There's NO Place Like...

[Etienne]

Now that my husband has retired we are looking at moving somewhere else to live. (Southern California is just too congested!) We enjoy water activities like kayaking and fishing and my husband likes to golf. We'd like to be close enough to city life to get the benefits of it and to be near an airport, but we love the country life, too! Where's a place you've lived or visited that YOU absolutely loved and would recommend?

 

[photobyalan]

You're not going to want to hear this.

San Diego

After that, Monterey/Big Sur area

Third, Napa Valley

Sorry.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I'd say continue north to Eureka, but I haven't been there in 31 years so I don't know what it's like today.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

The center of the Universe....

Phoenix, Arizona! One hour from L.A. One hour from San Diego. One hour from Las Vegas. One hour from Albuequerque. Two hours from Dallas. Two hours from Seattle. Three hours from Puerto Vallarta.

No floods. No mudslides. No hurricanes. No tornadoes. No Tsunamis. No sink holes. No long cloudy, rainy days.

Eight months of wonderful weather. Four months with no snowbirds or tourists.

Twelve months of air-conditioned comfort!

Say no more!!! -dixon cannon

 

[MK]

...

...and I'd say go even further North to the Portland area. You have an international airport, great golden era buildings, wonderful restaurants, affordable housing and the best vintage stores.

I lived in LA most of my life with grid-lock traffic and triple digit summers. We relocated here in the fall of '04 and we love it. You have to like rain though....but that is a great excuse to wear trenchcoats and hats.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Or Portland, Maine! We have it all!

Well, except for affordable housing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Come up the road a piece to Rockland --

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051800789.html

We're just an hour and a half or so from Portland, and about an hour and a half from some real high class flea marketing and vintage shopping. What more could ya want?

(Besides, you could hang out with PSG and me!)

 

[Hannigan Reilly]

hmmm. Portland Maine would be nice. or anywhere in Maine. Or Las vegas.[huh]

 

[mysterygal]

I'm with MK on this one as well...move over to where we are...sounds perfect for what both of you guys are looking for. We're just about ready to get out our boat and do some water activities ourselves, we'd love to take you and the mister out let's see, we've got A LOT of beautiful golf courses very close by, hiking trails, great scenery, mild weather and a whole lot less people!

 

[Clyde R.]

Well, I suppose the partisan Carolinian in me should recommend the central "Triangle" area of NC, Raleigh, Durham area. It is really growing and has great outdoor activities all around and a growing- QUICKLY- Raleigh urban area. You have the beach close by and the mountains...and some of the best golf around BUT, I'll save you the rest of the NC commercial. It's also MUGGY and terribly hot about 1/3 of the year and there isn't much to do culturally to compare with some of the more developed urban areas...at least that I've found. Raleigh just ain't NYC or Seattle and there's no getting around that.

Heaven on earth to me has to be Hawaii. Oahu is too crowded, but I still like it. Maybe I've just seen From Here To Eternity too many times, I dunno. It's too hot there to wear A2 jackets and trenchcoats and all the things I like so much(MK's onto something there in Washington with the rain) but it's so nice in Hawaii that I don't mind. We're going back in a few weeks and we'll get another case of "island fever" I'm sure. That's where you start thinking crazy thoughts like moving to Hawaii after you visit.

In the US in my travels I must admit I also liked northern Arizona very much.

 

[mysterygal]

It really doesn't rain as much as most people think. Me and MK are south enough that we get more of the mild weather than the Seattle guys.
Another plus: great beaches close by

 

[Etienne]

What do you think about Sequim, WA.? We have friends up there who swear it's the "Banana Belt" of Washington but almost every time we've visited it has rained!! I admit that we are spoiled by the weather here...no doubt about it.

 

[mysterygal]

Whereabouts is Sequim, Eteine? Eastern WA is great also. I have some relatives that live in Twisp..very cute town.

