Who has moved from California to Maine? (Portland, Bangor: low crime, houses)

[deerstar]

I have moved to Portland, Maine from California 2 months ago.
I am very happy with my relocation. I would like to hear from those who have moved from California to Maine. Where did you land here in Maine?
Are you happier here? I am!! What were some of your reasons for your move? I moved from to Maine from Orange County, California. For me
it was about the having the seasons, the beauty of the woods, wildlife, and
the way life is here. I am curious has to how people coming from California
are settling here in the life that Maine has offered. Thanks for your answers.
Sincerely Sandra

[elston]

I moved to Maine just over a year ago, from San Diego County ..... it was a return to northern new england and to my roots. I never really "took" in California and couldnt wait to get back. When I was planning my return....I was asked .....Why would anyone leave California to move to Maine?
I responded by writing a piece that tried to express the essence of continuity and connection to place.

It is now on my blog. http://www.city-data.com/blogs/blog919-call-maine.html

I think it answers some of your questions.

[woolwiTch]

Hi Sandra,

We moved to Maine from the San Francisco Bay Area. I am a native Mainer, but after going away to college, I lived away for the rest of my education and career. Lived for years in Chicago, then for 18 years in Marin County.

My family was almost all still in Maine and I came to visit a couple of times a year at least. When I was in high school, I couldn't wait to get out of Maine and see the world. I definitely enjoyed my travels and living in Chicago and SF, but the more I saw, the more I realized what Maine had that seemed unique. My DH got to know Maine during our visits over the years and he fell in love with it. When the stars aligned to let us move to Maine years earlier than normal retirement age, we jumped at the chance.

We really did enjoy living in the SF Bay Area, but I definitely like it here better. In SF, we did know our neighbors, but we almost never socialized with them. Here, we know so many people and spend a lot of time with them. We have a neighborhood book club, we're going to have a neighborhood cookout for July 4, everybody always stops to chat with their neighbors when walking or driving down the road, in the warmer months we show movies outdoors and people just show up, we have dinners together. More importantly, people here look out for each other. If somebody's sick, people bring food, people mow/plow/etc. for each other, you can borrow things from each other and get them back.

I always felt in CA there was a lot of attention being paid to what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, what you wore, how big a woman's engagement ring was. None of that here. The only thing that's close is that there is a certain amount of tractor envy among the guys and people do tend to compare what they're growing in their vegetable gardens!

There was such a huge gap between the haves and have-nots in CA. It was worrisome. Police officers, firefighters and school teachers couldn't afford to live in the towns where they worked. That's just not right. And after decades of Prop.13, the infrastructure was crumbling, the schools went from first to close to worst.

There are many more community activities here, too. Community singing groups, theater, parades, holiday activities, hobby groups, fairs. You don't need to worry about meeting people in Maine once you notice how many of these groups and activities there are.

Maine is far from perfect, as I'm sure you're learning. I think my biggest concern is how often young people have to leave the state to get good jobs. I hope we manage to turn that around in my lifetime.

I think one of the bests lists of reasons to love Maine is in forest beekeeper's post over on the Maine Attraction thread. I think it applies no matter where you came from.

Good to hear you are happy in Maine and I wish you many more years of the same!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by deerstar

I have moved to Portland, Maine from California 2 months ago. I am very happy with my relocation. I would like to hear from those who have moved from California to Maine.

I grew up in California. Went to college, operated a dairy, and had a Multi-Family-Residence there.

My siblings still live in the San Joaquin Valley, spread out from Stockton to Fresno.

I moved to Maine in 2005.

... Where did you land here in Maine?

A tad North of Bangor, in Argyle.

... Are you happier here? I am!!

Sure.

... What were some of your reasons for your move?

I had recently retired from a fairly stressful career, I liked many different parts of Maine.

We like rural; we wanted low crime; we love having so many wild animals around [moose, deer, bear, turkey, beaver, and eagle]; we like the low cost-of-living; so much forest; the low taxes; there is water everywhere [rivers, lakes, ponds, and ocean]; it is a slower pace.

There is a kind of 'freedom' here. Folks can wear a pistol and not be hassled by soccer-moms or cops, or have an outhouse, or have a dog sled team, or have a gun rack in their vehicle, or raise chickens and pigs with having to get a permit. Folks can be real here [girls are under far less stress here to be Madonna or Britney-like, they feel comfortable going out in public with a clean face and straight hair], and men are far less feminized here. Maine is free from some of the additional levels of conformity that exist outside of Maine.

