Where Should We Relocate

[shinyhappypeople]

This is mostly fantasy at the moment, but could be reality in a few years. 

 

I live in California.  I grew up here and have lived here for almost my entire life.  I love the natural beauty of the state and the fact that my family is here, but dislike pretty much everything else about it: the HUGE problems with unemployment (our region has some of the highest unemployment in the nation), problems associated with illegal immigration, and the mind-numbing political correctness that leaves me afraid to say or do anything for fear of offending someone and being labeled an _____ist (racist, ageist, sexist... ).  For a freethinking state, true freedom thought isn't really encouraged. 

 

My dream location would have four distinct seasons, low unemployment, low to moderate cost of living, easy homeschool laws, be politically moderate to conservative, and near (or in) an area of natural beauty.  Near means within an hour's drive.  Right now, we're a very easy day trip to Yosemite and it will break my heart to give that up :(  But I'm willing if it means I can get the **** out of California.

 

Thoughts?

[creekland]

Virginia - toward Shenandoah Nat Park as opposed to Northern VA (which is near DC).  The Blacksburg area (where VA Tech is) would likely meet most of your desires, or if you prefer more coastal, then near Norfolk.

 

I like our area of PA (near Gettysburg) a ton, but many will complain about the homeschool laws.  We never found them to be burdensome.

[shinyhappypeople]

Four seasons?  Natural beauty? 

 

Not Texas.  (LOL)

 

LOL, Aw, Texas isn't so bad.  There's this one part right near the TX/LA border that's kind of pretty!

(Texas is off the table for other reasons, but your post made me smile :) )

[ocelotmom]

Northern Nevada. Very different culture from California (especially outside of Reno). Cost of living is lower. Employment... I don't know. I haven't had a major problem, but I suppose it depends on the industry, and there are going to be limited options in rural areas. For homeschooling, you register once with the local school district and are done (unless you move or enroll them in public school). It has four distinctive seasons, even if spring tends to be a few weeks of nice weather in between too hot and too cold. Natural beauty.... well, it grows on you. But it's equally close to the Sierras, and you'd still be reasonably close to family.

 

Idaho would also work.

[mom2att]

Yeah not Florida either. My vote would be for Virginia or Tennessee.

 

 

[Ellie]

Four seasons?  Natural beauty? 

 

Not Texas.  (LOL)

 

We do have natural beauty. :-)

 

And four seasons...well, here in Central Texas (which I think is beautiful) we have four seasons: Winter, Early Summer, Summer, and Late Summer. :D Actually, except for the humidity (which isn't as bad as it is in San Antonio and Houston), it's pretty much like Southern California.

 

And you cannot beat our homeschool laws: there aren't any. We have a court case which decided that homeschoolers are the equivalent of private schools, and private schools are completely unregulated by the state. You don't have to tell anyone anything, ever.

[LucyStoner]

Spokane, WA or Northern Idaho.

[PrincessMommy]

I'll put another vote for VA - and Western NC... very pretty there.

 

 

[Susie in SWVA]

We live in Southwest Virginia close to western NC.  Beautiful!  We were in California before we moved here. (DH was in the Army.) It was like coming to the garden of Eden!  Come for a visit.  I think you"ll stay.

 

Susie in SWVA

[Amira]

You could move near Yellowstone if you'd miss Yosemite.  The area is way too conservative for me, but it sounds like it might fit you perfectly and Yellowstone is even better than Yosemite INMSHO. :)

[Farrar]

Another vote for western Virginia toward Shenandoah. I think it fits your desires.

[Pawz4me]

Ditto southwestern Virginia or northwestern NC and Tennessee.

[texasmama]

Don't get me wrong.  I love it here in Texas.  But even I have to admit that it ain't exactly God's garden spot.  (LOL)

 

Hey now, the Hill Country is pretty. 

 

[HSmomof2]

My first thought was also Spokane, WA. Or maybe eastern Oregon near Bend.

[Susan in TN]

Williamson County, TN

[Laurel-in-CA]

We also live in CA and want to retire elsewhere...where it's fairly affordable. Our family is all in NorCA or Pacific Northwest so we're looking at northern NV or southern OR. I have never lived in snow, so don't want to go too far north in my old age, LOL.

[Mothersweets]

Western slope of the Rockies - Grand Junction, CO area.

 

We lived there about 10 years ago and I loved it.

