where do you live and how do you like it?

[jphelmet]

my wife and i are started to consider our next move, and although it won't be for about a year and a half we are trying to narrow our search. just wondering where everyone lives and how they like it. how are the arts, traffic, weather, etc. ? although we don't plan on moving out of the us, i'm still interested to here where the international people are and how they like their city.

thanks

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i live in memphis and it's all right. rent's not too bad here, it's about $1 per sq. foot. owning isn't too bad here either as long as you buy in the city. out in the suburbs it's just nasty, ugly sprawl. no land, traffic is horrible, people are horrible, etc.

arts is all right, there is of course beale street and tons of other bars/clubs across town where you can see local acts. we've got plenty of arenas and stadiums here but they're focusing all their attention on a huge stadium and wanting to close most of the smaller stuff which means only the huge poppy acts like justin timberlake and aerosmith come here. we also have lots of plays, some bigger broadway stuff and off-broadway.

traffic is all right, just stay away from the suburbs: i can virtually guarantee you'll be in at least one accident out there. we have two interstates here (I-55 and I-40) as well as I-240 which runs throughout most of memphis. it's always utter gridlock on I-240 even if it's not rush hour and there's always 2-3 accidents on there every evening so i avoid it. the other two still get you to where you wanna go.

weather is all right, the winters are cold but not too bad, it rarely snows except for maybe an inch or two in january. the summers are hot (but the same as sc i'd imagine), but this summer has been strangely mild. it's 76 degrees here right now, waaaaay below normal. usually it's about 95 all day this time of year! odd. it usually rains a lot in the summer, about once or twice a week. so there's no worries of droughts or anything.

i'd recommend to anyone wanting to live here to choose downtown, since it's where all the fun stuff is. plus, all three interstates run all along here so no matter where you are downtown, there's probably an exit nearby so you can easily run off somewhere else in town or something. midtown's all right too, but it's harder to get around unless you want to drive everywhere. downtown there's three trolley lines and the buses. the trolleys all pretty much stop in downtown and i hardly see buses in midtown. and as for the suburbs, forget public transportation. the suburbanites have made it clear that it's only for tourists and jobless bums so you need a car there.

by the time you'd be moving downtown would be even better than it already is, they're really trying to revitalize it and make it a place everyone wants to live or at least visit.

 

[cass]

city?
I live about 100 kilometres south of the place I consider to be heaven on earth and my spiritual home...so that's not too bad in the scheme of things. About as close to heaven as you have the right to expect to be.
My neighbours ( that's 1km away in Australian talk) chose where they live by studying weather maps( they had lived in Germany and South America previously, they are originally from Boston and Philly). They studied maps and chose the place they thought had the perfect climate( that was pre-global warming days) So that's quite a scientific for my little patch.
It is rural where I live, so the arts are very small scale, the roads are bad ( my son hit a kangaroo driving home from here last night!), services are poor ( my phone line is strung from tree to tree...the bush telegraph.., we don't have broadband access or cellphones or pizza delivery or.........*insert long list**)
but I am happy.
Good luck to you and your family jphelmet, I hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[beli]

Perth - good weather, good food, boring as bat shit

 

[Sicy]

I live in the bay area in California. I love it But its expensive..

 

[Doozer61]

Long Beach, CA
Good weather most of the time, very gay friendly, home of the Toyota Grand Prix and the Queen Mary. Lots of new development going at the the Old Pike area, lots of restaurants, close to decent beaches and Disneyland. 25 miles southwest of the BAW family. Rents are a little expensive in the neighborhoods that are named like Belmont Shore, Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Virginia Country Club Area, Carroll Park, etc. But I love it because I can be me here. I don't know that I would live anywhere else, except maybe the Bay Area.

 

[BluRmGrl]

jp,
actually i don't live too far from you - Wilmington NC. it's humid as a damn rain forest here for most of the summer, the migration of northerners has helped drive up the cost of housing and congested our already overburdened streets, but the beaches here are beautiful, the people are friendly, the seafood is excellent, and I'll never run out of Diet Sun-Drop so long as I stay here! With all the daily aggravations, though, I really cannot fathom living anywhere else (I even tried for a couple of years in KY, but came running home as fast as I could!). I'm no more than 20 minutes from any of the several local beaches, I can get to the Piedmont area in 2 hours, and I can be in the mountains within 6 hours.....I can't personally imagine a better situation to find myself in.

