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Several areas in the Southeast would fit your criteria, with the bonus of a lower cost of living (versus some other suggestions), a long growing season and the singles potential as all are college towns.
Asheville, NC
Boone, NC
Carrboro, NC
Chapel Hill, NC
Durham, NC
Athens, GA
Chattanooga, TN
College towns are *terrible* for dating if you aren't of college age like the OP though. I.E. 30+ or so. Even 25+ it gets rough. Exceptions would be "college towns" adjacent to a decent metro like Cambridge, Evanston, Berkeley, Pasadena, etc.
Portland, OR
Eugene, OR
Olympia, WA (see: Evergreen State College)
Seattle, WA
Great list - for the West Coast. There's a series of towns in New England that are also similarly wired, but the PNW's milder weather makes the OP's laundry list easier to accomplish.
Add:
Bellingham, WA (see: Western Washington University)
And I love the word "granola" - it really gets people with whom it strikes a chord worked up.
Come to Boulder. Lots of Birkenstock-wearing, pot-smoking, granola-eating vegetarian white boys w/dreadlocks tree huggers (and I don't mean any of that in a negative way!) Denver has its fair share too, but Boulder would be the center of Colorado's tree-hugging universe.
Come to Boulder. Lots of Birkenstock-wearing, pot-smoking, granola-eating vegetarian white boys w/dreadlocks tree huggers (and I don't mean any of that in a negative way!) Denver has its fair share too, but Boulder would be the center of Colorado's tree-hugging universe.
That must have been an eye-opener to you, coming from KC. LOL. How do they afford the rent in Boulder? Yes, in your region, Boulder stands alone, though I do think towns in or near the ski resorts might have them too.
That must have been an eye-opener to you, coming from KC. LOL. How do they afford the rent in Boulder? Yes, in your region, Boulder stands alone, though I do think towns in or near the ski resorts might have them too.
It would have been, but then I arrived in Colorado via 3 years in Germany and 14 in California, so at this point in my life, KC is the culture shock lol!
That's true.. I noticed on the county voting map for Colorado that many mountain counties are "blue" (vote for the Democrat) in presidential races. I don't spend a lot of time up in the mountains, but I'm betting there are tree huggers up there too. Although Aspen strikes me more as "Holywood/Lexus Liberals" rather than dirty white boys with dreadlocks.
Edit: I don't know how the students/tree huggers afford rent in Boulder. The older hippies probably have lived there since it was cheap.
Last edited by denverian; 03-15-2012 at 12:38 PM..
Flagstaff AZ for those of us wanting that "Left Wing Island in a Sea of Right" feel.
I don't know what it is, but it's one of those college towns where the dread-lock having, granola munchers tend to coexist peacefully with the "downhome" folks.
Or, the Pacific NW feel without the God-awful cloudiness.
Thanks, guys - appreciate the responses. I must admit, the cities that immediately came to mind for me in this quest (before starting this thread) were the following:
Montana - GORGEOUS, lots of wild animals, etc - but strong hunting community, right?
Pacific NW - sounds promising
Colorado (Denver, Boulder) - ? Sounds good....but I don't ski (I have bad bones, but can do light hiking, biking).
Asheville sounds good....haven't ruled it out
Things is, I am older, so I don't want to live in a city that is too young, like a college town.
Things is, I am older, so I don't want to live in a city that is too young, like a college town.
In the PNW... you can be a tree-hugger and older... that combo isn't that unusual. While Olympia and Bellingham are classified as "college" towns, there's more to those towns than just their respective colleges.
In the PNW... you can be a tree-hugger and older... that combo isn't that unusual. While Olympia and Bellingham are classified as "college" towns, there's more to those towns than just their respective colleges.
PNW holds very strong appeal to me - it's very beautiful and I seem to get on well with everyone I have met from there. I am not sure how recessed it is right now. I know it's kind of a pricey part of the country, though.
Unfortunately, most of these "granola" towns are ALSO college towns...on either coast, or in the middle: be it Bellingham, Olympia, Eugene, Flagstaff, Boulder, Athens GA, Madison WI, Boone NC.
Is it because "granolas" don't want to grow up, that they don't ever leave?
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(and I don't mean any of that in a negative way!) Denver has its fair share too, but Boulder would be the center of Colorado's tree-hugging universe.
