Is it worth it?

Are all the risks in California such as earthquakes, heat waves, flash floods, volcanoes, wild fires, and random thunderstorms worth dealing with, just to live in the Golden State?

Last summer California alone experienced over eight hundred wild fires making national news on a daily basis. With so many fires, I had to spend most of my time in doors instead of swimming in my pool. Our community was trapped in doors, being forced to exercise inside, because it was almost impossible to breathe outside let alone exercise. Being located on top of the San Andreas Fault Line and having two volcanoes, California experiences multiple earthquakes every day. Some are worse than others, around 25-30 years ago the Capitol of the Golden State was destroyed from an earthquake. Buildings toppled, bridges collapsed, highways crumbled, and people were killed. Plus the weather is so unpredictable in California, one day it is eighty degrees the next day there is eight to twelve inches of rain flooding the rivers and drowning the valleys. Plus in the summer, it rains possibly once a month, and with degrees reaching 120 it is a necessity to have a pool or live next to water.

However California, is the Golden State, and is the best State to live in. I mean come on Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Governor. Even though California has some negative qualities, when you look at all California has to offer the negative becomes invisible. California, if it was a country by itself, the agriculture we produce here would make California the seventh country in the world for producing agriculture. With all the different climate zones, people are able to grow all sorts of vegetables and plants. I actually planted a garden last summer with watermelon, cantaloupe's, tomatoes, green onions, carrots, peppers, and cherry tomatoes, and that is just in my climate region. There are twelve or more climate zones/ regions in California. You are able to plant almost anything you want in California and have it grow, because of all the beautiful climates.

California offers the most amazing views in the world. In the summer the sky is pink around the mountain tops in the morning and bright orange, pink, and red as the sun sets. In the winter as I'm driving to school I can see that I'm surrounded by mountains and there are so many beautiful colors, numerous shades of blue for the mountain colors, with the whitest snow settling on the top, with many different colors of green because we have so many types of trees growing in our area. As I'm driving to work it's hard to pay attention to the road with the clear view of Mt. Shasta gleaming from the sun in front of me and to my right Mt. Lassen with a never ending view of the Cascade Mountain range. But this is just northern California where there are many cow fields and few buildings.

Travel a few hours south passing hundreds of rice fields, orchards, wildlife, and crop duster and you will run into Sacramento, our capital, and you will see sky scrapers and beautiful buildings and ancient artifacts and museums. Or you can go to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and visit Alcatraz, Pier 39, the San Francsco Zo, or the amazing Orpheum Theater. Oh there are so many things to do in the bay. Go to the Santa Cruz Board Walk on the beach, the Monterey Bay Aquarium or if you are daring enough go to a Raider's or A's game in Oakland. Plus we have the beautiful White beaches in California, such as Pismol by San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The San Diego Zoo, including a safari is a lot of fun and a great experience. Also we have Amusement Parks like Disney Land located in the second largest city in the United States, Marine World/ Six Flags, Great America.

California is home of the celebrities. Most movies are made in Los Angles. Most game shows are located in Los Angeles. We have Hollywood and Beverly Hills. That TV show Laguna Beach, was made in Laguna Beach, CA. House Wives of Orange County, guess where that is located. Also, Hugh Heffner's Playboy Mansion is in Los Angeles. Plus, famous singers come to perform many shows and concerts in California, at least once a month famous celebrities perform concerts with in three hours of my house.

California has great education opportunities. For example, Cal Arts, the college Walt Disney created to train animators and artists. UCLA and USC are top division schools and all their sports are televised. We have numerous junior colleges, private schools, and universities. We have 23 California State Universities and ten Universities of California. Including UC Davis where many medical discoveries and miracles are held.

California has so many beautiful missions reflecting the Spaniards located all along the coast that have been kept up throughout the years. We had the Gold Rush, and people still mine for gold, except now we have machines instead of pans. We have many Indian tribes and Casinos all over. I can't forget about the incredible redwood forest located on the north coast! Patrick's Point is where trees are so big cars can drive through them and you cant even see the tops. These forrest's are immense and the trees are more than ten feet wide.

California is the place to be, if you never have visited you should. Because I have lived here my whole life I can't compare it to any other state, but something tells me that there is no comparison. Sure California can be seen as a scary dangerous place to live, but your eyes aren't open if that is all you see.