 

[zoney!]

I drove through Belgium tonight. And saw a sign for Paris.

Sad to say...Both Belgium and Paris (near where I live) probably don't even have an elevator or escalator in town!

 

[beli]

Where are you Zoney? Judging by your time zone your on the American continent somewhere.

 

[Diemen]

Oakland, CA (bay area). Cost of living is quite expensive. Tons of people crowded into a relatively small geographic area. Traffic is downright horrendous quite often.

That said, I love it. It's such a multi-cultural and open-minded place, with a vibrant arts community, great city life, absolutely beautiful nature just a short drive from anywhere, pretty nice Mediterranean-style weather year round (never gets really cold or really hot), only a short (relatively) 4 hour drive from snow, and I never tire of watching the sunset over the Golden Gate.

 

[zoney!]

Where are you Zoney? Judging by your time zone your on the American continent somewhere.

North America, indeed, my new favorite aussie (if I said favorite, I may have offended A. Harlem or Salome's Secretary....and I don't want to do that!)

I am doing my best to become a North American transient right now!

 

[Liesje]

Grand Rapids, Michigan. I like the city fine, but I HATEHATEHATE the weather (the Lakes screw everything up). I'm moving south where it's hot and humid 24/7/365! Some people like our weather b/c we get snow and heat, a bit of everything. In the winter there's like 3 feet of snow and in the summer it's 90 degrees. I don't care to see snow every again.

That said, this is a nice place to live. It's not huge like Chicago or Detroit (both 3 hrs away), but I like being in a "city" with skyscrapers, highways, shopping malls, etc. The population is 200,000. There's museums (kids, museum, a regular one, an art one, and the Gerald Ford one which is historical stuff), malls, a zoo, a mini-rain forest, an international airport, an arena, tons of theaters (movies, plays, dance, improv), a symphony, festivals downtown, etc. Downtown is pretty cool b/c we have a river through it and tons of really old, cool historical buildings. There's also the Heritage Hill neighborhood where all the renovated old houses are (some Frank Lloyd Wright ones). It used to be run-down, but the landlords fixed it all up and now it's the place to retire or where all the preppy young couples/artsy people live. Before I move away, I'm going to photograph all my favorite houses. The traffic I don't really know about since I've never had a car and walk/bike everywhere, but I think it's fine compared to huge cities. I mean, ANYWHERE is going to suck at 7am and 5pm. The ramps between the two main highways are congeste b/c they're closed, but they've been like that for a while so they (I hope) will be done soon. There's also plenty of beaches nearby (parkes lining Lake Michigan) and plenty to do there.

 

[JessicaAnn]

25 miles southwest of the BAW family.

This definitely increases the livability of the city

 

[OzAurora]

I live at the Glass House Mountains, which is a semi-rural town on the Sunshine Coast. It is a bit hard to explain but the Sunshine Coast is about 80 kilometres in length and it is made up of a coastal area and a rural inland or hinterland area. The coastal area is made up of beach side suburbs starting with Caloundra in the southern end and Noosa at the north and again in the hinterland there are many little suburbs, but here they are called townships, so where I live, is one of the southern townships. I absolutely love where I live, the Sunshine Coast is just the most perfect place to live, our climate is amazing- like today is the middle of winter and there are blue skies and the top temp is going to be 24 degrees celcius. We have glorious beaches, great restaurants, the night life probably isnt the best, but Brisbane is only a short drive away and there you have all of the cultural and artistic pursuits that you could wish for in a capital city.

The cost of living isnt that expensive here, petrol is almost the cheapest of anywhere in Australia, household groceries are fairly cheap and most rents are reasonable, compared to other parts of Australia, however though, weekly incomes here are probably around $400 take home for full time office type work, however if you lived in a city this figure would be much higher. Apparently in Sydney you can make heaps of money a week, but the cost of living is massive, so I guess it is all relative!!!!!

