The beauty with SF is that some of the most beautiful hills and scenery are just a short drive away.
I've been spreading the gospel brother! It's a sad thing that I too often meet folks who have been here for several years (unfortunately many engineers) who look puzzled when I mention Point Reyes or Big Sur. They don't venture too far out of the confines of the city and enjoyed the real reason we pay so much to live here!
Indeed. I recently went to the South Island of New Zealand for some backpacking. It was so beautiful but often I was reminded of marine county, except they don't have alpine parrots in the bay area :p keep up the good work with getting people outside!
However, in those cities you likely wouldn't make the money to afford that $3500/month rent.
It doesn't have to be SF. It's not just that rent is expensive, it's that for the price you pay you most likely aren't even living in a nice neighborhood (most parts of Mission, parts of Soma, Market, parts of Haight, Divis, most of Western Addition, Lower Nob Hill, etc. - these aren't nice places at all for $3500/ month, which would put you in the very best areas of pretty much any other city in the world).