I lived in Long Beach for 2 1/2 years when I was in the Navy. Granted, I averaged being out to sea literally half that time, but I still got to know the area fairly well.

You're right about the weather, it's beautiful. I bought a POS car with my pitiful Navy salary that had a leaky heater core, so I just bypassed it and it was fine. Never even needed it.

I went to Big Bear once to go skiing, and had a blast. Think it was a 2-hour drive or something, don't remember.

I hit Hollywood, Venice Beach, Redondo Beach, San Pedro, some trips to San Diego and Tijuana, Ontario, San Francisco, a weekend trip to No Cal, etc etc. And I guess I don't have much bad to say about most of those places, but I HATED Long Beach. I hear it's been cleaned up some since then, but it was an armpit when I was there.

Honestly, I liked the 6 months I lived by Seattle and the 9 months in Orlando (all in the Navy) a lot more than Cali. I'm actually thinking Oregon would be a nice place to live as well, visited there 2 different weekends and loved it. My complaint with Seattle was the rain, of course (and the fact my same POS car I had in Cali also had a leaky sunroof while I was there). Oregon should be a bit warmer and possibly drier with the same Great Outdoors atmosphere. Pine trees are literally EVERYWHERE. Oh, and if I recall correctly, no Sales Tax! I think Washington has no Income Tax and Oregon has no Sales Tax, but I might be remembering wrong and it might be the other way around....not to mention, it might have changed sometime in the last 17 years since I was there heh. Washington has vehicle inspections, but I don't believe Oregon does. Also, ALL gas pumps in Oregon are full-service. You can't pump your own gas even if you want to, it's a state law. Pick your spot carefully and you should be able to have both an oceanside beach and mountains within an easy drive, while staying far enough South that the climate would be pretty identical to No Cal.

So basically, while I haven't lived there, Oregon would get my vote as a place (besides Cali) that would mostly match your criteria, and be a heck of a lot cheaper and outdoorsy than So Cal.