[arel]

Thanks, flu189. That was a helpful post.

[flu189]

Originally Posted by arel

Thanks, flu189. That was a helpful post.

Your quite welcome. I have to say that today's weather very nice and many places westbound on Vt 9 the foliage is starting to turn. Hope we don't have a blast of rainy and windy weather through here before your next visit as by early October the area should be approaching peak.

[LoopyLou]

Hi Arel,
I moved from California via Colorado to Vermont in April. I was renting for a while in Brownsville (near Windsor) and just purchased a house in Hartland. I'm 20 minutes from Lebanon and Hanover and 5 minutes from the 91 on-ramp. Before moving to VT, I tried out Colorado for a spell and I am originally from England. My opinion, hands down, is that Vermont is a wonderful place to live and has more friendly and progressive people than I've met anywhere else. We were also considering New Hampshire but found the vibe to be quite different over there... more conservative and closed-minded, but that's just our opinion. There seems to be quite a lot of job opportunities in Lebanon etc. because of Dartmouth College/Hospital... check out Dartmouth Employment Opportunities. I can vouch for Hartland being an incredibly friendly place to live. I was just walking down the road to the neighbor's house the other day and a car stopped to ask if I needed a ride. I encounter expressions of friendliness and helpfulness every day. I've heard other folks mention that New England people aren't friendly but haven't experienced that at all.

Moving to Vermont was the best move I've ever made. Don't hesitate to shout if you have any more questions about this area. Good luck!

Lou

[arel]

Wow. In New York City, if a car stopped and a stranger asked if I needed a ride, I would suspect, no, make that assume, that I had been targeted by a criminal. At least I'd act on that assumption.

I would assume you knew the person in the car? I know Vermont is different in this regard from a big city, but I would still be wary.

Someone posted in this forum once that in Vermont, strangers are looking out for your welfare, not targeting you. I think the poster wrote that this was very easy to adjust to!

[tkln]

I once asked for directions in Brooklyn, and the woman said she lived near where I was going and then ASKED me to drive her home. HA! Now that's NY for ya.

Although one time my fiancé and I broke down on the BQE - not the best highway to break down on - we started to walk to the nearest exit in the dark and someone stopped to give us a ride. I think there are good people everywhere...just that in bigger cities you are less trusting and might not run into them as much as everyone is doing their own thing and are too busy to deal with 'people'.

It's very easy to get used to nice people...and no, you don't always know the person who's giving you the ride. And they are all over the country, not just in Vermont.

[arel]

I had a similar experience in Brooklyn. In Borough Park, to be exact. I was browsing in a drugstore near the home of someone I was visiting. An elderly woman engaged me in brief conversation. Then she asked what direction I was going to drive in. Then she said, "then you'll give me a ride". She didn't ask. She just informed me that that was what I was going to do. Well, I wasn't. I was polite about it, but I told her no.

She must have thought I was very rude.

Here's another story. Once I was walking to the subway. An older woman, who seemed about 70, was taking groceries into her apartment building, I think from a car. She asked me to help her take them inside. I politely declined. I was in a hurry and I got a bad feeling about her. She kept asking and soon got very pushy and demanding about it. Finally, very uncomfortable, I said, "Lady, I can't help you" and walked away. By Vermont standards, this would seem unacceptably rude, but I had had enough and, as I said, I got a bad feeling, as if I were being set up for a crime.

When I mentioned this incident to my friend in Rhode Island, who grew up with me in Brooklyn, on the same block, she had the same reaction. She wondered if the woman were a serial killer, and commented to the effect that if I had gone into the building I would have been helpless if something went down.

Culturally, though, New Yorkers can be very in-your-face, demanding, entitled and confrontational. Many older folks bring with them cultural attitudes from their, or their parents', country of origin. Many who are quite obnoxious on the surface are actually quite harmless. But not all.

Welcome to Brooklyn!

[GypsySoul22]

Arel,
I thought the same thing (about the car stopping). It's a NY instinct to think about someone rolling you. It's better to be safe than sorry.
That being said, I used to give people directions all the time in NY. I would be waiting at the bus-stop for my son to come home and someone would stop at least once a week and I guess they thought I was a nice person to ask. (People find me approachable in stores as well). Anyhow, I'd give directions but have the old pepper spray at the ready in my pocket.

Now on my Vermont road I give tourists directions nearly every day. I know they are lost (they seem to use the driveway as their own personal turn arounds). I even went out last week when this clueless lady stopped in my driveway. I told her where to go and she said thanks and left.

I am doing my best to make this a friendly town even if others don't. (today I said hello to the lady across the road while waiting with my son for his bus and she ignored me.)

