Where can we retire to?

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Why pay so much for torture?

Isn't that what golf is all about?

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

We chose to move to Bellingham some time ago for all the reasons mentioned. We have found it to have top-notch health care as well. Canadians come south to use our hospital and clinics. Vancouver, BC is the closest major airport, but we have a little one as well.

There is not much to do in Blaine but it is relatively cheap and closer to Vancouver but everyone shops in Bellingham anyway.

People of Asian background will find Seattle and Portland more comfortable at first but after a while I am sure they will find that any population center up here would be OK.

 

[Brat]

When I worked for ARCO in the 80's I used to frequent the refinery in Bellingham for project work. What a great town and lovely area that is!

ARCO was a great company.

 

[Bamaman]

I was born and raised for much of my life in Huntsville. Point of interest is that Huntsville has the highest average IQ in the nation; obviously driven initially by the Space Program. Lots of people will NOT believe how different Huntsville is from their perception of what all southern cities 'must' be like.

I live an hour from Huntsville. Few outside of the area really know what a great place it is to live--and very affordable.

Where can you find a university with continuing education courses on advanced rocketry and planet inventory systems? And the town's not just supporting the Space Station and building rockets.
Huntsville's the think tank for armaments and missiles that will be used in future warfare.
All U.S. Army helicopter research and development has been moved there. The parts of IED's from all over the world are studied, fingerprinted and DNA from them put into data banks.
The U.S. Army's moved their operations there--bill paying.
Advanced night vision systems are designed and built in Huntsville.
And Redstone Arsenal's expecting employment to double in the next 10 years.

North Alabama is a place with a very high standard of living and incredibly low taxation. The highly educated population has demanded and received a great culture--theatre, music, etc.

It's a place of mountains and lakes, with 4 major impoundments on the Tennessee River. And due to the low cost of living, it's hard to find a better place to retire early.

 

[Derslickmeister]

I live an hour from Huntsville. Few outside of the area really know what a great place it is to live--and very affordable.

Where can you find a university with continuing education courses on advanced rocketry and planet inventory systems? And the town's not just supporting the Space Station and building rockets.
Huntsville's the think tank for armaments and missiles that will be used in future warfare.
All U.S. Army helicopter research and development has been moved there. The parts of IED's from all over the world are studied, fingerprinted and DNA from them put into data banks.
The U.S. Army's moved their operations there--bill paying.
Advanced night vision systems are designed and built in Huntsville.
And Redstone Arsenal's expecting employment to double in the next 10 years.

North Alabama is a place with a very high standard of living and incredibly low taxation. The highly educated population has demanded and received a great culture--theatre, music, etc.

It's a place of mountains and lakes, with 4 major impoundments on the Tennessee River. And due to the low cost of living, it's hard to find a better place to retire early.

I was born and raised in South Alabama, have resided in North Texas for the last 30+ years. During that time I made a few trips for work to Redstone Arsenal and was pleasantly surprised at how different Hunstville is from the southern part of the state. It is definitely a melting pot of cultures, not nearly as humid as the southern part of the state and a lot more interesting terrain-wise. It is definitely on my list of possible retirement locations.

 

[Quest4Fire]

Yet more Huntsville; Traveled there plenty from the NE and it is on our list for an extended stay. It has plenty to offer; good jobs, weather, outdoors activities, some culture, traffic reports without much traffic-lol, etc. The part I don't get is why housing is so soft. A 3500sf, 5brd, 4bath, land, in good neighborhood and good schools is 400k. Hope a previous poster sells soon.

 

[Cassie]

Yes, Sugar Land (two words) is out side of Houston. I've rediscovered it since I retired, everything I need is within a 10 miles radius. Unfortunately, it's traffic is growing as well as population and major hospitals which have been built in SL. This part of Texas is flat, not scenic, humid, hot, floods and hurricane season is June -November. I'd like to move back east where I grew up....but I don't think I can afford it, plus Texas winters have spoiled me.

 

[NW-Bound]

We chose to move to Bellingham some time ago for all the reasons mentioned. We have found it to have top-notch health care as well. Canadians come south to use our hospital and clinics...

I know Canadians like to come down to Bellingham to shop, but how can they afford US health care, being so used to "free" service in Canada?

By the way, I passed by Bellingham many times on road trips to Vancouver, but only visited the town recently. We took a walk along Lake Samish shore, and thought it would not be a bad place to live.

 

[braumeister]

Another echo:
When I lived in southern Alabama (Montgomery area) for about a year, I often found myself heading up to Huntsville for a dose of a more sophisticated environment. I belonged to the Apple user group and I remember the excitement of learning at one of their meetings about the new 3.5" rigid floppy disks that replaced the old 5.25" floppies.

As for Bellingham, I have to say that one of my favorite brewpubs in the world is there, so I'll use any excuse to visit.