What's it like living in Roanoke? (Richmond, Cave Spring: fit in, houses, purchase)

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by cellar

Why would we worry about snowplowing? For all 2 days per year that we may get snow? Snow and wintery weather in general have become a thing of the past here.

Tru. Especially with global warming,yes I believe it.When it gets progressively warmer every year and the south comes to you instead of you going to it,that seems like warming to me! Anyway when I lived in Rke in '97 there was I think 1 snowstorm that year and it seemed they overreacted to it. The fast food places even closed down! I was told that they had to borrow snow equipment from other places because they just didn't get it that often. But the winds were pretty strong though. Don't know if it had something to do with being in the valley.

[seanpecor]

First I'll say that I count Dave (dsobotta) as a friend and I have a huge amount of respect for him and his perspective. But with regard to his Roanoke posts, take note how he injects links to his new hometown along the North Carolina coast. Take note that he is a Realtor with homes for sale on the North Carolina coast. Also take note that his View From the Mountain blog, one of his stated goals is "I hope to make it a lot easier for friends and other people in the Roanoke area to get information about properties on North Carolina's Crystal Coast." It would then stand to reason that an effective salesman will accentuate the negative of the "product" he isn't selling while accentuating the positive of the "product" he is

I suppose we all do that to some extent, even if our own investment is purely emotional

Sean

[SouthernMomto3]

Originally Posted by dsobotta

We have lived in Roanoke since 1989. Our kids went to Oak Grove Elementary, Hidden Valley Junior High, and Cave Spring High School. Two also spent time at the Governor's School at Patrick Henry.

Thanks for the information and Sean and Stuck's follow-ups. I have looked at your website before b/c the NC part caught my attention...honeymooned on the Outer Banks! No place or school is perfect but all the info I've gathered here leads me to know I will be happy in the Roanoke Valley and I'm lucky to have a variety of choices as to specific location and school! I appreciate all the insights.

[cellar]

Well then I welcome you to the Roanoke Valley! You'll like it here...

[SouthernMomto3]

Thanks Cellar! We'll start house hunting in March.

[kaptn35]

I too will be moving in around that timeframe! I lurked the boards here today and got such nice information. So is the Hidden Valley and Cave Springs Schools area kind of like the higher up area there in the Roanoke County as for living???

[flwrs314]

Originally Posted by Skipstone

I've dreamed of moving there as I once lived there a long time ago. But I would guess a lot has changed since then.

If anyone who lives there would care to fill me in on how expensive it's gotten or whether new people have moved in or whether it's the same as it was - I'd like hearing your thoughts.

Yep, I've lived here in the area pretty much all my life. It's a great place for families and gay men, but for single women (esp. middle aged, like myself), it is not much of a future. It's boring and not easy to make friends. Believe me, I've tried!

[billybobwv]

for the Roanoke area I would check out WDBJ channel 7's website. WDBJ is Roanoke's CBS television station. May find a lot of info on the area there.

WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Home

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by flwrs314

Yep, I've lived here in the area pretty much all my life. It's a great place for families and gay men, but for single women (esp. middle aged, like myself), it is not much of a future. It's boring and not easy to make friends. Believe me, I've tried!

Are you referring to Roanoke? When I lived there I would have thought the male to female ratio was 4:1! I heard a woman say she never saw so many single men there.

[happygal0000]

Originally Posted by flwrs314

Yep, I've lived here in the area pretty much all my life. It's a great place for families and gay men, but for single women (esp. middle aged, like myself), it is not much of a future. It's boring and not easy to make friends. Believe me, I've tried!

Hi there,

I agree with you about making friends here, flwrs314. If it makes you feel any better, it isn't any easier for married women, especially if your husband works a lot of evenings or travels a lot for work.

I discussed the difficulty of making friends in Roanoke in an earlier post. I am friendly, outgoing, and polite. I practice good hygiene and am a considerate, thoughtful friend. But, here that doesn't mean much because everyone is nice in the South (whether it's sincere or not)! It's expected. So, just being nice doesn't mean much. I'm still struggling with how to approach people in order to make some long-term Southern friends. So many of the Southern friendships I have made here are very superficial. That's hard for me to accept because I don't think that way.

One answer is that I joined the Newcomers Club (hotline, 540-776-7808), Welcome and have made many friends there (mostly all transplants like me), both single women and married women. They have a lot of activities in both the daytime and evenings. Check them out, you might like them, too.

If you like to dance, the Party in the Park series at Elmwood Park during the summer is a great way to meet the "over-40" single crowd. WOW! And EventZone.org also hosts a winter version, called Cabin Fever, once a month on a Friday night in January, February, and March. They are inside at the Roanoke Civic Center and are very fun! They also have a similar country-western version on Saturday nights. You can check the dates at EventZone (Roanoke VA) - We're Serious About Fun.

I volunteer a lot in the community and I meet many single women and not NEARLY as many single, straight men. Is that because men don't volunteer as much as women? Hmmm, I don't think so.

The nightlife downtown is fun, but I've mostly seen the 20's-30's crowd down there. Not many middle-aged singles. I think that over-30's, single women suffer the same fate (exactly, only different) that the teenagers here have: not enough to do for their age-range and no variety. I mean, how many times can you go bowling? Or the movies? In a very short time, it becomes sooooo B-O-R-I-N-G.

happygal0000