What do you like/love about where you live?

[AudiDudi]

Privacy. 1/2 mile off the highway, nearest neighbor a mile+ away, 50 miles to the nearest stop light. Lots of wildlife.

 

[rk911]

Born in Chicago. Family escaped to the 'burbs when I was 4 or 5 and except while I was away at school the burbs is where I've lived. Met my future wife in high school (1967) married (1970) and stayed in the burbs. Early on we debated chucking it all and doing a cold move to CA but in the end we decided to stay put.

We thought about relocating to TX or AZ at retirement (2005/2006) but Donna's mom was here in a assisted living center and we were her only relatives...one son in CA and the other who passed away early. Her mom made it to nearly 98 (2016) so we just decided to stay put. We have a good life here...quiet, middle class neighboorhood, good no-drama neighbors, shopping, pharmacy, health care nearby. We are happy.

 

[Gumby]

By the time I was 30, I had lived in 14 different states - OH, VA, CT, HI, SC, MA, RI, IL, MO, MD, FL, NY, WA, TX. In early 1989, we were living east of Cleveland, OH. The young wife was just finishing up grad school and I had been accepted at a dozen different law schools. I asked the young wife where she wanted to live and she said "let's go back to Connecticut." I had been stationed in Groton when I was in the Navy, and we had lived in Mystic. So I said yes to Yale and she applied to every school district in Connecticut. We picked our current town off the map because it was halfway between her school and New Haven. We have never regretted that move, and I would say this is the best place I have ever lived (Mystic is a close second).

We live on the shore of Long Island Sound, directly on the harbor in our town. Our 168 year old house is in the historic district, where we are surrounded by great neighbors and other beautiful old houses. We are right downtown, and within a half mile of my house are the town green, town hall, about a twenty restaurants, a bakery, my bank, my church, the train station, the library, the fire station, the hospital, the beach, tennis courts, ballfields, three marinas, various professional offices, and the local theater where my young wife makes costumes. There are three large grocery stores within a mile and a mall about three miles away. Despite everything being so close, it is remarkably peaceful and quiet in my immediate neighborhood. Of all the things I listed, the only ones I can see are the marinas, and the only things I can hear are the train when it goes by and the fire trucks when they go out on a call.

The weather here is very clement. Living right on the water keeps it from getting too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. I am able to grow fig trees outside, although I do have to wrap them up in the winter. Of all the weather related hazards listed in another thread, the only one we are at even moderate risk for is a potential hurricane, although the few that have occurred have weakened to tropical storms by the time they get to us. I don't worry about storm surge, because our house is 25 feet above the high water line. I worry only about the winds knocking over one of our giant maple trees.

For cultural enjoyment, there are all the museums and musical events associated with Yale in New Haven, as well as in many other relatively nearby towns (the whole state of CT is roughly a 100 x 50 mile rectangle, so everything is close). For travel, there are many options. I commuted in to NYC on the train for many years, and we still take the train when we want to go there for fun. I-95 runs through our town, so driving anywhere is a cinch. And there is an airport with commercial service about 15 miles away in New Haven (although we usually go to JFK for direct overseas flights). There are also many options for hiking, boating or any other recreation you can think of.

All in all, this is the perfect place for us and I don't expect to leave until they have to carry me out.

 

[pacergal]

Suburb of Portland Oregon, have lived here all but about 3 years of my life. DH and I bought the modest ranch home I was raised in. Siblings and all immediate family live within 30-45 minute drive of each other.
Within a 1.5-3 hour drive to beaches, mountains, desert areas.
Same day drive I can:
drive along Columbia River to Multnomah Falls, Hood River and the "Fruit Loop" drive around the farms
drive to Crater Lake to spend a day or two
head to the Ocean and walk along the sand collecting rocks, shells, sand dollars
head to the mountains--Mt Hood, Mt Batchelor
head a bit more east and spend time at Kaneeta Indian Reservation and museum

I have never feared downtown Portland, there are places I wouldn't go at night now and in the past. But that may be true in any city. The area is getting a bit more cleaned up, and I do appreciate the more compassionate attitude towards the homeless and those struggling with addiction and other mental illness or causes of homelessness.
There are some wonderful restaurants and food courts downtown, it is a Foodie Mecca!
A place where individualism and weirdness is OK, and folks generally are accepting.
The bagpipe playing unicycle rider is a fun person to see!

