Dear Log,
This is Alaska: Take Fresno's population (and economy, and politics, and drugs). Put it all in a few dense towns, but spread those towns over a territory about the size of Germany, Austria, France, Spain, and Portugal put together, with few connecting highways, and with scenery that is a cross between Yellowstone Park and the locations in Twin Peaks. Add lots of salmon, at appropriate times of year.
I love it here, but it drives a lot of people just completely insane. Young people do tend to move away.
