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you guys have always been helpful when I was planning to move to Alabama two years ago. However I went on to CT instead. Now I am forced to move cause of my job, as a physican, to Maine cause I need to work in an underserved area.
Three Places in mind Dover-Foxcroft, [SIZE=2]Skowhegan, and another town think it's Lewiston, outside of Bangor. Dover-Foxcroft is looking good now and may have to go up there soon to have a look. I have been to Portland once.
Now I am single, 33 and should be getting married to this great girl that is willing to move to whereever I plan to go. I pretty much have spent 8 years in NYC and totally understand I am not going to be in any place like Brooklyn....but was hoping someone could give me some of there experinces on being fairly young, and starting up in a place like Dover...I mean is there any shopping around there, bit of a night life? Interesting places to eat maybe? I am not much of an outdoorsman but could get used to it.
I just want to know if I am moving into the middle of no where, or if there are some interesting places I could drive to on the weekend.
Also if I was planning to move to maine, I did want to know about housing and if there were any places near a river or something...and how bad IS the snow up there....
I hope all these questions are not too vague and hope I can get some help...
Thanks everyone,
Michael
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you guys have always been helpful when I was planning to move to Alabama two years ago. However I went on to CT instead. Now I am forced to move cause of my job, as a physican, to Maine cause I need to work in an underserved area.
Three Places in mind Dover-Foxcroft, [SIZE=2]Skowhegan, and another town think it's Lewiston, outside of Bangor. Dover-Foxcroft is looking good now and may have to go up there soon to have a look. I have been to Portland once.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Now I am single, 33 and should be getting married to this great girl that is willing to move to whereever I plan to go. I pretty much have spent 8 years in NYC and totally understand I am not going to be in any place like Brooklyn....but was hoping someone could give me some of there experinces on being fairly young, and starting up in a place like Dover...I mean is there any shopping around there, bit of a night life? Interesting places to eat maybe? I am not much of an outdoorsman but could get used to it.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]I just want to know if I am moving into the middle of no where, or if there are some interesting places I could drive to on the weekend. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Also if I was planning to move to maine, I did want to know about housing and if there were any places near a river or something...and how bad IS the snow up there....[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]I hope all these questions are not too vague and hope I can get some help...[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Thanks everyone,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Michael[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
It's not that bad. You'd be a couple hours away from Bar Harbor and near enough to Bangor for shopping. It is country, but it's not quite a third world country.
Dover? I'm sure there is a grocery store but shopping??? Not in Maine. Not the type of shopping your GF is used to that's for sure. You'd need to live closer to Freeport and the Portland area to even enjoy Maine a little bit especially if you're not an outdoors type as there is literally nothing else to do in Maine.
Compared with NYC Maine IS a third world state. At least living in Portland ,Boston is only 2 hours away. NYC is about 4 hours by car and 55 minutes by air. My wife is in NYC every few weeks for the day and is usually home for dinner so it isn't that far to go in a day. I'd look from Brunswick southward to Kittery and along the coast to live. You may have to drive to an underserved area to work but I wouldn't live there if I had your background. (think of the old TV show Northern Exposure for comparison) The change is not for the uninitiated. My neighbors moved up here from Boston and lasted two years before she decided she couldn't stand being "in the country" anymore. They built a house in a suburb of Portland where she could have neighbors all around her and travels to Boston every week to visit her family.It was a compromise until their kids get out of school then she'll probably move back to Boston. Country life isn't for everyone.
Maine is so big that Maineah's wife can be in NYC in four hours and my husband can be in Fort Kent in four hours, and there's more than four hours between me and Maineah.
If you need to work in an under-served region, you won't find a spot in southern Maine, unless it's Lewiston. Not sure what the qualifications are for under-served. I guarantee that Dover-Foxcroft will be a town and a lifestyle well outside your experience and perhaps even outside you and your soon-to-be-wife's comfort zone. It is very rural, and I would hesitate to say there even is a "nightlife" the way you understand the word. That's not a slam, incidentally, it's just that I visit NYC regularly and it's a totally different experience.
Skowhegan is slightly larger. It's a milltown, and as a doctor you'll see lots of Allen's Coffee Brandy influences on Saturday nights at the local hospital. Still pretty rural, though.
Lewiston with a population of about 35,000 is one of Maine's largest cities, which still makes it smaller than the population of the average four square blocks area on the Upper East Side. (I have a daughter who lives there, and we visit often.) The advantage is that Lewiston puts you within 45 minutes of Portland, which does have a nightlife and some of the best restaurants on the East Coast -- according to the NYTimes -- and two and a half hours of Boston.
Dover? I'm sure there is a grocery store but shopping??? Not in Maine. Not the type of shopping your GF is used to that's for sure. You'd need to live closer to Freeport and the Portland area to even enjoy Maine a little bit especially if you're not an outdoors type as there is literally nothing else to do in Maine.
