7 ms·

> The primary point is easy access to nature from a metro area. Define "easy access to nature." Where I live, there's a major state park within the city limit

by xienze 6y ago

> The primary point is easy access to nature from a metro area. Define "easy access to nature." Where I live, there's a major state park within the city limits and a very large lake within ~20 minutes drive. In ~2 hours I can be at the beach. In ~3-4 hours I can be in the mountains. And untold amounts of basically empty land just outside the city. If you're going to arbitrarily define "easy access to nature" as "mountains next to ocean right next to me", well OK, not a lot of places fit that bill. But that's a very narrow definition designed to fit basically SV.

legerdemain 6y ago
Easy access to nature means I can go on a scenic five-mile hike between lunch and dinner. It means I can see a beautiful view without planning a day trip. I can meet with groups of friends of all fitness levels and enjoy a pleasant afternoon outdoors where we all have fun. I can go see thousands of migratory birds a few miles from my apartment. Half Moon Bay is 30-45 minutes away, depending on road conditions. Fairly strenuous hiking and rock-climbing in the Santa Cruz Mountains is also 30-60 minutes away. Santa Cruz itself is not much farther. I have lived all over the east coast for most of my life, and this degree of access has made an outdoors person of my notoriously sedentary self.
- xienze 6y ago
  > Easy access to nature means I can go on a scenic five-mile hike between lunch and dinner. So can I, as I mentioned there's a major state park within the city limits where I live... > It means I can see a beautiful view without planning a day trip. Incredibly vague and subjective. What constitutes a "beautiful view"? > I can meet with groups of friends of all fitness levels and enjoy a pleasant afternoon outdoors where we all have fun. Not unique to the SF Bay Area at all. Again I think this is very much a cherry-picked definition of "easy access to nature" that is designed to preclude any place not named "SF Bay Area." Still, the kinds of things you were describing can be found in metro areas all over the country.
  - legerdemain 6y ago
    I'm not sure why you feel this need to argue that other regions are just as good as the Bay Area. Are you a tourism promoter? Whether you're right in absolute terms is insubstantial. What matters is that hundreds of thousands of people feel the way I do, and that's why we moved here or stayed here.

by xienze 6y ago

legerdemain 6y ago

Easy access to nature means I can go on a scenic five-mile hike between lunch and dinner. It means I can see a beautiful view without planning a day trip. I can meet with groups of friends of all fitness levels and enjoy a pleasant afternoon outdoors where we all have fun. I can go see thousands of migratory birds a few miles from my apartment. Half Moon Bay is 30-45 minutes away, depending on road conditions. Fairly strenuous hiking and rock-climbing in the Santa Cruz Mountains is also 30-60 minutes away. Santa Cruz itself is not much farther. I have lived all over the east coast for most of my life, and this degree of access has made an outdoors person of my notoriously sedentary self.

xienze 6y ago
> Easy access to nature means I can go on a scenic five-mile hike between lunch and dinner. So can I, as I mentioned there's a major state park within the city limits where I live... > It means I can see a beautiful view without planning a day trip. Incredibly vague and subjective. What constitutes a "beautiful view"? > I can meet with groups of friends of all fitness levels and enjoy a pleasant afternoon outdoors where we all have fun. Not unique to the SF Bay Area at all. Again I think this is very much a cherry-picked definition of "easy access to nature" that is designed to preclude any place not named "SF Bay Area." Still, the kinds of things you were describing can be found in metro areas all over the country.
- legerdemain 6y ago
  I'm not sure why you feel this need to argue that other regions are just as good as the Bay Area. Are you a tourism promoter? Whether you're right in absolute terms is insubstantial. What matters is that hundreds of thousands of people feel the way I do, and that's why we moved here or stayed here.