I'm Breaking Up With You, Fresno

No offense, Fresno!!  I used to think you were the greatest place to be...not including vacation destinations, of course!  You  were my home....all my family lives with you, super great old friends, you're super close to the mountains, not _too_ long of a drive to the beach for a weekend, malls, shopping centers galore, restaurants a-plenty, college was pretty cool (GO Dogs!!!!), great parks, bowling, really nice biking trails, casinos, semi-affordable housing, the zoo, the Met, concerts...I could keep going.  You taught me a lot.

HoweEVerrrrr, I don't like you anymore, Fresno!  Everytime I visit now, you are way too hot and you have way too many cars and way too many traffic lights.  Dare I say way too many Starbuckses? All I see is asphalt and concrete and if I try to see the mountains my eyes burn.  You're so big now I need my GPS to visit you!  What have you done to the fig orchards and orange groves? And why are there homes all the way to Copper River? And what is this I hear about 4 hour waits at the DMV? And what did you do to Gottshalks? It's really a shame.  I love your history, I love your mixed culture, I STILL love my friends who live with you and OF COURSE my family...but Fresno...I just think you're too much for me anymore. 

As I drive away from the almost millions of people (is it millions, yet?) where you are, I look forward with all my heart to my Hollister hills...where I wake up to a semi-coastal overcast gray sky that requires a sweater even in the summer time, a beautiful sunshiny mid-day and afternoon, a predictable cool breeze from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and a slightly chilly night.  Where you go to the grocery store and ALWAYS run into someone you know (which I used to hate, but now I love!). Where any errand you need to run is but 5 to 10 minutes away.  Where a drive to Monterey is shorter than watching Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune back-to-back.  And any shopping needs can be met by a quick trip to Gilroy. I'm so sorry, Fresno, but after 5 years now I am in love with Hollister!!! 

I love Hollister better than you because I view emerald hills in the springtime that change to amber in the summer...because I can hear the farmer cutting down his hay across the street...because it opens doors to new places to discover...because I can walk to Target which is miles away yet only crossing one traffic light while getting there...where I recognize almost all of your senior citizens because one of the only places to eat is Ridgemark...where there is still one high school (not that it's the best school)...I could go on and on...

I'd like to say "it's not you, it's me"...but it really IS you.  Don't be sad, dear Fresno...I will still visit you.  I'll still hold your memories close to my heart.  But I'm breaking up with you Fresno...you're no longer mine.