Two days to go!

Well, we leave Oceanside on Thursday morning. We have to get to LAX by 11:00 am, so what we are doing is going tomorrow morning to pick up a car at the airport and driving it back here. We will then take Virginia's car to the Chateau and on Thursday morning we drive back to LAX, return the car and then get the shuttle from Budget Car Rental and take the shuttle to the airport. Hopefully the traffic won't be too bad. We will be able to use the high occupancy lanes and that will help a lot!

Thoughts on Southern California:
Wonderfully warm and sunny most of the time. We did have a few rainy, cool days but there was no snow except for when we up Mt Jacinto!

EXPENSIVE! I don't have an awful lot of areas to compare with, but it does seem quite an expensive place to live. Gas has been creeping up slowly and now sits at $4.05 a gallon. I suppose this is still cheaper than Ontario, but it seemed expensive. Food is about the same as Ontario, but there some things which are cheaper, e.g. Milk.

Luckily we did not need the services of the medical community as we stayed healthy, but I can imagine it can be quite pricey, going on what Virginia pays for medicines and doctor's visits, even though she has insurance.

Housing is very pricey, with almost nothing available under $400,000 to $500,000. Most houses cost a lot more than that. Of course there are some places that are under that price, but you they are very few and far between.

The ocean....loved it, even though we only went down to the beach a few times. I am sure if we were closer, we would be there more frequently. We did not come down here to spend a lot of time on the beach, but to help Virginia and that we did do.

We did a few day trips and one long weekend trip. Loved seeing the different areas, from ocean and beach, to desert, to mountains and snow. You really do have it all! And it is not a huge long drive to get there. Our trips to LA showed us how much money there is in this part of the US. No wonder it is so expensive to live here.

All in all, I think the trip here was hugely successful. Virginia is now pretty much settled in her new home at the Chateau at San Marcos. Michael did a huge amount of work on her new place and on the house in Oceanside. We have made plans for when we return at the end of the year, either staying in the house and storing the RV at a local storage area, or we will be staying in the RV, hopefully at a nearby California State Park. We love it here and will be back.