Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 at 12:06PM :
In Reply to: Re: Overrun with Californians posted by jim veen on Wednesday, December 17, 2003 at 11:47AM :
You said it right. You'd like to be part of that lifestyle. We'd love to have you.
The people that are a pain in the rear are the ones that move "up" because it looks nice and people are friendly, and then immediately commence to try to convert us to their California lifestyle, wanting lots of zoning & code regulations, walking around with their noses up in the air talking about how culturally naiive the locals are and how there aren't any good restaurants, asking the forest circus to close the old mining and logging roads that people have been driving on for generations, etc.
It also doesn't help them get accepted in the new community when they immediately buy a view lot up on the hillside and order up a $500,000 mansion (I know, that'll just get you a bungalo in LA, but that's part of why they moved) complete with spanish tile roof, stuccoed walls and a stone fence with a security gate. Or if they want to "fit in" better architecturally, they order up a $500,000 log home and furnish it with various rustic artifacts that they bought from an antique store and don't understand at all. I'm not seeing it in the silver valley yet (thank God for putting lead in our rocks) but go up to Sandpoint or over to the Flathead valley or Bitterroot valley in Montana and they're all over the place.