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This is very interesting. My list is fluidish, and I haven't hated any place I've lived. I can make it all work:
1. Seattle - I happened to like the gloomy weather, the density. The people were reserved and diverse, which kind of binds well with my personality. Way too liberal though and I wish the water were warmer. But there's a bustle about that city that I love
2. Irvine - clean, diverse, super safe. Perfect weather, but I'm more of a seasons guy. Boring and sterile though.
3. DC - Could easily be #1. 4 seasons, educated and diverse populace. Food I feel is a step behind the top two. Great public transportation.
4. Denver - I needed to be closer to water. But people are incredibly friendly. Not diverse, so-so food.
5. Austin - Great energy, food, diverse. It's where I went to school. But I feel like I'm too old for it now and way too hot. And too liberal.
6. Tyler - It's home. Super hot though, and not diverse.
7. Corpus Christi - same as above, but with water. I could actually put CC ahead of Tyler and have no issue with it. Great, cheap Mexican food.
8. Clemson, SC- too southern and college centric, but I see the charm.
Not sure if we're talking next cities, but idk if I can live in OC forever. I like money:
Chicago
Raleigh
Vegas
Portland
Atlanta
Back to DC?
NYC, lol
Pretty much in that order.
Last edited by Gaylord_Focker; 05-12-2021 at 09:32 AM..
1. Charlotte - We love it here. Affordable, lots to do (especially outdoors), great economy, green/clean, very balanced QOL. Friendly residents. 4-season climate.
2. Orlando - Love it. So much to do, even beyond the theme parks (which we love). Close to Tampa Bay. Great neighborhoods and suburbs. Lakes/parks/greenways. The humidity didn't bother me. Still affordable, but COL is rising faster than the national average.
3. Columbus - Loved living there. Affordable. One of the best economies in the midwest. Great people. Didn't like the gloomy Winters. Needs more unique recreational assets.
4. Boston - Love the history. Pro sports. Didn't mind the snow, actually liked it, lol. Found it overrated for the hype it gets. Too expensive. The least tolerant of the other 3 in terms of opinions/views not their own. Though not hostile like the west coast, Conservatives are noticeably looked down upon. Politics and identity groups are much more prevalent in Boston than the other 3. It's a part of everyday life in the South, which is very refreshing. People of different races mingle society very little in Boston compared to Charlotte and Orlando. Sad. Love visiting, but wouldn't want to live here again.
2. Midland-Odessa, Texas.It was better when i was a kid.Way too isolated,boring,expensive,low quality of life.Hate the wind.Nothing to do.At least its close to deer hunting and New Mexico.Great people.Best thing to do there is watching Lee and Mojo play football during the Friday Night Lights.Thats my favorite part of the year here in Midland proper...
THE WIND. Its a unique thing, esp for sensory sensitive. People dont realize how terrible the wind is-except those in Northern Ireland. That constant wind can literally drive me insane. idkw is worse, the Dakotas to Texas wind or the East Coast bugs/ gnats all over...
Colorado Springs: It is kinda interesting how much Pikes Peak and its babies grounds the definition of the city and how different everywhere else feels without that massive western flank. I liked growing up here, but I like it less now than I did then. We were outside all the time growing up which was great! Rampart Range was really the formative place of my outdoor experience with so much to do there. It's interesting watching the city change, it's sort of de-teched and it's dechurched itself from where it was on the scene earlier in the 90s. Don't know of too many other places that de-teched. The recent explosion of price is a reflection that all the good stuff is taken and developed, you have to be elsewhere in CO if you want to build a new experience. The city itself is much more diverse and dare i say cultural than Denver as the OG old parts are still there and the military brought people from all over. The military also brings a slew of wacks, homeless, gun nuts, domestic abuse... Also the dating scene really sucks for young guys, 110 males to 100 females for 25-30 year olds.
Denver: Didn't like it. My main problem was the city hygiene, too many dogs going poo, too many homeless tribes, pee smelling ozone air, bad river pollution in the Platte, most polluted zip code in the nation getting apartments built on top of mining remains... It pretends to be green, it's definitely NOT clean. The city put all it's eggs on downtown, but didn't create an environment down there where you just want to hang out. The rest of the metro is just expensive and congested, it could be expensive Dallas if you didn't know there were mountains to the west. The city is culturally monotone: yoga pants, beer, sports, dogs. The western suburbs and exurbs are real charms, but like COS, they're all bought up, none for you left. I did come to love I-70 and being above the trees or x country skiing in 1 hr, Red Rocks, and people who were in shape though!
