I think the posts by Chill and MrBally tell you what you need to know. It’s all where you go within the metropolitan area and what you make it be for yourself.

The basic parameters are easy to see. It’s hotter than shit in the summer months. But then so are lots of other places, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Houston, Dallas and many others. The southeast is also hot, but with humidity thrown in. Water supply is questionable, but that’s the same for pretty much the entire southwest.

You have the big gorilla in the room, the strip/downtown. Well you would never have to go there if you don’t want to. Just skip it if it isn’t your thing.

There are other things. Crime, gangs, etc? Those are pretty much in every big or semi- big city in America. Homeless people on the streets and all that? Everywhere.

Being from SoCal, we’ve been to LV countless times. We usually drive out into the burbs to find restaurants and such. It looks the same as any other place in the USA. I travel quite a lot for work, and I’ve been to the vast majority of US cities multiple times. Often while I’m on the road, someone from home will ask “so what’s it like over there in XXXX City?” My answer is always the same. Well, here’s what I see: McDonalds, Target, Burger King, Best Buy, a mall, a multiplex movie theater, blah, blah blah. It’s exactly the same everywhere. When you go into the city itself, it’s the same everywhere. Can’t walk 10 feet without being hit up for money, expensive crowded restaurants, filthy conditions everywhere, sirens all night, wondering if you are going to get out of there alive.

This is the USA.

The key is to get into the middle of a nice suburban neighborhood, get a nice house (with a pool for the hot climes) and hang out and enjoy life. Pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist!

Ca drivers get a bad rep, but having driven around many places in the US, and having spent significant time driving around SoCal, I believe in general the SoCal drivers are actually quite sane compared to what I see in other states. IN GENERAL. It has also changed over the years (I have driven the LA freeways extensively going back to the 80s). My theory is that SoCal drivers have evolved and realized that sane driving will get everyone where they want to go much more smoothly on the crowded freeways. So these days when you head out into the morass, pretty much everyone keeps things moving and really you see a minimum of the stupidity like tailgating, constant lane changes, etc. Yes, it’s often crowded and gridlocked, but if everyone is patient and sticks with the plan, it does keep slowly moving, and you will get there. Everyone knows what really F’s it up is when there is a crash, and crashes are usually the result of stupid moves.

Now, I will grant you, the small percentage of idiots we have do take the cake. There are a select few who just don’t get the message, and they are scary. They speed and weave in a constant stream of dangerous moves, and get angry if they perceive any driver cut them off or did anything they don’t like. Hell, they’ll even shoot you, as I’m sure you have seen on the news. The street racers are the worse. Dangerous as hell.

The CA “baggage” thing falls into at least two different things for locals from what I have seen. The first is the anger and frustration they feel when the Californians come in flush with cash from selling their homes in CA and start buying up all the property, thus jacking up the prices in the new place and often pricing the locals out.

The second is when liberal-leaning Californians move into conservative-leaning areas, causing a political culture clash. Apparently this happens a lot, although it seems odd to me. Pretty much every person I know that has left CA or is talking about leaving are definitely NOT leaning toward the liberal side. So in theory this shouldn’t happen, they should slot right in if they do move to a more conservative area.

Good plan, when you live in the heat, don't F around with the AC! The view from the backyard is awesome. That's great to be able to see the strip in the distance, it looks cool but its out of range as far as all the kookiness. If you feel like going for some fun, its a short ride and you are there. Best of both worlds. How about pool pics? And what do you have for a pinball room?

Been to Houston a number of times and saw that. Crazy, but in the entire planet? Hah, not even close. Check out Shanghai, China. I took a cab ride there, I seriously and legitimately was questioning whether I was going to come out of that alive. It was absolute death-defying insanity.

Mind you I’m no wimp. After all, I did go through a full-on highway speed crash riding in a taxicab in New Jersey. The dude veered off the highway, jumped a median, flew all the way across that median while plowing over those big yellow cones, then went across 3 lanes of traffic, somehow missing everyone, and bounced off a concrete wall. Somehow, we (myself and a coworker) walked out of that one.

There is a sweet spot in the Central Coast that we are seriously considering, I think it beats SoCal in a lot of ways. especially if you like things a little slower and less crowded. You keep pretty much the same weather and access to all the great things in CA, north and south of there. San Luis Obispo/Atascadero/Templeton/Paso Robles area. There are some cool Pinsiders that live there. I envy them...