[Veritaserum]

I miss California for the reasons you hate it. :-P I live an area way too conservative for my tastes (Utah), but it is beautiful (mountains, many state and national parks), it has four seasons, and unemployment is among the lowest in the nation. Companies have had bidding wars over my husband. The economy is why we stay here. We also have family here. But, oh, how I miss my native California for the ocean and political culture!

[fairfarmhand]

Your wishlist sounds like TN

[Ellie]

We also live in CA and want to retire elsewhere...where it's fairly affordable. Our family is all in NorCA or Pacific Northwest so we're looking at northern NV or southern OR. I have never lived in snow, so don't want to go too far north in my old age, LOL.

 

We California transplants could populate a small town here in Central Texas. :D

[Jennifer132]

How about central Oklahoma? I am from CA as well and moved to OK about four years ago. Comparatively, OK has a much prettier landscape with rolling green hills. Last time we went back to So Cal, I could not believe how desert-y and brown it was! We have virtually no homeschooling laws, are politically conservative and have four distinct seasons that aren't too intense. COL is pretty good here (and excellent compared to CA). There are many beautiful reserves and parks within an hour or two of central OK.

[shinyhappypeople]

I miss California for the reasons you hate it. :-P I live an area way too conservative for my tastes (Utah), but it is beautiful (mountains, many state and national parks), it has four seasons, and unemployment is among the lowest in the nation. Companies have had bidding wars over my husband. The economy is why we stay here. We also have family here. But, oh, how I miss my native California for the ocean and political culture!

 

Wanna trade? :)

 

No, actually, I couldn't do Utah because of the religion thing, but it sure is a beautiful place.  

[Veritaserum]

Wanna trade? :)

 

No, actually, I couldn't do Utah because of the religion thing, but it sure is a beautiful place.

I can't do Utah because of the religion thing, either, but I'm here. :-P Salt Lake City is less Mormon than its suburbs or the county to the south.

[shinyhappypeople]

Your wishlist sounds like TN

 

::wistful sigh::

 

I love Tennessee.

 

I lived just outside of Nashville (Antioch) for a couple of years in my 20s. It's the only time I've lived outside of California.   I absolutely loved it.  Bonus:  almost everyone in the Nashville area is a transplant, so it was easy to meet people and not feel like an outsider.

 

DH, on the other hand, is worried about humidity and his ability to actually breathe in the summer. I think we'd adjust just fine, thank-you-very-much.  It's really not THAT bad!  It's sort of an ongoing thing with us.

[happypamama]

Virginia - toward Shenandoah Nat Park as opposed to Northern VA (which is near DC). The Blacksburg area (where VA Tech is) would likely meet most of your desires, or if you prefer more coastal, then near Norfolk.

 

I like our area of PA (near Gettysburg) a ton, but many will complain about the homeschool laws. We never found them to be burdensome.

And they just got better!

 

I'm with Creekland. This is a fantastic place to live, raise a family, and homeschool. The community is very homeschool friendly.

[MysteryJen]

How about Colorado? No humidity here, four seasons, mountains and plains.

[ScoutTN]

TN or western NC.

 

Come back to Nashville! Tell your dh we have air conditioning and swimming pools to deal with the summer weather. ;)

[KungFuPanda]

Make sure you factor humidity and allergies into your weather tolerances.

[imagine.more]

Pennsylvania except the homeschool laws (I find them very burdensome b/c I have a child with special needs), Connecticut, Virginia, or North Carolina would all be good options.

 

Western PA is more conservative than Eastern PA and rural CT and VA are also more conservative than the urban areas.

[Chris in VA]

NC near Georgia, or Georgia near NC. Blairsville is ok. Murphy (NC) is a little more expensive, but still way under Northern Va.

Asheville is too wacky as a city for me, but it's nice to have close by.

[Ottakee]

West Michigan might fit what you are looking for.  We have 4 seasons and if you are OK with snow and cold, we have real winter.  We have Lake Michigan and the dunes to climb, lots of parks, etc.  Up north is more hilly and the UP is beautiful but has high unemployment.

 

West Michigan is doing semi OK with employment.  Depends on what type of work you are looking for.  Conservative area.  Grand Rapids has just about anything you would want---culture, museum, botanical gardens, zoo, big show venues, shopping, top notch medical care, etc.

 

Homeschooling is easy with lots of homeschool groups available.

 

The downside is that we do have winter.........last year we had snow from Thanksgiving Day until Mid March with no bare ground between then....and about 150 inches of snow.  We did have awesome skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, etc though.

