California dreaming

So I've been back in California for about 4 weeks, and its been interesting. I always have loved the Bay Area and would love to live here. I always had a fond longing to return. I imagined being back here with all my friends and being able to enjoy the amazing outdoors that are on your doorstep here. The mountains for snowboarding, climbing, backpacking and camping. You have the ocean for surfing and sailing. Great rivers for paddling. The good weather which means you can do everything year round. Just about anything and everything you want. But as the years went by I realised more and more that this was all just a dream. First off, most of my friends have moved away from the bay and altough I still have good friends here it will never be how I remember it with everyone just hanging out. Second, although I could convince my friends here to do outdoor stuff, its not as big in their lives as it is for me, so although there are tons of natural resources I'd have to make more friends to properly use them. And the third point of practicality is that I would find it quite difficult to get a job here. The is no car stuff here and I don't have any contacts. It might take a year or more to get a good job I want. So for all these reasons I fully realised that although I had a strong emotional attachment for the Bay Area I always knew that my future (at least for the next few years after I finish having fun) is in England.

What I didn't realise was the strength of my attachment to California. In the last few weeks I've really loved being here and could see how cool it would be to live in SF and have a bit of a city life during the week and escaping to the mountains on the weekends. Chillin with the boys in the city, going to the Cal football games. It would be a nice life. And it really surprised me how much I could get over my objective mind (which is telling me to go back to England) and paint this wonderful canvas of life out here. Almost to the point of actually starting to think of the logistics involved in being out here. It's amazing to see how easily I could conjure up an argument to stay.

But regardless of all this I'm leaving again. I have a job out in Breck and I'm getting on the Greyhound tonight for a 30 hour epic bus ride, yup, I'm "riding the dog" out there. I'll let you know how the trip goes with my next post. Highlights to include a 3 hours transfer in downtown LA and a 1 hour stop in Las Vegas.

Vegas baby, VEGAS!