Suggestions for the best mountain town to live (lake, mountains, land)
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I am 48 years old Currently living in Show Low AZ. It's a vacation retirement town in the White Mountains. The weather is perfect here. High 80s in the summer and it does not get to cold or snow much in the winter. Its small town living. The problem is they do not have much of anything here for shopping and restaurants. We have a Grocery Store, Walmart and a couple restaurants. The nearest town with more stores to shop is 2 to 3 hours away. Im looking to find a beautiful mountain town to move to thats either a little bit bigger or has shopping & restaurants closer by than what im dealing with now. Also looking for mild summers and mild winters. If yall have any suggestions on States and towns i can check out let me know.
I am 48 years old Currently living in Show Low AZ. It's a vacation retirement town in the White Mountains. The weather is perfect here. High 80s in the summer and it does not get to cold or snow much in the winter. Its small town living. The problem is they do not have much of anything here for shopping and restaurants. We have a Grocery Store, Walmart and a couple restaurants. The nearest town with more stores to shop is 2 to 3 hours away. Im looking to find a beautiful mountain town to move to thats either a little bit bigger or has shopping & restaurants closer by than what im dealing with now. Also looking for mild summers and mild winters. If yall have any suggestions on States and towns i can check out let me know.
There could be dozens of towns across quite a few states that meet your criteria. Doubt very much anyone is going to do this much of your homework for you. You need to give more specifics IMO. What's a "beautiful mountain town"? What do you consider mountains? What's your definition of "a little bit bigger"? As for driving distances, a 2 hour drive in one area might cover a lot more distance than it will in another. You say you want mountains but little snow or cold. That's going to limit your options to southern tier states right off the bat. I'd suggest starting right there in AZ and post a request for recommendations under AZ's subforum. If no one offers something in AZ, they might offer something in an adjacent state. Understand you probably won't get everything you want.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by freestyleradio
I am 48 years old Currently living in Show Low AZ. It's a vacation retirement town in the White Mountains. The weather is perfect here. High 80s in the summer and it does not get to cold or snow much in the winter. Its small town living. The problem is they do not have much of anything here for shopping and restaurants. We have a Grocery Store, Walmart and a couple restaurants. The nearest town with more stores to shop is 2 to 3 hours away. Im looking to find a beautiful mountain town to move to thats either a little bit bigger or has shopping & restaurants closer by than what im dealing with now. Also looking for mild summers and mild winters. If yall have any suggestions on States and towns i can check out let me know.
Fellow Zonie here, have you considered Flagstaff? Sedona, but hot in summer.
Other options, though mostly colder, Kalispell, or Hamilton, MT, even Missoula. Colorado - Steamboat, Telluride, Aspen, Durango, Gunnison, Salida, Stowe, VT, some of W Virginia. Up around Mt. Hood outside Portland. Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Mtn, CA. Of course in most of these places a run down starter shack starts about a million bucks, cash. Except in Aspen then add another zero...
Another issue in mountain town is fire and bark bettle killin the trees. Flag just dodged the fire bullet, again, only lost a few homes, which would suck if it was mine. But in Show Low you know all about that.
Bottom line, unless you are wealthy most of us are priced out of most desireable areas now. These places will become / already are islands of family dynasties for the extremely wealthy.
I doubt the OP is coming back if they have not by now so this is likely a waste. But Virginia has some areas that fit the bill. Yes, the mountains here are smaller but they are green. The mountains are believed to have been as high or higher than the Rockies millions of years ago but due to erosion have grown smaller. But they are still mountains and it is absolutely gorgeous here. Winters can be mild to cold with little to a good snow or two. Summers are humid but not AZ hot. We tend to get breaks as well from this humidity but you can count on humidity. You can count of Spring and Fall to be your two favorite seasons.
There are many towns to choose from. I live near Woodstock, VA which certainly qualifies as small town. For larger cities we can head to Harrisonburg or Winchester which have pretty much all you need and neither are major size cities. For an even larger selection of some great restaurants the DC area is only 90 minutes away. The Shenandoah Valley is absolutely gorgeous.
Payson is a nice mountain town and when I drive thru it see lots of restaurants there.
I always considered SHow Low a pretty large town, compared to Springerville/Eagar, or Quemado, let alone Red Hill!
My town in the Santa Cruz Mountains (CA) would fit the bill; but it doesn't come cheap.
Here's a photo of our quaint downtown - has two grocery stores (one "natural" one regular), a bar, two banks, a handful of restaurants, and some antique shops. And if you need more than that, you can get to the bigger towns/cities in 20-45 minutes.
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^^^^ LOL - Boulder Creek. Nice place, if you are a multi-millionaire. We have some land there, had planned to build a home. Too bad it's in California...
^^^^ LOL - Boulder Creek. Nice place, if you are a multi-millionaire. We have some land there, had planned to build a home. Too bad it's in California...
Yeah, that photo is memory lane. Moved away from there in the early 80's. Cabin on the hillside.
If you look around real good, you might find a place you can love, around Felton.
Years ago, sometimes you could find a bit of bare land near Camp Harmon.
^^^^ LOL - Boulder Creek. Nice place, if you are a multi-millionaire. We have some land there, had planned to build a home. Too bad it's in California...
I'm not a multimillionaire... lol. And I own a home there. I said "it doesn't come cheap," but it's not THAT expensive. Especially by "Bay Area" (ish) standards, it's actually affordable-ish.
(just bought it 6 months ago too)
And I'd say it's a good thing to be in California, but obviously we all have different opinions. I've been in CA for most of my life, and this is a wonderful state if you aren't the type to dwell on petty nonsense. Btw, thanks for blowing my cover. Haha.
Last edited by gizmo980; 07-27-2022 at 02:36 PM..
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