Cool, I got Boulder, Colorado and Sausalito, California… Wanted lots of single women, no drummers and no Aussies. Plus great flyfishing and restaurants… But wait, that’s where I already live 1/2 year in each place.
Lucky me!
[quote="Walden
…I think if I were going to relocate somewhere ideal, I’d look for:
(1) Somewhere the roads don’t freeze over in the wintertime, and strand everybody. Somewhere the trees don’t freeze and knock the power lines out. Somewhere the pipes don’t freeze and cut off the water supply. Somewhere it isn’t burning hot on a January morning, and a blizzard two hours later.
(2) Somewhere that you don’t get blown away in the springtime.
(3) Somewhere that it isn’t 116°F and 89% humidity in the summertime.[/quote]
I guess that eliminates Nebraska too. Last night we had a heat index of 120 then a storm front went through and along with touchdown lightning (started a couple grassfires) and an inch or so of rain, the temp dropped to 72. All that was in the space of 30 minutes.
My top five were
- Asheville NC.
- Knoxville Tn
- Greenville SC.
- Roanoke VA
- Chatanooga TN.
Apparently I’m supposed to live somewhere that ends in "ville!
Mark V.
Hampton, Virginia
Actually, I would really like Virginia near the sea, but I would really like Cape Cod with the beach, or at least an inlet, and a sailboat mooring as my backyard in a neighborhood of Celtic musicians. However, the same setting near the Atlantic in VA is probably cheaper and more realistic!
I lived in Monterey (well, Pacific Grove) for five years. It is beautiful, but it can also be pretty snooty. Jobs (when you can find them) typically pay far below industry/area standard. I remember asking my boss about that when I lived there and being told “you should just be grateful that you live in beautiful Monterey!” I decided that, pretty as it was, I couldn’t eat the view 
I do enjoy going back for visits (we’re only 40 miles up the coast now, on the northern tip of Monterey Bay), but I don’t think I’d want to try to live there unless I were independently wealthy!
Santa Cruz isn’t significantly cheaper than Monterey, but it’s a whole different attitude (Surf City, dude!), and just as pretty (and, while it’s not exactly employment mecca, at least the jobs available tend to pay standard or better).
Redwolf
quiz or not it’s still Grand Junction CO
Actually, I lived in Pacific Grove too, and walked everyday into Monterey for school (Monterey Institute). I lived down by the entrance to 17 Mile Drive, and often walked it down to Carmel, another interesting place. Good thing I din’t have to make a living then! but then $70 a month was not bad rent either (1974-6) and in those days I did not eat much besides tofu and tuna (not together) because I had to buy only what I could carry. The smell of tall pines overhead and mimosa, the sound and smells of the ocean, the call of the lighthouse when the fog rolled in, the constant deer everywhere, and the smell of earth and flowering iceplant and the monarch butterflies. I din’t know anyone but students and it was not a snooty time then. The only money I made was selling Chinese calligraphy in one of the old canneries turned into an art gallery.
We seem to just be talking about the USA though. I dearly love Ireland, especially Connemarra. France in the Dordogne or Provence. Germany around the Mosel Valley. It goes on…there are so many places that I would rather live than here… colder than hell in the winter and delightful during our three week summer.
Sounds like you didn’t live far from where we lived (1985-90). We were on Grove Acre Avenue, just a block from Lighthouse. I used to walk my dog every morning down to Asilomar, then back up along Ocean View to Lover’s Point. I’ll never forget my first morning there…I went jogging through downtown PG, turned down toward the ocean and came face-to-face with a deer. My first thought was “that’s the biggest darned dog I’ve ever seen!” I jumped straight up in the air and ran one way; he jumped straight up in the air and ran the other way…it wasn’t until I’d run about half a block that it occurred to me that big dogs usually don’t have antlers!
PG is my favorite of the Monterey Peninsula communities. We probably would have stayed there, if it hadn’t been impossible to find a job that paid a reasonable wage. Still is, unfortunately…we’ve done a bit of job hunting down that way, since it’s not a totally unreasonable commute from Santa Cruz, and the few tech jobs available are still paying well below a living wage for this area.
