Warm, liberal, affordable, dog-friendly places to live near water (houses, theatre)
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Yea Idaho meets the kayaking and affordable criteria, but not really the liberal/arts/culture (or sunny) and Arizona provides lots of sun and arts community, despite being conservative, but very little water.
Knoxville is a little warmer than Asheville and has a lot more lakes. Great kayaking nearby. I don't think of whitewater as relaxing but there are many opportunities for whitewater both east and west as well as flat water. Not predominantly liberal but you won't feel like an outcast. Mayor is very liberal but term limited. Stretch your time limit to 110 minutes and you can make day trips to Asheville. You'd save enough on rent for 8-10 overnights a month.
Kyle, I think Boise has some liberal pockets. May not qualify for the warm factor. OP could do better for water but Cour d'Alene is even colder.
One think neat about kayaking/ canoeing in Knoxville is you can phone in to get TVA lake release schedules and float swift water below Norris, Douglas and Cherokee dams. So it is not whitewater but you are floating along at a lively pace if you time it right.
We haven't talked about dog parks but there are dog parks in Knoxville. Your dog can join you on the patios of the restaurants/bars on Market square.
Last edited by creeksitter; 03-10-2016 at 02:56 PM..
The New River region in WV offers some of the best kayaking and rafting in the U.S., certainly east of the Mississippi River. The New and other nearby rivers such as the Cheat and the Gauley are dam fed, so have good flows in the summer and excellent flow during planned releases which attract expert kayakers.
The New is five hours from Cleveland (a great weekend), but closer to other cities that have been mentioned, and some that haven't been mentioned, such as Pittsburgh, which also is worth considering. Pittsburgh is where the Ohio River is born, and is a great river city with likely great kayaking. Hydrologically, the Ohio River is the upper Mississippi. Pittsburgh also has very affordable housing.
If you wouldn't mind a small town, one located near the New River, check out Beckley, WV. See number 19 here. It may not sufficiently liberal for you, but I don't have a clue.
Oh the "West" in that sentence (dreary and rainy) was Western Oregon/NorCal too. Dramatic, beautiful, occasionally sunny and spectacular, but prone to gray skies. That tends to turn me into a dramatic, dreary writer/person
Wood River Valley sounds great and I have been looking into that. What makes it a dog friendly place? Parks? Dog walking? Is it warm? Seems like Idaho gets pretty cold.
I need to move by April 1, so I'm pretty overwhelmed looking. Appreciate everyone's suggestions and still not having much luck but will forge on.
It's a community that loves and respects dogs. It's a community with many, many dogs and all are treated well and loved big time. There are endless miles of hiking trails (no leash necessary) all year round. There are some of the best x-country trails (skate skiing and classical) in the country (maybe even the world) and some allow dogs. The valley is surrounded with national forest land.
There are rivers and creeks and a little lake that will allow your dog to be in the water.
And yes there is a huge park in Ketchum that is a magnificent doggy play ground.
There are top notch vets in the valley.
The dogs are happy.
The shelter is no-kill.
I have a dog. I spend much time in the valley as i have family who have been here since the '50's. It's by far the most dog supportive environment and easiest, relaxed place that i have experienced with a dog. I'm a "dog person".
And yes, it gets cold (sometimes very cold) in the winter. It's in the mountains which, if i'm remembering your original post accurately, was acceptable. It's a dry cold though. I'm colder in the redwoods when it's 50 degrees than i am when it's 20 degrees in Ketchum. And you get used to it. And you get nice warm clothes and a big and cozy down parka and you're good to go.
The summers are warm and beautiful.
The best way to find a rental in the area is to look at the classifieds in the Idaho Mountain Express. It's the local paper.
Right now, there aren't too many rentals because it's still in season (winter skiers)
Ski season ends every year on April 15th. The time to start looking for a place is toward the end of March.
You will see that there are 3 options in the valley. Ketchum/Sun Valley, Mid-Valley and Hailey/Bellevue.
The rentals in Ketchum / Sun Valley are, on average, more expensive. Hailey is a great town south of Ketchum .... about a 12-15 minute drive. You'll see in this weeks classified ads a house in Hailey for $1350. Bellevue is a few minutes south of Hailey and it is the least expensive place to live in the valley. There's really no bad area to live re; crime, etc..
If you want to give the area a try and need a bit of time to explore the area (by April it's relatively warm and May is gorgeous!), consider using airbnb for a temporary situation that will be much less expensive than a hotel room. If you have the luxury of exploring to find out whether it (or any community) will be good for you, airbnb is a good way to get to know a place.
If you like the Wood River Valley and feel a connection with the place i'll just say it's a very good community with a lot of good people. It's also small. So there's the best of small town living but there are very educated, intelligent and culturally oriented people here. If you read my post about the area on the other thread, you'll see what i mean.
It's also a place with a lot of money. Any good / high end resort like it has that aspect. That has its plusses and minuses.
Last edited by blueskywalker; 03-10-2016 at 03:56 PM..
No More Snow for Me - "What didn't feel right about Chico?" -- I don't know, just sort of something about it being very suburban and average and blah. Same thing about Medford, which is otherwise pleasant and just fine. Nothing terrible, just seems a long way to move to start a live in a place that doesn't stand out to me. But I know my stepmother and friend recommend Chico a lot. And Medford would allow me to visit Ashland. Specifically on Chico what set me off was the "party school" atmosphere, culture, and street after street of student housing - which makes the rentals tend to be trashy, as they expect students to trash and leave.
Yes Idaho seems to have what I'm looking for in landscape beauty although colder and not great for cultural connections - while the Southwest are warmer and beautiful but not great for water.
For the moment, the South is out of the question.
Sometimes I think about Denver.
Ideally though, I think my heart really wants to stay in California or nearby enough to my family.
ps - you guys are being helpful thank you so much for your suggestions. I'm still very confused but grateful. But yes, whitewater is not quite what I had in mind, so much as kayaking as a form of quiet, meditation, peace
BlueSkyWalker - that all sounds heavenly. What do you recommend for a single woman who telecommutes in terms of making friends if I were to plop myself into such a different place? (friends, not dating, friends: likeminded friends).
I think I might look into that for my next step, say six months out and find temporary housing until then.
On the other hand it would be great not to have to move a fourth time in two years and find a nice sunny place near water, culture, nature, and liberals asap.
Water, culture, nature, liberals, affordable - and a day's drive from my family. Why is that so damn difficult?
I also have to add that Idaho's beauty, while unmatched, also makes me nervous because in my experience, in the work that I do, culturally Idahoan's are beyond "conservative" and engage in the opposite of my values - where I try to protect wildlife, the culture is big on hunting. Idaho politics (along with Wyoming) regarding wildlife, are some of the worst in my opinion, particularly when it comes to wolves. I can't imagine I'd make friends there easily. I did find pockets of nice places on my travels there, and then I would be speaking to seemingly nice strangers and they'd tell me about their wolf hunting tags. We will never see eye to eye on that.
Liberal and warm are rare combinations in the east, that's why chapel hill and Asheville are so expensive. You have a couple of choices: buy a warm coat or figure out how to be more open minded.
Even Charlottesville is considered the south, BTW.
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