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Looking for a city or town anywhere within 12 hour drive of both Boston and Chicago (so, the Eastern part of the US) that is somewhat progressive and offers a few "basic" amenities: large-ish airport within an hour, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market (or similar--this is due to personal preference as well due to food allergies; these stores make our lives easier in that respect), good public schools and parks, and a decent amount of walkability. Sidewalks are key to our version of walkability. It's not necessary to be able to walk to something (though that would be terrific) but we regularly walk/run 2-3 miles a day and it's nice to be able to do that from the front door. Sidewalks through connecting neighborhoods or hike/bike trails that are safe would work for us.
We can live anywhere, though milder weather is preferred. That's why Portland, ME is off the list.
We work from home so we can live anywhere (within the above parameters). Commuting is not an issue, but we know that some large cities have congestion day and night. It would be great if elementary schools are within walking distance.
Pgh is the obvious choice location wise, but for milder weather look at Charlottesville VA. It may be a little bit further from Chicago than you like, but hey, there's Amtrak if you can sleep on the train.
Look into the bigger Upstate NY cities(Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany) or perhaps Cleveland, but weather may be an issue. If want specific NY communities, let me know.
Keep in mind with the NY areas, except for the Albany area, you have Wegmans as a grocery store option. Many of the smaller cities in between have a Wegmans as well(Ithaca, Corning, Geneva, Auburn, Canandaigua, Batavia, Binghamton(Johnson City), Elmira, Fredonia, etc.).
I believe that all of the bigger Upstate NY areas now have a Trader Joe's as well.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 07-03-2015 at 04:48 PM..
By car, Pittsburgh is 460 miles from Chicago and 572 miles from Boston. Assuming an average speed of 60 MPH including stops, that's about seven-and-a-half hours from Chicago, and nine-and-a-half hours from Boston.
If you choose Pittsburgh, the neighborhood of East Liberty is where both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are, and it's a rapidly gentrifying area, reemerging as the commercial nexus of Pittsburgh's East End. As a bonus, it's located in a relatively flat area of the city as well, which makes it especially walkable, and also helps it transition seamlessly into other neighborhoods nearby, such as Shadyside, Point Breeze, Bloomfield, Garfield, Friendship, Morningside, Highland Park and Larimer. And due to its central location in the East End, it's very well-served by buses.
One disadvantage to East Liberty is that it's still in transition, and areas near Larimer still have problems with crime at times. Areas near Shadyside are better off in that regard. Another possible disadvantage is that the quality of education in the Pittsburgh Public Schools depends largely on the feeder patterns. Taylor Allderdice High School is the best public school in the city, but the elementary schools in East Liberty don't feed into it. They do in Shadyside and Point Breeze, though. With that said, there's an incredible cluster of private schools in East Liberty and Shadyside, along and near Fifth Avenue.
As for the weather, it's milder in Pittsburgh during the winter than it is in any of the cities on the Great Lakes, but colder than any of the cities in the lower Mid-Atlantic.
Wouldn't Madison be too far from Boston and Portland ME be too far from Chicago?
And I'd rate Madison's winters as worse than Portland's to boot.
But really, there's probably only a handful of places that make the list, and Pittsburgh is the only one I've seen that fits all of the criteria.
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