What is the climate like around Sandpoint? Do they have harsh winters or is it pretty mild? What would it be akin too?
I'm making the climate of Sandpoint rather akin to the California coast, between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Summers and winters are typically mild, and the area has generally idyllic weather year round -- warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter, but otherwise usually pretty comfortable.
Mild Climate sounds reasonable. They're on a western coast, not too far north...on the part of the map we can see.
Until paizo provides a world map, it's hard to tell exactly where Sandpoint's latitude falls.
On a different thread, Jacobs had said that it rains quite a bit in Sandpoint - rainbarrels are a significant water source.
He said it was a lot like his town... washington?
He said it was a lot like his town... washington?
Ah yes, Washington State... home of those outdoorsy type hippie types... Those tree-huggers. They just want to shove global warming down our throats all the time! I bet in the next Pathfinder we are going to hear about how arcane emissions from Riddleport are causing increasingly devastating hurricanes and a bunch of other nonsense!
(is that helpful, Sebastian?) :)
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Ah yes, Washington State... home of those outdoorsy type hippie types... Those tree-huggers. They just want to shove global warming down our throats all the time! I bet in the next Pathfinder we are going to hear about how arcane emissions from Riddleport are causing increasingly devastating hurricanes and a bunch of other nonsense!(is that helpful, Sebastian?) :)
It does. I appreciate the effort.
Also, not that I'm stalking James, but I think he is from northern California (and by that, I mean the actual northern half of California, not the central portion where San Francisco is located - I don't know why Californians believe that Iowa is the east coast and San Francisco is in northern California, maybe the schools here don't teach enough geography. They also seem to have difficulty differentiating who was the gray and who was the blue in the Civil War, but I seriously digress), not Washington, and that Sandport is modeled after that locale.
Also, not that I'm stalking James, but I think he is from northern California
Ah... that's okay, they have tree-hugging hippies there too, right? That's really all my theory is banking on. I'm waiting for people to come in and start arguing about the argument itself, as I don't think my initial points really matter a whole lot anyway.
Creative Director
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Yup; Sandpoint's very heavilly influenced on the region of Northern California I grew up in (Point Arena on the Mendocino coast). Winters in Sandpoint are wet. Lots of rain. Snow is quite rare, though. Windstorms are the bigger problem during winter months. So for those of you who are familiar with the redwood forests and foggy shores, there ya go! :)
You fly over it when you travel to New York.
What's an Iowa?
What's a New York?
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Creative Director
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Furthest east I've been is probably some part of Indianapolis, but before my first Gen Con back in 2004, I'd actually never been in a state that wasn't connected to the lovely, beautiful Pacific Ocean.
I barely even know what New York is, except that it's where "Q: The Winged Serpent" took place. That movie rocked.
And hey! Point Arena has a Wikipedia page! HA! Tallest lighthouse on the West Coast of the USA! WE WIN!!!
They also seem to have difficulty differentiating who was the gray and who was the blue in the Civil War, but I seriously digress).
That's OK. I lived in Virginia and South Carolina, where most people still don't realize that the Civil War is over (and the ones who do try to creatively "re-enact" it every weekend so that the South wins, except they can never seem to get the reenactments off the ground because no one is willing to be a "yellowbelly").
It is obviously the model for sandpoint:
Later the point, and the small harbor town south of it, were called Barra de Arena (i.e. sandbar) and finally Point Arena (literally "sand point").
So, now we know.
Stefan
big surprise..... actually, without knowing anything about JJ's origins I had already pegged Sandpoint as a sort of Carmel or further north on the californian coast sort of town.
Must be because of watching "The Fog" too many times recently ( which I plan to pillage and plunder for my RotRL-campaign ... the "Sandpoint Devil" was just too much of an inspiration, hehe )
I've had fun using fog and visibility from my own childhood living in Pacifica and SF. I can even picture microclimates where the bits of the lower east side bakes in the sun a bit more while the west side remains foggy and cold.
Yup; Sandpoint's very heavilly influenced on the region of Northern California I grew up in (Point Arena on the Mendocino coast). Winters in Sandpoint are wet. Lots of rain. Snow is quite rare, though. Windstorms are the bigger problem during winter months. So for those of you who are familiar with the redwood forests and foggy shores, there ya go! :)
So much for my guess of Whidbey Island.
Also, not that I'm stalking James, but I think he is from northern California (and by that, I mean the actual northern half of California, not the central portion where San Francisco is located - I don't know why Californians believe that Iowa is the east coast and San Francisco is in northern California, maybe the schools here don't teach enough geography.
