We have one full time neighbor about a 1/4 mile away. Other than that, since we are on a dead end road, there is nobody. No traffic, no noise.
I’m surprised at people that say they would be bored, but to each their own. I have no problem keeping busy. There are not enough hours in the day to do all that I want.
‘Town’, a burg of about 5000 people (Breckenridge Colorado) is only 20 minutes away, so grocery shopping is no big deal. Sure, you don’t walk to the corner for some milk, but with a little bit of planning, it’s not a problem.
Our property backs up to national forest, so it’s like living on thousands and thousands of acres.
The suburb I lived in, just across the river from Montreal, was great. I could be downtown within 30 minutes by bus and metro to enjoy the chaos of the city, but I came home to trees and birds and quiet. Where I was located, I could walk to grocery stores, cafes, and shops, and I could easily have done without a car.
Where I am now isn’t nearly as nice as my small-town-ish suburb in Quebec. It’s classic American suburbia, where I need a car to get anywhere and half the roads have no sidewalks. I can’t get to the big cities (DC or Baltimore) without a car, unless I’m willing to pay a ton and spend 3 hours on public transit, because I’m outside the city transit zones. I’m in a lovely area, though, with big trees, older homes that didn’t all come from the same mold, and well-established neighborhood associations who are very welcoming to new folks. And no HOAs, thank heaven. I have space and I have quiet and I can get to stuff pretty quickly. All I really miss is being able to easily escape to the city.
But it’s a trade-off and no spot is absolutely perfect. I like the suburbs because it’s a halfway-decent middle ground between the peace of the country and the convenience and bustle of the city. I’d feel lost without a little of both. Cities are loud, and living in them usually means paying a lot for a small space. Country living isn’t for me, because of the distance from emergency services and regular supplies, and the lack of community resources. I’ll happily visit both, but for living in, I’m suburban all the way, I guess.
We almost live in the country. It can’t really be called the suburbs, because there’s no major metropolitan area close enough to be associated with this county. There are a lot of farms around, but there are also lots of developments - I guess we’re a “bedroom community.” Our house sits on 3 acres in an older, well-established neighborhood, and it’s by far the nicest, least crowded area we’ve ever resided. I wouldn’t mind a little more solitude, but I would definitely *not *like closer quarters.
Cities are too crowded and expensive. In the country the isolation scares me, and I hate living with a well and septic system. So I voted suburbs. It’s where I’ve lived my whole life. Right now we live in a small town that’s really a bedroom community, and I really like it. Close enough to the city to shop there, but we live well away from the hubbub.
It kind of depends on the city, the suburbs, or the country, doesn’t it?
I mean, there’s a pretty big difference betwene living in New York City and living in Detroit. There’s a big difference between living in a suburban town that was founded in 1795 and one that was founded in 1995.
Back when I was a working slob, I thought I wanted to live in the country. Over the years I came to realize that what I really wanted to do was escape the working world, not the convenience of living in a city, so I sold my piece of rural land that wasn’t near any damned thing, and retired to Portland, where I can walk to everything. If I want country, I can drive out and look at it.
LOL…Well yea. But isn’t life a process of inventing, securing, pursuing goals to make things easier. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a satisfying hard days work. But the pursuit of the work is to satisfy a need which usually means making things easier on one’s self in some other way.
That reminds me of a friend that I know that will spend enormous amount of time and work automating his home all in the name of making things easier such as turning on lights at specified times or having his pool cover automatically retract or cover at the touch of a button. I admire his skill but he puts more into it that he gets out of it. But he enjoys it.
Hmmmm…What’s the difference? Only joking, I know what you’re saying.
I live in a suburb of a small city with a glorious but faded past, Buffalo, NY. Great town and I always say I from there as opposed to my actual suburban residence. Buffalo is not like any other city in the country (but I suppose most people can say that about their home town). But here is how I sum up Buffalo and the surrounding Niagara Frontier. We have a small town atmosphere with big city conveniences. You can have anything you want that can be found in the New York’s, LA’s and Chicago’s, but you must seek it out. It’s not blasted out in front of you. Our sense of time is about 10 to 15 years in the past by comparison to most places. Majority of people are friendly and helpful. We do not have a racial problem but instead only racial related incidents on occasions.
Our climate, I feel is the best in the nation bar none. Mild summers and winters. We have a great change of seasons without extremes or devastating consequences and our reputation for snow storms is greatly exaggerate. And on those few snowstorm occasions there has been no loss of life or major property damage except through sheer stupidly on one’s own self. As our late, great mayor “HIZHONER” Griffin said during the blizzard of '77. Relax, stay home and have a beer!
Taking a drive through the New York country side in Autumn is unrivaled.
We have no traffic hassles compared to other cities (but try convincing someone of that during a 20 minute delay on the I290). We have great wintertime sports, and “sometimes” great sport teams (BTW…triple A baseball is a hoot). A new and up coming water front that may be the envy of the Great Lakes in years to come. Fantastic arts in the form of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Albright Art Galley and the many live theaters. Plus were just a short jump to our great Canadian friends in Toronto.
Our cost of living and housing is one of the lowest in the nation. The only downside of Western New York is the fact that we have had a history of poor politicians and we are the step sibling of NYC.
Sorry, I did not mean to turn this into a “mine is bigger than yours”. But once I get started I can’t stop. But I would love to readr about the good things of other places.
