posted on July 18, 2001 08:45:55 PM new
I live in the suburbs of Washington,D.C. in a rather quirky neighborhood very much like a small town in that neighbors know each other (perhaps a bit too well) and are quick to help out. My husband retired last year, took several months off , and then went back to work for a small town which is only about a 12 minute drive away. Considering D.C.'s traffic, this commute is a snap. We like the international flavor here - we have a variety of good restaurants, art galleries,boating, good libraries, museums, an international airport, mountains and seashore within an easy commute. But the traffic that we contend with on a daily basis is awful. We're trying to decide what to do - move out of the area or stay. While my husband works, we have a high enough income to live comfortably, but if we move and he decides to completely retire, our standard of living will go down.
Let's hear the advantages you've found in small towns or large cities, college towns, or farms. We aren't church goers and I'm opinionated. I don't know whether we'd survive a small town although the slower pace is appealing.
posted on July 18, 2001 09:19:17 PM new
Oooh Saabsister, be sure to do your homework by visiting, staying and talking with the natives before you make a permanent move.
I thought I really wanted to get away from the bustle and hub bub of major cities where
it seemed everyone was vieing for the same space whether it was on the road, parking a seat on the subway of at the lunch counter.
We did make a change and I live a modest commute from all of that but have the advantage of the peace and quiet of a semi rural life. Close enough to the bright lights and conveniences without putting up with all the grief.
We were very interested in moving to the South, thought the slower pace, more genteel life would be for us. Thankfully, we spent
a couple of weeks at two different time of the year visiting, talking with and learning about the area we thought we wanted to live.
It was easier to get religion than gas, a Church on every corner. Hymns were sung in a restaraunt while I was cutting my steak. Some folks made a big deal about forgiving us Yankees for the Civil War while it was apparant others never would!! When they said out to lunch, they really meant it and stores were closed for that period of time. Banking hours were erratic and the p-a-c-e
was just too relaxed for this Northerner.
posted on July 18, 2001 09:30:48 PM new
saabsister,
Zilvy, LoL, I would not consider moving any further south either! Those church people would run me right out of town!
We live in a Maryland suburb of Washington DC. Although we can't move right now, I would like to live on the waterfront and still have access to all that we have right here. Living on a boat in the Annapolis area would be my first choice... which unfortunately I will never have.
My children are here and one is still in college so moving is not an option right now but I can dream...
posted on July 18, 2001 09:38:13 PM new
Helen, I'll give you an "AMEN" if you'll give me an Hallelujah!! North Carolina really is beautiful country from the coast to the mountains, a nice place to visit but unless I moved to Hendersonville, or some such place I really would never be comfortable. I need some hustle bustle, even Island Vacations require a minimum of two weeks for me...the first to decompress and the second to really enjoy!!
posted on July 18, 2001 09:55:04 PM new
My ideal place to live is a small town on the coast.
I have seriously looked into the Outer Banks of NC, I have a freind in MD looking into a house there that is for sale in Kittyhawk
But a coastal town up here in the north would be great. We take all our 'mini' vacations at the ocean here, and always look at the homes there.
But as things are going.... my two 'adult' kiddos, one still in college, and one JUST moved back home, and I'd either have to take 'em with me, or stay.
But jumping in the car, moving to a small town of my choice, removing my fingerprints and identity sounds good
Never understood the South.... I lived in the South for 3 years, had my kids there, and it was a TINY town, and the people there would either call me a Yankee or Apple Picker....
posted on July 18, 2001 10:03:26 PM new
Well, I lived as a hermit in a log cabin in the Cascade mountina range for a year in my twenties. The nearest neighbor was just over the ridge, the nearest grocery store a five mile hike. If my money hadn't run out, I'd have lived there the rest of my life.
I liked it. Nobody bothered you. When I presented my checkbook at any grocery store and they saw that I was a local, I was automatically set up with a tab. No need to check my ID when I cashed a check either. Fresh clean air, all those evergreens puritfying the air, wildlife in view, and nobody around to harass you or to get in your way.
Of course, now the mountains are full of rich people with roads and SUVs and gigantic homes of the rich and famous. too bad. I guess I was born a hundred years too late to really enjoy life.
The city? You can have it! When a town gets big enough to ask me what church I go to, I wanna leave and go somewhere else. Can't do that anymore ... or at least not for a while yet. My parents are very old and close by and I'm waiting for them to go before I go back up into the deep mountains again, alone if need be.
I miss being able to walk and not cough at the pollution and gas fumes, the noise, the hassles. You can have city life.
posted on July 18, 2001 10:29:44 PM new
I've lived in Miami FL, Ny NY, Portsmouth/Chesapeake VA, Omaha NE, and Sabine Pass TX ( really, really small coastal town).
When we retired we went outside of a small town in the South. Very conservative. Voted Republican en masse.