I think if you draw a line through the North/South midpoint of the state, you wind up around Monterey. So SF does fall on the North side of a 50/50 split. I grew up in Monterey, and we sort of flip-flopped on whether we were "Central Coast" or "Northern California" (because the bay area seemes A LOT closer than LA). Once you get down around Morro Bay / San Luis Obispo / Pismo Beach, folks firmly identify as "Central Coast".
And let's face it, once you get up toward Mendocino or farther north, you've pretty much left California for "Oregon Lite".
Don't forget, several of the northern counties in CA tried to secede from the State of California, seeing as how it was run from the southerly area of Sacramento. They wanted to join up with some of southern Oregon to form the "State of Jefferson" They set up roadblocks and everything. You can look it up on wiki.
I live in Santa Cruz, north of Monterey, and we don't consider ourselves "northern" California. Far as I'm concerned, Central Coast goes all the way up to San Francisco.
I live in Santa Cruz, north of Monterey, and we don't consider ourselves "northern" California. Far as I'm concerned, Central Coast goes all the way up to San Francisco.
I wonder how folks in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica think of it? I don't know anyone who lives there at the moment.
If you leave Santa Cruz and drive over 17 for like 20 minutes, you're in San Jose and I doubt anyone there thinks of it as Central Coast. It's always "Bay Area" or "South Bay" or "Silicon Valley". I always get confused when I go to LA, because they talk about the South Bay there too, but I think they mean Long Beach or Orange County or something.
I remember hearing "Central Coast" quite a bit growing up in Monterey, but I think "Northern California" gets mixed in too. I live east of San Francisco now, and I tend to hear "Bay Area" and "Northern California" used almost interchangebly.
Now this isn't the greatest example, but I hear things like this all the time on TV/Radio commercials: "See your Northern Califonia Toyota Dealers (or whatever) for great prices." In advertising, it seems like "Bay Area" and "Northern California" are almost interchangeable.
Also, I bet than anyone who lives North of SF, like in Marin, thinks of it as Northern California. But you could get there from Santa Cruz in two hours or less, without traffic.
Oh, and my wife works for Safeway, and I know the Safeway on Mission is part of the "NorCal" division. But you will probably just tell me it doesn't matter because you shop at New Leaf ;)
...I don't know why Californians believe that Iowa is the east coast and San Francisco is in northern California...What's an Iowa?
Minnesota's new zoo, after they put up the fence that is ; )
If you leave Santa Cruz and drive over 17 for like 20 minutes, you're in San Jose and I doubt anyone there thinks of it as Central Coast. It's always "Bay Area" or "South Bay" or "Silicon Valley".
Well of course, they're not on the coast.
Oh, and my wife works for Safeway, and I know the Safeway on Mission is part of the "NorCal" division. But you will probably just tell me it doesn't matter because you shop at New Leaf ;)
We're so far over into Live Oak that we do most of our shopping in Capitola supermarkets, actually. That or CostCo. Not everyone in this town is a vegan. :)
Oh, and after reading the first paragraph of Point Arena's Wiki entry, I think I know what those smugglers smuggle. ^.^
I always get confused when I go to LA, because they talk about the South Bay there too, but I think they mean Long Beach or Orange County or something.
Yes, here in LA, "South Bay" means "Long Beach."
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It is obviously the model for sandpoint:
Later the point, and the small harbor town south of it, were called Barra de Arena (i.e. sandbar) and finally Point Arena (literally "sand point").So, now we know.
Stefan
Oh, I love this bit:
while a large part of Point Arena's non-tax-paying economy is based on the cultivation and exportation of marijuana.
James, you got some 'splain' t a do. ;)
I'm making the climate of Sandpoint rather akin to the California coast, between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Summers and winters are typically mild, and the area has generally idyllic weather year round -- warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter, but otherwise usually pretty comfortable.
Could actually be as far North as Seattle. I spent about 2 1/2-3 years up in Bremerton, and the most snow we got was 1-2 inches on one day of winter, which was gone by afternoon.
And maybe it's because I'm from Northeastern California (east of the Sierra's, North of Reno, Nevada), where we can (and have) gotten 4-5+ feet of snow in a week that stayed for a couple months, but I didn't find Puget Sound winters to be that cold (32 moist felt more like 55 dry).
