[Julie*]

I was just reading this thread and thinking that you might find cross country skiing/snowshoeing a wonderful option to hiking during our winters. It's a great way to be outside with your dog and easy to do even if it's a snowy winter like last year.
Just a thought- I am not sure if someone else recommended the same thing earlier.

[girlandpup]

Originally Posted by Julie*

I was just reading this thread and thinking that you might find cross country skiing/snowshoeing a wonderful option to hiking during our winters. It's a great way to be outside with your dog and easy to do even if it's a snowy winter like last year.
Just a thought- I am not sure if someone else recommended the same thing earlier.

Thank you for the suggestion, Julie. I've never tried either, but have been told I should try showshoeing b/c I would love it and could do it with my dog out there with me when can't hike. It sounds like a great option if there is too much snow for hiking! Is it difficult to learn, or could I just get snowshoes and go on my own right away?

[christoforest]

Hi GirlnPup,

Here are the numbers.

Burlington, Vermont Climate
Portland, Maine Climate
Hartford, Connecticut Climate

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the details on sunshine. Hartford is the station near Northampton and has similar weather.

The mountains near northampton are small, up to about 1500 feet, and there are lots of hiking places around the valley within 15 minutes, but just not in big mountains but still very pleasant. It is about 1 hour to get to mountains in southern Vermont that are about 3500 feet, and 3 hours to the white mountains in NH which are up to 6000 feet.

Burlington is more of an "outdoors" city than Northampton, and I still want to live there one day, it is just the weather that scares me because it definitely is cloudier in the winter and clouds really got me down when I was in Seattle. Although I know it is definitely not as bad in Burlington as in Seattle and it would be a "white" gray instead of the "gray" grey in Seattle. I think people push themselves to get out in the winter in Burlington, and once you do it is a great thing, for example cross-country skiing, snowshoeing. Northampton also is very snowy, it just isnt quite as cold and winter lasts about a month less. I hear mud season is a drag but I havent experienced it personally since we just moved to Northampton 3 months ago and my previous living experience in New England was in Boston.

I think Portland is a cool city, but to me the negative is the flatness, the growing sprawl, and the late springs. Weatherwise I think Northampton is the best of the three. It is also only 1.5 hours to nice beaches in Rhode Island.

If you want some photos of Burlington and the Pioneer valley, send me an e-mail address and I can send you some.

Hope this helps and please dont hesitate to ask anymore questions!

Chris

[arel]

Rhode Island beaches are great. I used to live near the water there. I'm planning to visit this coming weekend.

If I move to Vermont, it will be a big sacrifice to leave the ocean behind, but it is comforting to know I would be only a couple of hours away, not a couple of days or a plane trip away!

It's also a financial sacrifice to live in New England. The cost of living is generally high, and salaries are much lower than they are in NYC. So more of your income will be needed for bills and other necessities and less will be available for discretionary spending. But people manage.

Yet I have read lots of posts complaining, sometimes bitterly, about the Vermont economy. Someone in Vermont advised me to look for work in Massachusetts, since it has more resources than Vermont does.

So from that perspective, Northampton may be worth checking out.

BTW, you would only be an hour or less away from southern Vermont. I-91 has a speed limit of 65 mph!

I have driven through Northampton to look at it, but I have never spend time exploring it. That is something I want to do. It's supposed to be a great town. It's a cosmopolitan, educated and liberal town in a semi-rural area, and within a manageable distance from NYC.

[girlandpup]

Chris - Thank you for your opinions and thoughts about Burlington, Portland, and Northampton, as well as the links you included about the genaral climate in each of the three areas. I really appreciate all of it! I agree with you completely about the grey months being depressing, as I am sure I would get down quickly with no sun for long periods at a time like in the PNW, esp. the winters. That is a big concern for me, as is the cold, long, and snowy winters, about Burlington. I did some searching about Northampton, and it seems to have a lot of great things about it! I am going to continue searching, and now think I will probably try to go there sometime to check it out further. I am going to Vermont near the end of August when I have some time off from work, so will have to plan Northampton for after that sometime. I am very interested in learning more about it.

