OT - Tell me about where you live

[bee]

Originally Posted by Gams

Anyone here from Idaho?

I have visited. It's beautiful but the one thing we noticed was it seemed pretty right-leaning, if that matters to you. Also they are probably big into hunting there. We saw a guy driving around on a quad with a gun. (in a store parking lot -- it was an odd sight)

[Gams]

I think you’re probably right, bee. I have a friend who lives in Boise and she’s a big hunter and very conservative. Too bad because the average annual snowfall in Twin Falls is 18” and it’s over 70” where I live. And I guess it’s pretty safe in Twin Falls, too.

[ksleeth]

I am originally from southern California but my husband and I moved to East Tennessee 5 years ago for my husbands job. We live in Cleveland which is 25 miles north of Chattanooga and 100 miles south of Knoxville. The people are very nice and seem to always put their neighbor above themselves. The weather can get a little humid in the summer but it’s not bad. My husband is a road biker and mountain biker and says there’s never a day he can’t go for a ride. We get a good amount of rain all year and maybe 1 or 2 days of a light snow.

The only thing I dislike is there are no sidewalks. Like you literally take your life in your hands if you try to walk anywhere. No sidewalks and no crosswalks. It’s so odd for me being from CA, where sidewalks are the norm and you always see people out walking. There’s a place called the greenway and that’s where you walk. But since I work out in my basement it’s not a huge deal.

In the 5 years that we have lived here the city has grown in leaps and bounds. They just re-did our mall (and there’s a brand new Ulta yay), a bunch of new restaurants and even an Orange Theory. Seems like they are always breaking new ground somewhere around town. All that said it’s a great place to live.

[Pratima]

As bzar said, I live in Phoenix (southeast suburb) and grew up in Flagstaff. It snowed the day I graduated from high school (late May or early June 1991). I went to college in Ohio and while it snows in both places, you don't get the sun and blue sky in the middle of the winter in OH like you do in AZ!

Flagstaff is really expensive and can get crowded because of tourists, but I would love to retire there! If I was retired, I wouldn't care how bad traffic was because heck, I don't need to get to work on time!

Arizona really is nice because you can have snow, altitude, skiing, etc. and drive just a couple of hours south to get away from snow and have a completely different landscape. Cost of living isn't as bad as in many states and things are relatively accessible.

I was telling someone just this week that growing up in Flagstaff, there were so few businesses I had to go to Phoenix to find snowboots. That's not the case now though.

[bevatron]

I love this thread and love hearing about all these different places, it's so interesting to me. I'm a bit of a geography, weather & USDA freeze zones geek.

My bad headache yesterday reminded me to write about some of the unpleasant aspects of the Pacific NW where I live, namely barometric pressure fluctuations that mess with my sinuses. Sometimes pressure changes don't bother me too much, but sometimes they really make me ill.

We also get our share of pollen in the spring. It's not quite rainforest in the Seattle area, but close. All the rain gives us an abundance of foliage, some of it like alder trees are horrible in the spring, cars will be covered in yellow pollen. Also invasive non-native species like scotch broom are sinus killers and it can be miserable being outside in spring & early summer.


This summer was very nice, but summers of 2017 & 18 saw the entire west half of WA state blanketed with smoke from wildfires in Canada. Last year, for almost the entire month of August, we were covered in dense smoke & basically unable to go outside. It was horrible and unpredictable, it just depends on how the wind blows.

I forget about these more unpleasant aspects until they strike again ...

[Hsim]

well right now DH and I live in the NYC suburbs on Long Island. Since my daughter moved to Ca. about 4 years ago we decided to relocate to the west coast. After extensive searching we have decided that we want to live in Monterey. Although housing costs are high, we can sell our house and get a 2 bedroom condo. We love the combination of nature, great weather (not hot), good shopping and restaurants. Plus it is very a very progressive political environment out there. Hopefully, we will be able to retire, sell our house and find a new one and move in 2020.

[bubbles76]

Originally Posted by summer breeze

I also live in NJ and much of the state is much nicer than it gets credit for but it is way too expensive as wishiwasinhawaii stated.

I love NJ! It's just that after spending so many years in the south, it's just too expensive

[lizh]

This is an interesting discussion! I had this website bookmarked which you might find helpful:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/

liz

[MARIKA]

Hi I'm from Pittsburgh. Since 2007 though I have lived in Mississippi, Alabama , Oregon and all corners of Florida. If I could choose 1 place to live it would be Oregon, no snowfall except in the mountains you have the coast as well. The vegetation there is on steroids and the whole vibe is awesome.

[wishiwasinhawaii]

Originally Posted by bubbles76

I love NJ! It's just that after spending so many years in the south, it's just too expensive

I like it here too for the most part. Everything you need is at your fingertips and I like the proximity to cities and the beaches. I grew up in a rural area so it took me some time to get over the culture shock when I came here 20 years ago, but it has grown on me.