You Know You're from California If...

Signs you might just live in California

I love my home state. It's a conglomerate of different landscapes; has a slew of entertaining stereotypes, and is home to a  litany of diverse cultures and people.
We also [currently] have the most expensive gas in the nation at an average of $4.62 a gallon. Go CA!

I know that many-to-most of non-Californians think its just one, great beach, filled with surfers, super-skinny, orange-skinned, bleach-blonde people who walk around saying "dude" on movie sets.

That's just Hollywood's idea of Hollywood. 

We do have the Pacific ocean and beaches, but we also have muddy lakes, sloping valleys, massive redwoods and forests, majestic mountains, and my personal favorite: verdant fields ripe for agriculture.

People in my section (the Sacramento Valley, according the map) of California have a billion and one different looks--just like the rest of the U.S., Here in northern California, we say "hecka" if we mean "very"  and pronounce "almond"  "ahhhmen", much to the annoyance of the rest of the country. My brothers walk around in steel toed boots, wearing Cabelas sweatshirts, and sporting Wrangler and John Deer brand everything. We're surrounded by blooming orchards, golden fields, the Pacific Coast Range along the horizon, and don't blanch when we smell the fumes of a dairy.

The people in the cities of southern California sit for hours in traffic. That's all they do. According to us Nor Cal-ers.  I won't describe the southern California lifestyle, but most of it seems to be the usual life of every other big cities, just with many more beaches accessible.

(A couple of these won't apply to the northern, northern parts of CA or the mountainous regions, but California is a really, really long state.)

Now to the things that tie us together.

--You only know that there are four seasons because you were taught that in Kindergarten.

--You get really excited when gas is under $4.00 a gallon.

--Your friends on the East coast go to bed and get up really early.

--If it dips below 75 degrees, you pull out your fall apparel: sweatshirts, jeans, boots, scarves, etc.

--You go see snow.

--You can go to a college twelve hours away and in a seemingly completely different culture, and you still get in-state tuition.

--You (or your parents) had the choice whether or not to vote for the Terminator as governor.

--If you travel to the Midwest or Northeast after September, you have to buy new winter clothes.

-- (If you're from Nor Cal) You laugh when a "So Cal-er" says  he drove up to northern California, when he only ended up 6 hours south of you.)

--(If you're from So Cal) Everything north of the Grapevine is northern California.

--You know what the Grapevine is.

--San Fransisco is its own city-state.

--Every other state's minimum wage is really  low.

--People from other states can't figure out why you're not tan.

--You're really, really picky about your fruit.

--Your state has mountains (that get snow), beaches and oceans, lakes, massive cities, and farmland. It's also incredibly long.

--Everybody does Mexico missions trips.

--You don't get the big deal about poppies

--You eat tri tip.

--No one says "Cali".

California, the land of extra-long summers, exceedingly high gas prices, and misconceptions. Do come visit. However, I suggest hitchhiking or driving a hybrid.