Close to major airports (PDX and SEA) and two well known trauma centers, a burn center and two children's hospitals.
A days drive to Seattle and ferries to Canada, a one day drive to Sacramento where our best friends live.

A pretty cool place to be!

 

[imjustawarrior]

Colorado front range between Denver and Cheyenne, closer to Cheyenne.

I love the mountains.
I love the hiking.
I love access to this part of the country. So many national parks, history, outdoor activities.
I love that I can easily escape crowds/civilization. I love the remote, small places to do mini-vacations.
I love all the large birds (hawks, eagles, geese, herons, owls, pelicans, ...)

There are a lot of things I do not like, but I won't list them all or specifics.
I do not like the culture. This includes a lot of things. I'll leave it generic.
I do not like the cold.

I have been here for 25 years. Once the kids are launched, my DW and I would love to move south. I am from Texas, so I love hot weather. I think I would miss the mountains and hiking.

 

[MC Rider]

No traffic. Not too many people. No big city. Good weather and scenery.

 

[steady saver]

We live in northern Illinois, 60 miles southwest of Chicago, where remote suburbs meet farm country. Airports, major healthcare, restaurants, shopping all within an hour. Yet we live outside of a quaint small town in a sparsely populated, rural subdivision of 5 acre wooded lots with a lake in our backyard. Very quiet and peaceful - some days I see more deer than people. Nearest traffic and congestion is more than a half hour away.

Good state parks and county forest preserves for hiking within an hour. Good biking and running routes in our neighborhood. I can take my Polaris ranger side by side out of my garage and ride around the neighborhood. I can make as much noise as I want in my workshop without neighbors complaining.

Weather - Definitely 4 distinct seasons. Temps from -20 to 100. But I can go outside to play in almost anything that Mother Nature throws at us.

We've lived our entire lives within a 20 mile radius. We are always looking for a better place to live, but haven't found a place that is better than ours year round.View attachment 54007

absolutely gorgeous! I can see why you stay.

 

[steady saver]

We live a short distance from a small town but in total privacy in the woods. Most people in our small town have never heard of our small dead end street. If they did, they had no idea that our house existed, as it's back in the woods with no visible driveway from main road. It was my dream property 15 years ago, not the house, but the land/woods. I cut my own wood for supplemental heat, and I have toys to take care of the long driveway and large lawn. As we have aged, our dream has changed. At 64, I'm ready again for the city amenities of my younger years and for warmer, more sunny winters. We will sell our house in the spring. No regrets but looking forward to the next adventure.

We are sort of in the same boat. I anticipate that our farm living won't be for long though I LOVE being there; we've more or less lived there full-time this year as a practice. Unfortunately it looks like anticipated medical issues for DH will make the rural nature of the place and "too much to take care of" the reason we need to do some future planning. As much as I love Houston for so many reasons, I want a more peaceful place to live in as we age. And while we have loads of friends, no family there...

 

[steady saver]

The urban dynamism, the generally good weather, the proximity to beaches and mountains, the car-culture (though admittedly that's waning everywhere), and the fact that so many locals are transplants from elsewhere. Did I mention urban dynamism? But there are negatives, and those negatives preclude allowing oneself to truly regard this as a place to settle-down. The eventual move, means a transient and temporary sense of living... perhaps not ideal, as one ages.

I understand that feeling of "a transient and temporary sense of living" all too well...

