> What geological features of the Bay Area do you regard as a plus point?

I believe they may be talking about the Sierra Nevada range, with mountaineering matched only by places in the Andes, Himalayas or Alps. Yosemite is the climbing capital of the world and the birthplace of modern rock climbing. Sure, it's not right in the Bay area, but you can easily drive to a trail head within a half day or less.

Little known secret: the East side of the Sierras is where all the best action is at and the real estate is cheaper (although still overpriced). The downside is the tech jobs are few and far between and if you like urban environments, there aren't really any.

Half a days drive is a lot. In Edinburgh there are decent outdoor sports half an hour away.

Which is exactly why I said "or less". Depending where you live in California, Bouldering or sport climbing could be 20 minutes away,plus it's available year round. You can't beat that.

I assume you're thinking about the earthquake risk. We haven't had a major quake here in a generation, and people have short memories. The San Andreas fault exists day-to-day as a pretty chain of lakes.

I'd also count being in a place where the mountains meet the ocean as a plus, as well as the golden gate (the waterway, not the bridge, though the bridge ain't half bad, either). And a few hours away you've got Big Sur and Yosemite.

You should move to Portland. We have all of that and more. No wait, the Californians are already ruining Portland. Please, do not move here.

You can keep Portland: no fourteeners and too much bloody rain. I'll take my SoCal where I can climb 365 days of the year.

I guess parent meant geographical. Ocean, bay, mountains, forests, near-deserts, all in close proximity.

Seattle has much the same, with the plus of waterskiing in the middle of the city on Lake Washington. Of course, the boom in prices is affecting Seattle, too.

Yeah, I lived over half my life up there. West coast geography is just what I consider "normal". I don't think I could live in other regions of the country as happily.

I didn't find housing costs to be that far out of whack with the increased salary when I moved to the Bay Area, though.

And I found the soul crushingly bad traffic at the time to be worse in Seattle than in the Bay. My #1 reason was the weather, though. I just couldn't take the lack of sunshine. My mood changed so much when I moved down here. I'm sure it doesn't bother some people, and more power to them. I really miss the northwest when I visit. It reminds me of what I've missed out on, things have changed so much. Then again, I would have missed out on things that happened down here. And I've missed out on everything that happened in Omaha and Denver and...

I like the rain in Seattle. It makes things peaceful, and the wet air smells good. (I grew up in Arizona, where 367 days of clear blue sky gets a bit boring <g>.)

After about 10 years here in CA, I started liking the rain too. Now I love it when it rains. I just hated the way unpredictable weather (==rain) meant you could never plan an outdoor activity in the PNW without the decent possibility of it getting rained on. It limited my enjoyment of the "great outdoors". But in a larger sense, my (mood-related) gripe was with the grey, not the rain itself.

I do miss the Arizona sunsets, though. And the electric storms in Kansas - what a show!

bingo