Hello
@ataxian!
I'm from the Midwest originally and eventually ended up back here. Less crowded, friendly people (except in some of the midwest cities - I've lived in a few of those too), lower cost of living, way easier speed of life. Still have to deal with prohibition though but I have a good friend who has some very good connections. I'm thankful that it's getting better in this country that I don't have to try and get medicine from criminal types who are selling god-knows-what-else and could be involved with gangs/the mob/whatever. Because of prohibition I have to keep my meds on the down-low even from my wife because she would worry needlessly about me getting busted. I quit tobacco over 20 years ago with help from cannabis but started to hate how my lungs felt from smoking it, even with water filtering. Vaping has solved those problems for me - no nasty tar, and way more discrete for medicating!
I live in a rural area and thanks to Amazon and the internet, rural living doesn't mean what it used to. I work for a communication company and have GB fiber at home in a small (>10K) community. Neighboring cities are 30-60 miles away but my town has a decent selection of restaurants. As a father and cook for tweens we tend to eat at home more often than not!
Years ago I went to a college that is immediately next to Lake Michigan. I used to be able to sleep in the dorm with my window open and could hear the waves rolling in. Loved it! I can totally understand why you love where you live! Still not worth it to me to live in congested CA though - at least not while still raising kids!
Lastly gotta say as an aside, edibles are not for me. I prefer my effects up front, not 2 hours later. I've had some minor panic attacks with edibles before I realized why I felt the way I did - at least with vaping I can quit and not have the effects escalate substantially from when I stopped. Vape on!
Peace brother!