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Hi, I'm a fun-loving, liberal-minded single man in my 40's living in the San Francisco East Bay Area. Out of the blue yesterday I was offered a job interview for a good company in Apex. I'm concerned about making that move. It seems like it would be a massive tradeoff -- I would get a bigger, newer house for less money and probably a bigger paycheck, and possibly a better dating pool therefore, a big deal for me, as CA women seem kind of rude and self-centered, but in return, I lose on climate and comfort overall I fear. The weather where I live is incredibly nice, warm but mild usually, not humid. I'm into sports, and culture, and music and love the variety of activities and cultural experiences here. I notice the weather in NC today is 75° at 4AM with 97% humidity -- yikes, is that normal? And it snows, with hurricanes? LOL If I move to NC, will I never be able to move back? I'd appreciate thoughts on what I might expect in terms of culture, weather, athletic opportunities such as hiking, skiing, tennis, racquetball, etc, and theatre and music. I admit I'm spoiled out here in CA and I'm sure my ignorance and worries are showing through. You get the idea... help?
Thanks!
Plenty of us have moved here from the Bay Area and couldn't be happier. So maybe you just don't know spoiled yet.
Yes, it gets hot in the summer. That humidity obviously comes down as the day wears on and the temps go up, but yes, it's more humid here than in CA. I certainly appreciate the seasons more here...CA got boring to me. I was in SF, so our two seasons were fog and rain with a few weeks of great weather between each.
About the only thing I really miss from CA is the skiing in Tahoe, but then again I have two young kids now and so skiing would be more difficult for me regardless of where I lived. You can ski here (closest areas are 3-4 hours away), but it's not nearly the scale and quality you see in Tahoe.
As for other outdoors activities, there are plenty of things to do...you have close beaches, plenty of parks for hiking and biking, climbing, whatever floats your boat.
Snow is pretty rare...if you've gone skiing in Tahoe, you've experienced a lot worse. This winter we had under an inch of snow officially...average is about 7 inches. Hurricanes obviously fairly rare too and we're far enough inland that they're generally just bad storms by the time they get here. Doesn't mean they don't cause problems though.
This is obviously college basketball country, and you'll find good support for Carolina Hurricanes hockey. College football also a decent draw and AAA baseball in Durham. As for playing sports, you'll find whatever you need here.
Theater and music? Durham has a couple of very well regarded theaters (DPAC and Carolina), and both Raleigh and Durham have decent music scenes.
I've been pleasantly surprised by the restaurants here. When leaving SF everybody said we were headed to a food wasteland, but that's definitely not the case. Chains abound, but you'll also find lots of great places scattered all over the Triangle.
Location: River's Edge Inn, Todd NC, and Lorgues France
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From you have written, I would guess that here you would be a fish out of water.
But it wouldn't hurt to visit so you wouldn't be forever second guessing yourself.
I spent many years in CA (southern) before moving here and it is different, and in my opinion, better. As SFSpiderman said, it's a different kind of spoiled.
As far as weather, it doesn't snow with hurricanes. We get snow, but not a lot. I've shoveled my driveway a couple of times in the past 10+ years. We usually get just enough each year to really appreciate the beauty of it. When snow is coming, many people seem to panic and rush to the grocery store for food which I still don't understand (yes, I was living here the winter that it snowed 18 inches in a day - which was a record). We get at least a few days notice if a hurricane is headed this way, but by the time it moves this far inland, it's rarely a hurricane anymore and usually we just get a lot of rain and wind. We don't have earthquakes like in CA (no advance warning on those). We have heat and humidity in the summer which can be pretty bad, but that's why almost everyone has air conditioning. Autumn is a beautiful season. The weather is great and the leaves change color. I'm still in awe each time that happens.
I thought the dating scene was good - I met my husband here so it worked wonderfully for me. But we weren't into the bar/nightclub scene so, if that's your thing, I don't know how that is. I know the rude, self-centered attitude you're talking about and I see it here on occasion, but find it to be much more rare than in CA.
There are lots of options for hiking - I can't personally speak to the other sports you mentioned, but lots of folks are active so you should be able to find others who enjoy the same activities. The mountains and beach are probably further away than you're used to, but you can do day trips to either place. Music and theatre options are really good - not as many as SF, but this is a smaller area. Take a look at meetup.com for groups if you want to get ideas about where you might fit in.
Of course you should never move anywhere without visiting and seeing for yourself what you think about the area, unless you are absolutely desperate. NC is decidedly more humid than anywhere out west, for sure. Right now would be a good time to test it out since July is the worst month for heat/humidity--if you can survive late July/August, you'll be OK the rest of the time.
Hurricanes hit the NC coast fairly often, but coming this far inland is a 40-year or so phenomenon. We also get the occasional tornado, but it is not "tornado alley" like the Great Plains. We get 6" or more of snow every few winters, but if you're from Calif, you'll probably find it a nice thing.
The Cary/Apex area is chock full of transplants and very suburban, mostly families. You'd likely want to live in Raleigh or Durham as "liberal single guy". Come visit and see for yourself. The metro area as a whole is very progressive or at least live-and-let-live, though no SFO of course.
It will likely be a culture shock with both good and bad surprises--only you can decide which outweighs what.
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We get snow, but not a lot. I've shoveled my driveway a couple of times in the past 10+ years. We usually get just enough each year to really appreciate the beauty of it. When snow is coming, many people seem to panic and rush to the grocery store for food which I still don't understand (yes, I was living here the winter that it snowed 18 inches in a day - which was a record). We get at least a few days notice if a hurricane is headed this way, but by the time it moves this far inland, it's rarely a hurricane anymore and usually we just get a lot of rain and wind. We don't have earthquakes like in CA (no advance warning on those). We have heat and humidity in the summer which can be pretty bad, but that's why almost everyone has air conditioning. Autumn is a beautiful season. The weather is great and the leaves change color. I'm still in awe each time that happens.
