New Hampshire Living (restaurants, shop, garden)

[WannaComeHome]

One thing I like is the people here. Everyone is so friendly. We lived in NY for a while (Rockland County), and I couldn't believe how rude people were there. That formed my impression of what people in the northeast were like, but I'm happy to say that I was wrong.

HI Jukie, welcome to NH! I've always thought people in NH were pretty friendly sorry to hear the trouble you had in NY, but then while NY is in the northeast... it's not part of New England (ok, so I'm a "New England" snob, but I like the area ). Good luck on the relocating.

[Chamomile]

Originally Posted by WannaComeHome

your winter problem must be because you're in Manchest/apt life.

<snip>

Good luck on moving to a house! Have you decided where to move to?

Yes, we need a fenced-in backyard. Then everything will be okay. Sigh. This winter is going to be hard, because we will still be in this little apartment, and we will be adding a crawling baby to the mix . . . fun fun fun!

I am not too picky about where we move to. I love Temple, Wilton, Francestown, but also Raymond, and other towns. We need to be within about 40 minutes of DH's job in Merrimack, but in an area which isn't too expensive (so Bedford and Amherst are out!) Besides, I personally can't stand Bedford. I have a special loathing for McMansions, sorry.

Originally Posted by touretteboy65

By the way, are there fireflies in New Hampshire?

Yes yes yes! I'd never seen fireflies before I came here!

Originally Posted by JukieF

I'd like to add my comments as brand new resident of Manchester.

My husband lost his job in Colorado (Fort Collins) in November. The long job hunt began. He had a lot of interviews in Silicon Valley (he's an engineer), as well as in Boston, England, Texas, Maryland... We thought that we were going to end up in California, since that's where most of his interviews were. We love northern California, especially the climate. But it's SO expensive to live there. We knew that we'd go from our beautiful, large house in Colorado to a tiny apartment. So when this job opportunity came up in Manchester, I was pretty excited.

I'd never been in New England until we arrived here three weeks ago to start house hunting. So far, I really like what I see. Yes, I'll miss the climate in Colorado and the spectacular Rocky Mountains. And most of my family is still in Colorado, including my aging parents and two of our children, so that makes it hard. But I'm focusing on the positive things. It's absolutely beautiful here. It's wonderful to live near the ocean again (I lived in Portland, Oregon, for a while). I haven't been to the White Mountains yet or the lakes region, but I'm looking forward to exploring them.

One thing I like is the people here. Everyone is so friendly. We lived in NY for a while (Rockland County), and I couldn't believe how rude people were there. That formed my impression of what people in the northeast were like, but I'm happy to say that I was wrong.

We're buying a house right in Manchester. I haven't explored the town too much yet. But my initial impressions are that the downtown area isn't nearly as vibrant as Fort Collins' downtown. But Fort Collins is a college town, and that makes for a pretty fun and exciting downtown. There are lots of bars and restaurants. Lots of live music. You can go downtown any time of the day--until the wee hours of the morning--and there are always a lot of people. I don't have a feel yet for Manchester's downtown, but I get the idea that there aren't too many bars or places to hear live music. I want to check to see what kind of entertainment the Verizon center attracts.

So far I really like New Hampshire. I just hope the winters aren't as bad as I think they're going to be. :-) I can't wait for fall, though.

Welcome to NH! I think people here are pretty friendly, too.

[ynot67]

here is my 2 cents worth... Laconia is ok kinda trashy in areas, if you want a nice area with fabulous schools, pick the Kearsarge school district, the towns are bradford, warner, New london, Wilmot, springfield, newbury and sutton. I currently live in wilmot and it is a great community excellent schools plenty of opportunity to become involved in community events etc...

We love it here!

[hitting the road]

JukieF, we are leaving CA and heading to NH...I appreciated your comments. It's a rough time for us, but staying positive is good. Needed to hear that today, thanks and good luck to you!

