Exactly, the California my husband and I grew up in or the one his parents grew up in just does not exist anymore. It was hard to leave at first, but now I just dread having to go out there twice a year to drop off my mother in the fall and pick her up in the spring.
Weird, huh?
I went back home for my dad's 80th birthday in April of 2010, and was there for four days. When the sun went down on day one, I was already itching to go home to Texas. By the afternoon of day four, I thought I'd die before I got to the airport. I was that uncomfortable.
Perhaps I'd feel different if I could visit somewhere in the country out there, but I don't know anyone outside the big cities. I think I'd have to make a trip to Yosemite or something. I might enjoy that.