I’ve lived in all three. Give me the city. Now, I don’t want to live in an apartment or townhouse, but I want to be able to get to a library or an ER in under 10 minutes.
We’ve moved in the past couple of years. It used to take my husband the better part of an hour to get to work, and then the same amount to get back home. Now it takes him under 10 minutes. So nowadays he has about an hour and a half more time, each workday. I’d say that’s far more relaxing than living in the country.
Last week I had to go to the ER because of breathing problems, we were there in less than 5 minutes. When you’re having problems breathing, if you have to travel more than 30 minutes, it’s going to be problematic.
I love the feel of the suburbs especially in the spring and summer with all of the deciduous trees, grass, quiet, socializing with neighbors.
I like the city for night life but just too much concrete and buildings, not enough trees and grass.
Country is great for nature, but too far from other people on a daily basis.
Regarding the whole thing about convenience: In my experience (Seattle area and surrounding suburbs), the city is much less convenient. Difficult to find parking but grocery stores still require a drive, more traffic, slower to get around. In the burbs I’ve lived in, multiple stores are within a minute or two, no problems parking etc.
Technically, I live in a suburb, but it is an 8 minute commuter train ride to downtown or an hour and twenty minute walk, which I used to do at least four times a week before I retired, except in the foulest weather. What I especially dislike about my suburb is how noisy it is. I love to sit on my porch all summer, but it seems like some neighbor is inevitably either mowing his lawn or blowing his leaves around or using a power saw for some renovation or riding a motorcycle at 150 db. An apartment in the city may be quieter. Apparently in the country, the sound of snowmobiles in the winter is nearly constant. A friend of mine spends most of his time at his mountain cottage. His well is dry and he takes water from the lake he is on, but it is not potable and he drives five miles to town to fill up 5 gallon jugs at a municipal site. Any supplies are at least a five mile drive away and it is a constant fight to keep his unpaved road graded and clear of snow. His cottage is gorgeous (it is literally a log cabin; he cut down the trees, sawed, dried, and creosoted the logs himself) but I could not live there. Let me live in a city any time. And oh yes, he has no high speed internet and must depend on dialup.
That’s why we picked Portland over Seattle, and specifically picked this neighborhood. A tank of gas lasts me nearly a month. We walk to nearly every business that we patronize and take the bus to most others. Beats driving 20 miles or whatever (or at all) whenever I run out of bread.
My brother lives in Portland and he has the same kind of deal as you. Seems like Portland has more of those kinds of setups than the areas I can think of in Seattle.
Hubster and I have had enough of city/suburb living. We lived for years in SCal, and watched the smog, the crime and the traffic (ohdearGod, the TRAFFIC!) get worse and worse.
We’re retired now, and we bought 36 acres out in the middle of nowhere, in NE AZ. We LOVE it.
We’re old and cranky enough to want modern amenities. I absolutely required flush toilets, electricity, and Internet. We’ve got all those, and DirecTV too!
People ask us, “What do you DO out there?”
Answer: Whatever we damn well want to!
Everyone is concerned about being “so far away” from medical care. Guess what? In the city, WITH TRAFFIC, it takes at least as long as it does (if not longer) to get to a hospital as it does out here!
I’m a city-boy dying a slow death out in the 'burbs. I just couldn’t pass up this perfect house that became available at the perfect time, with the perfect owners selling it for one hell of a deal (it was at the height of the housing crash and this couple, one of which was a retired carpenter who had made renovations on the already-new house, had already bought a home in florida and just wanted out of this house so were asking like nothing for it).
But if and when I have children I am making sure I raise them in a city. They need to be connected to a larger, living community and that doesn’t happen in the burbs or country.
I would live right downtown if I could afford to. I like the city. I am content, though, living in my suburban-like neighborhood in the city limits…5 minutes from downtown.
The city is fun to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. The country is great to visit, but I’d like to have a little more convenience for many things.
I live in a suburb… we have tons of great parks.
I can walk to pretty much anything I need, but if the weather is bad I can pull my car out of the nice warm garage and drive 5 minutes to whatever.
I can spend 30 minutes and be at professional sports venues, world class museums, a great zoo, etc.
I can let my dogs run in my big back yard.
I know and am friends with my neighbors.
I don’t always lock my doors.
My kids play in the neighborhood and I don’t have to worry about them.
If I realize I’m missing an ingredient in the meal I’m cooking I can be to the store and back within 10 minutes or so.
The schools are rated the top in the state (even among private schools) so the dreaded “public education” is actually a great thing.
There are wonderful restaurants nearby.
I can plant a garden and grow amazing tomatoes just a few steps from my back door.
I can roast marshmallows over a camp fire in my back yard.
Without looking back upthread for the exact list… easy, comfortable, safe, and pleasant all work just fine for me.
But isn’t life a process of inventing, securing, pursuing goals to make things easier. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a satisfying hard days work. But the pursuit of the work is to satisfy a need which usually means making things easier on one’s self in some other way.
Only joking, I know what you’re saying.
I just couldn’t pass up this perfect house that became available at the perfect time, with the perfect owners selling it for one hell of a deal (it was at the height of the housing crash and this couple, one of which was a retired carpenter who had made renovations on the already-new house, had already bought a home in florida and just wanted out of this house so were asking like nothing for it).