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Not much around hereabouts. I'm 40 minutes from everywhere in the green hills we call "the Shire" in New Hampshire. (Which is how I like it) Cinemas and theater in Nashua and points north. Its small town life in New England. I can hardly go for a walk without having a neighbor stop and ask if I want a ride. My nearest neighbor is almost a quarter mile away - at the end of my driveway. Everyone else it a short drive away.
.....and yes I'm having fun here. I've had my fill of big cites, suburbs and so-called "civilisation" which isn't very civil anymore.
It's one of those sentences you hear all the time, yet I suspect the number of people who actually want to ski and surf the same day is pretty small. I know I've never met anyone who's done it or even considered doing it. It seems like the kind of thing where if you do it, it's probably to make some sort of point rather than just an organic event.
If you're close enough to the mountains for skiing to be a short activity of maybe a 1-2 hour time investment, it'll be a long (2+ hour) drive to the beach and back. And of course vice versa.
I make sure to do it every year. Morning sesh and out of the water by 9am, and on the slopes by noon. Since I’ve owned a cabin 10 minutes to the slopes I double dip and do the reverse the next day with a sunset session to finish the day. Day 3 is a lot of sleep, lol.
I’ll take it one step further and throw a round of golf in. My old neighbor at my cabin would throw his clubs into his truck wearing shorts when there’s snow (sometimes feet of it) on the ground to golf down the hill where it’s 70°. On several occasions after doing this I followed down on my way home after skiing and walked 18 instead of going for a surf.
I make sure to do it every year. Morning sesh and out of the water by 9am, and on the slopes by noon. Since I’ve owned a cabin 10 minutes to the slopes I double dip and do the reverse the next day with a sunset session to finish the day. Day 3 is a lot of sleep, lol.
I’ll take it one step further and throw a round of golf in. My old neighbor at my cabin would throw his clubs into his truck wearing shorts when there’s snow (sometimes feet of it) on the ground to golf down the hill where it’s 70°. On several occasions after doing this I followed down on my way home after skiing and walked 18 instead of going for a surf.
Yep. It’s actually not that difficult. Point is our weather and natural surroundings allows us to do things many can’t.
Different people have different concepts of fun. Just saying.
Very true. I did my share of surfing in college. It was okay, but not really my thing. In fact, the whole beach thing isn't that interesting to me. This isn't a slam on those that prefer the beach life or surfing, you do you.
Give me mountains please. Yes, there are mountains in SoCal, but these don't really compare to places like the High Sierras or the Rockies with craggy peaks, high alpine lakes basins, and tons of wilderness. For me there's nothing quite like being at a high alpine lake in the wilderness surrounded by peaks with the last lingering patches of snow and no sound except the birds and the breeze in the trees.
The US is vast and beautiful, and so there are many great places to live depending on what one wants. If surfing and skiing in the same day is really important to you, sure, SoCal is a good place. But so are places in NorCal, OR and WA. If you're willing to drive 2+ hours each way, one can even ski and mountain bike or hike or golf the same day in the Phoenix area. The same is true of most of the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest, especially late winter and early spring: tons of snow in the mountains adjacent to lower warm areas. I often ski spring corn snow mid morning for a couple of hours (about 30 minutes from my door), then BBQ later that day in shorts and a t-shirt.
Many folks don't care for outdoorsy stuff at all, in which case there are many great cities to choose from. I think about the times I spent working in NYC, SF, London, and Singapore and how many fun things there are to do in big cities. Not something I'd want to live every day, but I understand the attraction.
We're all privileged to live in a country with such great diversity and opportunity.
The US is vast and beautiful, and so there are many great places to live depending on what one wants. If surfing and skiing in the same day is really important to you, sure, SoCal is a good place. But so are places in NorCal, OR and WA. If you're willing to drive 2+ hours each way, one can even ski and mountain bike or hike or golf the same day in the Phoenix area. The same is true of most of the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest, especially late winter and early spring:
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Denver too. But can you go to the beach from either city? Disneyland? SD? Hollywood? Weather is pretty nice here as well.
Lots of cities are fun to visit as a tourist, but probably become mundane as a resident.
But do you know any cities that are fun to live in as a resident? Maybe you live in one of those cities? Maybe right now you're living somewhere where you're like "This is so good a life that I'm living, that I could not otherwise live this well if I lived in some other city. I'm totally having fun in my life right now, and it's specifically because I live here and not somewhere else. I could not have this kind of fun if I didn't live here."
If you are, I'd like to know what places are like this. If any exist in the United States.
