What do you like about where you live?

[figner]

Los Angeles area:

Close to mountains, great hiking
Warm sunny weather
Ethnically and culturally diverse
Any weird hobby I take up, there's probably already a club for it nearby.
World class music performances.
Great network of pro and amateur chamber music players.
Many different kinds of great food for reasonable prices.
I can walk to grocery stores, shopping areas, coffeeshops, and around town.
My commute to work is 15 minutes, and am considering biking.

I like this thread, it reminds me how good I have it!

A few cons though:

Smog
Expensive area (especially housing)
Traffic
Urbal sprawl

 

[figner]

Whines:
Some of the world's worst least-experienced drivers

Why? What makes it different from any other city?

Heh. Hawaii is the only place I've seen that posts minimum speed limits on the freeways. 'Cause otherwise you'd probably see folks ambling along at 25mph. Maybe it's just the more relaxed attitude. I think I'm a pretty conservative driver, but when I go to Oahu I have to consciously focus on slowing down so that I don't tailgate everywhere. Every once in a while some "agressive" HI driver tries to cut me off or keep me from merging, but they rarely stand a chance against my LA training!

 

[MikeD]

Loudoun County, VA

I live outside DC in what used to be a very rural area. I like the sophistication of the area and the fact that the economy is buoyed by all the government jobs so we don't have quite the boom and bust severity of many industrial places. I also like the weather, the high percentage of educated people, and the quality of the newspaper and TV news (although I don't agree with their orientation).

Speaking of weather, we had a tornado alert only a few miles from my house today!

I don't like that we have so many airports which route the jets directly over my house because the population is low.

Mike D.

Pic attached of some visitors to my drainfiled today. They ate over 1,000 daylilies in the last two seasons. The baby tried to play with my geriatric black lab until his mother ran into the woods and he followed her.

 

[HFWR]

DFW area

Pros:
- affluent, safe 'burb with plenty of amenities
- mild autumn, winter, spring
- TexMex
- cheap housing
- no state income tax
- near big-D, not as near to FW

Cons:
- hot, hot, hot summers
- high electric rates
- high property tax
- decidedly unscenic landscape
- traffic

 

[CuppaJoe]

My town seems to be getting more affordable. The condo across the street has been reduced from $2,225,000 down to a measly offering price of $1,999,999. The condo is in a four-unit building, has two bedrooms with shared rooftop viewpoint and tiny shared backyard; IMO it has little going for it except location location location.

 

[Lakedog]

Lake Martin, AL

Pros:
-low property taxes
-low state income taxes
-low electric rates
-mild winters
-lake life (fishing,swimming,boating)
-rural area

Cons:
-hot summers
-it is Alabama

 

[wildcat]

Lakedog -

You guys are getting nailed with some serious drought. Funny thing is years ago I never thought the South would have serious widespread drought issues --- usually gets a little dry around the dog days but that was it.

I have had several residences over the past few years but just to name a few:

1) Columbia, MO. - great university town, great public transportation & very bike friendly, great health care, nices parks/trails (the state long bike trail comes real close and I used to live near the access trail), nice homes for great prices, university events, nice litte downtown, low COL, smart peope, low low crime. Seemed hotter than the upper south's weather (what I was used to) & the temps between seasons were pretty extreme.

2) Lexington, KY. - nice university city, similar to Columbia but a lot bigger, commutes were not that bad compared to the big cities, low COL. I don't think the area has too much going on in the outdoors dept -- have to drive an hour for a decent place to hike, the parks are just ok, the city hasn't managed its growth well, a lot of places have been built up with UGLY, mass produced homes -- hate that!

All of the above, landlocked! I love being close to water and it can be a drag from time to time --- beaches were at least 6 hours away. Not quite as progressive as I would have liked.

 

[Nords]

Why? What makes it different from any other city?

I have to say from the start that Hawaii drivers will always let you in. If you learned to drive in an aggressive-driver state then you won't believe what you're seeing. (It must be a trick!) You sometimes have to be careful following the driver ahead of you because they'll slow down to let someone else go ahead of them.

