Stuck Trying To Find A New Place To Live (Philadelphia: rent, neighborhoods)

[WillN]

Hi guys (and ladies)!

This is my first post here.

First let me start with this; I've lived in Philadelphia suburbs my whole life, up until 18. Then I went to college at IUP out by Clarion county. Once I left college I immediately moved to downtown Philadelphia. I've been in the Washington Square West area the past three years. I'm now 24 and am ready for a new adventure.
Last year I started exploring other North-East Metropolis cities. Starting in NYC, then Baltimore, and Boston, and DC. I love Philly, love DC, love Boston, REALLY dislike the upbeat pace of Manhatten and the grimy pockets of Brooklyn (those are the only two places i'd be in NYC), and just plain old do not like Baltimore.

So after figuring out that even though i like philly, dc, and boston, i want a change. I'm a 24 year old man that's lived in suburbs and urban areas of Philadelphia my whole life and now I want an adventure!

For the past 4 or so months I've been entertaining the idea of moving to a new place with these parameters:
1. has to be easy for me to assimilate, meaning that I'd like to keep it American or Canadian
2. has to be in a geographical location with mountains (i'm an avid snowboarding and would like to start backcountry hiking the top of mountains to ride them)
3. has to have a good metropolitan town like Philadelphia (I love the fact that i can walk out of my door and ride my bike to a very fun area like the Piazza in NoLibs or Rittenhouse square without any plans and find many interesting people).

After some searching i've abandoned the idea of San Fran, LA, San Diego. But continued on to other cities. The cities that are appealing to me, location/topographical wise, are Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Achorage.

Basically if you can see mountains in the background of a city, I want to scope it out.

After much frustration finding multiple cities within great locality of mountains and adventure, I am now turning to others opinions instead of the headstrong self research.

Does anyone know if one of the above cities, Salt Lake, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, or Anchorage, have great central areas like Philadelphia does? I know Vancouver does. I am more for Vancouver and Salt Lake than the other three but Vancouver means i have to fight with canada to get in and Salt lake just doesn't seem like a really centered city.

Help?

[sp2007]

I'm from PA but live in Utah now. I would say that SLC does have a little downtown area, nothing as strong or robust as Philly does.

Seattle and Portland definitely do, and although I have never been there, I am pretty sure Vancouver does too. Its probably not that hard to get in. It is Canada after all.

Maybe Denver or Sacremento would appeal to you too. Good luck!

[WillN]

Originally Posted by sp2007

I'm from PA but live in Utah now. I would say that SLC does have a little downtown area, nothing as strong or robust as Philly does.

Seattle and Portland definitely do, and although I have never been there, I am pretty sure Vancouver does too. Its probably not that hard to get in. It is Canada after all.

Maybe Denver or Sacremento would appeal to you too. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply in both threads. I don't necessarily want all the mayhem but i do want the option of be able to. If you know what I mean.

[teachbeach]

Seattle and Portland would definitely fulfill your qualifications, young crowds, lots of outdoor activities, interesting neighborhoods and walkable, biking towns. Lots of parks and free stuff to do. Direct flights back to East Coast with maybe a change of planes in Chicago or Detroit. I've spent time in both and preferred Seattle, it appeared to be cleaner and has the highest level of literacy in the United States.

Salt Lake City is beautiful, and I understand the skiing options are terrific. My complaint about the city (when I visited) was that there was no night life to speak of~but I was staying near Mormon Square, so I may have not been near the artsy or cultural part of town.

Chicago is a great area for the biking~the whole Lake Shore Drive and many parks are super bike friendly, and you can even rent a bike in the business district as a tourist to ride for a few hours. Lots of interesting neighborhoods and tons of stuff for a young active 23 year old. The mountains/skiing part would probably have to be fulfilled with a trip into Wisconsin, Minnesota or even northern Michigan. It definitely wouldn't be something you could do after work like in Seattle or Portland.