There are A-holes everywhere as my husband says. As well as good folks. I'm NY born and bred and a decent, friendly person.

[68vette]

You could choose most any small town and they will be friendly. You will always get a wave and if you don't I guarantee that if you wave to someone you will get one in return. I had two experiences of going off the road in the winter and both times someone immediately pulled over to help out. On the first incident a farmer stopped, got out of his truck and grabbed his chains and pulled me out. I asked him what I could give him for helping and his reply was just do the same for me if you ever see me off the road.

[Rossman]

Arel,

I have was born here in vermont and lived here twenty years since, I know no other way of living besides vermont living. Every time I leave this state and head north south east or west I start to miss it as soon as I'm over the border, in other words I love the land here.

Vermonters are not really "vermonters" like most of the world surely defines us by, but really we are the same, we are all just people no matter what state or country, the only difference in vermont is the accumulative choices we all make (which are usually as simple as being laid back and open over being intrusive and closed).

I have met many great people here threw out my life, people that weren't just nice, but on top of nice I was able to learn about myself from them. Ive been traveling with my family threw out my life, and I have only been to one place that has been Overall as wonderful as this land, that was a rural island in the bahamas that was very much like vermont in many ways.

I have been to new york city and I have no idea how people live there, I cant breathe there without having to hold my shirt over my face. I think you should move to vermont, you sound friendly, and sound like you want to help others as well. Most people around here like that, and I'm sure you will find many friends here, and you may even see me tromping along the sidewalk downtown montpelier, or in the woods on the outskirts of town.

Even in our bigger towns there is plenty of nature visible from anywhere, we are amidst nature and the woods and waters see that we are trying to help make it healthier and cleaner, and we are liked by nature for that reason. If you live here, you will find many many many a great things I am sure. I love this place and I am going to die here someday, I'm sure of it.

As some have said in this thread already though, some parts of nature can be harder to bare here, it is the challenge we are given for living in such a wonderful land. If you are friendly with nature then you will find truly the opposite of what people usually complain about, like enjoying a day snowed in, everyone is out on the streets walking, walking to the store to get some warm food and drink for themselves or there family, or you will see people of all ages playing in the snow, laughing and loving it.

I hope this was helpful for you.

-Ross


edit:

I got caught up in writing more about what I love and forgot about what your real question was, haha, im sorry.

I have lived and explored in a small section of vermont, Montpelier, Calais (North, East and Maple Corners), Woodbury, Hardwick, Cabot, Greensboro

I have been to other towns in vermont and they are not all the same as this general area, I do not know why, it may just be my own manifestation of the towns that makes it seem diffrent.

These towns that I have grown up in and lived in here in the heart of vermont, are beautiful wonderful exquisite, and even though I've had my downs, wishing that this place could be "better" (I have high standards, out of the question for what your looking for) If your looking for kind people and a community that makes you feel welcome, Montpelier is the best, just because it is larger, but our towns are so small that towns on the outskirts of montpelier are pretty much in the community as well. They just finished building a bunch of new apartments in an apartment building this year that looks like it houses alot of people. There is tons of apartments here for rent even though most people say there aren't, I'm looking for one myself right now but most of them are too expensive for someone young with nothing like myself. I see alot around 800-1000 a month, including appliances and stuff, and some even with internet.

I hope that helped -Ross

[LoopyLou]

Hi there,
Just to answer the question about the car stopping - no - I didn't know them. It was an elderly couple and I was with my boyfriend walking so no alarm bells went off. Having said that, I'm still trying to get over a man who pulled me over and called an "a-hole" the other day! They were grading the road so it was single lane and I stopped to let him passed and he stopped too so I went on the side and drove by him (I'm in a jeep). He waved at me to roll down my window, told me I was going to fast and then called me an A-hole! I couldn't believe it! He wasn't from Vermont - at least his plates weren't. I told a neighbor and she said "oh, i'm sure he wasn't a local - all the locals drive fast and complain at the slow drivers".

Anyhooow: I ditto what Ross says and think you should move out here Arel! I have a friend up near Montpelier who loves it there and, once again, I live in Hartland which is also beautiful and friendly.

I haven't "done" winter here yet but I imagine it brings an even stronger sense of community because people really have to rely on each other. Also, coming from California, I am absolutely loving the ongoing change in the weather and seasons. I love that the other day I couldn't see Mt Ascutney because there were still enough leaves to hide her yet today, after some big winds, I can see her from my window. The woods behind me change every day and I can't wait to go snowshoeing in them!

If you ever come for a visit, PM me and we can meet for a chat and drink or something.

All the best,
Lou