There is a large network of organic farmers in Maine. We can see stars in the sky [I mean like billions of them];

Many military retirees are learning our pension is enough to support a family in Maine.

... I moved from to Maine from Orange County, California. For me it was about the having the seasons, the beauty of the woods, wildlife, and the way life is here. I am curious has to how people coming from California are settling here in the life that Maine has offered. Thanks for your answers. Sincerely Sandra

I am glad that you like it here.

Keep posting!

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by woolwiTch

... I think one of the bests lists of reasons to love Maine is in forest beekeeper's post over on the Maine Attraction thread. I think it applies no matter where you came from.

Thank you

I find many reasons for being in Maine.

Expressing them in words it is difficult to find the exact phrase to encapsulate Maine.

Yet I try.

Some of my posts seem to really upset folks. I did that post you refer to and then I got a really hate filled DM. It does appear that some folks are just hard set on hating Maine [or hating anyone who loves Maine] ?

I do not get it.

Maine is so wonderful !

[deerstar]

Dear WoolwiTch,
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question.
I agree with you on all of your points. I moved from Massachusetts to California when I was 13 yrs. old.
Dad wanted to move to the west. So I lived there for 42 years. This is my dream to move back to the east coast. I have always missed New England. The trees, wildlife, the seasons, the people, the houses, the towns, the rivers and lakes, and all the wonderful food that is grown here, the dairy's,
just the easiness of living, which I never experienced in California.
I hope I can find all the activities you listed, I hope I find new friends here.
When I was moving into my new place here, I was standing in the kitchen and for the first time I felt "there is no place I would want to be, but here." All the years in California I would daydream wanting to be back in the east where my trees and woods and seasons are.....Even now I feel like I am dreaming....I really am here I live here in Maine....so happy!!

[RMoore007]

deerstar....I'm bi-coastal for now. Just recently drove back to CA a couple weeks ago after a 7 month stay in Dover-Foxcroft. Left my atv, sled and motorcycle there. I shall return. I plan to retire there anyway but the economy has enlightened me to the reality that I need a population center to survive for a little while longer. If I could make a living in Maine, I would live in Maine.

My family has lived there for many moons. It's where they settled in the early 1800's because of land grants. We still have a decent amount of land there and enough relatives to keep me anchored to the Maine Highlands. I plan on building some cabins on our property there in the future and cater to motorcyclists, atver's and snowmobilers.

One thing that I've missed just in the past few weeks: The last week I was in Maine I saw a moose, fox, eagle, wild turkey, beaver and deer.
In CA, I've only seen hair mousse, the tv network, some liquor, a dam and a deer whistle on a friends motorcycle.

[maja]

Hi Deerstar,
We are at this moment in the process of moving to Maine from California. I am up to my ears in boxes so I don't have time to post much but we are looking to escape the rat race of Los Angeles and find a better place to raise our children. We have visited Maine four times and have found it to be a wonderfully clean, peaceful, slower paced place - far from the madding crowd, so to speak. I know I occassionally we will miss the ease of shopping, dining out and slipping on a pair of flip flops to go out just about anywhere, anytime! But, overall, it will be well worth it to enjoy the first snowfall, have my kids attend smaller, safer, better schools and in general enjoy a slower lifestyle that will allow our family more time to "stop and smell the flowers." So glad to hear you are enjoying your move! MJ

[Trailmonkey]

I moved her in 1980 from the Monterey Bay area (Carmel Valley), and Haven't looked back. I have been out a couple of times to visit, and it just doesn't "fit" anymore.... I have grown up here, and tried to move away, and again, it didn't fit. So, here I am again.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by RMoore007

...
My family has lived there for many moons. It's where they settled in the early 1800's because of land grants. We still have a decent amount of land there and enough relatives to keep me anchored to the Maine Highlands. I plan on building some cabins on our property there in the future and cater to motorcyclists, atver's and snowmobilers.

Sounds like a great plan!

...
One thing that I've missed just in the past few weeks: The last week I was in Maine I saw a moose, fox, eagle, wild turkey, beaver and deer.

We see a lot of them too.