If you had to Leave Orange County- where would you move? (Columbia: live in, to move)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

I lived 25 years in MI then 18+ years in So Ca. then 5 years in MI and CA back and forth as needed for business (a day here, a week there, maybe a couple of months for a long trial).

We get a few days each year with wind chill in the -20 range. You mostly stay in. You remote start your vehicle (or dash out, start it, dash back in), let it warm up, walk to it, drive to a parking garage and enter a heated building. That is barely different than I would do in California on many days. Usually I would not wait to warm up my car, but some days I needed to wait for it to cool off before I could drive it.

In the evening or on the weekends if it is that cold you pretty much stay inside, so we might go shooting at an indoor range, swim at an indoor pool, hit some balls at an indoor driving range, visit Grandpa, watch a movie, sit by a fire and read a book, write long posts on CD, build something out of wood, attend a sporting event or a play, visit a museum, go to an indoor waterpark, shoot some pool, dance, do some wiring, clean the house, etc. Again it is only a few days a year and I do indoor stuff some days when the weather is wonderful.

However when it is not windy it is beautiful to be outside in the winter. Especially when it is in the mid 20s, crystal clear, vibrant blue skies, sparkling white snow everywhere, and so still and silent you get a feeling of awe (especially when it is snowing). You can run, or ski, or chop wood without sweating. It is great to just lean agasint a tree and listen to nothing, or watch deer, or woodpeckers, or a fox or whatever you might see in the woods.

I enjoy driving in the snow (not so much in ice). It has a camp sort of feeling to it. Only one lane open. People are particularly courteous and helpful to one another becasue you have to be. No one expects you to be on time. 20" snow drifts happen maybe two or three times a year. You have a couple of choices: drive through them; dig, snow blow, or plow through them; work from home; take the day off. All of these are fun choices to me.

Our major roads are usually cleared and dry within a few hours or at elast a day of getting snow or ice. (Much to the dismay of our kids who love snow days). It is very rare that it is a big problem to drive, and even more rare if you have 4wd. Our biggest issue is getting stuck in the driveway. That only happens a few times a year as well. It happens about as frequently as I burned my legs getting into a car in CA that was sitting in the sun.

Even up north where they get real snow (i.e. measured in feet not inches) the roads are usually cleared right away. If you can get out of your driveway, travel is fine.

The spring and summer are amazing. Everything is vibrant green punctuated here and there with wildflowers. Beautiful lakes streams and rivers host swans, geese, ducks, herons, egrets, bald eagles. Thick woods allow glimpses of foxes, deer, coyotes, and more. PSring has a wodnerful jubilant new begining to it. Everything and everyone wants to frolic and play. Horses are particularly fun to watch. Fall also has an undescribable charge to the atmosphere. It iis impossible to describe. However everyone who lives here loves fall. Not just the colors. It is everything about fall. It cannot be described. No fall was my wifes biggest issue with So Ca. (early fall is the hottest time of year there).

In the summer, we do not get a lot of humidity, only a few weeks each year. It is never 100+, we do not use Ac in the house. Even though we live on a river, we have had no threats of flooding. It rains a lot and the rain is fun, especially sunshowers when it is warm rain. You can grow anything by throwing seeds in your yard (except citrus and no birds of paradise) Even the mud can be fun for a while. We do get tornado warnings from time to time. We hang out in the basement and watch a movie or play board games. It is great family time because we are forced to be together. Other places have their own risks, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, landslides, dangerous heat, etc. Every place has something.

Yes, there are mosquitoes. Again that does not make life hard or unpleasant. You need to stay inside or wear stinky spray from 7 p.m. to about 9 p.m. and sometimes at dawn. Otherwise they are not really a problem. I hate the oily stinky spray, but I would not say that it makes life hard or unpleasant. It is just a minor annoyance. Mosquitoes go away in the late fall and do not return until summer. Besides, most places have mosquitoes or something to take their place. So. Cal. had few mosquitoes, but does have major fleas and roaches roach, loads of black widow spiders, and tree rat infestations. Not as annoying as mosquitoes and deer flies, black flies and other biters, but it is a trade off. Both places are great. I certainly woudl not call the midwest unbearable, unpleasant or significantly harder. You do have to toughen up a bit. It is not a place for the weak or pampered.

I prefer the So cal weather, but my wife sees every day as warm/overcast - hot/clearing - nice- repeat each and every day. No thunderstorms, no snow, no fall, no real spring or winter, not much change at all. The change that there is is very gradual, nothing dramatic - yawn.

For everyone one person who prefers (not tolerates) Michigan weather, there are at least 69 people who prefer Southern California weather.

I just took my kids to the outdoor pool today.

[KaraG]

I hope it was a heated pool! With nights dipping into the 30's/40's according to KFI this morning, that water would've been nippy!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by KaraG

I hope it was a heated pool! With nights dipping into the 30's/40's according to KFI this morning, that water would've been nippy!