So, generally, coastal areas have milder winters than non-coastal, and humid areas are easier to tolerate than dry when cold.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Just because sf is north of the exact midpoint of the state does not mean its in the northern part of the state (at least not in the sense that most states use that term). If that's your definition of northern/southern ca, then the only portion that could rightfully be referred to as central ca would be the places right on that line.
SF is not northern ca anymore than kentucky is in the northern U.S. because it is north of the mason dixon line. SF is closer to the center of the state than it is to oregon, notwithstanding the residents failure to acknowledge that reality (a common problem in SF).
But, as long as I'm complaining about geographical misunderstandings, while I claim to be from the mid-west, michigan is not in the western half os the U.S.
Just because sf is north of the exact midpoint of the state does not mean its in the northern part of the state (at least not in the sense that most states use that term).
In New York, "upstate" is often used to mean anything north of NYC--i.e., basically the entire state except for NYC and Long Island, and the immediate suburbs. Exact midpoints are therefore less important to most people than perceptual "midpoints."
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Creative Director
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San Francisco certainly FEELS more like Northern California to me, though.
On our map, Sandpoint's certainly closer to where Seattle is in the real world than northern California, though.
And as for Sandpoint's #1 export and cash crop... Let's just say that there ARE a lot of farmers in the surrounding hinterlands.
It's a cultural line more than a geographic one. Northern California probably has nearly 50% of the area but fewer people, with declining population density the farther north you go. Southern California "starts" around the bottom 25% of the state, but probably has more than 50% of the people, due to the population density in SoCal.
Central California is a bit of a vague concept. You almost have to add an additional qualifier for it to have cultural meaning, by mentioning either the valley or the coast.
You have the Central Coast, which starts somewhere north of Santa Cruz and extends for a few hundred miles all the way past Pismo Beach, nearly to Santa Barbara. I'll have to ask my friends who went to college there if they thought of it as Central Coast or SoCal.
You also have the Central Valley, which actually stretches farther to the North than the Central Coast, in both a geographic and cultural sense.
Yes, here in LA, "South Bay" means "Long Beach."
Yeah, that one totally kills me. If I'm down there and I have the radio or the TV on and they mention weather or traffic in the "South Bay" I always wonder why they care what it's like in San Jose, 400 miles away.
Because it doesn't look like a Bay to me.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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It's a cultural line more than a geographic one. Northern California probably has nearly 50% of the area but fewer people, with declining population density the farther north you go. Southern California "starts" around the bottom 25% of the state, but probably has more than 50% of the people, due to the population density in SoCal.
Central California is a bit of a vague concept. You almost have to add an additional qualifier for it to have cultural meaning, by mentioning either the valley or the coast.
You have the Central Coast, which starts somewhere north of Santa Cruz and extends for a few hundred miles all the way past Pismo Beach, nearly to Santa Barbara. I'll have to ask my friends who went to college there if they thought of it as Central Coast or SoCal.
You also have the Central Valley, which actually stretches farther to the North than the Central Coast, in both a geographic and cultural sense.
Fair enough.
I've got one more SF b@*$% though. I get mocked incessantly for the Michigan hand thing. For those not in the know, it involves using your hand as an approximation of the lower penninsula of MI and pointed out where you live on the hand. Anyway, people think it's funny and "regional."
With that in mind, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with someone in SF about the geography of the bay without having them make a little O with their fingers, and saying "this is the bay, and here's the city where my finger is."
I get mocked incessantly for the Michigan hand thing.
Other people just don't understand how convenient it is to have a state shaped like a hand. Oh, and you can even take your other hand and put it sideways above and it resembles the upper peninsula. Then you can't point, but it looks neat!
Incidentally, what part of MI are you from, Sebastian? Grand Rapids, myself (where we like to call ourselves West Michigan, as if it were a separate state, instead of western Michigan).
Incidentally, what part of MI are you from, Sebastian? Grand Rapids, myself (where we like to call ourselves West Michigan, as if it were a separate state, instead of western Michigan).
Hmm . . . I realize I'm not Sebastian . . . but I'm always happy to say hello to fellow michiganders . . .
I'm in Port Huron, about as far east as ya bcan get in the state. My wife loves it how she can have as her e-mail signature line "Hello from the thumb". I'm surprised at how many people don't understand using the hand as a map, I've used my hand for a map of the state I've lived in for at least two other states I've lived in. Colorado, where I just hold my thumb flat on the side of my hand, and Utah, where I look at the back of my left hand with my index finger bent down.