Suwanee (NE ATL): I don't know... On one hand it's the cutting edge of suburb development with great planning, excellent parks, safe and clean. It checks off all the little QOL things very nicely and is still reasonably priced. But it's very age segregated, it's shocking how many 40-50 year olds there are, I really feel like the odd one out as a 27 yo single guy, which drains the social scene for me. The Atlanta area is so fat and big and in it's own way. I'm scared to see what happens to traffic when people go back to the office. The congestion effectively cuts of the benefits of being in a big city, I'm not going to see X if it's 1.5 hour drive in traffic, so X might as well just not be there. The Piedmont area is prettier and pleasanter than expected, but ATL comes in below my expectations.
Where next? I'm hoping to get a WFH job next so I can go to a smaller city. There's a good chance I'll likely end up in a mountain town in Southern CO.
I am 25 years old, I do not have many experiences, my life is literally beginning.
Denver - my first city outside of Tyler, Texas, where I was born ... as a young college-age gay man looking to live away from his parents and the conservative city where he was born ... Denver basically fulfills all the requirements for my demographic group , I lived the best moments of my stay at the university there, pleasant weather, friendly people, lots of fun.
Los Angeles- it was a strategic stop, because of the pandemic, since the idea was to stay only 6 months ... California is definitely my lifestyle ... Los Angeles has many cons, the main thing for me is the distance between places it is difficult to live without a car.
As soon as the pandemic passes, we will be leaving los angeles for some time ... the idea is to set up the company and our home in los angeles, california, but to seek business partners around the world, then we will need to take a tour of asia if if we get good contacts we will return to Los Angeles, if we are not going to try in Europe ... We also have plans to establish partnerships with companies in Latin America, which would require some time there too ... this is my immediate future.
1. SAN FRANCISCO, CA only problem is the cost of living there.
2. COCHISE COUNTY, AZ Too remote. Otherwise good. Nothing like you would imagine in ARIZONA.
3. COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. An occasional blizzard, otherwise pleasant.
4. NEWARK, DE. Near the university, good place to live.
5. CARLISLE , PA. Good place, near Hershey Park.
6. PHILADELPHIA, PA. grew up there
7. BRIDGETON, NJ Decent place not expensive
8 TEMECULA, CA. cookie cutter mania
I will relate my husbands experience as I have always lived in Northern Nevada and love it here.
He grew up military so he lived all over the world, but mostly remembers from his teens on up of course.
Las Vegas NV - He absolutely hated going to high school in Las Vegas. He walked from the military base to Las Vegas High and feels fortunate to have survived the walks and the high school gangs. He is a big man and still gets a look of fear in his eyes talking about it. He says every aspect of his experience in that city was scary and dangerous. He did enjoy the open spaces to dirt bike in and partying on Lake Mead.
Kingman AZ - He enjoyed his life in Kingman. It was a safe city to live in as a older teen, lots of outdoor adventures and more normal living instead of just trying to survive in Vegas.
Fallon NV - Nice, safe little military and ranching community in Northern Nevada. Boring for a teen and not close to the big mountains he enjoys recreating in.
Reno NV - Good experiences overall, but can be dangerous when younger and on your own. Party town, lots of fun and lots of trouble to get into. Good place to be a single man. Enjoyed the outdoors more here. Reno has poor political leadership and controversy in much of the public services. Washoe County, many more rules/regulations than the rural counties.
Carson City NV - He LOVES Carson City. Small, but has every store and amenity you need within a few miles. Safe. Very friendly people. Tons of open space trails to bike and hike in the valley and in the Sierra's. Plenty of lakes and rivers to camp, boat and fish. Very well-run city in every aspect...government, utilities, law-enforcement...clean and very live and let live in every way. I grew up here and it was and still is 'Mayberry' in many ways. Every day is a new outdoor adventure for us with our dogs, very pet-friendly area here. One day we go fishing, the next a hike near Lake Tahoe, the next camping at a lake and mountain biking around the shores.