I know you said not to hesitate to ask you anything else, and I am hoping you really mean that b/c I do have a few other questions. I have been trying to figure out exactly what kinds of "outdoor activities" are around Northampton and just how close and accessible it would be, but it is hard to get that exact info. from websites and even maps. I know Burlington has hiking very close, so it could be a fairly short drive for a good day hike, and I know lots of people then snowshoe those same trails in the snow in winter. I like that Burlington offers such easy ways to go hiking and be outside, which as you probably know by now (since I know I keep saying - sorry to be repetitive!) is a very important factor in deciding where to live. So is being dog-friendly, and Burlington seems to be much more dog friendly than Northampton appeared to be from what I read, which could be aq concern (any opinions on this??). Northampton getting less snow and not quite as cold is a plus, but I was wondering how they deal with the snow they do get, since it is still quite a bit. Vermont seems to deal with snow well, since so used to it (I'm talking about the larger "cities" and roads, maybe not the more rural areas, but that is just what I've been told by some, so please anyone correct me if I'm wrong).

Thank you again for all your help. I know that no one place will ever be perfect, I'm just trying to find the place that for me has as many as possible of the "pros" and the most tolerable "cons"!!

[goatwoodward]

Originally Posted by sordid

hi.

no its not a bad thing - im going willingly. and im coming back!
i lived in many places growing up. and came to portland for college. i was coming from pittsburgh, pa, and i wanted to come back north.
i was used to big cities, and sort of came to portland to get away from cities. i hoped it would be just big enough to keep me from going crazy. and initially i was surprised at how much like a real city portland was. theres a lot going on here for sure. now that ive been here... almost ten years, i realize how much like a small town it is too.
i remember thinking it was crazy that i kept seeing the same stranger out in random places on the street.
and, to this day i laugh at the drivers here. they are almost kind to a fault. wile walking, im used to eyeing traffic while i walk, then perching at the side of the street, picking a spot, running across. and here... cars will stop ten yards down the street to let you go, while youre just standing there!
haha! its great, but it throws me off.
sure, they arent ALL like that, but i used to have cab drivers try to hit me when i was a teenager...

theres a LOT of arts, and artists in portland. a lot of musicians that are actually talented and doing shows. lots of visual arts for sure. thats why i came here initially.

and mainers really are pretty nice. like a lot of towns, portland is full of people 'from away', and everyone gets along pretty well.


ah-
parking sucks, bad.
housing sucks, pretty bad. not really the rates, just availability. unless you live a bit outside the 'city'.



edit-
i dont do much hiking. but there are a few places ive heard of that arent too far. within an hour, north of course. haha!
i went once to a small trail in the freeport area, just north of portland. im not sure what the name was, if there was one.

Everything you just said about Portland is also true of Burlington, except that housing here doesn't suck. There seems to be adequate housing here, though finding apartments that allow dogs may be slightly more difficult.

Parking also isn't great in the heart of downtown, but there are a few garages and plenty of metered parking. If you're willing to walk a few blocks, there's usually enough free parking. Not as bad as NYC, that's for sure!

Burlington also has dog parks in which dogs can run off-leash. I see people around town with their dogs off-leash as well, though their dogs are usually well-trained enough to simply follow at their heels, as I usually see them on their way somewhere else.

As for snowshoeing, I tried it for the first time last winter and found it just as simple and as much fun as actual hiking (maybe even more so). I just bought a pair of snowshoes and went with some friends the first time. By the end of it, I was a pro. It's more or less just keeping the front of your foot up while you walk and changing your stride a bit to deal with the width of the snowshoes. A good aluminum pair should cost $100 or less and last indefinitely. (I bought mine toward the end of the winter so they may have been on sale.)

The only downside to snowshoeing is that the snow can sometimes be deeper on the sides of the trail - you can fall in! To get out, just pack the snow around you and try to make it to your knees. Remember to bring all the same kind of stuff you'd bring hiking, plus an extra pair of socks in case your shoes leak and layered clothing (and a small backpack is smart in case you overdo the layering thing).

All in all, I love Burlington for its friendly, laid back people and attitude. I moved from northern VA in which the attitude seemed to be "If you don't make six figures, you're poor," "Anything over a size 4-6 is fat," and $8 for a cup of coffee seemed reasonable. Here, people still mesh into groups, but are much more accepting and less judgemental.

The major transitions I faced were due to the fact that Burlington calls itself a city, but is really more of a town - everything except the bars and clubs closes by 9 or 10 pm and if you want to be on a mountain every weekend, you really need a car or a friend with a car (the public transportation is ok, but mainly in-town).

[girlandpup]

Originally Posted by goatwoodward

Everything you just said about Portland is also true of Burlington, except that housing here doesn't suck. There seems to be adequate housing here, though finding apartments that allow dogs may be slightly more difficult.

Parking also isn't great in the heart of downtown, but there are a few garages and plenty of metered parking. If you're willing to walk a few blocks, there's usually enough free parking. Not as bad as NYC, that's for sure!

