5 things about California

1. California is a place much misunderstood in a similar way that Louisiana is misunderstood - the misconceptions are almost right but are just fictional enough to miss the reality entirely.


2. Where we go when we come here is central coast California - conservative, agricultural, suburban - in other words like the rest of the country except that is it California and bears the patina of the Promised Land upon it.


3. I go anywhere near the pacific Ocean and I cannot believe it is really there. It is an infinitude that is different than the brown, loamy gulf or the stern grey Atlantic - it is blue and green and coming it you with dramatic force. It is rocky crags and sand dunes. I'm compelled to go throw myself in it, but one toe in its icy water will chill you to your core, and in that I am blown further away by it.


4. Little scrappy beach towns could not be more charming in their precise stereotypes. I saw a Volkswagen van and a woody station wagon parked on a hill that my wife told me is a semi-secret spot for the local surfers.


5. This part of the country is the only other I have found that I would want to live in besides the dirty swampy South, and the longing that comes from it being too expensive for my pocket only serves to increase its allure.