Where would you live??

i'd live in hawaii!!!  however, being married to the only guy in the world who doesn't want to live there puts a crimp in my life plans. *sigh*

there's a site called www.findyourspot.com where you can take a survey and it'll find the top 25 US places you should live based on your answers.  i got north carolina, somewhere along the coast.  anyone know anything about north carolina? kev took it and got NJ, which makes him happy because he wants to go there or MA.

scrumpy, i love NoCal too.  my aunt is moving from san jose to oakdale, and i can't say i blame her.  oakdale is i think 2 hrs north of yosemite.   they still have a rodeo there, too.  best of all, it's about 2 hrs to san francisco and 2 hrs from lake tahoe.  not bad!

visited the princeton area of NJ and loved it.  i love almost anywhere that looks clean and has lots of trees and parks.  that area was good because it's country-ish and roughly in between nyc and philadelphia, two of my fave cities.  

hubby has friends also in MA (just outside boston) where my dad would like us to live so he can visit.  he was stationed there in the army and he loves it, he will probably stay for summer and fall with us when he retires if we moved there.  i am only worried about winter there...i think here is too cold and gloomy during winter (dark at 4pm?  major bummer!!   )

i've only been to durango in colorado.  it's pretty small, but everyone so friendly! i'm told pueblo and colorado springs is nice.  a friend went to school in greely and said she would never live there permanently.  i felt very comfortable in northern AZ, although far from a big city.

as for anyone flirting with kev...he doesn't think anyone would flirt with him , so he remains oblivious to most attempts.  sometimes when he talks he mumbles like prince charles so no one can understand him anyway!  trish, next time you have to go there with your honey just hold his hand and smile sweetly at that woman.  meeeow!

My stepfather was born in Oahu, but we never got to go to Hawaii.  I would love, love, LOVE to see it.  Visions of paradise.  

Utah is an interesting place.  My memories are mostly of the Great Salt Lake, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park -- exquisite scenery, but don't think I'd want to live there.  And it's too cold in the winter.

Top choices would be New Orleans, LA, Charleston, SC, or I'd move back to Virginia.  Might have been born and raised in IL but I'm a total Southern girl at heart.  I love the South.

Islandgirl, thanks for the site.....l took the survey and found 24 wonderful spots to consider and much to my surprise (not  ) There were 6 places in Arizona followed by Texas, the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia. There was even a town that had 81 residents! Cool huh?? Now, that's my kinda town!!!  

That was an awesome site though thanks again!!  

I've lived in a lot of the places being mentioned here. Notably Tucson, Arizona; Northern California, although it was San Jose; Hawaii for three years; Colorado Springs, CO;

So my comments on the aforementioned:
Arizona - Witheringly hot, dangerous animals/insects. Good for allergy sufferers. Nice temperate climate during the flashflood season that is winter.

Northern California(Bay area) - Incredibly crowded, but if you like smog... Does get a little chilly around the Bay, foggy as well. Harsh standard of living. 300,000 for a bandbox of a house or a couple hours commnute.

Hawaii - Yes, you can get bored of beach-related activities. You have to hop a six hour flight to do anything else. Snotty, clueless tourists at every turn. Locals not overly friendly to the haolis (white folk/non-locals). Horrid economy.

Colorado Springs - Smallish city, but tightly packed with people. Worst drivers I've ever seen. My car insurance more than doubled when I moved there. Some smog and traffic congestion. Perfect city if you're a new agey/baby boomer/yuppie scum. Very nice view of the Rockies. Snow-related activities abound. Denver not far away, but far enough away as well.

There's my no punches-pulled reviews of some of the places mentioned. If you want reviews of Northern Virginia, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Wichita,  Biloxi, Omaha and a few others let me know.

I lived in Denver for 3.5 years, and as i've mentioned before, the traffic is contemptible.. my insurance also sky-rocketed when i went there.  the roads aren't set up to handle the buttload of ppl that have decided to move there from LA.  so if you have any sort of commute at all... bad news.  i lived on the south edge of denver & had to commute 7 minutes further south to get to work... 7 minutes on a clear stretch of highway, that is.. 45 minutes - 1 hour during rush hour, which is nearly every hour except 3am.  There are parts of Denver that are better than other parts, but if you have to travel on I-25 on the south end of the city, it's *really* bad.  I had another job where i had to drive toward the center of the city, and that wasn't as bad... but still not good.

the weather is unbeatable, though, (300 days of sun) and so is the scenery.  Denver is less yuppyish than Colorado Springs, but if you're a true forward-thinker or a beatnick, you might want to consider Boulder.  it's tucked right in the foothills, 30 minutes from Denver... (precluding rush-hour travelling, of course).

the local vacation options in Colorado are limitless.  there are *so* many things you can do with your weekends.. things that only require a 20-minute to 1-hour drive into the mountains... up to 5 hours depending on your adventure level.  It's very hard to get bored in Colorado.

i always heard locals telling stories of coming across rattlesnakes, which freaked me out, but i never saw any myself.