I learned to drive in Pittsburgh winters from a guy nicknamed "Leadfoot", so maybe I'm biased. But many Hawaii drivers do one or more things that annoy the living daylights out of me:
- Stop a car length short of the pedestrian crosswalk at the stop light, slamming on their brakes if necessary.
- Coast slowly to the end of the onramp-- any onramp-- brake to a halt, and wait for a half-mile gap in traffic to appear before "merging".
- Extra bonus points for doing this in a dedicated right-turn lane when you have the green light...
- "Sympathetic braking": "Ohmygosh, the driver next to me just slammed on the brakes so I better do the same thing until we figure out what's happening". This syndrome put one of my motorcycle-riding sailors in the hospital and darn near put him in his grave.
- "Whoa, it's raining-- I never expected that to happen in Hawaii!! Better slam on the brakes and then drive 15 MPH below the speed limit until it stops!"

I have no idea why people have these habits-- I guess because you can never be too careful?!? The state only started a driver-education course for teens a couple years ago.

Other common Hawaii practices:
- Roadside memorials. Wherever someone died in a traffic accident you'll see a cross with lei and perhaps a few other trinkets by it. Not only do they go up shortly after a death, but they're maintained for months or even years.
- Compact cars with rear-deck spoilers, fiberglas hoods, custom suspensions & lights, and those silly-sounding mufflers.
- A huge floral script on the rear window of your SUV/pickup saying "In Loving Memory Of ________, 1927-2006", or words to that effect.

Do people do these things on the Mainland too?

 

[Brat]

Gee, can't think of anything to recommend western Oregon. Rainy autumns lead into soggy winters which are eventually supplanted by the soft rains of spring. Luckily we've started summer now, so it mostly only rains hard on the weekends, which does knock down most of the mosquitos if you stay out from under cover. The people here are solid stock, born of the common clay, which encrusts their lower torsos. The dining is fine, primarily consisting of whatever raw foods the young farmers can strain from the fields, and served by our young folk in all their hirsute beauty, leg hair brushed and gleaming. Our school system bows to no one, producing some 17% of all of the McDonald's waitstaff, as well as 12% of the coffee boilers that make the coffee found in 7-11s. Our bottle bill, which keeps the roads free of return-deposit bottles, provides another source of income for the work force. We do have lovely mountains and seascapes, which are identified by compass position, as the overcast and the fog obscure actual views of them. Still, I'm sure they are lovely, as there are artist's renderings on the web of what they might look like. Only reason I'm here is the dull thought seeping to the surface of my brain that urges that in a few decades the rest of the US will turn into desert.

 

[calmloki]

]

Shh.

Mr Clemens: The truth is so precious it should be used sparingly.

 

[Khan]

Greater Dayton (Ohio) area:

Pros:
I'm here. I have been here for 29 years. The house is paid for. Property taxes and insurance are reasonable. Many services and businesses and health care fairly close. Local farms.

Cons:
This is Ohio. Rust belt. Newly found contaminated areas. Factory closings. Corn to the horizon.

 

[Martha]

I have to say from the start that Other common Hawaii practices:
- Roadside memorials. Wherever someone died in a traffic accident you'll see a cross with lei and perhaps a few other trinkets by it. Not only do they go up shortly after a death, but they're maintained for months or even years.
- A huge floral script on the rear window of your SUV/pickup saying "In Loving Memory Of ________, 1927-2006", or words to that effect.

Do people do these things on the Mainland too?

I have never seen the memorial on a window of a vehicle. I first saw roadside memorials in the south a number of years ago. They gradually seem to be creeping further north.

 

[Sam]

- Roadside memorials. Wherever someone died in a traffic accident you'll see a cross with lei and perhaps a few other trinkets by it. Not only do they go up shortly after a death, but they're maintained for months or even years.

Quite common in Texas. Very common in Mexico. Not sure if they are related, since there's a large hispanic community in Texas.

 

[bssc]

Quite common in Texas. Very common in Mexico. Not sure if they are related, since there's a large hispanic community in Texas.

Very common in Arizona. I have also seen a few window memorials too.

 

[bpp3]

Roadside memorials are very common in Japan. (That is what you meant by the Mainland, right?) Usually flowers, sometimes other things that the deceased liked.

 

[TargaDave]

What do you like about where you live?

For one, this:

OK, not really moving in full time till next year, but my soul is already there

 

[kaudrey]

donheff said: I am on Capitol Hill in DC. KAudrey and SoontoRetire covered it pretty well for me. DW and I have the added luxury of a weekend house on the tidal Potomac with 240 degree water views.

-----

Sounds like we need a DC ER get-together at donheff's house!

SoonToBeRetired - I am a big sports fan (playing and watching). I often go when my NY teams are in town, although I will go to hockey or the Nationals anytime.