[Guest]

Okay, I have to give a shout out for Maryland (even though I hope to move to Virginia at some point.) Four distinct seasons, gobs of natural beauty, whether you love the Ocean, the bay, the woodlands, or the mountains (though not mountains in the sense of Rockies). The economy is good, tons of opportunity. The COL - well, yeah. If you can drive to DC for work, the COL is high. On the other hand, work opportunity abounds. Homeschooling in MD is easy. There are some very good colleges here, too.

[creekland]

Okay, I have to give a shout out for Maryland (even though I hope to move to Virginia at some point.) Four distinct seasons, gobs of natural beauty, whether you love the Ocean, the bay, the woodlands, or the mountains (though not mountains in the sense of Rockies). The economy is good, tons of opportunity. The COL - well, yeah. If you can drive to DC for work, the COL is high. On the other hand, work opportunity abounds. Homeschooling in MD is easy. There are some very good colleges here, too.

 

You can't be far from us... someday we ought to get together you know.

 

Right now we're at BWI awaiting middle son's delayed flight.  PA beats MD for TRAFFIC!  Of course a bunch of that are people who work in MD and live in PA - we saw them in their lines heading home.  I feel fortunate that my commute is all of 8 minutes - and hubby works from home.  We can live without the rat race daily.

[Whereneverever]

 

[Guest]

You can't be far from us... someday we ought to get together you know.

 

Right now we're at BWI awaiting middle son's delayed flight. PA beats MD for TRAFFIC! Of course a bunch of that are people who work in MD and live in PA - we saw them in their lines heading home. I feel fortunate that my commute is all of 8 minutes - and hubby works from home. We can live without the rat race daily.

Wow, cool. Sure, I'd love to meet an IRLWTM. :)

 

And 8 minute commute? Shoot, I didn't think that existed in MD. A couple of the teachers at my kids' school live in PA and work in MD. That's quite a commute, but not at all rare.

[chicagoshannon]

Tennessee! It's where we'd go if we were to move. I daydream about it all the time. There are beautiful homesites on tnland.com right in the mountains near Chattanooga.

[Amira]

Yellowstone area is one of the spendier areas in Wyoming.

 

Sure, but you can also live an hour from Yellowstone and be in Montana or Idaho where it's not very expensive.

[creekland]

Wow, cool. Sure, I'd love to meet an IRLWTM. :)

 

And 8 minute commute? Shoot, I didn't think that existed in MD. A couple of the teachers at my kids' school live in PA and work in MD. That's quite a commute, but not at all rare.

 

Gotta go right now, but soon we'll have to pm.  Kiddo's plane just landed!!!!

[foxbridgeacademy]

If you leave out the employment criteria (don't know what industry so can't say if there's opportunities) I'd say the TN/VA/NC area would fit the bill.  VERY Conservative both politically and socially, really nice people though, 4 seasons (we were snowed in without electricity one year) no problems with illegal immigrants in the mountains.  Add in the employment criteria, for most jobs, and you're going to have to go toward a city obviously.  Still it is the South so you'll still find that the political atmosphere is mostly conservative, people are nicer then in a lot of northern cities (I think it's the cold weather that makes us Northerners rude sometimes BTW), the natural beauty is obviously marred by city-scape but often not a far drive, you will have more immigrants both legal and illegal.  We lived in Charlotte NC (not much of a winter), small town KY, and Bristol TN and I'd pick NC for its proximity to both MTNs and Ocean.

[Alicia64]

Left No. CA after decades. Don't miss anything except Tahoe.

 

Richmond, VA -- four seasons, nice people, 2 hrs. from beach, 2 hrs. from DC, great economy, very little traffic, but small townish.

 

We're in Atlanta now. Nice weather. A tad warmer than Richmond. More traffic. Much bigger, huge aquarium, a lot to do.

 

Don't miss CA AT ALL.

 

Alley

[happypamama]

You can't be far from us... someday we ought to get together you know.

 

Right now we're at BWI awaiting middle son's delayed flight. PA beats MD for TRAFFIC! Of course a bunch of that are people who work in MD and live in PA - we saw them in their lines heading home. I feel fortunate that my commute is all of 8 minutes - and hubby works from home. We can live without the rat race daily.

Count me in if there is ever a local IRLWTM get together! (A couple of my other local friends are also on here.)

 

PA totally wins for traffic. DH commutes down to MD, but on a different road. No traffic that way at all. ;)

[fraidycat]

(I think it's the cold weather that makes us Northerners rude sometimes BTW)

Yes, just like all those rude northern Europeans, Alaskans, and Canadians. ;)

 

:lol:

[creekland]

Count me in if there is ever a local IRLWTM get together! (A couple of my other local friends are also on here.)