 

[steady saver]

By the time I was 30, I had lived in 14 different states - OH, VA, CT, HI, SC, MA, RI, IL, MO, MD, FL, NY, WA, TX. In early 1989, we were living east of Cleveland, OH. The young wife was just finishing up grad school and I had been accepted at a dozen different law schools. I asked the young wife where she wanted to live and she said "let's go back to Connecticut." I had been stationed in Groton when I was in the Navy, and we had lived in Mystic. So I said yes to Yale and she applied to every school district in Connecticut. We picked our current town off the map because it was halfway between her school and New Haven. We have never regretted that move, and I would say this is the best place I have ever lived (Mystic is a close second).

We live on the shore of Long Island Sound, directly on the harbor in our town. Our 168 year old house is in the historic district, where we are surrounded by great neighbors and other beautiful old houses. We are right downtown, and within a half mile of my house are the town green, town hall, about a twenty restaurants, a bakery, my bank, my church, the train station, the library, the fire station, the hospital, the beach, tennis courts, ballfields, three marinas, various professional offices, and the local theater where my young wife makes costumes. There are three large grocery stores within a mile and a mall about three miles away. Despite everything being so close, it is remarkably peaceful and quiet in my immediate neighborhood. Of all the things I listed, the only ones I can see are the marinas, and the only things I can hear are the train when it goes by and the fire trucks when they go out on a call.

The weather here is very clement. Living right on the water keeps it from getting too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. I am able to grow fig trees outside, although I do have to wrap them up in the winter. Of all the weather related hazards listed in another thread, the only one we are at even moderate risk for is a potential hurricane, although the few that have occurred have weakened to tropical storms by the time they get to us. I don't worry about storm surge, because our house is 25 feet above the high water line. I worry only about the winds knocking over one of our giant maple trees.

For cultural enjoyment, there are all the museums and musical events associated with Yale in New Haven, as well as in many other relatively nearby towns (the whole state of CT is roughly a 100 x 50 mile rectangle, so everything is close). For travel, there are many options. I commuted into NYC on the train for many years, and we still take the train when we want to go there for fun. I-95 runs through our town, so driving anywhere is a cinch. And there is an airport with commercial service about 15 miles away in New Haven (although we usually go to JFK for direct overseas flights). There are also many options for hiking, boating or any other recreation you can think of.

All in all, this is the perfect place for us and I don't expect to leave until they have to carry me out.

Gumby, that sounds about as perfect as it gets. I lived in the east one time, as a child for only 18 months and it still, in my mind, was my favorite place we ever lived growing up - Wilmington Delaware...When we moved back to Tulsa I cried for two days (4th grade). Our public school there at the time, was creative and easy going and just perfect. Back to Tulsa and it was desks lined up, strict rules and lots of restriction. Both public schools, but, oh so different.

 

[steady saver]

Colorado front range between Denver and Cheyenne, closer to Cheyenne.


I do not like the cold.

I have been here for 25 years. Once the kids are launched, my DW and I would love to move south. I am from Texas, so I love hot weather. I think I would miss the mountains and hiking.

The weather's a big thing for us. I tend to be a hot weather person too. It's just that, dang, it's getting hotter and hotter down here. That said, I hate the cold. So that limits our options. Well, that and the fact that I don't want to be super far away from the kids in Austin. Of course, in the back of mind I think "well if we just found a super cool, perfect place to live, maybe THEY'D move..." And yes, I know people think that Austin IS the super cool, perfect place to live. But I'm done with traffic like they have...

 

[EastWest Gal]

I grew up in the SF Bay Area and loved it. Amazing weather almost all of the time. I was in the East Bay, close enough to the bay to enjoy the cooler weather but the hills to our west prevented most of the fog from coming in-it would stop at the top of hills. I came back to the Bay Area after medical school for every reason-did my training at UCSF and joined a large group practice in Sunnyvale. After 10 years, a child, and the death of both of my in-laws, in which my partners didn't grant me any time off for bereavement, I'd had enough of that practice. I didn't like office work; I liked the teamwork of hospital work. So I found a job in PA and moved here in 1998.

