Quote:
Originally Posted by LauraC
Living day to day and visiting are not the same thing. Some people vacation in the same town/city for years and then when they move to the place, they are unhappy. They don't deal with the same things they do on vacation. Some examples:
When you are on vacation/checking out a possible new town, are you likely to be on the roads during the morning commute? Probably not.
When you are on vacation are you dealing with the local people that provide home services/utilities? No.
When you are on vacation in those beautiful mountains are you driving the steep icy curvy mountain roads in January? Do you know if they even plow the roads where you plan to live? Have you been there after 3 days of rain to find out if the street floods? Probably not, even if you have visited for 5 years in a row, for two weeks, every July and April.
When you are on vacation at the XYZ cabins or ABC motel, is the next door neighbor shooting off his gun for target practice, riding his ATV through your property, using the woods behind your place for paintball games, mooning you from his livingroom window? No.
Hey, nice college town. Concerts, plays, other events, right? Looks perfect when you visited last June. Been there during the time students party in the streets at 2:00AM or right after the traffic from a big game hits the road?
When you are on vacation, are you taking your kids to school everyday? Does the high school look idyllic in July and very much not like that in September - June?
When you are on vacation in your potential new town, have you ever had to make an emergency trip to the hospital or see a doctor? Looked for the items involved in making your favorite dish? Checked out the library to see if they have the kind of new books you like to read? Probably not.
Those are just some examples. The point is, if a place strikes people as wrong for them when they just visit/vacation, living there is not going to make it better for them. Better they bail before a costly move.
Visiting and vacationing is not the same as living in a place. It just gives you a general idea.
I know I sound like a broken record but if you want to get a better feel for a town and its people, read the local newspaper (local stories/community events pages/school and business accomplishments/town council meeting stories) DAILY...or weekly if it is a weekly paper. For the most part, you can do it online. Pay attention to the innocuous stories. What do people in the town like to do? Are they things you like to do? Are the events family oriented, young singles oriented, seniors oriented? In which neighborhood is the crime? When they write about the schools are the stories about student/teacher accomplishments/recognition, just sports, school fiscal problems, crime/trouble? Or don't they write about the schools at all (red flag). Over a period of months, any patterns in the letters to the editor? What are people talking about/complaining about at town meetings? Pay attention to town planning stories. Is idyllic small town getting ready to build a super highway though it or is a new multiplex movie theater going up in 2008, around the corner from where you will be living?
And do some non-tourist things when you visit, like go inside the supermarkets and library, do they have what you like? Is there a good assortment of what you like? Is the store busy (food turns over faster)? How frequently does the library add new books? Attend a local event and take a look at the people. Do they look like your kind of people? Eat out someplace that isn't near/in the hotel. Visit the schools when they are in session, if you have kids. If you are religious, attend services. If you are going to be working, get up one morning while you are visiting and make the commute with everybody else to find out what you will be facing on a daily basis if you move there. Will it take an hour to get to a job only 15 miles away? Watch the local news on TV in the hotel room.
Laura
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these are all the same things we all do in any community we live in, and I understand that they are important. All of our children are grown, so schools are not an issue for us, we are use to being extremely rural so driving to a larger town for groceries is fine with us. Not much for the library, read tons online and purchase books online that I just feel the need to read. Yes the name is sthepoet, and I am Susan, enjoy writing poetry, don't care if it is ever published or anything like that. We enjoy the outdoors, and the frsh mountain air. I read all the local papers online nearly everyday.Yes we are moving to Tennessee soon, and as with all moves there will be things we don't understand when we get there, but we have tried to be as informed as the internet provides.We have spent 25 days there,we have driven to so many areas, checked on schools in fact in case the girls or the grandsons end up coming there
have tried to be as informed as possible. And as for the driving on icy itty bitty roads............ Minnesota here not a problem. I have driven 28 miles in the ice storms with a foot of snow already on the roads, 25 miles per hour, we have two 4 wheel drives, and mine is a ford( joke to my hubby) No worries about me getting to work ever! It is totally awesome that so many are giving info to us that want the insiders info, and so so so apprecaite it. There will be so many things to learn and explore I am sure, that is what I am looking forward to the most. Thank you so much for the info. Susan
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08-01-2007, 08:25 PM
Fair enough.
I miss it!
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