Overall, Northern Nevada is becoming more and more a resort area from Lake Tahoe through Douglas County and Carson City. Reno is reinventing itself as more of a tech hub now along with many industries that support it. One unique aspect of Nevada is all of the public land to recreate in and enjoy. As a tourism dependent state, Nevada has many brew pubs, bakeries, restaurants and fun things to do. Great place if you love the outdoors and living with less laws/regulations, private property fencing etc.
We will probably live in Carson City on nearby for the rest of our lives, BUT we do entertain the idea of moving to a more remote location with lots of fishing in the 'backyard' and less intense sun/UV than in Northern Nevada as I have sun sensitivity. I really cannot find a city as nice as Carson City just yet with the amenities we desire lol. The grass isn't always greener.....
Raised in Belleville, NJ. It was a great place to grow up in the 1960s & 1970s. Not so nice today.
Lubbock, TX. Moved in with family after high school. The first time I was on a plane. I think this is where my wanderlust kicked in.
Hyde Park, NY. I went to cooking school there. The 2 years I was there was a blur. We went to class 6-8 hours a day, 14 days in a 3 week period. I thought everyone's college experience was like this. I worked weekends back in NJ. Sadly I didn't take a lot of time to travel around that area when I was there. It was pretty much school, study, eat & sleep.
Margate/Ventnor NJ. After school, I went to work in the recently opened casinos. I consider this the beginning of my adult life. I got a place and mostly worked and paid bills. I went out a lot on the weekends. I could go out at 2am and find a place open with live music. After working for 1 year, I only saved $600. I knew I could not maintain that so I applied to college in Florida.
Miami, FL. What a great place to live. There was always something to do. I worked out by the beach. In addition to working, I went to class and I hit the gym pretty hard. Money was tight. School was expensive. I was paying out of state rates. So I enlisted in the navy to get tuition help via the GI bill.
San Diego, CA. Spent 5 months here doing boot camp and initial training. I had no vehicle so it was walking or taking taxis. Took a bus trip up to Los Angeles 1 weekend.
Catania, Sicily. I got stationed at NAS Sigonella. I had my car shipped over. When I was off work, I traveled around the island. Great food there. It was an exciting place to live. I had American support but I lived among the Italians. I took a few trips up to Naples, which is a big city compared to Sicily.
Naples, Italy. My 2nd duty station was a couple hundred miles north. It was a lot more chaotic than Sicily. Still good food and beautiful scenery.
Jacksonville, FL. I bought my first home here. It was good to get back to America after almost 5 years abroad. The beach was close by. No snow but the summer heat was brutal/
Andrews AFB, Maryland. We lived on base not far from DC. The local area was sketchy. But DC has great museums and plenty of things to see.
Then back to Jacksonville.
Great Mills, MD. When I retired, I got a job with a defense contractor in southern Maryland. It's a very quaint and scenic area. It's right on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.
Alaska. I got bored and the travel bug kicked in. I spent 2 summers in Alaska. The first year in Seward. The next year was spent in Ketchikan. Those areas are vastly different. Ketchican is an island with only 33 miles of paved roads. I did a lot of fishing while I was there.
Greenfield, IN. My government contract job got transferred to Indiana. I spent half a year living there. I wasn't a big fan of that area.
Yellowstone National Park. I took a seasonal job with a park concessionaire. I lived and woke up every day in a national park. I lived in my RV, in an employee campground. I could see Yellowstone Lake from my campsite. I met a lot of great people working there. A lot of adventurous people.
Warm Springs, VA. I worked a summer in a National Forest in SW Virginia. We were pretty isolated with poor cell phone service. I stayed until October. It was starting to get cold at night when I finally left.
Villabalzana, Italy. Long story but I chased a gal there. It didn't last long. Oh well.
Solomons, MD. I set my RV in a campground.
5 years on the road. I pulled up stakes and took the RV on a 5 year road trip. A few places we stayed a month or more. Some of the highlights:
Rapid City, SD
Cody, WY
Marathon Key, FL
Panama City Beach, FL
Mobile, AL
Baton Rouge, LA
Austin, TX
New Braunfels, TX
San Antonio, TX
El Paso, TX
Las Cruces, NM
Tombstone, AZ
Lake Havasu, AZ
Las Vegas, NV
Williams, AZ
Flagstaff, AZ
Amarillo, TX
Lubbock, TX
Abilene, TX
South Padre Island, TX
Ft Worth, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Ft Smith, AR
Branson, MO
Panama City Beach, FL I just bought a house here last month. I sold the RV and put down roots here. For how long? Who knows.
