Vancouver, British Columbia. I’m not sure if it really qualifies for this thread since I only “lived” there for 5 weeks, but I totally fell in love with the city and the area around it.
Bozeman, MT…if I knew my husband and I could get good jobs there. But, of course, that’s why my parents left 20 years ago, and there’s not much evidence that much has changed.
The St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul, MN…many beautiful old Victorian houses. Couldn’t afford a house there back when we were buying a house, and now that the value of the house we did buy has fallen into the toilet, I doubt we ever will.
I also loved living in a charming town called Kleve in Germany. It was green, lush, close to big cities but far from the maddening crowds. It had a castle, a river, a great train system, fabulous bakeries, modern grocery stores, and a charming old town.
Sigh. Wanna go back.
Thanks for saying why you liked a certain place, people! I’m nosy- I need to know these things.
Not a flash, maybe, but if I had a chance to return to my holler in Eastern Kentucky I’d probably take it.
We had ten acres of woods that dipped down behind the house, full of interesting wildlife. On warm nights sometimes a dog would start barking, another dog would answer in the distance and pretty soon you had a chain of barking/howling that probably extended across the border into West Virginia.
Good times.
Phoenix. In a heartbeat.
Hi, Ms. Goon! Now that I saw this thread, I want to show you my dream spot. Just give me a moment (ETA: Like, maybe, by this time tomorrow) to find where I put those pictures, and I’ll post them some place on-line where y’all can see them. Stay tuned . . .
Hawai’i. I lived on Oahu for 5 years and fell in love with the culture and the climate. I was fortunate to meet some local people who took me in hand and steered me away from the tourist stuff; took me to real luau and out of the way places.
I’d love to live on the Big Island; Oahu is too crowded.
My Aunt and her family lived there! It’s sort of the country with a spoonful of suburbs mixed in. I loved visiting and miss it.
For me, I’d go back to Scholls Ferry Oregon. It hasn’t changed much from when the ferry was the reason it existed. Wild roses, blackberries, every fruit or nut tree you could want. A river to fish, a pond to splash in, the neighbor’s horses to ride, and a big pine tree in the front yard to climb or have tea parties for the fairies under. Naturalized daffodils drifting across the back yard and an old barn to play in on rainy days.
It’s just a collection of old fashioned homes, fields and orchards, plus a couple of stores; but it’s everything my heart wants. Why wasn’t I born independently wealthy?
Chicago
Seattle
Okay. HERE (photo) is where I lived, from about May 2000 to about September 2003.
If you like that picture, here are some more, taken from various angles. (Okay, the last two are pictures of nearby scenery.)
I had to leave there rather suddenly and go back to so-called civilization due to a medical problem. As I drove away with the last carload of my stuff, I really and truly and miserably felt like I was being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. And I haven’t thought differently, to this very day.
The place is in San Luis Obispo County, California.
Now pardon me if I just want to get drunk and cry all night because I want to go back there. I want to go back there. I want to go back there.
ETA: You may have seen my rants on other threads about the horrors of getting addicted to benzodiazepines, Klonopin in particular, and especially the horrors of trying to kick it. That’s what was going with me on when I had to leave there.
Costa Rica. Anybody who needs explanations hasn’t been there.
Berkeley, CA. Borders Alameda (described already), so I needn’t say much more, other than it’s a great combination of urban density (with all the attendant cultural options) and green-ish living…most people have their own little gardens, many of them productive, for example.
Oaxaca, Mexico. Come to think of it, feels rather like Berkeley!
Quechee, Vermont. Charming. Great rural bike-riding country. (Covered bridge and glass-blowing workshop sadly damaged by Irene flooding, though.)
- The weather
- The ocean
- I felt at home there the first time I hit town. Never stopped. No explanation
- It’s busy without being frantic?
- It’s multicultural, multiage, multilingual. I moved to Austin and it has its points (weather NOT being one) but I heard some women speaking Hindi the other day and realized how much I miss hearing a dozen different languages in the course of the day. Here I rarely even hear Spanish. I miss that mix.
I have to stop thinking about it now. Before I start sobbing. I lived there 32 years and never thought I would ever have to leave. The things we do for love. If I had known DH was going to make me move I would probably still be single in LA.
I was raised in New York, so of course I grew up hating everything about LA. Until my wife and I spent four days there, with our “base” in Manhattan Beach. We LOVED it! Christmas Day, people in Santa suits rollerblading along the beach where kids were surfing…Uncle Bill’s Pancake House…just walking around neighborhoods of nice little houses and wild gardens…and that was just the first morning.
I’d love to go back to Tampa, Florida. I miss the ocean and the green everything and the tropical weather and the Cuban food.
I’ve never been to Vermont, but my fantasies involve me living there. With a prince. And a white horse.
It must be lovely this time of year. . .all that snow. 
For me, it’s Boston.
Pasadena, CA-right near the San Marino line. Perfect blend of city and suburb-no winter, and sunny weather.
Alas, my ex-wife hated the place.
Yes, and realistically, I’d probably whine about the cold all the time. But a girl can dream. :0)
I want to live everywhere, for a little while at least. Not enough money or time to do it though.
Lex & 62nd in Manhattan where I lived for almost 4 years.
Walked to work, jogging in Central Park, MoMa membership, Spring St. for shopping… what’s not to like.