Compared with NYC Maine IS a third world state. At least living in Portland ,Boston is only 2 hours away. NYC is about 4 hours by car and 55 minutes by air. My wife is in NYC every few weeks for the day and is usually home for dinner so it isn't that far to go in a day. I'd look from Brunswick southward to Kittery and along the coast to live. You may have to drive to an underserved area to work but I wouldn't live there if I had your background. (think of the old TV show Northern Exposure for comparison) The change is not for the uninitiated. My neighbors moved up here from Boston and lasted two years before she decided she couldn't stand being "in the country" anymore. They built a house in a suburb of Portland where she could have neighbors all around her and travels to Boston every week to visit her family.It was a compromise until their kids get out of school then she'll probably move back to Boston. Country life isn't for everyone.
LOL! I love your style, and remind me never to get into your car. NYC is six hours (330 miles) from Portland, Maine. There is NO way that you can get to NYC in 55 minutes by aircraft unless you are in a Lear jet and breaking every flight rule in the FAA operating manual. It is almost one hour from Portland to Logan Airport by Cessna 172 (I have done that and landed at Logan several times), and it is much longer than that to any airport in New York, and would be longer still by commercial air, given the difficulties of loading and unloading a commercial aircraft.
Portland to Boston in two hours is dooable, at least once provided the New Hampshire and Massachusetts State Police aren't running radar traps on I-95.
I also know people who have said that they can go from Kittery, up the Maine Turnpike and then on I-95 in two and a half hours. I know that they have said this once, but I don't know if they are still driving.
I can't say much about those other choices you have but I lived in Lewiston and now live in its sister city Auburn... I think as a young doctor you could do well here.. We are close enough to Portland and the coast for shopping.. 17 miles to Freeport which has some great shopping also.. The hospital system here is pretty large and I think that could work out too.. The Portland Jet port would be 30 min away and Boston Logan and Manchester are a few hours away.. As far as living and raising a family the twin cities are about 65k population with a day time population of probably 200k.. Hardly anything your accustomed to but decent enough to offer wide variety of life styles.. you "could" live in Portland and commute to Lewiston but that is your choice.. Good luck
LOL! I love your style, and remind me never to get into your car. NYC is six hours (330 miles) from Portland, Maine. There is NO way that you can get to NYC in 55 minutes by aircraft unless you are in a Lear jet and breaking every flight rule in the FAA operating manual. It is almost one hour from Portland to Logan Airport by Cessna 172 (I have done that and landed at Logan several times), and it is much longer than that to any airport in New York, and would be longer still by commercial air, given the difficulties of loading and unloading a commercial aircraft.
Portland to Boston in two hours is dooable, at least once provided the New Hampshire and Massachusetts State Police aren't running radar traps on I-95.
I also know people who have said that they can go from Kittery, up the Maine Turnpike and then on I-95 in two and a half hours. I know that they have said this once, but I don't know if they are still driving.
6 Hours??? Washington DC is only 12 from here. What are YOU driving?? Last time I looked 80 mph average X 4 hours is 320 miles. Some people don't drive 55 mph. I set the cruise at 80 and have NEVER been stopped!(except in Canada and that was the truck not the SAAB) It's almost the same distance from Portland to Presque Isle and I routinely do that in less than 4 hours in a pickup truck!! I've made Jacksonville Florida from here in 22 hours!! I'm not going to argue with you as we have made the trip many times and naturally you know more than I do. DW flies to NYC bi-weekly and assures me it's less than 1.5 hours total with check out at the other end. No more than an hour in the air on a bad day. Hell Boston is less than 40 minutes in a real plane. She leaves here at 6:00 am and is in downtown Manhattan before 9:00 WITH the check out AND taxi ride. They have these things called jets now that go about 500 mph.
Maine is so big that Maineah's wife can be in NYC in four hours and my husband can be in Fort Kent in four hours, and there's more than four hours between me and Maineah.
Ayuh.. To the OP Maine is a very into-the-arts state so liking them, I always feel thee is plenty to do. Good luck!
Michael, if the towns you have to choose from are Dover, Skowhegan and Lewiston, then for you there's no doubt you should choose Lewiston, and live as close to Portland as you can. Fortunately, there is an interstate that runs between the two and the trip is an easy one.
Unless you're into going to the Elks or American Legion hall in the evening, you're not going to find much nightlife outside the Portland area. Even in Lewiston/Auburn, the second largest metro area in the state, there is only one high end restaurant (Fuel)----and it's pretty new.
Brunswick and Freeport are nice places to live with some nightlife and a few good restaurants, but the commute from there to Lewiston is (mostly) not on the interstate. It's not a bad commute, but may not be for you if you're nervous about driving in snow or in the pitch dark.
Portland has a very good dining scene. It has become a mecca for adventurous young chefs of all kinds. The Old Port area has a lot of bars and a few decent music spots. Of course it's no NYC, but it might grow on you.
I'm not going to comment on how long it takes to get to Boston and NYC from the Portland area (except to say that the one and only time in my whole life that I was so much as pulled over was for going 79 mph-----in Freeport. You're living on borrowed time, Maineah! ;-} ) I will just say that it's a pretty easy trip to both of them and if you want to go further afield for a trip, you have your choice of several airports: Portland, Boston and Manchester NH.
Do check to be absolutely sure it's Lewiston that you meant. Since you said it's near Bangor, which Lewiston certainly is not, I'm wondering if it's some teeny place near Bangor beginning with an "L," like Levant.
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