A Last(ing) California Impression

I grew up in Paradise, Calif., and it was refreshing to see my state described as only a native can (“Welcome to the Elusive State,” by Peter H. King, Dec. 17). I, too, have been amazed by the Golden Land. It’s a place where I have been socked in by snow and also stuck in gridlocked traffic. You can think you know the state so well, and at the same time describe it in so many contradictory ways. Thank you for taking such a “world view.”

Pamela Nett

Granada Hills

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King’s article touched me with both wonder and nostalgia. I am also a native Californian, born in the mid-’50s. I’ve been from one end of this panoply called California to the other. I’ve hiked the mountains, swum in the waves, sat in desert solitude and explored the cities. I’ve acted as a tour guide and trip planner for friends and relatives, and still I can’t define what is the “there” there. I only know that as crazy as it is, I wouldn’t want to live anyplace else. Maybe it’s the draw, the energy, the excitement of standing at the edge of the Western world, where the dreams of the world seem to be made.

Mark Dawson

Simi Valley