Best outdoor activity city for me??? (living in, price, airport)
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Ok, below are the activities that I love to do, and I would love to find a city that encompasses all of them or have them all available with in an hour or so. I'm thinking somewhere in California, but any other suggestions would be great.
Kayaking (white-water: the harder the level the better)
Mountain Biking ( no road biking, like getting into mountains and all that)
Snowboarding (This one can be alittle bit farther away since I like warm weather year round)
Mos Def you are looking at somewhere in California. I would recommend somewhere in the SF Bay Area. There is great moutain biking in Marin County north of the golden gate and in the hills around the east bay. There is white water rafting at the american river north of sacramento. There are many places to surf up and down the california coastline and skiing is 3 and a half hours away at Lake Tahoe which has many world class resorts to choose from. During the summer there is great mountain biking and watersports at Lake Tahoe also. There are a great many lakes throughout the bay too, with some of the best bass fishing out west.
This is a tough combo. Aside from CA cities, there isn't much that will fit all of your criteria. I agree that the Bay Area would be a good fit, but as you probably already know, it will be outrageously expensive. If it's out of your price range, you could try maybe living in Sacramento.
Hmmmm...
Another option would be Seattle. It isn't warm year-round, but it doesn't actually get cold either. The climate is pretty mild. It has all of the things you're looking for (water sports + mountains) and at a much cheaper price than CA.
Another option would be maybe Southern Utah. The Dixie area (St. George metro) is warm year-round and the area has some really great mountains, as well as lots of rivers and lakes. Really affordable area too. The only thing that's far away is surfing (which is about 5-6 hours away).
If a generally temperate climate would work, rather than truly warm all year, you might consider the Northwest. Around Puget Sound you've got coastline, rivers, mountains, and back-country trails all in the vicinity.
If you wouldn't feel isolated on an island, Hawaii might be a possibility. Of the activities you want to have available, snowboarding is one I'm not sure about. I know they get snow on the upper slopes of the two highest mountains on the Big Island, and that there is skiing on at least one of these mountains, but I'm not sure whether the snow stays around all winter, or covers the summits only sporadically. Also, if you found that your best living situation would be on any island other than the Big Island, you'd have a bit of a trip to get to the slopes, by the time you had checked in at the airport, flown between islands, and travelled to and from the airport on each end.
I'm also not sure about kayaking. Not sure whether there are any rivers flowing down from the mountains that are large enough to ride down in a kayak, or only small streams. Might be worth checking this out at the Hawaii forum, if the idea of living out in the middle of the ocean isn't a problem for you.
The Pac NW seems a good fit. So does much of California.
In the Northeast, if you don't mind smaller cities, Burlington VT seems a PERFECT fit as long as you can deal with cold winters (hey, it'll get you snowboarding). It's located on a large lake (Champlain) so there are plenty of water sports around. It's also at the foot of the mountains so skiing is just a short ride away as are rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, etc. Surfing is probably closer to 3-4 hours away.
Portland Maine may work too (though like Burlington, it's a small city). You have the ocean and lakes right nearby so water sports (all types) are at your doorstep. The mountains are 45 minutes to an hour away.
Even Boston may fit the bill if you want a bigger city and prefer the East Coast (though I'll admit, the West Coast will likely be better in most categories). Boston is on the ocean and all your water sports can be had right nearby. The mountains of Maine and New Hampshire are 2-3 hours (many excellent ski areas within this range), and mountain biking and hiking and rock climbing can be found even closer. While it won't be on the same par as Seattle, Portland OR, San Francisco, etc... it's not a bad bet at all.
For the record, I responded with disregard for the temperature request. I would say much of Cali is the best bet with the Pac NW second and Northeast a distant third.
I suggest the west coast. Southern CA has the best surfing, but access to snow sports requires a longer drive. The Pacific Northwest has the shortest drive to the mountains from large cities, but surfing requires a longer drive and a wet suit year round (look to Portland over Seattle for surfing, since access to the Pacific Ocean is much closer, and the Puget Sound lacks waves). Overall, I'd go with Portland or Seattle.
Yeah you'll have a hard time getting a place where you can both surf and going sking. So I second the west coast. Seattle to me doesn't get very warm for a lot of swimming. But I did go kayaking on Lake Washington and enjoyed myself. So Seattle would be good. Also I know there;s snow in the mountains and see the nice thing about living on the west coast is that you can be close to the snow but you don't have to deal with the all the inconveniences of snow like trying to commute in it everyday or dealing with ice storms that'll be conveniently placed in the mountains while you go about every day business in either Seattle or LA.
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