The two bad things about the Sunshine Coast is employment and housing costs. There is this phenomena in Australia called 'Sea Change', where people who are sick of living in the congested cities are opting out of them and making a lifestyle choice and moving to beach side areas, as a result of this the Sunshine Coast is the fastest growing area in Australia, the current population is probably around half a million people and to be quite honest this rapid migration of people to the area is affecting road congestion and most importantly the price of housing. Most beach side three bedroom houses will cost you around $400 000 or more AU, however not too long ago the price would of been more like $200 000. And full time employment is extremely hard to come by as we the main business areas here on the coast are hospitality/tourism based jobs and building industry jobs, so if you want a 'professional' type job, then you have to move to Brisbane or compete against heaps of other people for the few jobs that may be available here on the coast, many people here on the coast have a saying when it comes to employment "its not what you know, but who you know", work can be so hard to come by here, that generally one of the only ways to get a foot in the door of a place is by who you know. From what I know the biggest employers on the Coast are one of the councils, one of the hospitals and Australia Zoo. As someone who has lived here for the majority of my life it does shit me that so many people are moving here, but then again I dont blame them, its a great place to live

 

[anitram]

Toronto.

I like it a lot, but it's a big city (the only places in the US that are bigger are NYC, LA and Chicago), and therefore as all big cities, expensive. Tons of things to do, very accessible in terms of travel, tons of different cultures, foods, shops, and there is always something to do. Plus, if you leave the city and go up north to Muskoka or Algonquin, or east to 1000 Islands or south to Niagara, the nature is stunning and it's a really short drive away. I love the wilderness of Canada.

 

[KristenF]

Enfield Connecticut-

It's a smaller city-about 50,000 people, but it has everything you need. Plus, if you ever get the urge for big city life, Boston and NYC are both about a 3 hour drive-not too far for a weekend trip.

Traffic is never too bad, the people are mostly friendly, crime is low, and rent & house prices are reasonable.

My favorite thing is that we have 4 definite seasons-warm in the summer, snow in the winter, and absolutely gorgeous fall and spring weather. I came from Houston, which has 7-8 months of hot and 4 months of not quite so hot, so I love the weather most of all.

 

[u2lovr]

I live in Nashville, Tennessee,
I live in the perfect place, right near town, and I love it, so much to do, and most ppl in TN are nice, but there are some red necks out in the country (love em but leave em.!!)

 

[Tomer]

Hapert




its good

quite

nice soccerteam

not moving in a while i guess

 

[RocknRollKitty]

Hampton Roads/Southeastern VA: HATE IT!

Good points: Relatively mild winters and a long growing season. Lots of historical places, which interest me.

Bad points: Way too humid, like right now. Too many mosquitoes. Too many PEOPLE in a small area (VA Beach alone has more ppl than the entire state of North Dakota) which causes too much traffic, too many bad attitudes, too high of prices, high crime rate, and more bad situations. It's ugly and boring. It's called the greates cultural cul de sac in the world. The worst thing is that it's so far over from everything else that you basically have to go out of your way to get here, but, why would you? For the unfortunate souls who live here, the drive both in and out are horrendous. I-64 is hellacious, usually backed up, with omnipresent road work since 1988 but still too many potholes, and ugly scenery (dull patches of pine trees at best, ugly factories at worst) Then there is US 460, dangerous, and a speed trap, or state Route 10, two lane, slow and also dangerous. So the thing is, if you like it here, you are okay (though I cannot understand why anyone would) but if you are like me and live here and always want desperately to escape, it's in a bad place for reaching everywhere else by car. Oh, and don't forget the hurricanes! Though we have not been hit by many big ones (Pat Robertson claims responsibility for this) the one we had last year wasted a lot of stuff and we had no power for days. We are in constant threat of 'the big one' complete with tidal waves. Then there are the stupid, nitpicky laws and zoning regulations, but I don't feel like getting into that. Maybe later. To answer the question, I do not like where I live. Why am I here? Too poor to pack up and go.

 

[nbcrusader]

The OC. Nice, overpriced, and mocked on television. It is a beautiful place filled with "beautiful" people (the best plastic surgery money can buy).

