Do you love where you live?

[lattemomof3]

Part 2! A while back I asked this & got some great responses. We were playing around w/ the idea of moving, but are considering it more seriously now. Specifically, we would love to live in a town that is not a large city, but is big enough to be welcoming to transplants. The town we've lived in for the past 10 years is very small (less than 4,000), in the middle of nowhere, & almost everyone we know (read: whole town) farms w/ their family or works for their family's business, and have their entire extended family living here. Not saying that is not a great situation if you are lucky enough to have it, but even w/ some great friend here we feel we will never truly fit in. Our kids go to a great small school - that is the 1 thing we like about the town - I would'nt want to send my kids to a large school that had metal detectors upon arrival. DH has a degree in finance (is a residential appraiser), I stay home w/ the kids but have a teaching degree. It is a tough economy out there, but I don't know how much longer I want to live in a place where we just don't "fit". So tell me do you love your town?

 

[Puget Peach]

I live on an island in Puget Sound accessible only by ferry. It's about 20 minutes to Seattle, float time. I love it from June through September. When the rainy, cloudy, foggy days arrive and we get down to just under 8 hours of gray daylight per day, then not so much. That's why I have an AP to WDW!

 

[mrsklamc]

Low COL, airtran and southwest so cheap flights, schools in Indy can be very bad or very good (Esp. In the suburbs, noblesville has good ones I know. All the major retailers- IKEA Id like to have but you can drive to Cincy or Chicago, great Drs and hospitals.

 

[ajk912]

Richmond, VA

It's good, I would like to be even further south because even though we don't have a lot of cold and snow here we have more than I would like!

As for my house, the only thing I would change right now is I really would like a wheelchair ramp for my daughter's wheelchair. She's only going to need it for 6 months, so I don't want to do anything permanent- I think.

 

[DMickey28]

We just moved to a small town in S. New Hampshire. We LOVE it so far. The schools system is one of the top 2 in the state and one of the top 1000 in country. It's large enough to offer great programs for the kids but not TOO big. My DS is not in school yet but we bought in this area so that we don't have to move again if we don't want to.

We have just over an acre of land on a small cul-de-sac with 7 other houses on the street. It is not a development, which is a bit more difficult to find in this part of the country, but it was great for trick or treating. The town we live in has wonderful town activities for various holidays. We went "downtown" on Halloween and it was amazing. Kids and parents everywhere, the houses around the village green had the doors open for trick or treaters. The small service station in town (very old school design) had it's main doors open with regular good music giving out candy and had two dressed characters (one was Sully from Monsters) dancing with the kids out front.

The Christmas tree lighting ceremony is entire day affair starting with breakfast, activities throughout the day with the tree lighting at dusk. I do believe there is even a spaghetti dinner at the HS after, benefiting some group or another.

We are between Nashua and Manchester. Close enough to the suburbs of Boston for commuting, commuting to Boston is possible but not pretty.

We feel like we live out in the middle of nowhere BUT within 5 miles there is a newer Super Wal-Mart, Lowes, Stapels, Sports Authority, Michael's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Shaws, Stop and Shop and many others. Within 10 miles there is Home Depot and Target. Probably 15-20 minutes TOTAL to get to Nashua where there is Best Buy, Costco, BJ's, Kohls, Babies R Us, Christmas Tree Shop ... etc.

Our realtor told us that over the last 20 years it was unheard of to be able to get into this town for what we paid for this house. It was a steal and we feel so lucky to have found it!!

 

[SC Minnie]

I love where I live. The town is small- main street is 3 blocks- but the outlying areas are growing. The school system is excellent which is causing the growth. We are only about 20 min from downtown Charlotte so can do anything cultural we want - we actually saw Bruce Springsteen last night . We have a several hundred acre greenway in our town that is full of wildlife. Close to plenty of shopping.

The town we live in has A LOT of transplants. I know very few people that were grew up here.

 

[monkeybug]

I grew up in a small town in Northern California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's. It's a cute little mountain town called Paradise! I love it! Short drive to Chico with lots of shopping, good schools, small town feel (but not too small!), and not as crazy expensive as some spots. Hot in the summer (dry hot) and some snow in the winter (just a little). It's a great place!
I also lived in Astoria Oregon which was awesome! Gorgeous, gorgeous scenery! Big trees, beautiful beaches, coffee stand on every corner, and it's where the
Goonies and Kindergarten Cop were filmed!!! Very affordable homes and a great small town feel. If I could I would move back this very instant! I loved, loved, loved Oregon and the Pacific Northwest on the whole! (gotta love a rainy day though!)
We are nearish DC now, and we love it here too. Awesome school, great community, restaurants, shopping all that good stuff. I'm just not an East Coast girl though. I prefer the laid back West Coast life. Plus it's crazy expensive out here and people are just busy, busy, busy!!!

 

[MELSMICE]

Honestly..........no!

I love my family, I love my friends, I love my job (dance school owner) but I really dislike living in this area mainly because of the weather. I despise the snow & cold weather.

