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My boyfriend and I are most likely moving back to the states this summer, but have no idea where we want to go. We had been leaning heavily toward Portland, OR but I'm frankly not sure I could stand so much rain
Here's some things we're looking for and/or need to take into consideration. Please share any ideas you have! Thank you kindly!
- I'm in my 20s, he'll be 30 at the time of the move. I'm a loud-mouthed "yankee" (as the southerners call me!) and he's a Maritime Canadian (Nova Scotia).
- We're looking for somewhere moderate or left-leaning. We're tattooed, non-religious, artistic-- somewhere that isn't going to shun us for that. It happens.
- Moderate cost of living (we'd like to be able to buy a house at some point), preferably with the possibility of renting a small house/bungalow for under $1100/month. I like to have a garden.
- Ideally, within a few hours from the coast. Somewhere really great and beautiful inland would be considered too.
- Somewhat mild weather. I can't stand extreme mugginess/humidity, or constant rain. He's really sick of constant snow and 7 months of winter. Heheheh. We don't mind some snow, of course (we're northerners!!). I like sun.
-I'd like somewhere with decent public transport and bike-friendliness, but that of course depends on the size of the city.
Austin, Texas might work. Liberal even though it's in Texas. Low cost of living. Not exactly coastal but not too far from the beach. I'd say Austin is a beautiful place inland but everyone has a different type of scenery they like. Yes, it's hot, but not as humid as places further east. I've never been to Austin (although I'd like to), but I've heard Austin is the perfect mix of not too humid and not too dry. Plenty of sun. I wouldn't worry about being shunned because they have a saying: Keep Austin Weird. I don't know about the bike-friendliness or public transit but I imagine it must be decent because Austin is a college town.
St Louis has a lot of emerging art communities in the city right now. The most popular is Cherokee street on the cities southside. Others are the central west end, delmar loop, the grove, and Washington Ave downtown. It has a low cost of living, densly populated so walking to places is easy, 4 beutiful seasons, and mass transit. The only problem is that we are not within 2 hours from an ocean. I would encourage you to give it a look.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by city_data91
Austin, Texas might work. Liberal even though it's in Texas. Low cost of living. Not exactly coastal but not too far from the beach. I'd say Austin is a beautiful place inland but everyone has a different type of scenery they like. Yes, it's hot, but not as humid as places further east. I've never been to Austin (although I'd like to), but I've heard Austin is the perfect mix of not too humid and not too dry. Plenty of sun. I wouldn't worry about being shunned because they have a saying: Keep Austin Weird. I don't know about the bike-friendliness or public transit but I imagine it must be decent because Austin is a college town.
That doesn't fit the climate description they want.
That doesn't fit the climate description they want.
Maybe Philadelphia?
We're kind of flexible on most aspects of weather. We just don't want to live somewhere swampy-hot (like, say, New Orleans in summer), super rainy, or with 80003759375 snowstorms in the winter (skipping Buffalo).
I'll look into costs of living and some other things on all 3 of these places. I've thought about Austin and Philly before but haven't really looked into either... St-Louis, I never considered but maybe its worth a glance...
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
8,900 posts, read 15,926,305 times
Reputation: 1819
Quote:
Originally Posted by jae87
We're kind of flexible on most aspects of weather. We just don't want to live somewhere swampy-hot (like, say, New Orleans in summer), super rainy, or with 80003759375 snowstorms in the winter (skipping Buffalo).
I'll look into costs of living and some other things on all 3 of these places. I've thought about Austin and Philly before but haven't really looked into either... St-Louis, I never considered but maybe its worth a glance...
Thanks so far!
What's nice about Philadelphia is that it's only like a 30 minute drive to Atlantic City and the NJ shore on a good day.
My boyfriend and I are most likely moving back to the states this summer, but have no idea where we want to go. We had been leaning heavily toward Portland, OR but I'm frankly not sure I could stand so much rain
Here's some things we're looking for and/or need to take into consideration. Please share any ideas you have! Thank you kindly!
- I'm in my 20s, he'll be 30 at the time of the move. I'm a loud-mouthed "yankee" (as the southerners call me!) and he's a Maritime Canadian (Nova Scotia).
- We're looking for somewhere moderate or left-leaning. We're tattooed, non-religious, artistic-- somewhere that isn't going to shun us for that. It happens.
- Moderate cost of living (we'd like to be able to buy a house at some point), preferably with the possibility of renting a small house/bungalow for under $1100/month. I like to have a garden.
- Ideally, within a few hours from the coast. Somewhere really great and beautiful inland would be considered too.
- Somewhat mild weather. I can't stand extreme mugginess/humidity, or constant rain. He's really sick of constant snow and 7 months of winter. Heheheh. We don't mind some snow, of course (we're northerners!!). I like sun.
-I'd like somewhere with decent public transport and bike-friendliness, but that of course depends on the size of the city.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!!! Cheers!!!!
I would suggest Seattle but it violates two rules - affordability (though if you lived in the suburbs which happen to also be accepting and really cool and artistic, you may find affordable rentals) and rain (it pretty much is constant gloom and rain for about 6 months out of the year). Other than that Seattle is very artistic, very liberal, vibrant even during the rainy months, and summers are GLORIOUS and dry. The rain itself is rarely a downpour, and is more like a sprinkle. Temperatures rarely get below freezing or above 85 deg F. In fact most places don't have A/C. Took some getting used to the idea, but after living here 3 years, it's truly not needed.
Portland, OR is also one possibility. A lot of the indie artists who couldn't afford to live in Seattle because of all the Microsofties and other high tech people moving in with their six figure salaries went there. Don't get me wrong, Seattle has a thriving indie and small artist scene still, it's just halfway been taken over by snobby, wine-tasting, "art gallery" crowds. Hey, at least if you're artistic you may be able to sell your art at ridiculous prices and get some idiot with too much money to pay for it! Some of the island communities like Bremerton and Whidby island are also really cool, affordable, and artistic.
It's close to the water and Seattle is close to two mountain ranges, within 3 hours of the Canadian border & Vancouver, within 3.5-4 hours of the Pacific (but you really won't need it because you're right on the water in Seattle), and the Olympic peninsula has the northern most rainforest in the world there. It's part of a UNESCO world heritage site.
Seattle is very bike friendly and there's a TON of bikers out here. I know some guys who live 35 miles from work and still bike in. There's even a yearly race called STP (Seattle to Portland) and that's a good 3 hour drive in a car. You don't need a car if you own a bike, unless you live in the extreme suburbs.
I'll look into all these places you've mentioned as well! I love to hear ideas from other people... Sometimes, things just don't occur to me, even if they're right under my nose... Hehe
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