Karen

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Do people do these things on the Mainland too?

we have all that minus the pedestrian care & even less concern for bicyclists (a few killed each year). and of course just a 1/2 hour south of here is miami where drivers have rated as the rudest in the country, two years running. thus the 300-hp under my hood.

 

[Sam]

I have to say from the start that Hawaii drivers will always let you in. If you learned to drive in an aggressive-driver state then you won't believe what you're seeing. (It must be a trick!) You sometimes have to be careful following the driver ahead of you because they'll slow down to let someone else go ahead of them.

Nords, does this also mean that Hawaii or Oahu is "bicycle friendly"?

 

[Rustic23]

Lake Liningston, Tx
Home
Click link above and see for yourself. It is our website and will give you a good idea of retirement on Lake Livingston.
Livingston is a large lake and not crowded. Benifits of Houston are less than 1 hr away. Cons of Houston are 1 hour away. Nice golf course.

 

[Nords]

Roadside memorials are very common in Japan. (That is what you meant by the Mainland, right?) Usually flowers, sometimes other things that the deceased liked.

Well, the Japanese heritage would explain why we're seeing so much of it here.

Honshu-- yeah, that's it, that's what I meant!

Nords, does this also mean that Hawaii or Oahu is "bicycle friendly"?

I think so. I used to commute 2000-3000 miles/year for five years from Central Oahu to Pearl Harbor. Once you acclimate to the sweating, the most "difficult" parts of Hawaii commuting are rainy weather and the hills. Luckily work was downhill and home was uphill or I never would've left the house. I managed to put more commuting miles on the bike than on the car for three of those years.

There's a bike trail from Pearl Harbor all the way out to Waipahu that's perpetually a candidate for expansion to Kapolei. (Kapolei can be reached now by surface streets.) You can also get downtown from the Pearl Harbor end by a mix of surface streets, bike lanes, and parks. Almost every major/secondary road on the island has a bike lane or at least a wide shoulder. The most dangerous stretch of biking is off my back lanai (Roosevelt Bridge, a 1933 two-lane bridge with very narrow shoulders) and there's a plan to build a bike trail through the gulch to bypass that bridge.

When you can't stay off the streets, most drivers are pretty considerate to cyclists although some are careless. I don't believe that drivers are a problem-- I think it's the few bad-apple cyclists who jeopardize the reputation of everone else on wheels. Pedestrians also periodically attempt to take over the bike trails but they learn pretty quickly to stay to the side and pay attention.

On weekends I also see a lot of club rides on the North Shore. The Honolulu Bicycle League is active with "Bike Ed" in the schools and with lobbying the legislature for bike-trail improvements on all road projects. IMO it's right up there with San Diego. No legislator wants to run afoul of the Sierra Club or the HBL's "aloha" campaigns so they're pretty well received.

 

[JPatrick]

those silly-sounding mufflers.
- A huge floral script on the rear window of your SUV/pickup saying "In Loving Memory Of ________, 1927-2006", or words to that effect.

Do people do these things on the Mainland too?

We call the mufflers fart cans

Window memorials??
I didn't,,,,but I could have retired by selling Dale Earnhardt #8 window memorials.

I'm now thinking about doing one that says--"Thanks for remembering me on your POS pickup Dude---Your buddy Dale"

 

[bright eyed]

Compact cars with rear-deck spoilers, fiberglas hoods, custom suspensions & lights, and those silly-sounding mufflers.

Do people do these things on the Mainland too?

uh, wherever you have decent population of asians, you'll get the super modified small cars - like hondas...sup'd up engine, custom parts and whatever imported from japan...vroom vroom! now that i look back, i'm like, dude! relax, it's a honda!

it was waaay big when i was in high school (southern california)- every car had a serious bounce because they were lowered (springs cut) in someone's garage. there were the drag races - a la' fast and furious - but now that i'm back in the same hood, things have lightened up and it's not as serious as it used to be - back in the day!

 

[HFWR]

Re: fart cans...

Why would you put a fancy-schmancy muffler system on a 4-cyl p.o.s that takes 10 sec. to accelerate to shift point??

Dallas-area drivers are rude, inattentive, selfish, cellphone-talking morons...

 

[Sam]

uh, wherever you have decent population of asians, you'll get the super modified small cars - like hondas...sup'd up engine, custom parts and whatever imported from japan...vroom vroom! now that i look back, i'm like, dude! relax, it's a honda!

True. And in a hispanic community, you would find low-ride trucks, and hippie vans.