Burlington also has dog parks in which dogs can run off-leash. I see people around town with their dogs off-leash as well, though their dogs are usually well-trained enough to simply follow at their heels, as I usually see them on their way somewhere else.

As for snowshoeing, I tried it for the first time last winter and found it just as simple and as much fun as actual hiking (maybe even more so). I just bought a pair of snowshoes and went with some friends the first time. By the end of it, I was a pro. It's more or less just keeping the front of your foot up while you walk and changing your stride a bit to deal with the width of the snowshoes. A good aluminum pair should cost $100 or less and last indefinitely. (I bought mine toward the end of the winter so they may have been on sale.)

The only downside to snowshoeing is that the snow can sometimes be deeper on the sides of the trail - you can fall in! To get out, just pack the snow around you and try to make it to your knees. Remember to bring all the same kind of stuff you'd bring hiking, plus an extra pair of socks in case your shoes leak and layered clothing (and a small backpack is smart in case you overdo the layering thing).

All in all, I love Burlington for its friendly, laid back people and attitude. I moved from northern VA in which the attitude seemed to be "If you don't make six figures, you're poor," "Anything over a size 4-6 is fat," and $8 for a cup of coffee seemed reasonable. Here, people still mesh into groups, but are much more accepting and less judgemental.

The major transitions I faced were due to the fact that Burlington calls itself a city, but is really more of a town - everything except the bars and clubs closes by 9 or 10 pm and if you want to be on a mountain every weekend, you really need a car or a friend with a car (the public transportation is ok, but mainly in-town).

This is all so very helpful, so thank you! I just have one BIG question about this - where exactly are the off-leash dog park areas (I assume you don't mean the fenced-in dog runs but true "parks" where dogs can be off leash). I have been doing all kinds of internet searches and have not been able to find anything about off-leash dog info. in Burlington other than two rather small fenced-in dog runs. Where I am now, dogs can be off-leash throughout most of Riverside park (which is really quite big) from 9pm until 9am every day! I take my dog there every single morning, and it's great before work to get him exercise before I have to leave! I really don't know what I would do without something just like that, but haven't been able to find it anywhere in my researching Burlington (I personally am not as big a fan of the fenced-in dog runs, just based on my experiences with them here). Also, all that input about snowshoeing is making me even more eager to try it - so thank you so much for all that, too!!

[christoforest]

Hi GirlnPup,

Burlington is definitely the outdoors mecca of New England. Northampton has nice stuff around but it isnt as "outdoorsy" as Burlington. What it does have is small mountains for hiking within 10-15 minutes of town. A big river running through the whole valley, swimmable waterfalls within 20 minutes, small lakes within 15-20 minutes, big ones within 40-60 minutes. Forests and hiking trails are all over the valley within 15-30 minutes of Northampton. I really have no idea on the dog-friendly aspect. Overall I think Burlington is more outdoorsy, and Northampton a bit more artsy and entertainmenty, but both are good.

Where are you moving from by the way. If you want photos, just send an e-mail and if you are in the area my wife and I would be happy to give you a tour.

Chris

PS the Vermont border is only 30 minutes from Northampton

[Tupperpatr]

"I think I can be happy even if it is very cold, but believe I'll be depressed very quickly in weeks of constant rain everyday and/or no sun for extended periods at a time. "


From your comment above I would tell you not to think of Burlington. It is one of the cloudest states in the nation. Our daughter went to college in Manchester, New Hampshire and would call home and say "it is a beautiful day here - and we would be having either rain or just another gray day here in Vermont". Three days of sunshine in a row is a cause for celebration. The other concern is the very high cost of living in Vermont. We have many people leaving the state for that very reason. I would agree with an earlier post that you should be looking at Virginia. Great hiking, great weather and lots more sunshine!!

[girlandpup]

I am going to look into Virginia from what people have been writing, so thank you to all for that suggestion. It seems to always be easier to seek closer to home (grew up in NY, so much of North East, such as parts of New England, feels like "home"). It's always more challenging to think "outside the box." I know very little about Virginia as a whole, and even less about specific cities/counties. I've never even been in the state before. So, any specific places that anyone could suggest knowing my "needs" and what I'm looking for - close to mountains for hiking, very dog-friendly which includes nearby park where my dog has off-leash area, less expensive cost of living (although that is pretty easy when comparing it to where have been living for a while now- NYC!), environmentally aware and conscientious including lots of clean air (no more NYC pollution for me), and friendly (no "snobs" please!). I am very aware that no place is ever going to be "perfect," but I am looking to get as close as I can for the things I am looking for.

ANY suggestions would be worth so much to me, and so very greatly appreciated. Thank You!!