I love the 4 seasons. I can see a local ski resort from my home. I like being close to DC and NYC, which are fascinating places to visit, and accessible by highway, back roads, or train. There is a farm next to our development with its own market. I like seeing deer, herons, foxes, and other wildlife on a regular basis. I'm five miles from the Appalachian Trail. We have some good hospitals nearby, and there are several colleges near us. The variety of restaurants has expanded quite a bit in the past 25 years. HersheyPark was wonderful when our son was little, and we've returned there in retirement. Our township does a magnificent job of clearing the roads after it snows. A lot of history here too.

Traffic in our area: Yes there is a "rush hour". It's more like "rush 15 minutes".

Though I love Koolau's posts about Hawaii. I love being in Hawaii. There's more traffic there than here though.

 

[Kings over Queens]

Great discussion. Really enjoyed reading the stories so far.

I'm in Middletown, NJ, moved here in 1991 from my childhood home in Freehold. NJ is all I know, except for Staten Island, NY, where I worked for many years. I don't love living in the State so much but do love living in the home I built and raised our kids. It's a special property along the river with unobstructed views and gardens my wife has cultured. Every day is a spectacular view. Not uncommon to find a bald Eagle in a tree eating a fish. We love living in this house.

We're starting to travel and have become enamored with Wyoming and Colorado, and if it were up to me, will own a place out there at some point. Daughter lives near Denver and is dating a man (wanted to say boy but he's 25) from Georgia and I hope to plant roots there near them.

 

[swakyaby]

Placer county, California

California is a mixed bag. For the first half of my life, I lived in southern California just north of Los Angeles. Then moved to central/northern California 24 years ago for work. As much as I enjoyed the vibrant community growing up in the south, I’m happy that the every 10 year major earthquakes and heavy LA traffic are a fading memory.

Life here in Placer county is pleasant, upper middle class living. The weather is beautiful, with 3 seasons, and very long growing seasons for backyard garden enthusiasts like me. There is a reason California is known as the garden state—it produces over 3/4 of the nations fruits and nuts, and over 1/3 of the nation’s produce. The topography of the area is varied and appealing to me. The lakes, streams, mountains, deserts, coastal areas are a reasonable drive. Beautiful Lake Tahoe with their olympic quality skiing only 2 hours away, and world famous Yosemite National Park for camping only a half day drive away.

My family is sprinkled throughout southern and central California, and for that reason I’ll never leave the state. But those pictures and descriptions by other posters of their home towns around the country sure look nice.

 

[PADan]

Pittston here and hating it. The area is still poor and grimm. I too will be leaving soon. Family issues currently preventing a change. The hunt is on.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Placerville is a beautiful place! I usually go for a visit once a year for a few days. The last time I stayed at a Airbnb that a senior made a small apartment from her large house. I brought my dogs, could take walks on the property and she was really nice.

 

[Midpack]

• Climate, not too hot, not too cold.
• Close to the ocean and the mountains.
• COL & taxes, not too high, not too low (we lived in a lower COL city/state before and we got what we paid for - roads, bridges poorly maintained, government buildings, libraries and services disappointing, etc.) All noticeably better here now.
• People friendlier here. More diverse population, less racism.
• Better arts, theater, culture, restaurants, shopping. Chicago itself had world class amenities, but congestion and prices are completely out of hand there now - and lots of unsafe areas, you had to know your way around.
• Better golf here.
• I could go on and on…

Only things we miss about Chicagoland are Lake Michigan and our friends there. We’d never go back. We’ve lived in 7 different US states, and 3 countries.

 

[aja8888]

Pittston here and hating it. The area is still poor and grimm. I too will be leaving soon. Family issues currently preventing a change. The hunt is on.

My whole family was there since the early 1900's. All were coal miners. I left as a toddler in 1947. Texas now and you are correct about Pittston. I still have a few cousins there.