Yeah, definitely. I've lived in several places that were neat to visit but rough as a resident. But I like where I live a lot and thoroughly enjoy most aspects of living here. No place is perfect, and anyone who stays somewhere long enough for reality to set in will be able to find issues. I'm no exception. Boston's not a place you can live easily or comfortably with a very limited income. Even if you can scrape together rent, you won't be able to enjoy many/most of the activities in the city. So there's definitely an income threshold. We also have issues with our transit system, typical city crime issues, and imperfect weather. My biggest gripe is that our ideal home (3+ bed, 2+ bath SFH with a small yard, and within walking distance to the subway) is out of reach for us in our neighborhood. But we do love our condo.
But generally, I really like it here. My neighborhood has a ton of great parks, bars, restaurants, etc. within walking distance. We're ~ 10 minutes door to door from downtown via train or ferry. We're within walking distance (or a few subway stops) of a decent beach and not too far from some real nice ones, we have quality skiing less than 3 hours away, and thankfully our friends and families are mostly fairly close by.
The family/friends thing can't be replicated anywhere. And there are only a few U.S. cities that can replicate some of the other things we love about here. I suspect we could be "happy" in a few other cities, but the family/friends tip the scales in favor of Boston.
Denver too. But can you go to the beach from either city? Disneyland? SD? Hollywood? Weather is pretty nice here as well.
You couldn't PAY me to go to Disneyland, LOL. Hollywood? Meh. Sorry, most of SoCal just isn't my jam. That doesn't mean it can't be your jam. Different strokes for different folks.
To be clear, Pheonix isn't really my thing either, though the Grand Canyon and all of northern AZ is really interesting, and Phoenix makes for a reasonable home base for employment and proximity to an airport.
Again, I'm not really an ocean/beach person even though I grew up in the Monterey Bay area. For decades we lived 5 minutes from the beach and went about twice a year. I would much rather be on the sandy beach of a mountain/desert canyon river or alpine lake.
As for weather, I prefer a four season climate. I love the cold and snow in winter. Boise is in a desert, so the city only gets a little snow and it doesn't stick around. The low humidity, light wind, and abundant sun means most winter days are relatively mild (mostly sweater weather). But I also love the hot dry summers here. The changing of seasons, for me, is highly desirable. Every season has it's thing. Summer: backpacking, fly fishing, camping, white water rafting, swimming in the river. Fall: hunting, amazing fall colors (Boise is The City of Trees), steelhead fishing with lots of cast & blast opportunities. Winter: skiing, snow shoeing, sledding, ice fishing. Spring: lake fishing, skiing, desert camping and hiking. I can, and do, mountain bike throughout the year. I can do all these things within a 20 mile radius, which means very little time driving, though I do occasionally go further out for adventure. And because it's so close, I typically get 40-50 days of skiing per season and mountain bike from my front door into the trail system in the foothills 2-3x/week. I often bike 10 minutes to the Boise River to fly fish.
You couldn't PAY me to go to Disneyland, LOL. Hollywood? Meh. Sorry, most of SoCal just isn't my jam. That doesn't mean it can't be your jam. Different strokes for different folks.
To be clear, Pheonix isn't really my thing either, though the Grand Canyon and all of northern AZ is really interesting, and Phoenix makes for a reasonable home base for employment and proximity to an airport.
Again, I'm not really an ocean/beach person even though I grew up in the Monterey Bay area. For decades we lived 5 minutes from the beach and went about twice a year. I would much rather be on the sandy beach of a mountain/desert canyon river or alpine lake.
As for weather, I prefer a four season climate. I love the cold and snow in winter. Boise is in a desert, so the city only gets a little snow and it doesn't stick around. The low humidity, light wind, and abundant sun means most winter days are relatively mild (mostly sweater weather). But I also love the hot dry summers here. The changing of seasons, for me, is highly desirable. Every season has it's thing. Summer: backpacking, fly fishing, camping, white water rafting, swimming in the river. Fall: hunting, amazing fall colors (Boise is The City of Trees), steelhead fishing with lots of cast & blast opportunities. Winter: skiing, snow shoeing, sledding, ice fishing. Spring: lake fishing, skiing, desert camping and hiking. I can, and do, mountain bike throughout the year. I can do all these things within a 20 mile radius, which means very little time driving, though I do occasionally go further out for adventure. And because it's so close, I typically get 40-50 days of skiing per season and mountain bike from my front door into the trail system in the foothills 2-3x/week. I often bike 10 minutes to the Boise River to fly fish.
Different strokes for different folks. I'm pretty versatile. Was happy in DC, Texas, Denver and Seattle. I do miss 4 seasons.
The premise of this thread is are we having fun where we live. If you can't have fun in SoCal, are you sure you can have fun anywhere?
I seemed to have struck a nerve with a few folks, not you, but there's just a crap to do here and I'm never bored. No, I don't ski, surf, go to Disney, Legoland, Catalina, etc every day, but I can. It's there. And I don't have to fly to do it.
Oh and the food and diversity here is pretty nice as well.
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Everyone else it a short drive away.
