Originally Posted by
boarddad
I grew up in Grass Valley and lived in Davis for a summer. Both are great. Davis gets really hot in the summer but no more so than Sacto. As much as I love Grass Valley and Nevada City I would not recommend commuting from there. Davis OTOH would be a fantastic choice. It is mostly opposite traffic. It has to be the most under-rated college town in CA.
Be forewarned; if you talk to people who love Sacto, they will be quick to point out it's relative proximity to places you actually want to be (San Francisco, Tahoe, etc.). There's a reason for that - Sacramento blows. It's hot during the summer, it's gloomy and grey during the winter. I suppose that makes all of those nearby desirable places just that much nicer (Grass Valley is an hour away, Tahoe and San Francisco are +2 hours). One thing going for it - It's too far from the Bay Area to make that even an insane commute so housing prices have not gotten ridiculous there.