It's always funny to me (as a resident of actual North California) that people in the Bay Area think they're really North California.
Where I live (Humboldt county) it takes about 6 hours to drive to the Bay, and another 6 or so down to southern California/Los Angeles area.
Map for comparison: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/California_Map.PNG
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Sorry for the thread derail, hope the meetup goes well