Fort Collins is also a *beautiful* city.  kindof small, but very pretty... and again, right by the mountains.

Cost of living really couldn't be better, other than the car insurance burn.  rent there is slightly cheaper than it is in Minneapolis, and it's 100x cheaper than it is here  :-/.

Also, it's a dry climate, so cars don't rust there.  and neither to ppl.  

also forgot to mention... if you are seriously looking into moving to Colorado, i *highly* recommend that you do NOT move to Castle Rock or to any of the newly-built communities in Highlands Ranch.  Castle Rock is already above capacity and are having problems with their water supply... not to mention commuting from Castle Rock to *anywhere* is a major hassle.  The new communities at Highlands Ranch were built on un-inspected ground & consumers are giving up millions to live in houses that are falling over.  another really bad scene.  anyway, the cookie-cutter option generally doesn't pay off.  renting an apartment or buying an older house is generally the smarter thing to do.  yuppy-housing developers are in a huge hurry to throw houses up as quickly as they can, and they're making a killing in the process, but the houses are not ones they would want to live in themselves...

Islandgirl, thanks for the site.....l took the survey and found 24 wonderful spots to consider and much to my surprise (not  )

That was an awsome site!  Both my husband and I took the quiz.  The bad news is that he will be living in Maine and I will be living Montana, but hey - we'll be living in our perfect towns.

Hawaii - Yes, you can get bored of beach-related activities. You have to hop a six hour flight to do anything else. Snotty, clueless tourists at every turn. Locals not overly friendly to the haolis (white folk/non-locals). Horrid economy.

hmm...i'd have to admit, this is pretty right-on (though it hurts to admit it!)  growing up with the beach (and the smell of hibachis in use) biases me more than i'd like to think.  i have to agree with the economy view and the politics are extremely bad.  still, a short spell at home would be nice  tough to get used to a winter when the coldest you've ever been prior was 45 degrees F!

i'd like to know more about northern virginia.  my uncle in arlington is also biased when we said that's on our list of possible places to move, but his son opted to live in hawaii (he grew up in VA).  also, know much about maryland? i'm not caucasian and i have to say, i'm a little concerned about southern states...i heard a lot about the 'family status' thing and that in smaller towns, outsiders can be a long time in getting accepted, but i don't know how much of this is true.

ooops, forgot to add:

trish, glad you liked the site.  beware, some friends have taken it and didn't agree with their list.  but a good place to start, huh?

good luck with the hunt, at least you'll have a lot of time to decide!  

Not planning on moving back to the States if things work out in the UK.  But, if we ever get rich enough to have a second house...!

New Orleans or Seattle.  And that's pretty much it.  No big long reasons.  Just those two.  Maybe Orlando or the surrounding area - but only on a part-time basis.

I have to admit looking back on my reviews that they are pretty negative, but I've always found that the good things about a place are easy to find.  

I really didn't find a need to extoll the virtues of Hawaii... We all know what those are. Best climate I've ever been in.

Islandgirl: I lived in both Reston and Tysons Corner, which are about 15-20 miles from Washington, D.C. There's quite a bit of crime in and around Washington, D.C., including the parts of Northern Virginia near it. The traffic is astounding. 5-8 AM in the morning and from 4-7 pm in the evening are rush hour times. Average commutes times can run in the hours. It's hot in the summer and fairly cold in the winter with some snow, but not as much as in the midwest. The people are standoffish, but that was a plus for me.    The economy is decent, but housing is on the expensive side. Tons of stuff to do around there; from beaches to museums and monuments.

I never lived in Maryland, but there are some nice parts that aren't Baltimore. Although Baltimore has been rejuvenated in the last 5-6 years.

I have to admit looking back on my reviews that they are pretty negative, but I've always found that the good things about a place are easy to find.  

Can't wait to read your review after you've lived in Yorkshire for a while.  

On a completely random note, the only time I've ever been in Maryland was on a road trip in college and I got VERY lost, and ended up on the Maryland side of the border and saw a goat in the middle of the road. Had to stop. It wouldn't move.
That's it. So I think of goats when I think of Maryland.

Can't wait to read your review after you've lived in Yorkshire for a while

Do you live in Yorkshire 12years?  I do, and I can't stand the thick thick accents here.  I know some of you think I should be shot for that, but leaving out 'the' in some sentences drives me insane like ... get in car....... get in house.  Holy heck all I'm asking is for something that at least sounds like a complete sentence.  I love my husbands accent, but it's not really heavy like his parents, and very hard to understand.    Other than that I don't mind living in Yorkshire, other than the cold and wind, but I suppose you get that everywhere.  It is stunningly beautiful up here, all the rolling hills and lovely little pathways   ah home sweet home