Churches everywhere. Big ones too. No temples or mosques, even Catholics are a minority. I'm not an atheist, but I'm not terribly Christian either. Having worked & lived with people of all faiths and beliefs, I'm pretty much open-minded. My mostly Methodist "neighbors" (houses are widely spaced a couple of acres apart) seem to accept my lack of joining and have settled on the tactic of inviting my young daughter to their functions, and then I show up sometimes too. They're nice people, but I'm never going to be able to be a Methodist.
I put up a huge Halloween display every year, I'm not sure what they think of it. I have to admit the church ladies were the first people I had actually met who truly believed that the Teletubbies were a gay plot. And the men use the "N" word a lot. Having come from the military where that is forbidden, I have to admit that I find these prejudices very hard to come to terms with.
Doesn't seem to jive with a Christian ethic to my way of thinking.
We found out after we bought the house that this is a dry county. Not a problem really, but funny as all get out when my hard-drinking family visited and found out they'd have to drive 20 min to the next county for beer.
I still have 1 child in the school system, and I really feel we get more of the "extras" than do the big city schools, art, music, computers, the works.
No zoning laws to speak of, so I run the risk of a chicken farm or trailor park showing up, or worse, hog farm.
Road maintenance & animal control is sporadic, and I have to take my large garbage items to the dump & pay to leave them there.
More crime than you'd think - break-ins, drug labs, even murder. Not to the degree of NY or Miami, but still, unsettling. We had a burglery within 6 months of moving in, hit our garage.
I just returned from vacation. All my neighbors knew as soon as I left, even though we told no one. They all know how many vehicles we have, and when one was gone overnight, they knew. I guess we have to start hiding the truck so no one knows when its gone, or my thief just might come back.
But I can do whatever I want out here, play my music all night long, or swim nude in my pool, build whatever I want, do my own electric wiring, keep goats, shoot quail in the pasture, whatever. Weather is great, and I have a home I could only dream of in a larger community: 5000sqft, 2 stories, 7 bedrooms, 4 bath, dining room, study, storage space, carport & 3 car garage all on 4 acres. Property taxes are negligible, nothing like what I paid in VA.
We started a small orchard and someday we'll get all the "older house" problems fixed and it will truly be a castle.
It is 45-60 minute to a large city (but there isn't the amenities you'd expect in places like DC, NY or Boston), but only 15 minutes to buy bread & milk.
I like it here, I'm never moving again. But I'm not joining a church either. And I won't vote Republican.
posted on July 18, 2001 10:38:36 PM new
"(and they said I had an accent!!!! )"
Gaaah! I grew up in New York City. Moved to Georgia before my children were born. I never had a New York accent (really), yet one of my daughter's teachers, on meeting me, said "Oh, so that's why she has a brogue." Brogue? What, is it impolite to say "accent?" And, I didn't have one anyway.
I wouldn't recommend the South in general; If you're called a Yankee, consider that a politeness, 'cause you won't be here two days before someone will tell you that the difference between a Yankee and a Damn Yankee is that a Yankee is a person from the North and a Damn Yankee is a person from the North who stays here. And after you hear that the first time, you'll hear it over and over again, and it'll be as much as a knee-slapper every time as it was the first time. Haw Haw Haw!
That said, port cities in the South don't seem nearly as bad as regular Southern places, so if you're looking for a lower cost of living, slower pace, but some touch of worldliness and broad-mindeness, one of those might be worth considering.
posted on July 18, 2001 11:30:25 PM new
Is TX and OK considered the south?
Thats where I lived. I didn't like OK, TX seemed better to me.
Now I have been to Kentucky, and, well, Lexington was interesting
But yeah they had accents, to me, heavy accents, and after living there, and interacting with the people there, I picked it up. If I were to talk to someone now,from down there, I automatically start with that accent!
Well now, I must be a Damn Yankee LOL!!
I brought my kids, then babies back up here, and stayed.
Borillar if you wouldn't mind sharing, what area of the Cascades did you live? I love it there, but I like the Olympics too, you have the best of both worlds in the Olympics, ocean and wilderness.
To your "AMEN" I give you a
Hallelujah!! A little hustle and bustle and urban ambiance cannot be beat! If I could afford it, I would like to live in New York City. The woods and the mountains are not far away...just for a visit.
posted on July 19, 2001 06:20:23 AM new
Thanks for the info, everyone. I grew up in the South and have returned often to visit friends, but I don't think I could live there again. Victoria's description echoes what I found to be true there.
krs, that property wouldn't happen to be between Eugene and Florence, would it? I've tried to interest my husband in coastal Oregon or the area around Seattle, but he can't stand overcast days. He likes the Southwest, but he remembers it as a child -in the 50s- so I'm sure it's changed.
posted on July 19, 2001 06:30:17 AM new
saabsister,
No, that's between Roseburg and Coos Bay, the other coast road. It's 11 miles from a little town named Myrtle Point, and is yours for $233K.