[touretteboy65]

Any thoughts on Keene? I have looked at their official website and from some of the previous threads/posts, most seem to be happy with their choice in living there. Problem is, most of those posts are dated (1-2 years). How's the job market? Crime, schools, retail, housing, etc? Any help would be most appreciated.

[MovedfromFL]

I did a quick search on Keene a few days ago and the downtown area looked nice. I was happy to see that they have a Thai restaurant. In fact, the downtown of Keene is a lot nicer than the downtown area of my current town!

www.downtownkeene.com

Here are notes about Keene that I took from some older threads on CD:
Keene is a “college town” but has high property taxes (some surrounding towns are lower)
Keene has Michael’s crafts & a bike trail (some paved? Some gravel) (I went to the website of some of my favorites stores to see where their NH locations are)
Someone mentioned that Keene only has 2 radio stations. A woman who used to be a member on here moved up there from FL, did not like it, and moved back to FL. She mentioned that the roads were dark, were not plowed during the winter, and you could not see the center lines very well during bad weather driving.
The radio station thing is not a big deal for me because we only get a few decent stations here. I have to choose between country, hip hop (with every other word bleeped out) or Rush Limbaugh.
Keene has a large pumpkin fest every year that draws thousands of people from all over. There are some videos of it on You Tube. Speaking of YT, you can find some nice videos on there of New Hampshire.

[nicolem]

Originally Posted by MovedfromFL

I did a quick search on Keene a few days ago and the downtown area looked nice. I was happy to see that they have a Thai restaurant. In fact, the downtown of Keene is a lot nicer than the downtown area of my current town!

www.downtownkeene.com

Here are notes about Keene that I took from some older threads on CD:
Keene is a “college town” but has high property taxes (some surrounding towns are lower)
Keene has Michael’s crafts, Best Buy, & a bike trail (some paved? Some gravel) (I went to the website of some of my favorites stores to see where their NH locations are)
Someone mentioned that Keene only has 2 radio stations. A woman who used to be a member on here moved up there from FL, did not like it, and moved back to FL. She mentioned that the roads were dark, were not plowed during the winter, and you could not see the center lines very well during bad weather driving.
The radio station thing is not a big deal for me because we only get a few decent stations here. I have to choose between country, hip hop (with every other word bleeped out) or Rush Limbaugh.
Keene has a large pumpkin fest every year that draws thousands of people from all over. There are some videos of it on You Tube. Speaking of YT, you can find some nice videos on there of New Hampshire.

FYI-Keene does not have a Best Buy. They used to have a Circuit City until they went out of business. The area where the Circuit City was has Target, Price Chopper, Olive Garden, Borders and other stores. They also have the Colony Mill Market place and downtown for mom and pop non-chains.

They do have a great bike path that many bikers, runners and walkers use. When my husband and I are in the area, we run on the bike path. It is pretty decent.

[MovedfromFL]

Thanks for fixing that Nicole. Concord has a Best Buy. I guess I got them confused. I'm glad to hear Target is there. (during my research, I found that Vermont does not have any Target stores). Olive Garden is nice too, although I prefer to patronize local Italian restaurants. The closest OG for me now is almost 1/2 hour away. It's a huge location but we gave up going there because the lines are always out the door and there is not one empty parking space. Not worth the hassle.

[GregW]

the lines during lunch and dinner time at every Olive Garden are always out the door. I wonder why because the food and service are not all that great.

[Dobelover]

Noticing some anti-hispanic sentiment on this thread. I live in chicago and near some really poor Hispanic neighborhoods, so I totally get where you guys are coming from. Just remember, the negative lifestyles you see are not representative of Hispanic culture. The U.S. gets the poorest Mexicans and latinos and with that poverty comes crime and all that comes with it. The wealthy educated mexicans stay in Mexico and live like kings, only the poor uneducated ones come here illegally. Having been to parts of Latin America I can tell you that they look down on these type of Gangsters as well.