 

[Liesje]

Hampton Roads/Southeastern VA: HATE IT!

Did I read somewhere else that you're on/near a military base? I wonder if you live by my cousins b/c I know they live on a base in VA (my uncle is a Coast Guard captain).

 

[tiny dancer]

Indiana, PA, about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh PA. I live in a small college town with about 15,000 students who attend. We have our share of small crimes, but our town is a family orientated. We have cold winters and warm summers.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Connecticut

i've only been there once and the winter was unseasonably warm. like it's almost too hot for a sweater warm, so i guess like 50s or 60s. but still, i like it. i wanna move to either there or delaware in the next few years; i'm sick of southern living. i live memphis, but not as much as i like being near a BEACH! (a 3-4 hour drive to a beach beats being landlocked and having the nearest beaches 8 hours away.)

 

[Blue Room]

Grand Rapids, Michigan. I like the city fine, but I HATEHATEHATE the weather (the Lakes screw everything up). I'm moving south where it's hot and humid 24/7/365! Some people like our weather b/c we get snow and heat, a bit of everything. In the winter there's like 3 feet of snow and in the summer it's 90 degrees. I don't care to see snow every again.

That said, this is a nice place to live. It's not huge like Chicago or Detroit (both 3 hrs away), but I like being in a "city" with skyscrapers, highways, shopping malls, etc. The population is 200,000. There's museums (kids, museum, a regular one, an art one, and the Gerald Ford one which is historical stuff), malls, a zoo, a mini-rain forest, an international airport, an arena, tons of theaters (movies, plays, dance, improv), a symphony, festivals downtown, etc. Downtown is pretty cool b/c we have a river through it and tons of really old, cool historical buildings. There's also the Heritage Hill neighborhood where all the renovated old houses are (some Frank Lloyd Wright ones). It used to be run-down, but the landlords fixed it all up and now it's the place to retire or where all the preppy young couples/artsy people live. Before I move away, I'm going to photograph all my favorite houses. The traffic I don't really know about since I've never had a car and walk/bike everywhere, but I think it's fine compared to huge cities. I mean, ANYWHERE is going to suck at 7am and 5pm. The ramps between the two main highways are congeste b/c they're closed, but they've been like that for a while so they (I hope) will be done soon. There's also plenty of beaches nearby (parkes lining Lake Michigan) and plenty to do there.

Hmm, I live in the same city and thats fairly accurate. I have a different take on a few things though. Which highway "ramps" you are talking about though (96 and 131?) those were only closed over this past weekend? I travel them everyday going to work and going home and havent had any problems other than a little congestion at times. The South Beltline will end ALOT of the small congestion that exists on those highways anyway and that is scheduled to be done in November.

The only problem with the weather here can be the snow because of Lake Michigan. We get a weather phenomenon know as Lake Effect snow. We get twice as much snow as the other side of Michigan as a result. But the last couple winters have been fairly mild and I certainly dont remember 3 ft of snow (unless you mean cumulative over the entire winter, but snow typically melts several times even during the winter). But we certainly dont get 3 ft of snow from any single storm. Summers here are great IMO. It doesnt get super hot all that often, generally in the 70's to 80's for highs. In GR you are only 20 to 30 minutes from the beach (Lake Michigan, Holland or Grand Haven) and in the winter you have skiiing available also. So I see it as the best of both worlds really. Grand Rapids is one of the fastest growing communities in the entire country currently. Downtown has been renovated and there are alot of nice restaurants, bars, and we have a very nice Arena in the heart of it that sees alot of big name acts (doubdt U2 will ever play there though, seats 13k for a concert, to small for them).

I have lived all over, big cities, down south (Alabama) and in Colorado. What I have found is as far as the weather, you have good and bad everywhere. I could not stand the humidy down south. In August in AL you might as well just sit inside in your air conditioning versus stepping outside and just melting LOL. Whats the difference between that and being snowed in? Except its easier to warm up than it is to cool down. I dont think the weather is a good reason to move anywhere (just my 2 cents). Its about your family, friends, activities and/or oppurtunities (job wise). Michigan on the whole is a nice place to live, it has a good balance of most things that people enjoy. LOL, maybe I should be on the Michigan board of tourism!!!

