Ramon. It's sterile, the residents believe in conspicuous consumption and it's very hot and very dry. If you're in to keeping up with the Joneses, need a gas guzzling SUV, are a soccer mom and have to be a member of the finest tennis club well then it may be for you.

Wow!! Thanks for so much information and honest opinions, everyone! I'm going to take this information (and any more that is shared here) to help us make a decision!

Thanks, again!!!

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Hello Wendi, you don t have to look any farther. I have liveed in norhtern Ca.38 yrs. 5 yrs in San Francisco got tired of city life and moved 200 mile north of SF I live in the very northern tip of Mendocino County on the headwaters of the mattole river. I can trow a rock into humbolt county from here.
The coast out here is called the lost coast. Lots of BLM land lots of state park
Kings Range wilderness, Headwaters forest Largest red wood stand in the world.
This area has many micro climates . valleys hills Garberville is a good place to start looking from north south east west of it . its all real good.

you could find a house in Garberville for 300. Eureka Ca you can pick up nice victorion house for 245 to 300 good deals only problem Eureka Reeks a paper mill in town. south is warmer fog a lot up there Look around Laytonville Try Madrone realty Phone 707-9232119 Peoples Real Estate of Humbolt707-9232328
Garberville Realty 707 9234010 Marcia
I bought my land from her good honest people. Life is good up here, we are all very lucky to be in such a great place you can still drink the water out of the mattle river. thats rare good raw water. any way if you look you will say I was right. this is the best part of Ca. the Humbolt and the Mattel nation it is!
very strong community great public radio KMUD 91.1 on the dial no other like it.
Good luck in your search feel free to email if I can help
riverhousebill@yahoo.com



Peace Bill

what a fun read!

i love the lost coast!! it is a truly amazing magical land out there!

I live in Fairfax, Ca which is 1/2 hour drive of the city
it is a very progressive town within a fairly progressive affluent county
you won't find a place to buy here, but if you try hard maybe be able to manifest something (farmshare?)15-40 min west towards the ocean in west marin which is forest/rural/ranch but still all very accessible to fairfax-san rafael and san francisco.
we have the cleanest air in the bay area, the best hiking, beautiful coast, and the 2nd largest year round farmer's market in the state.

We are moving further south though because it is just too cold for us

i think garberville-ukiah you will find something that you are looking

good luck!!

anything in the east bay is going to be down - wind of chevron refineries in richmond - i would avoid

only pollution we get in marin is from our cars, woodstoves, china and chemtrails (they spray heavily in the bay area) and oh yeah, "light brown apple moth" spraying which is just a new world order liberal population control evil stuff. it might not happen though!!!

what an exciting time to live in
we all chose these bodies now!

Dear God,

Please help me get back to California intact, in a way that doesn't involve fleeing or fearing...

I miss California. I would be willing to have less house (apartment, etc.) in exchange for the lifestyle, the people, the climate.

I like my job. I have a great job. I like my housemate. I am not unhappy. I just loved living in California.

<sigh>

My officemate just got out of the hospital... two week sentence for congestive heart failure. She had so many medicines... new medicines supposed to help her. She celebrated getting out by eating four slices of greasy pizza and chocolate cake.

Bringing the raw food lifestyle to one cold, ignorant, urban east coaster at a time,

Lee

Thanks for all of the information! We are definitely doing Northern California, but we haven't been able to narrow it down, yet. Our plan is to sell our home and possessions (most of them), buy a used RV, and then slowly travel to CA while having fun along the way. Sure, we'll most likely spend more money this way (the RV and slowly traveling), but it's going to be a fun adventure.

So, when we arrive in CA, we might not be able to buy a place right away. :-P Whatever happens, happens. I'm looking forward to the adventure of getting to CA, and then finding our ideal place when we arrive. I'm thinking our final location may be determined more on where my husband finds a job. :-/ But, it will definitely have to be in the areas where most of you have recommended--they sound exactly like what we are looking for!

When it's closer to the time for us to leave, I'll be back to ask more questions!

