Ive been flying out to SF from the east coast three to four times a year for the last three years. Every time, I've been struck by how brown everything is. Well, I'm in San Diego right now (a little different, I know), and now I'm struck by how green everything is. Glad it's finally let up.
It'll go brown again by June. It's not called The Golden State because there was gold, it's because of the characteristically gold color of the hills in the summer.
I grew up in Victoria, which is pretty much like Seattle. I currently live in Orange County. I've also lived in New Hampshire, New York, and a few other places with varying levels of lushness.
When I go for hikes these days in the hills of OC, it really is green. Shockingly so. The flat areas remind me of your description still, but tradersam is not crazy here.
Agree. Lived in NC for 20+ years, now live in OC too. It was a bit of a culture shock moving here, seeing all the desert and dust everywhere. Happy to see quite a bit of green again!
I had a similar, yet opposite experience moving from AZ to CA.(Northern)
Going from a lifetime of desert living with miserable weather and the greenest sight being olianders, to a sea of green trees with more normal weather. Night and day difference.
The grass isn't greener in seattle or ireland than SoCal. It's just that the grass in socal turns brown in the summer, and sometimes for a few years at a time. But right now after a several months of rain, and spring arriving, the hill I look out my window at is 100% green. It can't be any greener, because it is entirely covered in green. SoCal is literally a desert, that turns green when it rains.
I live in SoCal and have lived in or worked in most other parts of the country, including Seattle. You are only seeing SoCal from the ground level: looking straight across the earth, yes, it looks green right now. I did a trail run this afternoon, I definitely agree it's green. But it's still a light green. Some of the palms are still yellow. Get in a plane and look down. You have no idea how brown it still is. You fly that plane to Seattle, there's three layers of green canopy, held up by trunks covered with green moss, rising indistinguishably from the ground which is also dripping with green.
Since we're dick measuring: come to Slovenia some time. 60% of the country covered in forests. NatGeo just voted us the most sustainable country in the world.
It's not, compared to the pacific northwest. I recall taking photos on my first visit to an Oregon university because they _obviously_ were watering their lawn in the winter to keep it that green instead of letting it go dormant.
Other than during the spring, most of TX is not particularly green (to put it charitably), even by the coast where it rains more.
Source: have lived there for a long time
I imagine he's talking about the mountains. When I moved here 5 years ago, all the mountains were just dead, brown, and ugly. I didn't understand how anyone called the mountains beautiful. This is the first year I've seen them green, and looking alive.
