Looking to move to the mid-Atlantic region (Baltimore, Frederick: low income, income)

[Sleddog905]

Thanks for the Carroll County suggestion. What about area's more north/northeast of Baltimore? What are they like? Is the traffic worse in those area's since they're closer to Baltimore (including Carroll County)?

[MidValleyDad]

Carroll is North-Northwest of Baltimore. I question the '30 minutes' to somewhere in Baltimore but it may depend on where in Carroll County you start from.

Frederick is West-NorthWest of Baltimore and North of the DC area. The two counties have a lot of similarities. Many folks commute to both the Baltimore and Washington Metro areas for work From Both counties but I would say Carroll is more Baltimore centric and Frederick is slightly more Washington centric.

North of Baltimore is Baltimore County which also surrounds Baltimore. Baltimore city is a seperate political subdivision of the state from any of the counties. Northeast of Baltimore is Harford County. Further northeast is Cecil County which Borders Delaware and is somewhat Wilmington Centric.

[newhart]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Carroll is North-Northwest of Baltimore. I question the '30 minutes' to somewhere in Baltimore but it may depend on where in Carroll County you start from.

There's a Whole Foods off of Falls Rd, near Northern Pkwy, a straight shot down 83. Google has it as 25 minutes from Finksburg which I chose simply because we have friends there.

What about area's more north/northeast of Baltimore? What are they like? Is the traffic worse in those area's since they're closer to Baltimore (including Carroll County)?

Harford County to the northeast of Baltimore could work for you, too. It's very suburban to the east near Bel Air, but there's a lot of rural area further north. I"m not familiar enough with these areas to talk about traffic into the city.

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by newhart

There's a Whole Foods off of Falls Rd, near Northern Pkwy, a straight shot down 83. Google has it as 25 minutes from Finksburg which I chose simply because we have friends there.

Okay. But Finksburg is barely into Carroll County ( I know I grew up near there :-)). No big deal. And there are plenty of decent places to shop closer (For Fruits and Veggies try Baughers Farm Market and restaurant in Westminster. It has been there for years.)

[DaveinMtAiry]

First off welcome to our board.

As I was reading this Frederick came to mind for me as well, as did our area of Mount Airy. We live right on the southern tip of Carroll County, our property borders the county line It seems to fit your description for the most part. It is country for sure but may not be country enough for you. Our grocery store is only a mile away.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Colorado, including an entire summer, and I gotta say I'm very concerned about the humidity here. You may want to spend a week here in July to make sure. And I would not even consider NC, unless it's Asheville or another mountain town, if you have humidity concerns.

Come to think of it you may want to look into Asheville. It's really nice.

[Sleddog905]

Originally Posted by DaveinMtAiry

First off welcome to our board.

As I was reading this Frederick came to mind for me as well, as did our area of Mount Airy. We live right on the southern tip of Carroll County, our property borders the county line It seems to fit your description for the most part. It is country for sure but may not be country enough for you. Our grocery store is only a mile away.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Colorado, including an entire summer, and I gotta say I'm very concerned about the humidity here. You may want to spend a week here in July to make sure. And I would not even consider NC, unless it's Asheville or another mountain town, if you have humidity concerns.

Come to think of it you may want to look into Asheville. It's really nice.

Thank you for the welcome! I've been looking into the Mt Airy area as well, now that I'm getting somewhat familiar with the area. I think we're quite ready to have things closer to us. We love having our own space (property), but driving 20 min to the grocery store has gotten old. I'm sure people in more rural areas would laugh at this, but we're kind of over it, haha.

We are from CT and spend 5-6 weeks every summer on the east coast, so we are very familiar with humidity. My in-laws live in the Caribbean, and it doesn't get much more humid than that! Am I excited about moving back to the humidity? Nope. But, at least we won't have the constant threat of wildfires. We live in the middle of a forest, so it's very stressful whenever we don't get enough moisture.

Asheville is probably too remote for our liking. Charlotte is the closest city to it, and we weren't in love with the place. I definitely preferred Raleigh, but that was too small and too flat! Anyway, we planned on visiting it last summer, but we were having some mechanical issues an needed to head right to Charlotte. I've heard jobs aren't easy to come by, and it is a bit too far from Charlotte's airport. That might not be a deal breaker, but I'd like to stick to no more than 60-90 min from a major airport. With that said, we are still curious about the area and might still check it out.

How's the tick and Lyme Disease situation in central/western MD?

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by Sleddog905

Thank you for the welcome! I've been looking into the Mt Airy area as well, now that I'm getting somewhat familiar with the area. I think we're quite ready to have things closer to us. We love having our own space (property), but driving 20 min to the grocery store has gotten old. I'm sure people in more rural areas would laugh at this, but we're kind of over it, haha.

We are from CT and spend 5-6 weeks every summer on the east coast, so we are very familiar with humidity. My in-laws live in the Caribbean, and it doesn't get much more humid than that! Am I excited about moving back to the humidity? Nope. But, at least we won't have the constant threat of wildfires. We live in the middle of a forest, so it's very stressful whenever we don't get enough moisture.

Asheville is probably too remote for our liking. Charlotte is the closest city to it, and we weren't in love with the place. I definitely preferred Raleigh, but that was too small and too flat! Anyway, we planned on visiting it last summer, but we were having some mechanical issues an needed to head right to Charlotte. I've heard jobs aren't easy to come by, and it is a bit too far from Charlotte's airport. That might not be a deal breaker, but I'd like to stick to no more than 60-90 min from a major airport. With that said, we are still curious about the area and might still check it out.

How's the tick and Lyme Disease situation in central/western MD?

Bad, although probably not much worse than CT.



We always do a thorough tick check of ourselves and any kids when coming inside from a hike.

[Sleddog905]

Originally Posted by westsideboy

Bad, although probably not much worse than CT.



We always do a thorough tick check of ourselves and any kids when coming inside from a hike.

Yuck. MD is completely covered in black! We have two close friends with chronic Lyme symptoms, so it's something we're highly concerned with. I'm surprised that most of VA is low risk. Granted, we usually visit the Williamsburg area, but my dogs always have lots of ticks on them when we camp there.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by Sleddog905

Yuck. MD is completely covered in black! We have two close friends with chronic Lyme symptoms, so it's something we're highly concerned with. I'm surprised that most of VA is low risk. Granted, we usually visit the Williamsburg area, but my dogs always have lots of ticks on them when we camp there.

My wife found a deer tick on her last year. Luckily I got it out, head and all, before it was fully imbedded. I also know of several people who have contracted the disease. It is a real problem, but the risk can be partially mitigated by using OFF, dressing appropriately when hiking, and doing thorough tick checks.

I believe the disease isn't frequently found in VA because the Potomac River acts as a natural barrier to the deer. To that affect, I will throw Winchester, VA (Frederick County, VA) out as an option. It is a bit more rural and further removed from D.C., but is a really cool little city right up against the Allegheny Mountains.

[DaveinMtAiry]

Lume is nothing to laugh at, a good friend suffered for years with it. But I have lived here my entire life and he is the only person I have ever known to contract it. Hardly a reason to discount moving to an area IMO. As for pets, it's an easy thing to prevent with Frontline and shots.