Do you like walking down the street, and everyone knows you?  You'd love Benicia.

Benicia is the kind of town where, like Cheers, everyone knows your name.  Of course it has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• Warm, fuzzy feeling
• Don't have to prove yourself
• You have to watch what you do

Disadvantages:

• The law of Raleys.  Almost everyone in Benicia shops at Raleys.  The law of Raleys is:  "The number of people that you run into is inversely proportionate to how good you look."  If you are going in for cold medicine, your hair is sideways, you are in dirty sweats, and you don't smell too good, you'll run into everyone you've been trying to impress.  If you have a great hair day, and are dressed to the nines, you'll run into nada.
• You can feel like a big fish in a little pond.
• You have to watch what you do.

If there is an excuse for a parade in Benicia, you'll find one.  The most popular ones are the 3rd of July (we start early) Torchlight Parade, and the Halloween parade.  These are classic Norman Rockwell, with parents helping kids march, belly dancers (well, maybe not totally Norman Rockwell), Mustang cars and marchers waving to their friends lining the streets.

I've lived in New York, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, and somehow settled in this wonderful little town!