 

PA totally wins for traffic. DH commutes down to MD, but on a different road. No traffic that way at all. ;)

 

Counted in.  It will, of course, depend upon where our MD neighbors live if we all want to get together at the same time, but I'm game enough to do more than one meeting if it suits better.  We're used to traveling and I'm empty nesting (when my boys aren't home from college) so have more time.  It will have to be after Christmas - and possibly New Year's though due to extended family commitments on my end.

[MEmama]

I'm another California native who escaped as soon as I could. Coastal Maine is similar to Northern California in some ways--small towns, liberal, artsy...but SO much less in your face about it. Mainers are generally quiet about their beliefs which I find refreshing, and it's open and accepting in a way I never felt was true where I grew up. And, of course, we get 4 seasons--something I really missed out on as a kid.

[momofkhm]

 

My dream location would have four distinct seasons, low unemployment, low to moderate cost of living, easy homeschool laws, be politically moderate to conservative, and near (or in) an area of natural beauty.  Near means within an hour's drive.  Right now, we're a very easy day trip to Yosemite and it will break my heart to give that up :(  But I'm willing if it means I can get the **** out of California.

 

 

Loving central NC.  A couple hours to the beach.  A couple hours to the mountains.  Plus state parks within 1/2 hour.

 

4 seasons.  Yes, although summer starts in April and ends in October.  Spring and Fall are there, but short!

 

Politically moderate -- maybe.  Last Pres election we went democrat.  Last Senate we went republican.  Does that count?

 

Cost of living - not DC expensive at least.  I can find organic milk for around $5-6 a gallon.  Gas is $2.40ish.

 

Easy homeschool laws - attendance, shot records and annual test.

 

Last unemployment numbers were down.

 

So mostly we meet it!

[Lanny]

I was born and raised in CA and will use the same word some others here used. I escaped, ASAP... Most of my adult life (28 years) I lived in North Central Texas, which may not fit the bill for you. If we were to move to the USA, for a variety of reasons, we would probably move to TX.

 

The last years that I worked, before my early retirement, I was a 'job shopper" (Software Engineering Consultant) and I worked on temporary contract assignments in a variety of states and got to see some of the places between North Central TX and my destinations.

 

I have *very* pleasant memories of driving on I-81  in the Shenandoah Valley in the Western part of VA. Very pretty. A friend is from Roanoke. I don't know about job opportunities there.  

 

Also, I enjoyed driving in Eastern TN, Probably between Nashville (Middle TN) and Knoxville (East TN) and the area around Knoxville.

 

The first place I moved to after I graduated from high school was Reno NV.  I am still in frequent contact with a man I worked with there. He stayed there, got married there, raised his family there and is retired there. You could do a lot worse than to move to Reno!

 

I have a childhood friend who now lives in S.W. Utah. Many National Parks are nearby. Sometimes they get brutal Winter temperatures. Some years ago, his favorite dog died and he couldn't bury it because the ground was frozen. Too cold for me (our mean temperature is 79 F. where we live).

 

I worked on 2 contract assignments in the Seattle area and that is a high COL area although not as high as most parts of CA. 

 

There are simply so many places you should consider. All of them have advantages and disadvantages. GL with your research!

[warneral]

Stay away from WI, Minn and Michigan. Winters are too long for a native Californian!

[shinyhappypeople]

Talked with DH last night.  The south is probably out :( :( :(  Wyoming is a definite possibiity.  I need to figure out who the big employers are and do some hypothetical job hunting for DH.  

 

Nevada (Reno) is also a possibility.  Anyone know anything about Carson City?  I really love Tahoe, and it would be nice to be so close to the lake.  Plus, we'd only be a few hours from family.  Of course, at the moment we're 5 minutes or less (in any direction) of a sibling, in-law, cousin, or parent.  But, still, a few hours is manageable.  

 

The idea of taking my kids away from their cousins, aunts, uncles.... ugh... I feel like such a jerk.  But, I really can't stand it here.  And it's never going to get better because the majority of people - at least in the Bay Area and parts of LA -  are stuck in a mindset that feeds the dysfunction. 

[Luckymama]

Count me in if there is ever a local IRLWTM get together! (A couple of my other local friends are also on here.)

)

Me too, please!

[Luckymama]

Gotta go right now, but soon we'll have to pm. Kiddo's plane just landed!!!!

Keep me in the loop!