Areas with Varied Amenities Within A Geographically Small Area (house, best schools)

[manitopiaaa]

As a thought exercise into what areas of the U.S. have varied amenities within a geographically constrained area, you are magically granted the home of your dreams anywhere in the US, be it a $100,000,000 villa or tree house + free transportation with your own helicopter and pilot to anywhere within 75 miles of your home. The only catch is that you would never be able to venture to any place that is further than 75 miles from your dream home.

1) Where would you place your home to maximize the range of amenities you would be able to experience (beach, forests, mountains, city life, swamps, volcanoes, whatever you choose)?

2) Where would you place it to be happy?

To Answer #2, In terms of happiness, I'd probably pick Aquia Harbour, VA, in Stafford County. Within a 75 mile range, I'd have not only Washington and most of Baltimore (including the best parts), but Richmond, Charlottesville, Harpers Ferry, Annapolis, Frederick, Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake Bay, Front Royal and most of Shenandoah National Park and most of the Northern Neck. The major weakness is no access to the open ocean. To get to the open ocean, I'd have to sacrifice Charlottesville and the Appalachians. And I prefer the latter.



To Answer #1:

1) Princeton, NJ: You would be able to frequent New York, Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore, Atlantic City, the Poconos, the Catkills, and a piece of the Connecticut Gold Coast (Greenwich). Nature and two thriving cities.



2) San Clemente, CA: You would be able to frequent Los Angeles, San Diego and Palm Springs. You would also get Catalina Island, Tijuana and Anza Borrego State Park. Not much variability, but LA does have perfect weather, so who cares if it's all sun and sand?



3) Manteca, CA: Gets you San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, most of Napa Valley, and even parts of Yosemite National Park (but none of the major sites). It's a dumpty town, but a mansion here is best placed to experience what Northern California has to offer.



4) Ehrhardt, SC: Gets you Charleston, Savannah, Columbia and Augusta + Hilton Head Island, Congaree National Park and Tybee Island. Great for the easy life.



5) Braggville, MA: Boston, Providence, Provincetown, Nantucket, Worcester, Springfield, Hartford, Portsmouth (NH), Concord, Kittery (ME), Mystic, Newport, Block Island. A huge range of amenities, even if the weather could be better.

[mhays25]

Somewhere NNE of Seattle you could be within 75 miles of the Vancouver and Seattle urban cores plus Victoria, Bellingham, etc, rains from I'd guess 15 to 100 inches per year, places that rarely get snow and the snowiest place on earth, volcanoes, lots of inland salt water...a big draw would be having two countries in that radius.

[geographybee]

Princeton, NJ is definitely the best of those areas. Access to mountains, beaches, and cities (the best in the world).

Princeton University is obviously amazing. And the local communities are stunning. I would broaden this to include all of Mercer County. Pennington/Hopewell is stunning. West Windsor has some of the best schools in the country. So does most of the county. The weather is ok, and the area is very wealthy. The countryside and suburbs near there are probably among the nicest on the East Coast. Quality of life is excellent.

Another NJ area that fits the bill is Monmouth County. Gorgeous suburban communities. Very moneyed, ferry commute to the city. Basically on the beach. Horse farms, golf, Red Bank is great for shopping and restaurants. Did I mention the schools?!?!?!

NJ offers, without a doubt, the best QOL on the East Coast. And those two areas could be the nicest parts of the country (no joke).