Well, I’ve lived in the same state my entire life.
I’ve visited lots of other places in the U.S., but a visit doesn’t really tell you if you’d like to live somewhere.
For one thing, it’s too short, and for another, you’re on vacation. Everything seems nicer on vacation!
Let’s see.
I think I’d like to keep living by some kind of water.
I know I don’t want to move somewhere colder than where I currently live. And I don’t want to move somewhere that comes with a big increase in heat and humidity.
(Florida? So much NOPE. I really only like Florida in the winter!)
I think living a little way up the coast of California (north of LA, south of San Francisco) would suit me very nicely. It’s not very cold there, it’s not humid like Florida, and there’s water!
Of course, the problem is that it is exceedingly expensive, but we are ignoring that for the purposes of this post.
Where would you choose to live?
P.S. I haven’t been outside of the U.S., other than Canada. It’s possible I’d like living in France or Portugal or something like that, but since I haven’t been there, I really have no idea.
I must have mountains/hills.
Well, I have lived in quite a few places, I think: PA, NY, NJ, KY, TX, SC and Japan. I loved suburban NY and one of the areas of Houston. If I could have my kids nearby–and I’d never trade that for any place–I’d like N CA like you, Kristen (climate, not cost!), and CO. To live comfortably, I’d need two places–one for summer (dry and just warm) and one for winter (not frigid). Thinking about moving every year two times to be in one of my two spots isn’t pleasant, so I will settle for one place. Humid and hurricane-ridden as it is, we have the kids at a decent distance, and the winters are great.
I’ve lived in 3 states and quite a few towns in California. I love in tiny northern CA mountain town in currently in. It’s gets a little too hot though so closer to the coast would be better. But the politics and cost of living wouldn’t. People are leaving CA in herds these days for Idaho.
This is one of my husband’s favorite topics of conversation. He has so far investigated (in a hypothetical kind of way) Guayana–I didn’t even know where that was–Bolivia, Nevada, Namibia, Patagonia in Argentina . . . You get the idea.
I have no interest in living in any of those places. I’ve lived in quite a few places in the U.S., probably my favorite was Flagstaff, Arizona.
I quite like the high desert, because I really like the dry air and the relatively warm and sunny winter days, and I do NOT like humidity or temperatures above 90. Most of the high desert is pretty remote, though, and honestly, I would not choose to live somewhere too remote once my kids are grown.
The best I could narrow it down would be somewhere without too many people, but at least some services somewhat nearby, and somewhere not hot and humid, but without crazy snow in the winter. That was my main issue with living on the Canadian border: All the snow was extremely inconvenient for going anywhere, even the mailbox.
I watch very little TV (I promise this is relevant), about one streamed show per night, and even then I’d rather be reading, but this is my husband’s form of bringing a close to the day, and I love him more than I love reading.
Anyway.
One of the shows we used to watch was Gold Rush, and one of the seasons one of the crews worked in Guyana. Oh, the misery. In many ways, the utter opposite of a high desert. Mud! Rain all the time! Can’t see the sky!
So, seeing A.’s “what if” compared with yours made me laugh just a little.
I’d want to live in Ireland in the summers. I’ve been there three times, all in the summer, and I loved it. The mild weather, the long daylight in June-August, all the good good dairy, :), and more, make me long for a sea view home in the land of my ancestors.
I live in Montreal, Canada, where it gets super cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer (right now, we are on day 7 of a heatwave). I love my city for its liveliness, the many different neighbourhoods, the numerous festivals all year long and of course the fact that most of my friends live here. BUT. I hate the heat. So if I could, I’d move to Vancouver or Victoria, in British Columbia. For the mild weather, the vibe, the amazing Japanese restaurants, and the beautiful sights of course.
I’ve lived in a bunch of places up and down the Great Plains, and I really like Nebraska. I would like to live in the Sandhills or the Panhandle. I’m very hesitant to move my kids out of our school district, though, so we’re stuck for another 15 years or so, and in that case, there’s an area southwest of our place about 20 miles that would be pretty awesome.
Humidity keeps coming up with other people as a factor, and that’s my main grouse with living here. On the other hand, I do like the 25 inches of rain a year because it makes everything green, and I love green.
I can’t help but also name political environment as a factor, and I like Nebraska’s one-house, nonpartisan (at least in name) legislature. I couldn’t live in a place where one city more or less controls all the decisions (Colorado would be pretty awesome, but hard from this standpoint).
Can I make my family come with me? If so, southern Spain or Northern California like Walnut Creek.
I like cooler/cold weather (snow is a good thing) with woods, whether that is in the mountains or not depends. I would like to be close to the water (river/lake, etc.) but high enough to not have flooding issue.
Probably right where I am now in southern Michigan. We lived in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for a few years and it’s a close second (the beauty, our church, our friends, so many great things were there) but now that I have 3 small kids I’m so happy to be close to my parents. I grew up in Michigan and have always loved my state. Our lakes, the variety, the changing seasons, and now that I’m an adult I appreciate it’s low cost of living and that we have so few large cities. And I love our church and friends here.
Side note: we also lived in Indiana for a few years and it is most definitely not on the list of places I’d like to live! 🙂
High five! I also consider myself happy to be where we are. If I really only want to move 20 miles away, that’s pretty good, in my book.