Tell your husband that he can pick his climate, unlike Washington State where it's bleak and gray with drizzle (but it's not raining! they say) about 75% of the time. Lots of runny noses in Washington.
posted on July 19, 2001 06:50:14 AM new
krs, it looks like a nice property. Now convince him that there's no overcast weather. (And his mother better never find out about that guesthouse!)
posted on July 19, 2001 07:56:44 AM new
saabsister
Though, yes, krs grew up here and all its not that bleak and gray all the time, yes it rains a lot in the winter.
The weather is very comparable to NW Oregon
I live in Seattle, and its just the city keeps getting bigger and bigger.
posted on July 19, 2001 08:25:57 AM new
Of the places I've lived since I was 17:
Upstate NY - blech.
San Francisco - a party town when I got there; overrun with yuppies and hairspray by the time I left.
Manhattan - rocks.
Indian Rocks Beach, FL - yawn (except the cops who made it delightfully scary)
Hoboken, NJ - not bad at all; Manhattan is 20 min away by train, not too many kids because it's expensive, EVERYONE delivers, and the best deli (Fiore's) I've ever had hands down.
Small town in Central WA state - still deciding - overall good, but I sure miss good deli.
Almost forgot: Toledo, OH - an underrated little city. Nice people, easy employment (though the wages are a bit low), way low rents, and great doctors and hospital staff. It wasn't really where I wanted to stay forever, but it was a great transition city during my divorce and some major surgery.
posted on July 19, 2001 09:35:12 AM new
I had to jump in because I'm moving soon.
I grew up in LA ... 'nuff said
7 years in San Diego Sun and the beach and ...?
10 years in the SF Bay area. San Francisco for the first 7. The Dot Com Crap literally and figuratively Destroyed "the city".
I'm in Oakland now, it's OK.
the only thing good about the west coast is the ocean.
In a couple of months I'll be moving to Chicago. they've got a big lake or something there that'll supply my water fix
Looked in the Raliegh, Durham, Chaple Hill area of North Carolina. It seemed cool. I need somewhat of a big city for design purposes. I'm not ready to freelance completely.
posted on July 19, 2001 10:44:16 AM new
Chicago, Oh yeah, the Windy City. My favorite recollection was the tornado warning we heard about as we were out and about on a bus tour. Our corporate were offices are in that area. Great Greek Restaraunts in Old Town, lots to do and see that's for sure.
posted on July 19, 2001 11:55:33 AM newFrom CA to Chicago will be a big change in weather !
I love the snow. I grew up in LA during the time it was hot AND incredibly polluted. (smog). Not too infrequently we'd get days off school because the smog got so bad. I think it's been cleaned up quite a bit in the 16 years since I've lived there. We been going back to Chicago a couple times a year for the past four years. We were there last over Xmas. 9 degrees before the wind chill factor. loved it.
That lake will be for ice skating most of the time !
Ice skating could be fun, I haven't been since grade school. I was kind of joking about Lake Michigan though. Can't see across it. Does it freeze over near the shore enough to play on?
I don't join these discussions because I'm fairly progressive in my views. Demo all my life until the Green Party got established in CA. Voted Nader last two elections. Should be pretty interesting being in the MidWest.
please don't take this as a reason to turn this thread into another political event. I enjoy reading about normal life here too!
posted on July 19, 2001 12:06:05 PM new
There is no perfect place to live. I know, 'cause I have been looking. They are all too hot, too cold, too small, too large, or too boring. This is GOOD. If there were a perfect place, it would so crowded, we would ruin it. It's better to dream of a perfect place, as the sweetest things in life are those that never were.
posted on July 19, 2001 12:27:27 PM new
arttsupplies, I think that the political atmosphere in a location is important too. That's why I have a hard time considering a return to the South. ( Many changes have occurred there, but probably not enough for me. When I was in high school, a close friend was killed by a drunk driver with political connections. His parents couldn't even get the case to court in that town. I don't want to move to an area where the good-ole-boys are stubbornly entrenched.)
posted on July 19, 2001 12:40:24 PM new
Actually, Southern California is the perfect place to live. Whatever you want whether cultural or climatic is withing an hour or two's drive.
posted on July 19, 2001 12:52:18 PM newWhatever you want whether cultural or climatic is withing an hour or two's drive.
I've done more than once the seemingly cliche "surf in the morning (Huntington Beach) and ski at night (Big Bear)" when I was younger. I do miss LA a little. Visit it often because my family is entrenched there. My girlfriend won't go because of the vastness of it, freeways to go anywhere, etc. Her family is in Naperville outside of Chicago so that's where we're going.
...I think that the political atmosphere in a location is important too.
I agree, we thought a little about the South but it would need to be a bigger city to get me settled in some decent design work. I'm pretty comfortable with my politics and can hold my own in conversation with someone with an opposing view. My girlfriend is practically a damn commie though
So, a bigger city you'll always be able to find like minded people. And if things get too bad that's when you start going Seattle on 'em.
its not that bleak and gray all the time, yes it rains a lot in the winter.
