OK, sure. But I think that's the problem. It's either wilderness, or concrete. Nothing in-between.

I live in Santa Cruz. It's hardly wilderness but I walk through a forest to get to my research lab and then am greeted with a view of the ocean when I leave campus.

When we decide to fuck off for the day and go surfing it's a 10 minute drive. Counting the beach traffic. It's 40 minutes over the hill into Silicon Valley, counting the people from the valley who don't know how to drive CA-17.

I think that's as in-between as you can get.

You are at UC Santa Cruz, quite possibly the most beautiful university in the country. Enjoy the redwoods, the banana slugs and the amazing views of Monterey bay while you are there.

For comparison, over the hill my office is on a university campus that is mostly concrete, ringed by areas you may not want to travel alone at night, and in the fall shrouded under a thick pocket of San Jose's brown smog.

Correct! It is a joy driving down to Monterey to meet with some of the folks we collaborate with down there. "Oh no, a meeting? How terrible!"

I am constantly thankful the UC Regents generally chose such beautiful locations for their campuses. UCSB and UCSD were excellent choices as well. We'll give them a pass on a few of their other choices. ;)

The point though, is that middle ground does exist in California. As another example, I grew up in Sonoma County, which is both beautiful and not a wilderness.