California Dreaming

So this is how it looks outside. Not from my window exactly, but you get the picture. Yesterday it was snowing like crazy all day. And of course I had a Dr's appt. so I had to drive through it. Yuck. I really, really, really, detest winter! After several years of warmth, I just don't like coming back to the cold, windy, numbing, scraping car, freezing hands, snowy north. Frankly, no snow would be my ideal. You may have already guessed where this is going due to the title of this blog, and yes, I have been California dreaming.

In particular, Woodland, CA sounds about perfect. Why Woodland? Well, first let me explain something (here you go Emily). My husband works for Mesa Air, a stinky, no good, etc. ect. company. Everybody hates Mesa Air, especially the people that work there. I once watched a youtube video of a former Mesa pilot burning his employee contract and handbook. A bit extreme, but I understand the sentiment. They lost, I think anyway, 60% of their employees last year. And due to the lack of pilots, Leo just got an email saying that all vacation time for the rest of the year is cancelled, for everyone. And they think that will keep pilots?!?!?! Anyway, it's jokingly called the Skywest training program and with good reason, generally 30% of the hirees at Skywest are former Mesa pilots. And well, Leo hopes to join them soon. Probably, April. Why Skywest? Well, he has the minimums for them--or soon will, and not much else. We want to move back west--say California and I don't want him to have a long commute. Also, Leo's just heard they treat their employees really well. They don't have a union, which Leo likes now that he's seen what being in a union is like at Mesa. And they're hiring like crazy right now and have a base in Chicago so we won't have to move for a couple years (hopefully), until he upgrades to captain (which should be a shorter time in Chicago since it's one of the most junior bases). Then once a captain, off to California. Skywest has a base in LA, San Fran, and Las Vegas, all which are short enough commutes to fit my tastes of having my husband home as much as possible.

So back to Woodland. It's a town of about 50,000 (perfect size) outside of Sacramento (eight miles from the airport actually) but surrounded by fields. There's mountains nearby (hooray!), Lake Tahoe's two hours away, the ocean is about one hour away the other way.

Here's the best thing though:

The average temperature throughout the year is 61 °F (16 °C), with the daily average ranging from 46 °F (8 °C) in December and January to 76 °F (24 °C). Average daily high temperatures range from 53 °F (12 °C) in December and January to 93 °F (34 °C) in July (with many days of over 100 °F (38 °C) highs). And snow is EXTREMELY RARE--although as you can see in the pictures it snows plenty in the mountains nearby. As for the over 100 °F weather in the summer, I can handle that. At least it's not 115 °F weather like in Phoenix. That's too hot.

They grow mangoes there too. And lots of other fruits and yummy stuff. And the cost of living is actually cheaper than here in Chicago. Anyway, it won't be for a couple years, but at least it helps thinking about it during the third week of no sun here in Chicago.