Been There DONE That

  Native Southern Californians have this little secret. We believe we are superior to everyone else in the world, because hands down, we have the very best weather in the world, and we enjoy living in a relaxed beach culture. We also know, that if anyone moves from So Cal, they harbor intense desires to return. Well, as one who left and finally returned last week with half of my family (fourteen, soon to be fifteen of us), and who visited all the places where we had lived, I told my wife that night I have no desire to move back. My reason is simple – “been there, done that”. The next day, my oldest son put it even more directly: “It’s done.” Don’t misunderstand those two statements. So Cal still possesses the very best weather year round of any other place in the world. The best beach culture continues to be as appealing as it ever has, plus it has transitioned into the most successful multi cultural civilization in history. But for me and mine, we started at the bottom of the hill of the Palos Verdes Peninsula along the beautiful Southern California coastline, and worked ourselves up to the top, and unconsciously realized we needed newer places to explore and grow. Of all the places we landed, the most unlikely was Salt Lake City. By the fortune of good luck, we found ourselves in a place that was super primed to become the most aggressive place in America for entrepreneurial start ups, maybe in the world. It does not have the best weather. It’s not a cool laid back culture. It’s not even noticeably multicultural, but it is entrepreneurial. And that’s what we are as a family: we’re entrepreneurs. I have absolutely no criticisms of So Cal. But, again, we’ve been there, we’ve done that. It’s done. Time to move on. What are my people good at? Creating new economic value. Consequently, weather is not what drives our decisions. Culture either. Opportunity is.  And Salt Lake City Is gold. Oh, yes, So Cal remains the best place to vacation. And we do that two to three times a year.