Where I'm From

When people think of California, they often think of beaches, good weather, surfing, Hollywood, and, of course, hot girls, well I do at least. But there's a little place where not too many people know about. In the heart of California, there lies semi-little town, called Manteca. If anybody knows Spanish, Manteca means "Lard". That's right. We are the city of lard. Actually, we are commonly known as the "Family City" or the "Crossroads of the Heart of California". If you don't live within a thirty mile radius, chances are you might not have heard of our town. However, once we bring up the Manteca Water Slides, then everyone knows who we are. That is correct, we are, or should I say, were the home of the famous Manteca Water Slides. Unfortunately, the park has been removed for building homes. I know, pretty lame, huh? Manteca is kind of those cities where you either like it or you don't like it. I personally love it here. Mainly because I can get to any destination within 10 to 15 minutes, if no traffic, even less. However, there are some people who absolutely despise this city. They can't wait to either move away or they question why they moved here in the first place. Even though Manteca consists of over 60,000 people, it still is a moderately small city. But through out the years, we have been progressing in size. Not just people, but buildings. I'll admit, if anyone wants to have a lot fun, Manteca might not be that place. Even though we have a bowling alley, movie theaters, and baseball parks, honestly, there's not much too do. If anyone wants to have the best time of their life, they can just hang out at Wal-Mart or Target riding the bikes around the store. Not that I've ever done that or anything. But, just recently, our town has built three major shopping centers right here in Manteca. One shopping center is, called BLD (Big League Dreams), which is a shopping center with baseball fields that replicate real life baseball stadiums, such as Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium, Angels Stadium, and so on. People can either reserve a field for softball games, watch the players while eating in the grill, or even play indoor soccer. However, if people don't want to do that, a shopping center is literally right across the street. Another place that is fairly new is the Spreckles Park. Basically, two sugar towers used to stand in the present day shopping center. They were torn down and up rose a Target, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Food 4 Less, Petsmart, and other well known stores and restaurants. Just recently, a new shopping center opened up, called Orchard Valley. There, we have the famous Bass Pro Shops, a Best Buy, JC Penny, Kerasotes movie theaters, and a soon to be, Red Lobster. Manteca is growing very fast each and every year. In fact, we are growing so fast that we now have a Starbucks on every corner. Well, not every corner, but just five Starbucks down almost every street of Manteca. Manteca also have four high schools. There's Sierra High (Timberwolves), Manteca High (Buffaloes), East Union (Lancers), and Weston Ranch (Cougars). There are also about 13 elementary schools here in Manteca, but I don't want to name all of them, no one really cares. One of the best things that I love about Manteca is that it's close to every major city here in California. It's takes about an hour to reach Sacramento, six hours to drive to Los Angeles, and about and hour to drive to San Francisco. Also, everybody who lives here knows everyone else. It doesn't really matter if you personally know them or not, because chances are, you have been in the Manteca Bulletin. If you are in the Manteca Bulletin, everyone will know who you are or everyone might already know who you are. It's definitely not like reading the New York Times or the San Francisco Chronicles. But if you ever read the Manteca Bulletin, chances are some things you'll read will not be true or you'll catch a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes. But we still love the paper. Overall, Manteca is quite the place to kick back and relax. I've lived here my entire life and I'll eventually move, but I can't say that I won't miss Manteca. But now you know where I'm from.