Lsura decides to move! Now, where to?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I don’t hate Atlanta, but it’s not where I want to spend the rest of my life. I’m going to tell y’all what I’d like in a town so that I have a number of places to investigate.

[ul]
[li]Snow[/li][li]Change of seasons. I like different weather[/li][li]Not too big. New York, LA, Chicago…those don’t appeal[/li][li]Not too small. Nothing like Star, Mississippi, ok?[/li][li]Not too expensive[/li][li]Not too far from a city with decent culture, but I don’t have to have them in the town. I’d be willing to drive 3-4 hours and stay overnight as necessary.[/li][/ul]

I’m thinking that some midwestern towns are going to be more along what I’m looking for, although I am not at all opposed to other areas. I’d like to avoid more areas of the south as far as possible, since I’ve lived in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia.

So, give me your suggestions so I can start hunting for my next hometown.

2

Snow

Change of seasons. I like different weather

Not too big. New York, LA, Chicago…those don’t appeal

Not too small. Nothing like Star, Mississippi, ok?

Not too expensive

Not too far from a city with decent culture, but I don’t have to have them in the town. I’d be willing to drive 3-4 hours and stay overnight as necessary.

Welp Lsara, except for specifying conservative, central or liberal position, you just described three cities in Colorado.

Colorado Springs – conservative
Denver Metro – middle of the road but 2 million people
Longmont area – liberal (not as bad as Boulder but not as expensive)

Ft. Collins might just be up your alley.

What can I say, we have incredible weather here on the Front Range. Traffic sucks but so do most places. Lots of outdoor activities in and out of the cities. The mountains, OH and C Springs was ranked #4 in some health magazine (just announced last week) for the top 10 healthy cities to live in.

Anyhow, I love Colorado and wouldn’t live anywhere else. Been here all my life, visited many other places and think, WOW I love this place.

3

I wish that I could give you better advice, but as a Southern boy all my life, I’m afraid I can only offer one of the answers you didn’t want.

So, my suggestion is…Knoxville, TN. Yes, it’s in TN, where you’ve already lived, but hear me out.

  1. Snow: It gets its fair share each year, but it isn’t incapacitating. You can easily drive to Asheville to see more snow if you want.

  2. Change of seasons: Sure, there are years where the season changes with out too much notice. However, there is a pretty distinct line between each.

  3. Not too big: Well, Knoxville’s got that in Aces.

  4. Not too small: See above.

  5. Not too expensive: I can’t quote you the exact numbers, but I’m sure it is less expensive in comparison to most cities.

  6. Not far from a city with decent culture: Being the home of UT, it has plenty of culture in and of itself. If you need a little more, it is 2.5 hours from Nashville, 4 hours from Atlanta (also handy if you want to see friends there), and you can get to 2/3 of the US population within a 1 day drive (read that somewhere).

  7. Need for stuff to do: OK, that’s mine. Just about year round, you can check out UT sporting events. If you’re more the outdoorsy type, Knoxville is 45 min. - 1 hr. from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. A few years ago I heard that Knoxville had more restaurants per capita than any city in the US. There are lots of parks, a pretty nice Old City area (when I was there), and just about anything you could want.

Now, I live in Dallas. It’s a great city. No season change, it’s expensive, it’s the 8th largest city in the US, but has great culture, the people are friendly, and there’s always something to do.

So, there you have it. My $0.02.

BTW, I guess this is in reference to the threads you’ve started over the last couple of days. I really hope that it works out for the best.

4

Well, I’d suggest any of the suburbs of Baltimore/DC, myself. (Columbia, Annapolis…)

Snow - we get it every winter, usually. Now, how MUCH depends on the winter. One winter will be 2 inches, next will be 2 feet.

Change of seasons - well, considering it’s 45 here today, and in August it’ll be 100, I think we qualify. :slight_smile:

Not too big - I live in Columbia. Trust me, ain’t too big.

Not too small - Ditto. :slight_smile:

Not too expensive - well, this depends on what you’re used to, I guess. Annapolis isn’t too expensive if you don’t want to live on the water. Columbia is a little more expensive.

Not far from a city with culture - Baltimore and DC are about a half hour away.

So there’s MY plug… :smiley:

5

Ahhhh, moving. Before I joined the Navy the thought of moving thrilled me. Now it’s just a huge pain in the ass.

Three suggestions:
Annapolis, Maryland… close to Baltimore, D.C. and the beaches. Great town.

Boulder, Colorado… right up against the mountains, also a great town, good atmosphere.

Whidbey Island, Washington… near Seattle and in one of the most scenic places in the Pac. Northwest. Mountains to the east and to the west, plus gorgeous ocean views with lots of green islands. Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, and lots of skiing within 1-2 hours travel.

Geez, I sound like a freakin’ travel agent! :eek:

6

How 'bout Minneapolis/St. Paul? We have snow, great seasons, the standard of living is high, it’s fairly cheap to live here, lots of fun stuff to do in the summer, umm…

7

From Atlanta, move 30 minutes west along I-20 to Carrolton, Ga. You will have no snow; however, it may be a good starting point. Trust me when I say that it is a nice place to pitch your tent for a while.