 

[Andykev]

The Bay Area is Heaven

I strongly suggest the Bay Area..depending on your finances...the real estate is a tad bit..ok, ok. it is rape.

I live in the East Bay, what is known as the "Diablo Valley". Mild weather, sometimes hot in in summer. We are an hour from the Napa Valley, the Ocean, the Sacramento Area, ....three hours to Lake Tahoe. Two hours to Mendocino, and also Monterey. We have desert, beach, ocean, lake, river, all within an easy drive.

The attractions..well, doesn't everyone have a Starbucks on every cornerlol ?

The weather, it is very mild, no humidity..fog to cool you in summer. Culture? SF is but a 40 minute BART ride from here..no car needed. SF Giants, Oakland A's? Did I mention the redwoods, the seaguls, the wineries, the beatuiful sunsets?

In a "good area" a nice 3 bed and 2 bath house on a quarter acre will cost you about $625 to $700 thousand.

I don't want to "retire" and do what my buddy did..he moved to Missouri, which is known as "misery". Chiggers, humidity, no neighbors, no services, mosquitos, la te da te da!

I want CIVILIZATION, with CULTURE, and the ability to get places of vast varitey.


Go see the award winning show "Bay Area Backroads" by KRON T.V.


http://kron4.com/global/Category.asp?c=19471

 

[Andykev]

Yawn

What do you think about Sequim, WA.? We have friends up there who swear it's the "Banana Belt" of Washington but almost every time we've visited it has rained!! I admit that we are spoiled by the weather here...no doubt about it.

My brother lives in Sequim. I have photos..flew from Port Angeles airport over the Olymic Pennisula. It is a "bananna belt" in that it gets less rain than Seattle.

The area is ok. Very relaxed. Much more crowded than it was a few years ago...gee, the largest Costco in Washington State is there now...go figure. It is a haven for retired Californians trying to escape. It is boring to me.

 

[Andykev]

And we have an airport

PS I am 10 minutes from Concord, Buchannan Airport. It is a general avation filed with light aircraft, including mine
We are also close to Oakland and SFO International Ariports.

http://www.awp.faa.gov/ccr/default.htm

 

[Etienne]

Sorry, I don't know how to select text and have it reprint here, so this is a reply to Photbyalan:--San Diego is a great community and our tax base could transfer there! It's not out of the running if we elect to stay in So. Cal. We look in the Monterey area constantly--mostly in Pacific Grove; my hubby would live there in a heartbeat--but talk about expensive...WOW. And Napa is gorgeous and somewhere we both like, should we stay in California--but again, muy expensivo! But then, all the good places ARE expensive in California! Heck, if we move from here, we couldn't even afford to move BACK!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

What do you think about Sequim, WA.? We have friends up there who swear it's the "Banana Belt" of Washington but almost every time we've visited it has rained!! I admit that we are spoiled by the weather here...no doubt about it.

It's supposedly one of the sunniest cities, lowest rainfall cities in the country. It's due south of Victoria, B.C. northwest of Seattle on the Straits of Juan DeFuca (the channel between Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean, and what separates most of Puget Sound from Canada). But you're probably a good 90 minutes if not more from Seattle & SeaTac Int'l. And you're at the whim of the ferries. When you're from somewhere that doesn't have ferries, it seems like a nifty way to commute, popping $8-10 each way when you need to cross the sound gets a little tiresome. True, you can drive down the Olympic Penninsula, across the new bridge into Tacoma and then up to the airport, it easily adds an hour to the trip. But having 4 seasons is nice.

And...no state income tax and Washington's the one state that doesn't allow the California income tax people from trying to sock former Californians with income tax on their retirement plans.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Hmm, now all you denizens of Portland have me interested. Trouble is, I'm a highly intelligent but scatterbrained 45-year-old college dropout jack of all trades, and I need to find the right kind of offbeat employer.

 

[raiderrescuer]

HOME !!!

Sorry, had to post the obvious.