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Glad you finally pulled the trigger after 7 years. That is a long time to be unhappy with where you live. Life is too short in my opinion. Best of luck!
I think we all agree! Many times over! If you are unhappy wherever you live, please find a way to move. 7 Years of being unhappy is a miserable way to live. For that matter, a few days of being that miserable is a terrible way to live.
I've been meaning to post an update on this thread for a while now...
First, I appreciate all of the responses. I hadn't subscribed to this thread and recently pulled it up again and wow - I didn't realize how many responses it has generated.
What happened you say? Well, we went back and forth and after multiple trips decided for the time being to stick in the area. We bought a house in the Cary area and have to say I personally really like this side for town for small kids. It sure hasn't hurt having a pool in a nice sized backyard! I find it to be bike friendly for the most part and very convenient to schools, shopping, downtown, etc. And I do like the amount of new restaurant options popping up.
For all of those who responded I agree with most of your comments. I do still think we will end up back out West in the future. We enjoy the West, the weather, the outdoor activities, and the culture of the West. And yes, we have driven, all over the east coast from here which I agree is very convenient and something you simply cannot do in a place like Denver. Some of the things that kept us from pulling the trigger and thinking twice on Denver: what you get for the money, landlocked, laws that have passed, simply strange stuff (crimes, etc) that seems to happen their frequently. But there are still lots of things I love about it and as I said we may end up there eventually.
This area has grown on us but there are still negatives as well as with any area. Hot humid summers, pollen every spring, bugs, limited direct flights (important if you travel for work a lot!), schizophrenic school district. Positives: fall is beautiful, winters mild, growth, museums (kids, nature and science (durham), etc.
I appreciate all of the suggested actives as well and we have done most of them! Some I didn't see mentioned that we have done: the farmers market, great wolf lodge (Charlotte), kayaking at lake crabtree. Other things we've really enjoyed and hopefully this will help newcomers:
Restaurants:
Yuri sushi in Cary (best I've had in the area)
Fearrington House
Patrick Jane's Pizza
Randy's Pizza
Anna's Pizza
An
Herrons @ Umstead Hotel
Second Empire (tavern downstairs)
Daylight Donuts
Duck Doughnuts (Outerbanks - coming soon Cary)
Thai spices and sushi (for the thai)
Lemongrass Thai (N. Raleigh)
City BBQ
The Pit (although I think it used to be better)
Parks:
Pullen
tons in cary/apex
Umstead
Harris Lake county park (for mountain biking!)
So, for now we are staying.
Just to give a reference, some of our favorite cities: Denver, San Diego, Austin, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, DC (museums, job opportunities). I do believe that NC is probably the best state to live in on the East Coast. Outside the US: Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Amsterdam, Vienna, Rome, London.
Thanks for all the input and hope this response helps a few folks...
Happy to hear it worked out for you guys! You seem much more focused on the positives now that you guys have planted yourselves.
Although I love many areas I would have to agree that North Carolina is the best state on the east coast. Has enough of everything to accommodate most "wants" while having much less of the things that are harder to live with.
I am a NY'er but I find NY to be too large and too overwhelming. Like you, I love Boston and San Francisco and if money were no object, I'd love to live near one of those cities. However, in the real world money IS an object and the quality of life my family has found here would take quadruple the dollars anywhere else we would like to live and there would still be much more congestion, traffic, etc.
Thanks for the restaurant list. We will definitely be checking some of those out! Enjoy your new home!
I think you made a good decision. I love Denver and Colorado but there are tons of things you have to consider before moving in here.
I am lucky that I bought a house right when things started heating up... but the housing market here is INSANE. You can do a quick Zillow search and see what $250K gets you in Denver (in my neighborhood it's an 800sqf place with 1bed- 1bath and no backyard). Plus the salaries are stagnating here... so go figure.
Like all the outdoors CO offers? Yeah, but everyone else sure does and coming back from the mountains on a Sunday afternoon you'll be sitting in traffic for hours. It's literally a parking lot. So is I-25, if you work in DTC area or have to commute from/to that area during the week.
You can't find any camping spots... You have to reserve them very early (like around Thanksgiving! And, even then really cool places will be gone within minutes).
