My experience with California was amazing, but odd at the same time. I have family that lives in SoCal, so there aren't a lot of options for places to ski other than Big Bear or Mt. High. I was 14 when I first went there, so for me it was over a year ago on Spring Break and it was my first time ever meeting the rest of my family that I've never met before other than my uncle who has visited me in NY a few times as a kid. Also, I never was able to ski at the time because my ski stuff was back at my home in New York, so I was out of luck because it dumped HARD at Big Bear and Mt. High, and it was in the middle of April, but I was pissed. Because both mountains got dumped on hard, Mt. High re-opened for two days and Big Bear had a nice whiteout powder day. I spent some time in Riverside, San Bernandino, Temecula Valley, and Castaic. Although it's a nice place and all, you'll find some weird people in SoCal. One time in a Costco in the Temecula Valley with my brother, dad, and my uncle, we were about to buy some groceries and this lady in front of us had these weird, huge lips that were bigger than Angelina Jolie's lips.Then after we stepped out of Costco and got in the car, we started cracking jokes about the lady's plastic surgery, because she looked so fake.
Let's get back on topic. Seriously, you will find a lot of messed up people in SoCal, so it might be better to live in the mountains in the winter, but trek to the beach now and then because you will see some interesting, but kinda messed up things wherever you go. I missed out though on going to a DelTaco while I was there, so check it out ASAP. Also, a lot of things are expensive, so minimum wage is not the way to go, which minimum wage is, like, $8.00/hour or something like that. So, yes, Cali is kinda better than Florida, where you're surrounded by retired old people and dirt bags in Florida.
