Santa Cruz County, CA. Has redwoods, lush forests, killer mountain biking and every type of beach / oceanside environment you could want within an hour. 17-mile drive, Point Lobos, Half Moon Bay. Pinnacles NP within an hour, vast Santa Lucia range and Big Sur for hiking. and Tahoe is only 3 hours away. Shasta, Bend, and NE Oregon are only 8-10 hours away. Laguna Seca raceway for world class racing. The people are friendly and generally level-headed. I left WA and didn’t think I’d find anything better. I was wrong. Cons: real estate and jobs