Where to move to next? (Outdoor Town)

[cosnowberry]

Hi Scott,

I have heard wonderful things about TN. My family is in MD, although I have lived in CO since the early 90's.

We seem to be in similar predicaments with the cost of living here rising so much and wanting to be close to outdoor opportunities.
I flew to SLC last weekend and really enjoyed it. I am so tired of struggling to make ends meet here when the area used to be so affordable.

When are you planning to move to TN?

[JMT]

Originally Posted by scottcolby

Hey folks!

I've been doing some research on where to move to next, and I thought I'd pop in here and ask just in case I missed anything. I currently live in Denver, but find it too expensive, with too many people (traffic) and too much construction.

Some things I desire in a new place.

-Affordable (this is relative, but let's say not too much over the U.S. average)
-Outdoorsy (plenty of places to hike, bike, kayak, etc). I'm more into summer sports than winter sports. That being said, even though I don't ski or board, I've still enjoyed the Rockies.
- Small city/big town desired. I would say anywhere between 25,000 - 200,00 people (the metropolitan area can be bigger)
- Relatively sunny weather. Denver will be tough to beat.
- 4 seasons or mediterranean temps. I'd consider both. What I don't like are really hot/humid temps or long winters.
- Fun downtown, or an emerging downtown with some energy. I don't drink much but I do like a vibrant downtown. And I love my coffee shops.
- Not too much traffic
- It would be nice if it had an entrepreneurial scene
- I like both beach and mountains, but prefer mountains. And rivers/forests.
- A community feel where people are friendly and say hello and get to know you.
- It would be nice if it were close to an airport and somewhat close to a larger city, but not necessary.

I realize it's hard or impossible to find a place that meets all of these criteria, but I'd love to hear your suggestions. I'm single, mid 40s, no kids and run my own online business, so jobs are not a concern. Not too concerned with politics either. I have family spread out over the country (California and Virginia). I will rent first and hopefully buy down the road.

Thank you for any suggestions!

Originally Posted by scottcolby

Thanks for your suggestions!

I actually visited Couer d'Alene twice last year and really liked it (flew into Spokane). Probably not quite enough to move there though.

I'm visiting Knoxville at the end of this month and looking forward to checking out what it has to offer! I know it has a lot of what I'm looking for, and the airport is bigger than the 2 other places I'm considering, Roanoke and Chattanooga.

Originally Posted by scottcolby

When I was looking at Utah, I was primarily actually looking at Ogden, although I also gave SLC a look.

I'm actually still in Colorado. I moved to Castle Rock in November just to get out of the city for a few months.

I'll be moving to East Tennessee (I know it will be humid) and not Ogden/SLC...the MAIN reason (possibly the only reason) is that I want to be closer to my family and they are on the East Coast in Virginia. Otherwise, Ogden had pretty much everything I'm looking for - it's the size town I'm looking for, no traffic (right in Ogden), 9,000 foot peaks right there, so it's beautiful...easy access to SLC for bigger city amenities (although smaller than Denver), quaint downtown, and plenty of outdoor stuff to do. And a pretty big airport available in SLC.

Where in East Tennessee have you settled on? If you want a "major" airport, you'll be disappointed in Knoxville's airport. Yeah it's larger than Chattanooga's, but not by much. It's actually a big reason why I left Knoxville. You can't fly nonstop from Knoxville to the west coast, for example, whereas Nashville has nonstop flights to 8 west coast cities (6 in California) on five different airlines.

Have you considered Cookeville? Its summer weather is humid but is less humid than Knoxville's. It otherwise checks all the boxes in your list of criteria. The town has 35,000 with about 120,000 in the micropolitan area. Within 40 minutes of Cookeville there are 100 waterfalls, a dozen state parks with miles of hiking, biking, and kayaking, and 1200 miles of lake shore. Cookeville has a booming economy (top 10 fastest growing micropolitan area in the country the last two years), a wonderful small business incubator, gigabit internet, the countryside is gorgeous, it has a thriving downtown with two farmers markets, galleries, museums, performing arts, 30+ locally owned eateries/cafés/coffee shops/food trucks/breweries, and it's only an hour east of Nashville whose airport is five times the size of Knoxville and Chattanooga combined and with much cheaper air fares.

[scottcolby]

Originally Posted by cosnowberry

Hi Scott,

I have heard wonderful things about TN. My family is in MD, although I have lived in CO since the early 90's.

We seem to be in similar predicaments with the cost of living here rising so much and wanting to be close to outdoor opportunities.
I flew to SLC last weekend and really enjoyed it. I am so tired of struggling to make ends meet here when the area used to be so affordable.

When are you planning to move to TN?

I understand exactly what you mean!

I'll be moving to Knoxville around September 1. I found an apartment that is still under construction, and it's supposed to be ready for a Sept 1 move in. I actually have 2 friends that recently moved there (one from Dallas and another from California) and I have a 3rd friend that will be moving there from Denver around October.

I like Knoxville because it's:

affordable
outdoorsy
4 seasons
milder winter than Denver
Easy drive to visit family
cool downtown
excellent college sports town
close to the Smokies
Has direct flights to Denver, which I'm sure I'll be using
Easy drive to Nashville, Chattanooga and Asheville - all cool places to visit anytime.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[scottcolby]

Originally Posted by JMT

Where in East Tennessee have you settled on? If you want a "major" airport, you'll be disappointed in Knoxville's airport. Yeah it's larger than Chattanooga's, but not by much. It's actually a big reason why I left Knoxville. You can't fly nonstop from Knoxville to the west coast, for example, whereas Nashville has nonstop flights to 8 west coast cities (6 in California) on five different airlines.

Have you considered Cookeville? Its summer weather is humid but is less humid than Knoxville's. It otherwise checks all the boxes in your list of criteria. The town has 35,000 with about 120,000 in the micropolitan area. Within 40 minutes of Cookeville there are 100 waterfalls, a dozen state parks with miles of hiking, biking, and kayaking, and 1200 miles of lake shore. Cookeville has a booming economy (top 10 fastest growing micropolitan area in the country the last two years), a wonderful small business incubator, gigabit internet, the countryside is gorgeous, it has a thriving downtown with two farmers markets, galleries, museums, performing arts, 30+ locally owned eateries/cafés/coffee shops/food trucks/breweries, and it's only an hour east of Nashville whose airport is five times the size of Knoxville and Chattanooga combined and with much cheaper air fares.

I actually settled on Knoxville. I didn't need a "major" airport, but do like that Knoxville has a lot more direct flights than Chattanooga and Roanoke, the other cities that were the finalists for me. There are direct flights from Knoxville to Denver (where I'm moving from), so that was important to me.

I didn't consider Cookeville, but may in the future! I like you description of it, and as I get settled into Tennessee, there is a good chance I'll want to live somewhere a bit smaller than Knoxville.

I was actually born in Cookeville, if you can believe it! But only lived there for 1 year (I'm 48), so it's been awhile. After I move to Knoxville, I'm really looking forward to visiting Cookeville (and all around the state). Based on your description of it, it does sound really nice and has a lot of what I'm looking for. I did sneak a look (online) at one of the nicer apartments there and it was even more affordable than Knoxville! A plus!