We live on 40 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco (about 40 miles or so). Our house sits on a ridge-top at about 2400' elevation. The ridge we live on has deep canyons on either side, and we face the Pacific Ocean to the west of us. About 1/3 of our property (southwest of the house) is grassland, the rest is wooded in Douglass Fir, Live Oak, Madrone, and Bay. There are 3 other properties in our "quarter section", and all 4 properties are surrounded by several thousand acres of open space. The open space is protected in "perpetuity", and is meant to never be developed.
Looking north, we have a view of the north-eastern part of San Francisco Bay. If you pay attention, you can watch aircraft landing & taking off from the Oakland airport (kinda tough to see, as it's more than 50 miles away).
Our summers are very dry. In fact, our last rain for the season was over a month ago, and we don't expect any more until October or so. When winter comes, we will get 40"-60" inches of rain. The rain almost always comes from the south, and runs up the canyon to the south of the house. Our roof almost doesn't get wet, as the rain is usually flying at an upward angle. Winter winds are pretty fierce; 60mph winds are not uncommon. We occasionally see winds over 100mph. In fact, the previous owner had a weather station, and the anonometer blew away with the winds hitting 110 or so.
None-the-less our climate is considered to be "mild mediterainian style". Our temps are "usually" about 10 degrees cooler than in Santa Clara Valley, but can sometimes run the reverse in a summer-time thermal inversion.
The GlueGuy