 

[Dash man]

I’ve lived in Long Island, NY, FL, multiple places in California, England, NM, Tokyo, DE, VA, and PA in the Philly western suburbs where I’ve been for 26 years. I love it here for many reasons. The weather is rarely extreme with many beautiful days, the Pennsylvania landscape is beautiful, close proximity to beaches, airports and several major cities by car or train. Sports fans are passionate! Cost of living is moderate. Income/sales taxes are reasonable and government is not too intrusive. Most of all because our kids and grandchildren are here!

 

[Car-Guy]

Let's see somewhere in central/east Texas. Very few neighbors. None really within reasonable walking distance. Most of the modern services like community water, phone, cell, cable, Internet, power, police, fire, ambulance, etc. Lot's open space, lot's of trees, lots of wildlife. State/county offices are ~15 minuets away and there's never a waiting line, for anything. Heat is pretty bad in the summer/fall but winters are usually mild (expect this one).

 

[wrigley]

Jacksonville FL.

I don't really care for it. Too hot, too crowded, and growing fast. BUT......both of my kids and only grandchild are 10 mins away.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

St Petersburg, FL. Walkable and bikeable downtown core with lively streets with a great food and arts scene that keeps things lively and draws out locals and tourists alike. A large waterfront park system, world-class museums (a lot for a city of the size), part of the Tampa Bay Metro area that offers those few things that might not be found in the City of St Pete. Lots of water to play in as well with most of the coastline of Pinellas County being covered with award-winning beaches. Being located on the peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico one can watch the sunrise and set over the water only 7 miles apart and can find suitable water conditions to paddle regardless of the wind direction. The area was traditionally settled by snowbirds from the Midwest coming down 75 and the vibe is much more chill than the East Coast of FL... that is changing a bit as we get bigger but it still feels like a City with the heart of a small town and it's wonderful bumping into familiar faces when out and about. City and State government are pretty easy to deal with and no income tax (property taxes and insurance can be a bit of a shock and offset some of the tax savings). Climate that allows for year-round play. Oh yeah, and 5-star rated biking tours are available!

 

[jollystomper]

I like change of seasons. The Mid-Atlantic, for us, has the best balance of change of seasons without one particular season being too harsh.

Having grown up in a dense, crowded city, at times of high crime, DW and I enjoy being in a suburban/rural area. We like having enough land as to not disturb or neighbors (or they disturb us), but not too much that we do not see them and get to know them. Traffic is light most of the time (and being retired, we can time most of our activities to avoid heavy periods). However, we are close enough to major cities so that we can choose to visit and have some daily or overnight "city life" adventures if we so choose.

Most people here have been friendlier than in the other areas of the country we have lived in. As minorities who moved into a predominantly "white" area, this is something we had our guard up for, at first. But our experience has been great. It will never be perfect because people are people, and "idiots" come in all colors, but, as the saying goes "never let perfect become the enemy of good", and things have been good for us.

With relatives throughout the country and overseas, having easy access to 3 international airports means many flight options, the vast majority of them non-stop. Being very close to the Amtrak Northeast Corridor also gives us many rail travel destination options.

While we do have state and local taxes, there are a lot of services available in our county and the surrounding counties, particularly for seniors.

As a New York sports fan, even in years when I have to hang my head in shame, I enjoy having friends who root for the local teams. It makes our sports-related get togethers much more interesting .

Since we both are healthy and physically mobile, that certainly helps our view of the area... we "never say never", and future health or limited mobility might cause us to reassess things. In truth, every year we discuss the merits/drawbacks of moving elsewhere. But for now, we are happy here .

 

[iloveyoga]

Central Iowa here. A lot of my family is here. My son and his family are a mile away. Mom is 11 minutes away, along with my best sister. So family is my number one reason. 2nd reason it is easy to live here. Nothing is crowded. It is easy to go shopping, we have decent entertainment and access to good parks and bike trails. It is also affordable to buy and own a nice house here. If only I could skip over our January and February weather!

 

[pacergal]

So many wonderful places to live in this beautiful Country!
Would like to hear from folks who live outside the USA also, I bet they are just as lovely.