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Like, riverbank a couple miles from mountains a couple miles from forest a couple miles from meadows a couple miles from a lake or a couple miles from plains something. What I'm really asking about and am most interested in are the cities that have a diverse set of features clustered within the metropolitan area (is there anywhere with all of these things within like a 10-mile radius, somehow?), but if you think of places with an extraordinary variety of scenery within an hour or two's drive I'd like to hear it as well! I grew up in VA always hearing bragging about how we were 1.5 hours from mountains and 1.5 hours from beach but something tells me that's not as rare as I was made to believe.
Let me know whatever comes to mind! The topic came to mind because on a recent weekend I took a day trip where I incidentally found myself in this beautiful flowery meadow, and I had no idea that I could find such joy in a setting like that until that moment. I always thought I'd want to retire in a place where I could wander through a beautiful wooded area or along a riverside, but this revelation has me daydreaming (pipe-dreaming?) of a place where I could wander through all manner of ecology without being too far from home. Does some version of it exist in the US? Maybe, maybe not!
*After a lifetime of a cumulative 0 city-data posts (but plenty of browsing!), this is now 2 within 10 minutes. I don't know what's gotten into me, please forgive the little spurt!*
Try Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and LA — especially the last, where you easily go (traffic not withstanding) from beaches to hills to mountains to desert in only a few hours or less.
I agree with others that the West Coast cities are your best bets for what you're looking for. I'd probably put Seattle on top, but the others would work as well. On the East Coast, I think a case can be made for Washington and Baltimore. Yes, the mountains and the ocean are 1.5 hours in opposite directions, but we also have rivers, forests, hills, meadows, and a variety of other topography.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coveringmyeyes
*After a lifetime of a cumulative 0 city-data posts (but plenty of browsing!), this is now 2 within 10 minutes. I don't know what's gotten into me, please forgive the little spurt!*
A journey of a thousand posts begins with a single lurk!
Like, riverbank a couple miles from mountains a couple miles from forest a couple miles from meadows a couple miles from a lake or a couple miles from plains something. What I'm really asking about and am most interested in are the cities that have a diverse set of features clustered within the metropolitan area (is there anywhere with all of these things within like a 10-mile radius, somehow?), but if you think of places with an extraordinary variety of scenery within an hour or two's drive I'd like to hear it as well! I grew up in VA always hearing bragging about how we were 1.5 hours from mountains and 1.5 hours from beach but something tells me that's not as rare as I was made to believe.
Let me know whatever comes to mind! The topic came to mind because on a recent weekend I took a day trip where I incidentally found myself in this beautiful flowery meadow, and I had no idea that I could find such joy in a setting like that until that moment. I always thought I'd want to retire in a place where I could wander through a beautiful wooded area or along a riverside, but this revelation has me daydreaming (pipe-dreaming?) of a place where I could wander through all manner of ecology without being too far from home. Does some version of it exist in the US? Maybe, maybe not!
*After a lifetime of a cumulative 0 city-data posts (but plenty of browsing!), this is now 2 within 10 minutes. I don't know what's gotten into me, please forgive the little spurt!*
Since you said metro areas and not just city limits, on the east coast it's hard to beat the geographic diversity of New York City. Rivers, lakes, white sandy beaches, forests, bays, islands, ocean, Appalachian foothills. You have all of these within the boundaries of the NYC metropolitan area.
Since you said metro areas and not just city limits, on the east coast it's hard to beat the geographic diversity of New York City. Rivers, lakes, white sandy beaches, forests, bays, islands, ocean, Appalachian foothills. You have all of these within the boundaries of the NYC metropolitan area.
Yeah not to mention the whale sightings up and down the Hudson and NY Harbor and the breachings a little further out in the ocean. NYC Metro has everything in spades, tough to compete with.
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
Portland
Seattle
New York City
Honolulu
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