 

[RocknRollKitty]

Did I read somewhere else that you're on/near a military base? I wonder if you live by my cousins b/c I know they live on a base in VA (my uncle is a Coast Guard captain).

I'm about 20 miles from all the military stuff on the coast, but it still dominates the area a lot. My husband works there but is not in the military. Where I live is all cotton fields and residential areas, but everywhere you drive to get anywhere, you get the traffic and all the other stuff I complained about. Stay home and I only have to deal with idiot redneck neighbors, sigh. I want to move.

I do have a few very wonderful neighbors too. I want to take them with me if I ever get to go.

 

[Liesje]

Hmm, I live in the same city and thats fairly accurate. I have a different take on a few things though. Which highway "ramps" you are talking about though (96 and 131?) those were only closed over this past weekend? I travel them everyday going to work and going home and havent had any problems other than a little congestion at times.

I go to the beach every weekend and it seems like since June, we've run into problems between 96 and 131. The worse was when 131N to 96W was closed and I don't think anyone on the highway was aware b/c all of the sudden, EVERYONE stopped and we were all trying to figure out the detour. That was a pain in the arse b/c everyone on 131 wanted to get on 96 like we did. I think 96 to 131S was closed for a while b/c we tried once and it didn't work. We've given up by now and just take 96 to College. Since you're there everyday, please tell me, is there any construction left between the two highways? If not, we'll start going the way we want to go again.

I could not stand the humidy down south. In August in AL you might as well just sit inside in your air conditioning versus stepping outside and just melting LOL. Whats the difference between that and being snowed in? Except its easier to warm up than it is to cool down. I dont think the weather is a good reason to move anywhere (just my 2 cents). Its about your family, friends, activities and/or oppurtunities (job wise). Michigan on the whole is a nice place to live, it has a good balance of most things that people enjoy. LOL, maybe I should be on the Michigan board of tourism!!!

I agree, Michigan IS nice, but like you said, you haven't lived here in GR youre ENTIRE life. And I love the heat and humidity. My activities are all outdoor things that I simply can't do 8 mos out of the year here (camping, backpacking, biking, fishing, swimming, tanning on the beach, hanging out at the cottage, etc). I got sick of it here a long time ago (since the beginning of HS) and my feelings haven't changed. I just HATE winter, HATE it. I hate snow, cold, dryness, my skin is red and itchy all winter, my eyes kill, everything gets all slushy and brown, nothing is alive, and like this past winter, it hardly even snowed! What a waste of a season! I don't like downhill skiing, I don't like ice fishing, I don't like it that you basically need a pair of snowshoes to get around b/c by the time the streets are plowed, the next snowstorm hits. I just can't be myself while I'm here.

I go south as much as possible and I think I could be happy in a climate anywhere Tennessee or more south as long as I like the community. I can't be anywhere landlocked, I honestly think I'd get depressed.

 

[Liesje]

I'm about 20 miles from all the military stuff on the coast, but it still dominates the area a lot. My husband works there but is not in the military. Where I live is all cotton fields and residential areas, but everywhere you drive to get anywhere, you get the traffic and all the other stuff I complained about. Stay home and I only have to deal with idiot redneck neighbors, sigh. I want to move.

I do have a few very wonderful neighbors too. I want to take them with me if I ever get to go.

Hm....I'm not sure if it's the same place as my cousins. I thought they lived in/near either Norfolk or Suffolk and I know there's a river in their neighborhood.

 

[RocknRollKitty]

There's water EVERYWHERE here. You can't go hardly anywhere without having to cross a bridge or a tunnel. There are rivers, lakes, the bay, the ocean, it's got to be the most watery place in the country.

 

[Liesje]

There are rivers, lakes, the bay, the ocean, it's got to be the most watery place in the country.

It might be one-upped by the Everglades, which is where I'd LOVE to live.

 

[jkayet]

There's water EVERYWHERE here. You can't go hardly anywhere without having to cross a bridge or a tunnel. There are rivers, lakes, the bay, the ocean, it's got to be the most watery place in the country.