# What's the best place youve lived? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 19, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512 "2005-01-19T07:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/41 "2005-01-21T01:08:09Z")
**Byron Bay, Australia** … in 1986. Unfortunately, I hear it’s changed for the worse in the last (I can’t believe its) 19 years. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/42 "2005-01-21T01:48:24Z")
Ranked from best to worst: **Pine, Colorado** (along South Elk Creek in the mountains southwest of Denver) **Centennial, Wyoming** next to Medicine Bow National Forest **Lexington, Kentucky** , our current home **Bloomington, Indiana** , my college town **Pueblo, Colorado** , a choice which would surprise many Coloradans **Chagrin Falls, Ohio** , which is quaint and lovely and has great schools, but was clique-ish even in the 60’s and 70’s **Laramie, Wyoming** **Cleveland Heights, Ohio** **Golden, Colorado** **Aurora, Colorado** **Laurinburg, North Carolina** **Danville, Kentucky** - but I’d like it better as an adult **Gaithersburg, Maryland** **San Leandro, California** …and last but least… **Pontiac, Michigan** ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/43 "2005-01-21T03:49:55Z")
Asheville, NC Sigh. Oh gahd how I miss it. Mountains, trees, camping, fishing, Belle Chere, The Hop, Gatsby’s, downtown, the Parkway. LOVED it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/44 "2005-01-21T04:24:29Z")
Right here in Mississauga, Ontario. Toronto with more softball diamonds, less noise, no streetcars, lower taxes and housing and cheaper everything. And you’ve still got easy access to Toronto. I’m originally from beautiful Kingston, Ontario, and I loved it, but I’d never move back. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/45 "2005-01-21T05:50:57Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > [Whidbey Island.](http://www.4dgraphics.net/traxmaps/swi/) I’ve lived in 5 of the 8 ‘cities’ labeled on the map. Magical place. I have a cousin that lives on Whidbey Island. It is beautiful. Their mailing address is Clinton, but they live down near the southernmost point of the island. They keep an apartment in Seattle, since taking the ferry can be inconvenient at times. The more I’ve traveled the more I’m convinced that this country and this world are filled with wonderful places to live and visit. This thread has given me some ideas of places to visit, like Owl’s Head, ME. That looks like a place to go see (in the summer). ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/46 "2005-01-21T06:16:08Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I used to live > > [on this beach](http://virtualvolusia.com/Rivocean.html) I live in NJ. It’s below freezing outside right now and they’re predicting at least a foot of snow this weekend. I’ve been running that program with the view of the beach all day. Ah summer. I remember it well. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/47 "2005-01-21T06:16:41Z")
I was scrolling down the thread, thinking about my response, and what anyone from around here would say, but **OtakuLoki** stole my thunder before I said it. The best place I’ve ever lived was in Lowell, MA. I got to college there, and have lived in two dorms and an apartment. The best month of my life was when my psycho bitch roommate moved out and my male friend (platonic, I swear) moved in. We had a great time and I miss those sunkissed, carefree days in this cold Boston January. My friends and I are counting the days until we get back to Lowell, to our real home. Two days left in exile in comfortable suburbia. I can’t wait for the cold, dirty, somewhat dangerous city life. ---
**Author:** ![Caiata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Caiata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caiata)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/48 "2005-01-21T07:01:34Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Of the places I’ve lived since my teens, I’d rank them this way: > > 1. Boulder > 2. Madison, WI > 3. Alexandria, VA > 4. Canberra, ACT, Australia > > If it were anywhere but Canberra in AUS, it’d likely rank higher. > [@Cunctator](#): > > That’s interesting. Canberra would be my second favourite after the one I posted earlier, Wellington. Hmm … I “lived” in Wellington for a week and a half, probably not enough time to really get to know the place, but it’s at the top of my list of “places I’d like to live where I could actually get a job”. It helps that the ESR seriously decks out their forensic scientists with flash technology 😃 Not considering a job, of all the places I’ve lived or been, this is my ranking: 1. Coff’s Harbour 2. Wellington, NZ 3. Canberra 4. St. Louis, MO (hey, I was born there, and _Go Cards_!!) 5. Toronto ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/49 "2005-01-21T07:17:41Z")
I’m happy in Dublin and have no intention of leaving, but of all the places I’ve lived before, the one I wish I could have stayed longer in was New York, New York. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/50 "2005-01-21T14:26:39Z")