Raised in Belleville, NJ. It was a great place to grow up in the 1960s & 1970s. Not so nice today.
Lubbock, TX. Moved in with family after high school. The first time I was on a plane. I think this is where my wanderlust kicked in.
Hyde Park, NY. I went to cooking school there. The 2 years I was there was a blur. We went to class 6-8 hours a day, 14 days in a 3 week period. I thought everyone's college experience was like this. I worked weekends back in NJ. Sadly I didn't take a lot of time to travel around that area when I was there. It was pretty much school, study, eat & sleep.
Margate/Ventnor NJ. After school, I went to work in the recently opened casinos. I consider this the beginning of my adult life. I got a place and mostly worked and paid bills. I went out a lot on the weekends. I could go out at 2am and find a place open with live music. After working for 1 year, I only saved $600. I knew I could not maintain that so I applied to college in Florida.
Miami, FL. What a great place to live. There was always something to do. I worked out by the beach. In addition to working, I went to class and I hit the gym pretty hard. Money was tight. School was expensive. I was paying out of state rates. So I enlisted in the navy to get tuition help via the GI bill.
San Diego, CA. Spent 5 months here doing boot camp and initial training. I had no vehicle so it was walking or taking taxis. Took a bus trip up to Los Angeles 1 weekend.
Catania, Sicily. I got stationed at NAS Sigonella. I had my car shipped over. When I was off work, I traveled around the island. Great food there. It was an exciting place to live. I had American support but I lived among the Italians. I took a few trips up to Naples, which is a big city compared to Sicily.
Naples, Italy. My 2nd duty station was a couple hundred miles north. It was a lot more chaotic than Sicily. Still good food and beautiful scenery.
Jacksonville, FL. I bought my first home here. It was good to get back to America after almost 5 years abroad. The beach was close by. No snow but the summer heat was brutal/
Andrews AFB, Maryland. We lived on base not far from DC. The local area was sketchy. But DC has great museums and plenty of things to see.
Then back to Jacksonville.
Great Mills, MD. When I retired, I got a job with a defense contractor in southern Maryland. It's a very quaint and scenic area. It's right on the banks of the Chesapeake Bay.
Alaska. I got bored and the travel bug kicked in. I spent 2 summers in Alaska. The first year in Seward. The next year was spent in Ketchikan. Those areas are vastly different. Ketchican is an island with only 33 miles of paved roads. I did a lot of fishing while I was there.
Greenfield, IN. My government contract job got transferred to Indiana. I spent half a year living there. I wasn't a big fan of that area.
Yellowstone National Park. I took a seasonal job with a park concessionaire. I lived and woke up every day in a national park. I lived in my RV, in an employee campground. I could see Yellowstone Lake from my campsite. I met a lot of great people working there. A lot of adventurous people.
Warm Springs, VA. I worked a summer in a National Forest in SW Virginia. We were pretty isolated with poor cell phone service. I stayed until October. It was starting to get cold at night when I finally left.
Villabalzana, Italy. Long story but I chased a gal there. It didn't last long. Oh well.
Solomons, MD. I set my RV in a campground.
5 years on the road. I pulled up stakes and took the RV on a 5 year road trip. A few places we stayed a month or more. Some of the highlights:
Rapid City, SD
Cody, WY
Marathon Key, FL
Panama City Beach, FL
Mobile, AL
Baton Rouge, LA
Austin, TX
New Braunfels, TX
San Antonio, TX
El Paso, TX
Las Cruces, NM
Tombstone, AZ
Lake Havasu, AZ
Las Vegas, NV
Williams, AZ
Flagstaff, AZ
Amarillo, TX
Lubbock, TX
Abilene, TX
South Padre Island, TX
Ft Worth, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Ft Smith, AR
Branson, MO
Panama City Beach, FL I just bought a house here last month. I sold the RV and put down roots here. For how long? Who knows.
Good lord! Kind of impressive to even remember all of those. Are the ones you said are the highlights in your list, are those your faves? or just the ones you were at the longest? and the Italian areas you lived, they obviously stand out , so what's the best and worst things compared to the US cities in general? Intersting list of areas overall, that's quite an experience.
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I should have specified "places" not necessarily just "high density/high diversity"cities"
