Possibly moving to Dahlgren area (RNs see inside please) (Virginia Beach: to rent, amusement park)

[NEJOE]

Hello all!!
My wife, 2 year old and I will be moving from Nebraska to VA/MD sometime here in the fall, I need some advice and have a few questions.

Here are the basics per the "READ if you are asking about where to live in VA" post:

-Where you are working
My wife will be working in Dahlgren
I will be looking for a nursing job somewhere nearby, hospital preferred (as a new graduate with ADN) ***Need suggestions***

-How much you are willing to spend on housing
We will be looking to rent a 3br house/condo for under $1500 we may only be staying about a year.
We are not opposed to living in MD either, unless you all have some major reason why that would be a bad idea...

-How long of a commute you're willing to tolerate
Probably about an hour or less if possible

-If you have kids: Private school or public school?
Curriculum based Daycare (advice??) he is in a Child Development Center right now..

-What type of neighborhood environment you are looking for: small town feeling? small city excitement? suburbia delight?
Nice quiet neighborhood with other kids around ours' age (2 yr old) and friendly helpful neighbors. Oh and one where crime rate is low and it is a safe place for kids.

-Community amenities important to you
Parks, Shopping, fun family events

-Pie or cake?
Cake, but I'm not partial


I am mostly curious as to where we should find housing and the nursing outlook up that way...
Do they have stipulations on hiring BSNs (bachelors) vs ADNs (associates) graduates of nursing?
Are there plenty of jobs available for nurses?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide
Joe

[slowlane3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlgren,_VA is a very small community on the Potomac River in King George County, VA beside the Naval Base. It is beside a 2-mile long, high, very narrow bridge that carries U.S. Highway 301 across the river into southern Maryland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governo...emorial_Bridge and charges a $4 round-trip toll (but about half that amount, if you buy a frequent-user pass from Maryland-Dept of Transpo).

Dahlgren a few years ago, got a super Wal-Mart. Other small businesses, however, are very minimal and are strung out along Highway 301. The community has no streets, but is just a spot along the highway. But a few miles away in the small, rural county seat - the town of "King George" they recently opened a family Y.M.C.A. and also a small extension of "Mary Washington University" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...ary_Washington . The high school there is modern.

You can find ratings and information about schools on these 2 sites GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community and SchoolDigger.com - the Easy Way to Evaluate K-12 School Performance .

The 2 nearest hospitals are Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredericksburg,_VA and the Univ of MD Charles Regional Medical Center in LaPlata, MD . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Plata,_MD . The latter hospital's jobs hotline recording is phone 866-755-9947.

A little further away than those two, are Spotsylvania Hospital, Stafford County Hospital, and St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown, MD....Avoid commuting to the greater Washington, DC area if you can, as the slow traffic is just horrific....totally inconceivable to someone from Nebraska.

The 3 cities of Fredericksburg VA, LaPlata MD, and Waldorf MD offer a much wider range of activities and entertainments, and also a wider range of types of housing than can be found in King George County. The far side of Fredericksburg has a really enormous Mall called "Central Park" Mall. The sleepy little town of "Colonial Beach, VA" is 15 minutes from Dahlgren and has a large beach, but is further away from activities and amenities. You are also exactly an hour's drive from the big Kings Dominion Amusement Park in Doswell, VA, which also hosts the annual VA State Fair. By the way, the rural 5-county peninsula to the East of Dahlgren is referred to as the "Northern Neck" region of the state and attracts retirees who like gardening and fishing.

For summer vacation, families will like visiting (2 hours away) Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Amusement Park at Williamsburg, Water Country USA water-park at Williamsburg, and a little further, the large resort "Virginia Beach". Eating hard-shell crabs will be a new experience.

VA has cheaper gasoline than MD, also cheaper cigarettes, and housing prices are lower, and sales, property, and income tax are slightly lower..... VA, however, has an annual tax on vehicles (a percentage of the car's value), and a partial tax on groceries, neither of which MD has.