Redwolf
“Cool, I got Boulder, Colorado and Sausalito, California… Wanted lots of single women,”
Mmm, I guess…well there’s plenty if you count all the (very) young girls at CU.
“…no drummers”
That must be Sausalito, there’s like a million drummers here in Boulder - Can’t walk a hundred yards around here without tripping over a Djembe 
Loren
Redwolf
I also lived on Grove Acres Avenue, just a bit further down the road from you, about 200 yards. A block from lighthouse would be appartments, and I knew some students who lived there. I rented a small efficiency appartment behind an elderly widdow’s garage (basically in her garden). 
HEY!!!
Johnson City and Kingsport, TN are within 1 to 1 1/2 hr from me!! 
I guess that eliminates Nebraska too. Last night we had a heat index of 120 then a storm front went through and along with touchdown lightning (started a couple grassfires) and an inch or so of rain, the temp dropped to 72. All that was in the space of 30 minutes.
My top five were
- Asheville NC.
- Knoxville Tn
- Greenville SC.
- Roanoke VA
- Chatanooga TN.
Apparently I’m supposed to live somewhere that ends in "ville!
Mark V.[/quote]
Another good one. All except Chatanooga within 3 hrs of here. You are supposed to live in the mountains or nearby undoubtedly. 
I mostly ended up with places nearby, in fact Abingdon,VA was on the list, only 30 minutes away. Or if they were not nearby they were in NC in the mountains. (Another on of my favorite places and where my Dad grew up)
So… this tells me what I really already know…I like it right here in the hills of Appalachia.
Thanks Redwolf for the fun site.
South Bronx
Miami Beach
How cool! I’m actually living in one of my top spots! The only higher place for me was Las Vegas, NV!
Only problem w/ that quiz was there was no question about needing a place with good pubs & Irish music!!!
Yes, there are at least three of us here in Fairbanks, which is a wonderful place to visit and a wonderful place to live. I wonder if it’s even in the data base for that quiz, though . . . I looked through and they didn’t have important things like “I want to live where it never gets dark in the summer” or “I’d feel my life was missing something important if I didn’t see the aurora borealis on winter nights” or “Seeing world-class ice sculpting is more fun for me than an art museum” or “I don’t like it when the temperature gets above freezing between October and April.” I admit that Fairbanks sometimes gets a little too cold, but no place is perfect.
Come visit, Tom – I’m sure you’d love it. 
EVERYBODY loves Alaska in the summer; I bet you’d even love it in the winter! 
Sarah
Sounds cool. If you need any help with the cows let me know. I can rope passably and can toss down calves. Haven’t ridden a horse in a few years though. Just don’t ask me to do any dehorning unless you’re clipping, the irons just stink too much.
Spent my younger years on grandma and grandpa’s ranches. By that time they were down to only 60 sections of land though. Still hold a couple registered brands, one of them is a good one iron brand (reverse 4). The other looks cooler (reverse F V over bar) but is a real pain to do.
Mark V.
That was my first reaction too.
Redwolf I’ve been to Felton its a great place..My dh has a good friend there who’s wife owns a tattoo and body piercing shop called The Tenacious Eye I think its actually in Santa Cruz though..She is said to do an excellent job and will pierce anywhere so now you know where to go for all your tattooing needs…
If I had a choice to live anywhere I wouldnt mind the Santa Cruz Mts at all…
Thanks, Sara. I’ll keep that in mind for a visit. I actually looked at a job in Fairbanks a few years back; trouble is I like it here so darn much!
Tom
It is a great place. We actually live just outside of Felton, on the grounds of a Christian conference center called Mount Hermon, but no one’s ever heard of it, so we always just say “Felton” (if we’re talking to locals…if they hear “Mount Hermon” they think we mean Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley) or “Santa Cruz” if we’re talking to people who aren’t familiar with the area. It’s a nifty place to live…all the benefits of a small town, but with a fair sized city close by, and a major metropolitan area just over the hill. And oh, but these forests are magical! We took the train today from Roaring Camp down to Santa Cruz (following the San Lorenzo River Gorge), and I was reminded all over again just how wonderful these mountains are.
Redwood…er… Redwolf