Need to Settle Down Finally - Help, Help, Help please (fit in, house)

[checar]

Hi everyone,
I am a Floridian (Miami) who fell in love with Northern California in college and lived there for about 10 years, moved to Portland Oregon for various reasons and now I'm looking for a place to live and stay for good. My husband is a Texan, we met in California. We both love California but who can live there anymore if you expect a decent quality of life and are not making at least 200k per year. Population predictions for the state are not encouraging, either. I can't imagine CA any more crowded than it is.

All of our family is east of the Rockies, many on the East coast: Denver, Dallas, Philly, Charlotte, and around Florida. We'd like to be closer to them. We see neighbors getting together with nearby relatives and long for that ourselves. I don't need to be in the same town as the relatives; a few hours drive would be just fine.

I don't want a hot climate like Texas or to be in the SE. I love the change of seasons and my son loves snow. 200 days or more of sun would be great. Here we have about 144 and it isn't enough - I need sun. Half the time it is grey here it doesn't even rain.

We need a place that is visually appealing - beauty may be one of our top criteria. Beauty, safety, and relative affordability.

We're artists, we don't need any particular job market around us to get by. We don't want to be somewhere remote. It would be nice to be around educated people and within an hour of some museums, culture, etc./ doesn't have to be "world class" stuff.

We're fairly liberal, blue state people.

I've been making a case for New England, though I've never been there. I don't want to be somewhere that doesn't take to newcomers, especially from California. It much closer to the family except the Denver bunch.

I think we could blend in well with the New England "personality" that we've read about on these boards.

I was fascinated with Montana (Bozeman, Livingston) but it seems they don't want us there, and it doesn't get us much closer to family.

I'd love to be able be near a downtown that has a few things going on, bookstores or cafes, galleries, interesting shops or whatever, but not be in a big city.

Thank you for reading. If you have any suggestions please do share.

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[Xa'at]

New England sounds about right if you are dead set on back east. Vermont, NH and Maine especially are not as crowded and have good scenery. Any farther south than that and you start to hit the urban sprawl.
Now, if you want to be flexible, there really is no place like the NW. Seattle is a great city, and there are a bunch of really fun artsy towns lining the coast; Olympia, Bellingham, Florence, Seaside, Newport, and Coos Bay to name a few. Northern Idaho also has some fun places, I like Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, and farther south, McCall.

[christina0001]

I haven't personally been there, but from what I have heard, Asheville, NC might be a good match for you. Also ditto xa'at's suggestion to check out the New England states or perhaps upstate New York, but I am not sure you will get the sunshine you are looking for.

[checar]

Thanks for your input. I am not dead set on back East, but was looking to solve the problem we have now of only seeing most of the family once or twice a year at most. My son (age 6) has cousins he doesn't know at all, not to mention aunts and uncles.

However, I do love the West.

My ideal location:

• 4 seasons with a mild summer and a nice fall with that crisp air and lots of color
• safe
• blue or purple state politically though I am probably flexible here
• a small or medium town that has its own basic entertainment, art scene, etc.
• Decent house for under $375K
• accepting of newcomers
• can't be in the South - no offense to Southerners, it just isn't for me (originally from Florida)
• parks & rec classes/programs, little league, kid-friendly
• 200+ days of sun

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Any other places I should take a good look at? Thank you!

[aaammmyyy]

Try Coos Bay Oregon, it's small, no smog, has a great down town, all in walking distance, and I think you would fit in fine

[checar]

I do love the Oregon coast but I need more sun, unfortunately.

Colorado (northern Front Range) and New England (?) are still contenders. We were in Denver recently, just basking in that intense sunshine...we're used to being cool and misted all the time here in Portland
thanks