Thanks for all the help, everyone!!

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

I agree with Bryan and am very, VERY jealous of you, Gypsy Ardor! I was born in Sebastopol and wound up in Napa when I was 14. That is where my family of origin still are. I miss it immensely. I now live in Western Mass. where there is much less sun. I love Humboldt County and think that Garberville is a great little town. Down 101 is the little town of Hopland that has a summer sustainability fair called Solfest in August and I am going! Can't Wait!! I think your idea of doing the RV thing is the best way to go because there is so much in Northern CA to see. Best of luck to you and your family, and kiss the ground for me!!!
Sundancer

I don't know much about the people, but I visited Big Sur - it was beautiful, right on the ocean, close to Monterey, but you can still live "in the woods" literally. The people we visited lived in a little house nestled in a redwood forest of sorts. It was soooo quiet at night, and you could see the stars. it was beautiful!

I was born and raised in San Francisco. I now live in the Central Valley, 2 hours away from SF.

Rural areas might put you further away from the Bay Area than you want. The jobs are mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area or the Silicon Valley. The further you get away from the city, the more affordable housing is. Depending on your budget, Marin County is beautiful, close enough commute, but very expensive. Santa Rosa is more rural, affordable, but the commute is hell.

I don't have time now, but later, I'll give you a list of places you might try.

If you want to email me at fromrox@comcast.net, I'll reply back with some areas that might interest you.

What about Davis?

Have you considered Oregon possibly? Portland and Eugene are great cities, very progressive & very green from what I have heard. Outside of the cities there may be some acreage available and probably much cheaper than in Cali.



[minou-minou.blogspot.com]
myspace.com/summer33ny

We've been selling off all our possessions, getting closer to the point when we'll be starting our new journey.

As a family, we've been looking over all the areas in Northern California that have been recommended here, and somewhere along the way my husband stumbled onto a little town called Los Gatos (the cats). Our daughter is obsessed with cats--draws, paints, sculpts, etc., them all the time. Anyway, this town stuck out because of the name. We wouldn't be able to afford a home in the town, but I want to live a bit more rural, anyway. My husband thinks the Los Gatos mountain area is nice, but I haven't had time to research much about it.

For those living in Northern California, can you tell me the pros and cons of living in the Los Gatos mountains? We still haven't narrowed down our final destination much, so any information is very welcome and appreciated.

Lots of love to all of you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Nevada City!!, Grass Valley, North San Juan.. Check it out! the Yuba River is amazing and there are more trails than you could ever hike. Large co-op and small, a farmers market within 8 minutes 4 days a week. 1 hour from Sacramento.

Please know that everyone in Northern Cali is dealing with smoke right now from the fires.

PLEASE VIEW THIS map before you leave home! We're surrounded:

[www.geomac.gov]

I lived in San Francisco, San Rafael, Novato.... commuting on 6 lane freeways is not for me

Do you know anything about the Los Gatos Mountain area? Is there a lot of smoke there from the fires? It's one of the areas my family is really drawn to, so we'd like to hear any of the negatives (and positives) about it.

One hour from a larger city is very nice. I'll check out the areas you've mentioned, as well.

Thanks!

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Petaluma, Cotati, Santa Rosa.......just north of SF and a little less expensive than SF and Marin but within a short driving distance. Close to the beach, redwoods, Russian River. (I'm jealous). I miss home.


WendySmiling in Oklahoma
www.16weeks2health.blogspot.com
12/17/10.......240/155/125

[enzymeluv.blogspot.com]

that is a site from a juicefeasting coach in Grass Valley, explaining how it is to be raw in this area and the 3 health food stores. I wish I could help with los gatos, but know very little about it. The actual population in Nevada City is under 3000, yet the high school alone has 2500 students. A lot of people live off the grid, which seems like it may appeal to you.

Also I forgot to mention, WILLITS!! ooh my if I wasn;t here I would be there. If you have the time to look into that also, the community is very earthy and working toward self sustainability in many ways