Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Forest Falls - Why I Love Living Here

This idea comes from Dagny, who got it from Hilly. The idea is to give 10 reasons why you love love living in the state you live in. Now, I really don't love living in southern California. I DO, however, love living in Forest Falls, which is a little town up in a canyon at the foot of the San Gorgonio Wilderness. So I'll give it a go:

Why I Love Living in Forest Falls, California

1. We get four seasons up here. Down in the rest of SoCal, you get summer-like weather for over half the year. Then you might get a few rainstorms, and a few spring-like or autumn-like days, but up here we get all four seasons. In the winter, when it rains in the rest of California, we get snow. I have to put the Jeep in 4-wheel to get to work and back; I have to scrape ice; I have to wear boots, gloves, and a parka. In the fall, the leaves turn yellow and red, and it's gorgeous to see. In the spring, the flowers start to bloom, the birds come back, and you can both smell and hear everything turning in to spring.

2. While it's 100+ degrees down below in the summer, it's only 80 up here. We don't need an air conditioner - we don't have one, either.

3. It smells nice up here - pine trees, wood smoke, clean air.

4. El Mexicano - the little Mexican restaurant in town has great authentic food. Their shrimp fajitas can't be beat.

5. I can look out my front window up into the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

6. It's a 1/4 mile walk to the Vivian Creek trailhead, and then we can either go up into the wilderness for a bruiser of a hike, or continue up Mill Creek another couple of miles for a great, easy workout.

7. It's only 20 minutes back down the mountain on a NON-winding road to work and town.

8. I can hear the roar of Big Falls from my house - it's only 1/4 mile away.

9. We have a "small town" attitude, where everyone knows everyone else, and we all participate in the three different pancake breakfasts put on by Search and Rescue, the Boy Scouts, and the Fire Department. We have our own chili cook-off and blackberry festival in the summer, and take a yearly photo of the town's population.

10. We have wildlife: A family of 5 raccoons lives under my next-door-neighbor's woodpile and comes out to beg every time we barbecue. The bears scrounge through any trash cans left outside. When we hike up Mill Creek we can sometimes catch a glimpse of the herd of bighorn sheep who live in the canyon. I've spotted deer coming to the creek to drink.

I've always said if you have to live in southern California, live in the mountains!

2 comments:

Dagny said...

Glad to see that you were able to come up with some positives. I understand your desire to move. I just read about your district in the latest issue of "California Educator" this afternoon.

Ruth Daniels said...

I just moved to Halifax and we're staying at my daughter's outside the city.

Now, I'm a city girl and haven't quite found my place yet...so this "list 10 things you love" will definitely have to wait. ;-)

Great idea, though.