Where would you live?

[Msmoto]

For those born in the colder climates the options may be greater. I suspect if it were only climate, I would summer in the More northern areas like Colorado to Wisconsin, winter in an area from New Mexico to the Georgia coast or Florida.

IMO, if one finds most places they visit to be friendly and nice place to visit, one can live anywhere and be happy. If there are lots of places where the citizens are not friendly, well, it may be difficult to find a good place to live.


Ms Tommie Lauer
Greensboro, NC
2015 Serenity 30 RB / 2008 Dodge Cummins 4 X 4
WBCCI #4165 AIR #31871

[Dave-Nancy]

Being an Oregon transplant (40+ years ago) from Los Angeles, I am glad to hear that people are afraid of volcanos and tsunamis ... We have a cabin in a beachside tsunami zone and a home in the beautiful and fertile Willamette Valley. The lava rocks at the beach were, indeed, formed from volcanos in far away Central Oregon. The last tsunami of note was about 500 years ago. So, we are due for another one. Man, does all this make one feel "alive," or what!? Breath that fresh air ... aaahhh. Go Ducks!

[Len n Jeanne]

When I was a year or two from retirement, Len and I did a lot of homework on where we wanted to live. With 3 adult children between two marriages, and two of them very single and mobile (and not a grandchild in sight) we decided to go where we loved the scenery yet real estate was affordable-- interior BC.

Having lived in 4 different states and 2 provinces, of course the scenery is important. But another important consideration is the local culture.

I truly don't want to offend anybody, but-- consider-- would you be a religious minority in a new locale? (I lived in Utah for many years as a non-Mormon, and happily so, but it did require some adjustment.) Would your political views be completely different than most of your neighbours? (We adore the northern Idaho panhandle and visit it often, but our political views are considerably more liberal than the majority of the population's. Our views are considered moderate in BC but liberal in Idaho!)

Oftentimes a dream rural acreage at an affordable price is affordable precisely because it is in a region with pervasive rural poverty. I don't mean this as a slight against poor people; but rather, that wealthier in-comers can understandably generate some resentment. In a place with few new residents, it can be hard for newcomers to fit into an established social order.

These are all solvable problems amongst people of good will and openness to new experiences, but just something to keep in mind.

Having lived in a tourism-based community and in another community that attracts a lot of retirees, I think both are good destinations for newcomers because they have many other newer residents looking to make new friends and offering a range of activities and hobby-oriented clubs.

Climatically, places with mild winters tend to have scorching hot summers; and places with beautiful summers tend to have frigid snowy winters.

Hence our Airstreams, so that we can take advantage of the best that each place has to over.

Jeanne

[Tomzstream]

Lets think outside the box a bit... Consider a multi geographic solution. We live in NE FL, bit our airstream is located in Fair Oaks California (just East of Sacratomato). The trailer is actually in Santa Cruz this week with my daughter and her family. They keep it for us in a nice warehouse storage when they aren't using it. We will fly out at least once a year to tour the West Coast and Sierra at our leisure. There's a lot of territory to cover.. Oregon, BC, Utah, Nevada, AZ... all within a few days travel, with lots of caravans doing the same out that way.

Rather than living fulltime in the trailer, once we retire (within a year or two), we will likely rent a house (I would not buy into that market right now) and spend two months at a time near our grandkids so our travel opportunities will be more frequent.

I'd like to do the same in the New England area at some point. But we also have a B-Van (RT Adventurous CS) so we're more likely to use it up there. But there is nothing stopping us from storing it up there. You get the picture. One thing I will not give up is my evening walks on the Beach...We are in FL as permanent residents to stay.

[PaulnGina]

I'm already here!!!! NW Arkansas is a beautiful place to live. Lots of camping in the area, centrally located to everywhere in the US. If money was no object, I'd have a house in the far SW corner of New York to spend the summers on the hillside that overlooks Lake Erie. Then I'd go to NW Arkansas for the winter and enjoy the beauty of the Ozarks.

[dkottum]

Speaking of thinking outside the box, if you like waterfront property Minnesota has more shoreline than Florida, California and Hawaii combined. And it's dual purpose, our daughter's family began using their's as a huge skating rink last week.

[cwf]

For those fortunate enought the "travel", remember the story about "The Ugly AMERICAN"??? Tread lightly, please.

[rodsterinfl]

I am partial to the southeast especially spring fall and winter. Summer is the killer but then again for a home base that would be just fine

[weirdstuff]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

yesterday morning we went to the beach and had breakfast, walked the dog in the surf, talked about next AS trip, and were home by 11am....that is nice for sure. We can also take the AS inland to Borego Springs in winter months and to the beach like San Clemente State Park for great camping...Pechanga is nice also in Temecula for wine tasting. Negative down here is driving through Riverside or LA area pulling the AS to get to Big Bear or to Central or Northern California oasis

Yep...see...this is why we all stay here! And, to drive out of San Diego, you need to plan your timing as best as possible, 'cause, like you said, getting through LA aint no fun! Best time to drive through is in evening. When we drive back from Santa Barbara, we'll leave SB at 6:00pm or so, and that does the job of missing almost all traffic.

[dkottum]

We sold our home in San Diego in 1980 and left because of the exploding population in California. I still love the state though, with it's incredible variety of natural features and environments as well as the wonderful year 'round weather. There's no place like it. Just too many people along the coast.

[gypsydad]

"Climatically, places with mild winters tend to have scorching hot summers; and places with beautiful summers tend to have frigid snowy winters.

Hence our Airstreams, so that we can take advantage of the best that each place has to over.

Jeanne "

Jeanne....Most folks may agree with that statement....unless they live in Florida or San Diego! It's tough to know you can have a near perfect day most of the year in both places...FL does get a bit warmer, perhaps, but give me warmth vs the cold snow any day! We will head to our cabin in MT in a few weeks for the Holidays...last year we had a week of -20 weather...now that's cold!

[RangerJay]

This is my second post on this thread and this time I'm going to take a little different tact.

Like Len n Jean above we did a lot of soul searching about where we wanted to retire to - and then - once retired - did a lot of leg work to find the perfect piece of property .... in the end we realized that our kids - each with their own home in the town we raised them in - were the centre of our lives - Sunday suppers - helping out with home renovations - dog sitting (no grandkids at the time - or yet) - holidays - personal crisis and the list goes on. Bottom line was that we had a major light bulb moment and realized that our home was with them - for as long as they remained there.

So - we stayed put ...... and 15 years later still consider ourselves blessed for making that decision (course the kids moved - but only 2 hours away ..... ).


Jay