> [@Caiata](#): > > Hmm … > > 1. Coff’s Harbour > 2. Wellington, NZ > 3. Canberra Hmmm I can’t think even of one thing that those 3 places have in common. I love Auckland especially now summer finaly started but then I’m a JAFA (“Just Another Fucking Aucklander” as we are know by the rest of NZ) if I wasn’t living here I would chose London or maybe even Sydney. Both places were fun to live in. ---
**Author:** ![Caiata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Caiata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caiata)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/51 "2005-01-21T14:38:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Hmmm I can’t think even of one thing that those 3 places have in common. _ponders_ They’re all in the South Pacific? They’re all way, way, WAY closer to the ocean than where I grew up in Midwest US? … that’s all I can think of … ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/52 "2005-01-21T14:44:47Z")
Canberra ain’t that close to the ocean (well it probably is on your terms but in NZ terms it’s frigging miles away). Wellington and Canberra are both capitals but that is there only similarity. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/53 "2005-01-21T14:48:25Z")
Baltimore is the best place I’ve ever lived. I’ve lived in Small Town, Maine for 18 years, Ithaca, NY for 4, and Corvallis, OR for 2. Baltimore has a symphony, museums, football and baseball teams, a horse racing track, two of the best movie theaters I’ve ever been in. A world class university. It has a lot of very good restaurants (though New York, it ain’t). In Baltimore, you can get a drink for 20 bucks, or walk half a block, and get shit-faced for 20 bucks. It’s got black people, white people, and everyone in between. The people aren’t uppity, or on-the-go. Great cost of living. I can get on my bicycle and in 20 minutes, I’m riding past horse farms in the country. I can get in my car, and be walking around the Smithsonian in DC in an hour, or be in a hotel in New York City in 3.5 hours. It’s the greatest city in America. ---
**Author:** ![booka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@booka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booka)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/54 "2005-01-22T17:37:19Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > Boulder, again. > > I’ve lived here for 15 years now. It has definately changed in that time, from an earthy, liberal college town to a wealthy, liberal college town. But I’ve changed during that time, too. I can’t say that the changes have bothered me too much (other than the period in the mid 90’s when the trust fund babies took over city hall - we are just now getting the hotel on 9th & Broadway). > > We still have the Flatirons to look at every morning, trails to hike, cool shops to visit, great restaurants, a live-and-let-live attitude of the citizenry - what’s not to like? > > Of the places I’ve lived since my teens, I’d rank them this way: > > 1. Boulder > 2. Madison, WI > 3. Alexandria, VA > 4. Canberra, ACT, Australia > > If it were anywhere but Canberra in AUS, it’d likely rank higher. The live-and-let-live attitude of the citizenry of Boulder? The attitude I remember most clearly was the attitude of high-minded intolerance cloaked in a misguided belief that everyone should think and act like - Boulderites. It was a stunning example of what you might call “reverse-intolerance” - in their own minds, they had become so insightful about life in general, and that, coupled with their hubris, made them in fact quite intolerant. But that’s a topic for another place and time… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![booka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@booka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booka)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512/55 "2005-01-22T17:41:25Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Hey, I was there then. From Jan '83 to Sept. '89 actually. Are you saying 1988 because that’s when you left, or because of some way the town changed? > > Boulder gets my nod as best place I’ve lived, too. I really enjoyed living there and had a hard time leaving. I found it to be a tough place to find any kind of meaningful employment right out of college, though. That’s why I left. That, and I felt like I was getting too comfortable while at the same time not doing much with my life. Basically just finding whatever work I could so I could live there. It was ok for a while but it got old. I’d live there again under the right circumstances. > > I lived in Niwot, Gold Hill, 4 mile canyon, and a bunch of places in town within walking distance of campus and downtown. Gold Hill was the most sublime. 4 mile was the most comfortable because there were always friends around. I left Boulder in 2001. I have sweet memories of Gold Hill. The Gold Hill Inn on a snowy late October night. Riding the mountain bike up the canyon to Gold Hill and back from Boulder. How quiet and peaceful it was up there. Stopping at that general store for cokes during a long ride. Uncut grass and abandoned cars next to old, crumbly log cottages. The dogs sleeping in the middle of the dirt main street. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-place-youve-lived/285512.md?page=2)