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I love, love, love L.A.! We have to move for my husband's job. We can choose anywhere in the southeastern region of the country: from Virginia to Florida, over as far as Texas. I love the outdoors: hiking, biking on the Strand, walking to the Pier in MB, etc. I also love the weather - warm year round, no bugs. We want a place with lots of activity and things to do. We like to keep busy. L.A. definitely seduced me. I love the energy, the beauty, the culture, the diversity, the people, the bright lights at night, etc. Is there any place similar on the east coast? I'd prefer on/near the ocean or the mountains. I love them both equally. We also have 2 kids, ages 7 and 9. Please help!
Coming from Los Angeles, I would recommend moving to Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh or Nashville.
Those cities offer, at the very least, more moderate weather and some change in scenery relative to Houston, Dallas, Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Charleston, all of which are very hot, humid, stormy and buggy with very little in the way of topographical variation.
Do this. Go to Google Images and look up the habitat of the American Alligator. Use that map as a guide of areas to avoid. For someone moving to the Southeast from California, the collective shaded region is just too hot/humid/stormy/buggy/swampy. Ick.
The general area to the north and west of the American Alligator's habitat is the "Piedmont South." Some Piedmont cities include Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville. Concentrate your search in that area, if possible.
Not only are the weather and scenery a little more moderate than further south and east, these areas are a little more centrally located within the South and, in the case of the North Carolina cities, on the East Coast.
However, if you can go as far west as Austin, that'd be choice. IMO, Austin would prove to be the easiest transition for someone coming from California in terms of weather, scenery, culture, etc. That, plus it's the closest Southern city to California from a geographical standpoint, although not necessarily "Southeastern."
Austin gets far hotter in summer, and colder in winter than Houston, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, or Charleston. Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Nashville get colder in winter than the coastal cities get hot during summer.
I'm assuming that the OP wouldn't be interested in DC due to the cold weather, otherwise why not just go with NYC?
DC isn't really that cold; it's similar to Vancouver BC's suburbs in the winter time but sunnier. It's usually significantly above freezing there during the daytime even during the heart of winter.
I love, love, love L.A.! We have to move for my husband's job. We can choose anywhere in the southeastern region of the country: from Virginia to Florida, over as far as Texas. I love the outdoors: hiking, biking on the Strand, walking to the Pier in MB, etc. I also love the weather - warm year round, no bugs. We want a place with lots of activity and things to do. We like to keep busy. L.A. definitely seduced me. I love the energy, the beauty, the culture, the diversity, the people, the bright lights at night, etc. Is there any place similar on the east coast? I'd prefer on/near the ocean or the mountains. I love them both equally. We also have 2 kids, ages 7 and 9. Please help!
Hampton Roads (Tidewater area) of Virginia or Tampa-Saint Petersburg in Florida.
Miami or Houston. I'd put Dallas in there too but it's nowhere near the coast or mountains. To a lesser extent, Atlanta could be also be an option. Other than those cities, all the others in the SE will seem too small compared to Los Angeles. I'm purposely leaving out DC here since I don't consider it to be in the Southeast.
DC isn't really that cold; it's similar to Vancouver BC's suburbs in the winter time but sunnier. It's usually significantly above freezing there during the daytime even during the heart of winter.
True. But you can have days where it won't reach out of the 20s.
Miami or Houston. I'd put Dallas in there too but it's nowhere near the coast or mountains. To a lesser extent, Atlanta could be also be an option. Other than those cities, all the others in the SE will seem too small compared to Los Angeles. I'm purposely leaving out DC here since I don't consider it to be in the Southeast.
Might as well add DC if you consider Dallas the southeast. Because I don't for neither cities. I even have reservations for Houston but that's another conversation.
I've lived all over, including Los Angeles, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and all over Florida. There's nowhere that I've seen that is anything like LA in the SE USA but you will find lots of people who have convinced themselves they are something they are not.
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