From San Diego to D.C.?

[BunsGettingFirm]

Yep, it's a single person's dream playland. Walk out from the apartment, and you have your choice of restaurants reviewed in the Washingtonian. No driving needed, but it would only work if you don't have kids because with kids, you can't live in a 1 BR or studio close to all the culture, the Metro, and the restaurants. A townhouse is a possible solution, but townhouses are expensive.

 

[bpp]

Fresh out of college I had two job offers, one near DC, and one in CA. I was favoring the one near DC, but when I went to visit the site and spoke to the folks there doing what I would be doing, they all said, "you have the choice between California and here What are you thinking? Go!" And I did. And had a great time in California. One of the folks who had advised me to go west even came out and joined me a year or two later.

Though I have to say that were I forced to make the same choice now, I might well go for the DC-area job. Different strokes at different stages of life.

Realistically, of course, were the issue to come up now, my wife would probably get the decisive vote, as happened for Laurence. (And let's face it, that's how I ended up where I am now in the first place...)

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Yep, it's a single person's dream playland. Walk out from the apartment, and you have your choice of restaurants reviewed in the Washingtonian. No driving needed, but it would only work if you don't have kids because with kids, you can't live in a 1 BR or studio close to all the culture, the Metro, and the restaurants. A townhouse is a possible solution, but townhouses are expensive.

It can be a single person's dreamland (speaking as a former single living in D.C.), but it's a very cliquish town. Likewise, despite glowing reviews by Washingtonian magazine, most of the highly-rated restaurants I've tried from that publication weren't that great. The two main exceptions are Morton's and Ray's the Steaks. You can keep the "asian fusion", "modern French" and "interpretive Italian" thank you very much.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Fresh out of college I had two job offers, one near DC, and one in CA. I was favoring the one near DC, but when I went to visit the site and spoke to the folks there doing what I would be doing, they all said, "you have the choice between California and here What are you thinking? Go!" And I did. And had a great time in California. One of the folks who had advised me to go west even came out and joined me a year or two later.

Yeah, I did the California thing right out of grad school as well. For me, a born and bred Easterner, my image of California was one of Bay Watch and Road and Track. The Bay Watch thing needs no explanation. Road and Track used to do photo shoots on these perfectly paved California roads that are miles and miles of smooth, black ribbon stretching out into the golden foothills. Man, talk about a road cyclist's wet dream. Well, after getting to California (near where Cute Fuzzy Bunny now lives), I had to revise my preconceived notions. Bay Watch became Cow Watch. OK, the road biking part turned out rather well. There were tons of fun rides and races to do, and the roads and moutains were simply amazing, and I got to experience real skiing for a change, but a man cannot live simply on a diet of cycling and skiing.

 

[astromeria]

Bay Watch became Cow Watch. OK, the road biking part turned out rather well.

That explains the buns of veal

 

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Here's a semi-interesting tale of two different critical life choices:

My sister and I grew up in Alaska, but both of us went to college on the east coast.  When sister graduated college, she was obsessed with living the life of the urbane and sophisticated intelligentsia.   So she moved to DC, and got started on a very big money/big prestige career path in consulting.  After 10 years, she was making piles of money, and regularly rubbing shoulders with smart, hip, powerful movers and shakers.  She also realized that she hated the traffic, hated being so far away from wilderness, and generally hated her career.  This has now led to massive upheaval in all aspects of her life. 

When I graduated law school, I had job offers in DC, but decided to take an offer in Salt Lake City instead.  I don't run in the same kinds of elite social circles that my sister did.  There aren't as many great restaurants here.  And I don't make as much money as I would have if I had taken a position in DC.  But genuine wilderness is easily accessible.  My commute to work is less than 10 minutes.  And I work literally hundreds of hours less than I would have to work at a DC firm.  And I still make plenty of money. And as a result, I'm happy with my situation and don't feel the need to upend every aspect of my life to be happy.

I often think that if my sister had chosen to live in a place that afforded a better work/life balance, she would not have had to quit her job, divorce her husband, and move back out west.