8

Duluth, MN Pros: plenty of snow, inexpensive housing (the last time I visited, anyway), plenty of outdoor recreation possibilities, cool summers, low property taxes, good schools (including at least 2 decent colleges), low crime rate, beautiful setting on bluffs overlooking Lake Superior, a little more than 2 hr. to Minneapolis. Cons: high income taxes, cyclical economy, very cold winters (but not as long-lasting as you might think).

Concord, NH Pros: plenty of snow, outdoor recreation possibilities (White Mountains nearby), no general income tax, good schools, low crime rate, only about 1.5 hours to Boston, healthy economy. Cons: high property taxes, high housing costs, higher education opportunities limited, rather cold winters and rather hot summers.

Cheyenne or Laramie, WY. Pros: plenty of snow, outdoor recreation possibilities, no income tax, low crime rate, University of Wyoming (Laramie), low humidity makes summers bearable, about 2 hr. to Denver. Cons: housing costs seem high to me, but I haven’t looked into the area closely enough to say for sure.

Fairbanks, AK Pros: plenty of snow, outdoor recreation possibilities, no income tax, University of Alaska nearby, housing seems inexpensive (but I haven’t looked into it very closely), cool summers. Cons: very cold winters, isolation (360 miles to Anchorage), rather high crime rate in the city, IIRC.

Some other places that might appeal: Morgantown or Wheeling, WV (not far from Pittsburgh), Martinsburg, WV (nor far from Washington), Portsmouth, NH (not far from Boston), Green Bay, WI (not far from Milwaukee), Eau Claire WI (not far from Minneapolis), Flagstaff AZ (they get a surprising amount of snow).

9

I like Montclair, NJ. It is beautiful and green, just right for a transplanted southern girl, and is about 15 minutes from NYC.

10

I liked living in Knoxville, too. It is a very comfortable city.

11

wahoo! Thanks for the suggestions. Now I have a starting point at least. :slight_smile:

Falcon I love the DC/Baltimore area. Right now I fly up there to visit friends every 3-4 months, and usually stay in Columbia. It’s actually one of the areas I’ve considered, but I’ve wavered, wondering if I would like living there as much as I like visiting.
And Tommy the Cat, you’re right. The last week or so has made me realize that changes are coming, partly of my choice, partly not, but also that I need to take control of them where I can.

[sub]Unfortunately this damn optimism kicks in and I can’t stay frustrated with things too long. That damn silver lining keeps following my cloud.[/sub]

12

Allow me to suggest two places that I’ve lived before:

Rochester, NY:
Rochester’s got some nice suburbs, and small towns nearby, it has all sorts of cool, big-city and small-town type stuff to do, and isn’t all that expensive.

NYC 'burbs:
I know you said you didn’t really want NYC, but if you head an hour or two north, the cost goes way down, it’s fairly rural and quiet, if that’s what you want. If you don’t travel to NYC, you hardly know it’s there (except for the TV stations, that is) Of course, if you do travel down, there are very few cities around that have as much to do.

Oh, and Baltimore/DC, my sister lives down there, it’s a very cool town, but I don’t really consider their winters all that wintry.

13

After recently moving to St. Louis, and not sure I’d like it, this is quite possibly the greatest city I’ve ever lived in. All weather seasons but none to an extreme, nice folk, lots of history, lots to do, has a small town feel to it, and in the middle of the country. I live 10 minutes away from two huge malls and still have deer and other critters in the yard. I rarely hear police sirens and everyone takes holidays very seriously. A very fun place to live:)

14

And What’s wrong with Star, MS? Hm? :slight_smile:

15

LA has been described as ‘a bunch of suburbs looking for a city’. It’s pretty accurate. There’s a lot of diversity here.

But If LA county turns you off, there are towns to the north(Ventura) and to the south(Anaheim) that are very nice. Great weather, big steamy loads of culture, 2 fine major league ball clubs!

We got it all!!

16

How 'bout either Grand Rapids, MI or Lansing, MI? We’ve got it all, baby!

Grand Rapids is a little further north, but it is a bigger city and has quite a lot going for it. Cool town.

Lansing is the capital of Michigan and is smaller than Grand Rapids but its a nice town, has a great university (Go State!), and is only 3-1/2 hours from Chicago and 2 hours from Detroit (and that’s with traffic).

C’mon up and us Dopers will show you around.

17

Minneapolis! Minneapolis!

Snow. We’ve got snow.

Not too big. Hell, the state only has four million people total, give or take. (Or is it eight? Eh, either way.) Your typical big city beats that handily.

Not too small. Major league sport franchises for baseball, football, basketball, and hockey? Let’s see Star, MS beat THAT! Don’t forget the Minnesota Symphony (Eije Oue!), the Ordway, the Guthrie, yadda yadda yadda …

Not too expensive. A good hallmark of living expenses are movie tickets. $9-10 in New York, $6-7 here. (Well, that is going up. Whatcha gonna do…)

Not too far from decent culture. If the culture of the Mpls/StPaul area doesn’t appeal to you, a mere hour west on Highway 12 gets you to Darwin, MN, with the world’s largest twine ball built by one man. How can you beat that?

Also, I’ll buy ya a free lunch. Who else has offered that?

18

Yep. We got snow. In fact, we just got some more snow this very morning, yee-effing-hah!

Otherwise, what LNO and Boscibo said.