Because of the weather being so extreme (hailing today, 90 degrees tomorrow), roads are impossible to maintain. Potholes are literally everywhere. You can't avoid them.
You always go like "is that a skunk or weed"... because the smell of weed is everywhere. Public transportation, outdoor concerts, camping sites, etc. You kind of get used to it. Not a big deal for me, but, I do not have kids and do not know how parents feel about it.
Of course, there are tonnes of positives too. The place is gorgeous... breathtaking especially when you're around the mountains. I used to live in Boulder before moving to Denver. Imagine walking out of even from the lamest places such as Home Depot and seeing the Flatirons. You just remember you live in a beautiful place and the negatives kind of dissipate.... aaaand then you hit a pothole.
It's trendy - lots of people want to live here. But, that also could be a problem. Lots of homeless people. I work in S Broadway area in Denver... and homeless people literally just camp out here even though it not legal. Our public libraries have to deal with OD-ing homeless people. There are news about it you can find online.
The light rail is pretty great. But, Denver generally is not very bike friendly, there aren't that many dedicated bike lanes/passes, etc. Generally, Denver is struggling with growth and you can tell by just trying to drive here around rush hour. It's just soul-crushing traffic.
These are some of the reasons I am personally thinking to get out of Denver, and Raleigh-Durham is one of the places I am considering. But, I also grew up near mountains (Tyan Shan/Pamir Mountains), so I'd like to be by the ocean. I do not "crave" mountains. I spent all my childhood/teenagerhood on and around mountains. But, I can totally see how mountains can be appealing. If they are calling, you should go...
I've been and lived all over, and when I first move to a truly new place there is the euphoric feeling of discovery, which tends to fade out as I discover the reality of the area. Over the years and decades I've realized I'm more tolerant than many when it comes to taking reality and investing time to truly understand it. I have a lot of friends that suffer from grass is always greener syndrome, and they will never be happy in one location. No matter where they are, they will always see a "best of" list that tempts them into a new location.
So, in order to find happiness they follow the four step program:
(1) identify for the disadvantages of where they currently are
(2) scope out another place without those disadvantages and that has seemingly new advantages
(3) move to new place with a dream in hand
(4) rinse and repeat...
They never seem to learn that every aspect of happiness not only comes from within, but is our own responsibility to cultivate within ourselves. Roaches, Humidity, Dry Air, Too Cold, Too Hot, Scorpions, Rattlesnakes, Coyotes, Gamblers, Druggies, Hippies, Gays, Shriners, Gold-Toothed Hip-hop artists, icicles threating to fall from gutters to pierce the skull, whatever... if you look long and hard enough you can find some reason to move from one place to another.
But in my experience, those folks will ALWAYS be looking to move every few years, it's more of an innate desire to keep variety in their lives than they realize. They have not yet learned to look internally for solutions to their ongoing boredom. Until they do they will be unable to outrun it.
Funny, we moved here from Phoenix and while that city has 2 million more people and it ranked much higher on the metro size scale - I find there is more to do in the Triangle with kids. In Phoenix, it's over 105 every day from late May to mid October, almost 5 months. That means the only outdoor option for almost half the year is a swimming pool.
Air quality? No comparison, Phoenix is filthy, this area is great. Every place is what you make of it and where you came from.... I mean, driving to the beach from Phoenix was 6 hours to San Diego... and you really couldn't 'swim' in it especially the little kids. Here? 3 hours with stops. Leave at 7am, beach at 10am, leave at 6pm, home at 9pm.
Music scene? Again, 2 million less people but Triangle gets just as many concerts if not more than Phoenix. Education? Arizona is ranked like 45, it's awful. Phoenix has one major institution; Arizona State University. Triangle has three major ones and a plethora of smaller colleges.
Charlotte, Richmond, even DC... really not awful drives. Went to DC for the weekend. Left at 3pm, got to hotel at 7:30. Had dinner, great time, left Sunday at 4pm got home at 8:30... Phoenix? Drive for 5 hours in any direction; you are still in the desert lol...
Again, is the Triangle DC, NY, Chicago, etc... no. But there is a high price to pay (literally) for the A and B market cities.
Also, I came here because I googled something along the lines "considering a move from Denver to Raleigh"... the only thread that popped up was this one, even though it's a move in the opposite direction.
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