Winchester or Harrisonburg? (Fairfax, Strasburg, Woodstock: apartment, renting, school)

[phoban]

I live in San Diego and should be hearing very soon if I have a job in Winchester, Va. I was out there for a few days in Oct and liked the area. I have a few questions I was hoping to get some feedback on.

Is it feasible to commute from Harrisonburg to Winchester each day? My partner is in school and will most likely be attending James Madison University when we move. We are looking at both Winchester and Harrisonburg. Also how gay friendly are both or either of these cities?

Thanks in advance.

[plazamama]

The Harrisonburg/Winchester commute is about 60 miles one way, all on I-81.
I wouldn't like it.
Why don't you check out some of the small towns dotting the route between the 2 small cities?
The largest would be Woodstock, which is about 38 miles from H'burg. I don't know how gay-friendly these small towns are. i do know that Woodstock seems to have, over-all, the nicest, friendliest people in the state.
Starting at Harrisonburg and moving north, maybe you could consider New Market, Mt. Jackson, Edinburg, Woodstock, Maurertown, Toms Brook and Strasburg.

Then you both would have a commute, but not a 2 hour+ crusher every day.
Housing prices will be better in these small towns, too.

[briddygirl]

I wouldn't commute from Harrisonburg/Winchester for work......it would be about 1 hr. -- you'd be going east along w/ other traffic. As far as the "gay" question....JMU is a very conservative campus, unlike UVA.....although they do have a small gay population......you'll find mostly caucasion girls and guys....and the guys for the most part, or used to, go down there b/c of the ratio of girls to boys......I am unsure of Winchester.

[Rhett_Butler]

I'd say probably the perfect location for you all would be around New Market. A fairly easy commute to Harrisonburg and a little bit of a hike to Winchester, but not too bad. I'm only talking distance because I don't know much about New Market itself....

[sweet-t-virginia]

You said that your partner would "most likely" be attending JMU.... Is it possible for him to attend Shenandoh University in Winchester? If a junior college is an option there is always Lord Fairfax which is in Middletown and just a short distance from Winchester.

Maybe you could move to Winchester if your partner has not already enrolled in college and check out the area by renting an apartment or house. If he's been accepted to JMU, then I agree with VAFury that New Market would be a good halfway point between the two cities. New Market is a smaller town and I don't know about being gay friendly.

I wish you the best of luck in your search and if you do get here, welcome to Virginia!

[mdandrews]

Winchester is fairly gay friendly- no eggs at my car :-)There is NO gay life or community in Winchester though. The commute would probably be an hour depending on where you live in Winchester. Traffic on the interstate (I-81) can sometimes be very heavy. Hope this helps (if you haven't already moved).

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by mdandrews

There is NO gay life or community in Winchester though.

There was NO life period in Winchester when I was there except for the mall
Actually up until the town closed at 6pm there were some people strolling along in that little shopping district

I liked Harrisonburg better due to more of a population but Winchester might be more 'gay friendly' due to more of a historic/artsy type feel.