California is the best, Californians are the worst.

Apr 06, 20264 min read

Part 1: California

During my latest roadtrip, I relearned just how much I love the geography of California. You can find everything from coastal cliffs to 300 ft waterfalls to rolling plains to straight-up-desert. It's the perfect place to camp in your car on a four day roadtrip.

Unfortunately, it's illegal to camp in your car in almost all of California, but I'll get to that.

Rude Awakening

We arrived to SJC airport in the evening on Wednesday, April 1st. During most roadtrips, I'll sleep in a car in a Walmart parking lot but in California only a small handful of Walmarts exist in jurisdictions that allow sleeping in a car overnight.

Enter: Santa Clara Medical Center.

It turns out emergency rooms are something of a gray area since they're open 24 hours, and you're allowed to visit emergency room guests overnight or stay in your car while waiting. So we set up camp in a cozy[1] corner[2] of the emergency room parking garage and fell quickly[3] into a restful[4] slumber.

Earthquake alert

Santa Clara, CA - April 2nd, 2026, 01:43 AM - We are awoken by a blaring alert coming simultaneously from all our once-beloved Apple devices. However my confused hatred of all things iOS was quickly replaced with a confused confusion as to why the entire parking garage was shaking.

"My watch says it was a 1.4 magnitude earthquake"[5], I hear myself say, oozing unearned confidence, before passing out once more. My girlfriend, ever cynical and distrusting of me, guessed it was a magitude 5 earthquake.

(It was 4.9)

Sequoia and Kings Canyon

After a brief 5-hour detour to pick up a travel bag I left at a Cracker Barrel in Rocklin (yes I am ashamed of this, no I did not forget something else there this time), we embarked on a journey to see the largest[6] tree in the world.

General Sherman

We spent the night at Potwisha Campground and froze half to death in the car. Great views though.

Yosemite Mist Trail

Friday was probably the most beautiful day of the trip. Our unfrozen halves drove out of Kings Canyon, through Fresno, which is better than Paris, and into Yosemite Valley, where we climbed the Mist Trail.

Let me tell you, I was neither physically nor emotionally ready to tackle a 100 floors-worth of stairs next to a waterfall.

Mist Rainbow

What a sight.

We spent the night in Fresno, where we learned about a cryptid called the Fresno Nightcrawler, a delightful pair of alien pants.

Fresno Nightcrawler Nightcrawler Sighting

La Jolla

On Saturday, A long drive down highway 101 took us through a number of beautiful beaches, along with a gorgeous sunset.

Cliff

We spent the night just outside of La Jolla and Sunday morning drinking ten-out-of-ten coffee and exploring the local outdoor market and La Jolla Cove.

La Jolla

The flight home came a bit too soon, but La Jolla is pretty much paradise on Earth, so I suspect I'll be back there soon.

Part 2: Californians

I lived in California for 1 year, 1 month, and 9 days, during which time I probably met at least five Californians. Here is a paraphrased breakdown of the five or more interactions I've had with Californians:

  • "I don't mind the homeless people I just wish they wouldn't house them near us."
  • "Stay out of downtown San Diego, it's all like that now."
  • "As a married woman, the only thing I have to offer him is possibility."
  • "I broke up with my girlfriend's husband but not with her."
  • "You're from Maryland? It's so cold there!"

It goes without saying that these are cherry-picked examples. I like most Californians, and most people anywhere for that matter.

The unabashed distaste for the unsheltered

I get it, having a high homeless population in your city:

  • Reduces tourism income
  • Can be an eyesore
  • Decreases safety in your city
  • Reminds you of the brittleness of your own financial situation, and perhaps your own mortality

But sometimes I think Californians forget people are people. Maybe it results from too much time spent imagining oneself in another's hooves rather than in another's shoes, but the blatant irony of vegans caring the least about the homeless is unfortunately more sad than it is funny[7].

My point here is that you don't have to know the solution to every problem, but you do have to care about the people on the other side.

The outcome

While California as a state is working to solve the problem, local jurisdictions have adopted a NIMBY anti-homeless stance across the board, building adversarial architecture, halting public transportation projects, and making it illegal to sleep in your car.

I got pretty sick of this hippier-than-thou-but-not-really attitude, so I left.

[1] it was not cozy

[2] it was not a corner

[3] it was not quick

[4] it was not restful

[5] my half-asleep brain read the time as the magnitude, somehow

[6] by volume

[7] I don't want to get too deep into politics in this blog, but this a great resource if you'd like to learn more about the topic.