My daughter just moved to Fresno last week. Any advice?

[displacedtexan]

Besides getting the hell out of there, that is!

Any advice Is welcome!

[Dookus]

1. lol

you already precluded the best advice I had.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. Avoid polygamists!

[salinen]

3. If she is not RW

I feel sorry for her.

[Bertha Venation]

4. Fresno is not that bad.

A native Californian, I've made my share of jokes about it being the armpit of the state. Freerepublic.com is based there. A woman who broke Mrs. V.'s heart before we met lives there. It's dry, hot, and rather boring. But so are countless other little cities across the country.

Your daughter will do just fine, and California is a wonderful place to live. I wish her the best.

[Kickin_Donkey]

5. Fresno?

Your daughter should:

1) Read Saroyan. He's from Fresno and it comes up in his writings.

2) Visit Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia national parks. Fresno is the gateway to those monuments to natural wonders.

3) Go to a Fresno Grizzlies game. They're the AAA minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, and they have a brand-new stadium downtown.

4) Fish for golden trout in the southern Sierra. The golden trout is the California state fish and is native only to the southern Sierra.

5) Take classes at Fresno St. or Fresno City College.

6) Watch high school sports, particularly football. High school sports are really big in the San Joaquin Valley. Could be fun to observe.

7) Check out the ethnic diversity. There are populations of Armenians, African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans, Hmong, Basques, Native Americans, and East Indians as well as your European smorgasbord. There should be something going on every month.

8) Speaking of Basques, there are a couple of great Basque restaurants in Fresno. It's not everywhere that you find authentic Basque restaurants, so check them out.

9) Enjoy the fresh produce. The San Joaquin Valley isn't called the fruit basket of the world for nothing.

10) Drive the backroads through the vineyards and orchards, especially out towards Sanger, Parlier, Del Rey, Reedley. With a little imagination, you can see where those bucolic images on fruit crate labels came from.

11) Make sure she has central air-conditioning. Yeah, it's regularly 100-plus in the summer, but as we say in the Valley – it's DRY heat.

Sure Fresno has its share of rednecks and sundry conservatives, and it's the home of FreeRepublic, but I find the Central Valley to be a fairly tolerant place. There's a live-and-let-live attitude, and you see a surprising amount of mixed-race couples.

I live up near Sacramento, and I've got no problem with Fresno (except for the conservative politics). You or your daughter shouldn't sweat it. Good things are where you look for them.