I just returned yesterday from WDW & so wish that I could live in a warmer climate. I don't like cold & snow or anything that comes with it.

Wish I could just pack up & move to a warmer area, but that's easier said than done, unfortunately.

So, again, in answer to your question......no, I don't really like where I live.

 

[pigletgirl]

Eh, kind of. We are so blessed in terms of winters and outdoor activities. The downside is that its either hot or hotter, and it's a city of 5 million or more now....so tons of traffic and all the yuckiness that comes with a city in the desert.

I am ready to experience a REAL winter!

 

[LuvOrlando]

I do love my region in the Lehigh Valley but we are a bit too close to city like areas so crime is a little more common than I would like. At the moment I am settled so I won't leave but if I could choose anywhere I would choose Forks Township, PA which is a touch North of us. This area is all new construction so there are a lot of newbies moving in all the time. Also, schools are good, crime is low, you can easily get into NJ for work which is where most of the men around here work, and the taxes are way lower here than in NJ, just over the river. For me the 4 seasons is a plus, I would never want to live somewhere without the leaves changing in Autumn or the snow falling in February.... I just LOVE having 4 seasons, it gives me so much to look forward to every few months.

 

[Angelhalo]

I love where I live. The town is small- main street is 3 blocks- but the outlying areas are growing. The school system is excellent which is causing the growth. We are only about 20 min from downtown Charlotte so can do anything cultural we want - we actually saw Bruce Springsteen last night . We have a several hundred acre greenway in our town that is full of wildlife. Close to plenty of shopping.

The town we live in has A LOT of transplants. I know very few people that were grew up here.

We're in the same position as you with the ease of getting to Charlotte. We're in Indian Trail which is in Union County NC. It has GREAT schools, and super low taxes. There are loads of transplants, but still a fair amount of locals too. There are lots of things to do, and plenty of places to visit. You can get to the beach in a couple of hours, the mountains in a couple of hours, and Disney World by car in about 9 hours. We get chilly weather in the winter but none of that snowy icy nonsense and warmer weather in the summer but not soupy like South Fl where we used to live. We LOVE it here!!!

 

[Enchanted_Mama]

I'm at the Jersey shore and to answer the question, yes I love living here, but mostly because we are lucky enough to have a ton of extended family around. I'm not sure that I would want to be transplanted here from somewhere else if I didn't already have the roots, kwim?

 

[NHdisneylover]

Another vote for New Hampshire. I think Concord would be a nice place for you

 

[glitterkittyy]

I'm 20 minutes from WDW and 30 minutes from my job, which I love. I drive through orange groves and get to watch them go from orange blossoms (which smell fabulous!!) to ripe fruit all year and then it starts all over again. My daughters have first rate schools, and my hubby works for Disney.

I love where I live.

Remind me of that when I'm melting in mid-August next year. lol

 

[dnoyes]

I have lived in California, Washington State, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Florida.
My favorite place is Boise Idaho or any of the smaller towns around it. Very friendly people and still has a small town feel even with a growing population (around 180K I think) I was not born here but it's the only place that ever really felt like home.

 

[Pakey]

Fresno, California

There's a valid reason why it's used as a joke location in so many movies. This place is the worst place I've ever lived. I can't wait until we retire and I can move. It's a small enough city that there's not much to do but we are big enough to have huge gang problems/crime rates and we are second to Los Angeles in poor air quality. Plus, it's hot here; it's over 100 from May to October (today we are in mid-80's).

And we aren't going to talk about the economy/budget problems here....

 

[monkeybug]

Fresno, California

There's a valid reason why it's used as a joke location in so many movies. This place is the worst place I've ever lived. I can't wait until we retire and I can move. It's a small enough city that there's not much to do but we are big enough to have huge gang problems/crime rates and we are second to Los Angeles in poor air quality. Plus, it's hot here; it's over 100 from May to October (today we are in mid-80's).

And we aren't going to talk about the economy/budget problems here....

Fresno=Bleck!!!
I lived in Merced for two years. Only upside was fresh oranges and a short drive to Yosemite! (where I tried to go every weekend to escape the awfulness!)

 

[Feralpeg]

I live in a small city in the middle of a large city. I love it!

 

[Darcy03231]

Here's another vote for New Hampshire. I live in Nashua which was voted best place in the US to live in 1987 and 1997. I love where I live. Its big enough that we have a good school system, plenty of shopping/entertainment, but small enough that its still easy to get around. Boston is close if you want to go into a major city (45 min) away. Crime rate is pretty low.

 

[Puget Peach]

Richmond, VA

It's good, I would like to be even further south because even though we don't have a lot of cold and snow here we have more than I would like!

As for my house, the only thing I would change right now is I really would like a wheelchair ramp for my daughter's wheelchair. She's only going to need it for 6 months, so I don't want to do anything permanent- I think.

Discountramps.com have stable, temporary ramps for good prices. It may be worth purchasing a portable ramp for the time she's using the wheelchair. I bought a lighweight portable from them to use when my friend in a wheelchair comes to visit. They had really good customer service and pricing.