Yes, it's heated.

[jessinw]

McMinnville, Oregon! Population 33,000! Clean air, a little bit of snow, warm summers, nice place to buy a house and start a family. We get earthquakes, but they are small.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by Charles

For everyone one person who prefers (not tolerates) Michigan weather, there are at least 69 people who prefer Southern California weather.

This exactly defines the biggest problem living in the LA,OC or SF areas. It is much too crowded!!! Even if you buy a mansion after making a few million with your stock options and the big earthquake never comes,you have to deal everyday with the insane overcrowding.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by capoeira

This exactly defines the biggest problem living in the LA,OC or SF areas. It is much too crowded!!! Even if you buy a mansion after making a few million with your stock options and the big earthquake never comes,you have to deal everyday with the insane overcrowding.

Only if you're dumb enough like I am to commute 52 miles one way to work. Most people in my neighborhood for example work within 30 easy minutes. Most moms are only driving in a five mile radius 90% of the time: stores, schools, doctors, gym, soccer practice, cheer, gymnastics, other after school stuff, etc.

[ferretkona]

I will be retiring soon. My wife and I are headed back to the Yosemite valley. Great to live in, no work available thou. My wife will have plenty of work as she is a musician and she has her old band to return to. She is going up this week for a couple weeks to scout out and play a few gigs. Be great to return up there.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Charles

For everyone one person who prefers (not tolerates) Michigan weather, there are at least 69 people who prefer Southern California weather.

I just took my kids to the outdoor pool today.

Our pool is semi indoors, but it still works. We finally shut it down a few weeks ago, so now we have to go to a club pool to swim (or wait two months). We will probably just do other things for a few months. We are a little squeamish about community pools. I like to have control over who has been in the water I swim in, how much chlorine or other chemicals are in the water, etc. You can catch ick from other people even in chlorinated water. We would often catch somehting going to that water park in Irvine. Our Doctor finally told us to take antibiotics for four days before going there. Thus, we are not likely to swim until we open up our pool again (or the river thaws out).

Overall, I do not much care whether a pool is outdoors or indoors. It is pretty much the same. It is somewhat nicer when we can open up our pool to the sun, but either way (open or enclosed) you are swimming.

When we lived in california our pool was not heated. We used it about the same months (May - October) that we use our pool now, except that here it is enclosed from late september through June. We will heat the pool up for Thanksgiving and Christmas break, but that is pretty expensive.

I am one of those 69 people who prefer OC weather, but more than half of my family is not.

We had a beautiful weekend. It was no coat weather for a while (as long as you were active). The weather was pretty dramatic though. Saturday night our dinner cruise boat was frozen in, but Saturday day was pretty warm and Sunday nearly melted all of our snow. There is not a speck of ice around that dumb boat now. . Not the best weather for Detroit's "winterfest" It was too warm. Ice sculptures melting and I think that they closed down the dog sledding. (Not sure, it was closed when we saw it).

As I said, I prefer the constant nice weather, but for many of our family they find preferable the fact that we could go sledding (or dogsledding if we had gotten there on Saturday), ice skating, ice fishing, have a snowball fight, track a deer through the woods, see artistic ice sculptures, build a snow fort, etcetera, instead of yet another day where they can go to the same pool in the same weather as ever other day. Thay can go swimming for part of the year, and sledding, or skating for part of the year (I love XC skiing, but cannot get anyone to go with me). They like the variety. Different people like different things. Some like variety and challenges, most like easy things and dislike change and adaptation, even if it is a bit dull. I am in the second group when it comes to weather, but they are slowly winning me over. I certianly love thunderstorms, sunshowers, everything about fall.. . . .

For me we are moving into one of the nasty periods. Too cold for boating or bicycles, or canoeing, too muddy for hiking, or other "turf" activities. Maybe we will just have to go swimming for active fun.

This is a good time to catch up on indoor honeydos. However the kids love the mud. (So do the dogs).

You numbers are a bit off, but the point is correct. (Michigan has about 10 million people while California has 36 million, so it is about 1/4 not 1/69, but I think that you were trying to make a point, not trying to be statistically accurate.).

[westcoastbabe]

Charlotte, North Carolina....Lord knows if you are looking for a city that is family friendly...this is the city for you....Dunno how you feel about NC in general...

[wrcousert]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

I will be retiring soon. My wife and I are headed back to the Yosemite valley. Great to live in, no work available thou. My wife will have plenty of work as she is a musician and she has her old band to return to. She is going up this week for a couple weeks to scout out and play a few gigs. Be great to return up there.

Moving out to the boonies when you're old and gray may sound like fun, but what's going to happen when you are no longer able to drive? Do you want to be stuck in some hick town that doesn't have transit?

Lots of seniors take the bus long after they sold their last car. A good transit system can allow elderly people to remain independent.