Americanwife

Ah, did anyone mention Arkansas?

ire blues

getting out of the way to let you speed by...lol.

Breebree

I have lived in New York, Arizona, Florida, Germany, Hawaii, California and Washington State. I love Washington. If you come here, make sure you visit during the winter. The summers are beautiful that is why we live here. If you can tough out the winter months and you will be rewarded with a beautiful spring, summer and fall. I loved San Diego California but I didn't want to raise children there.
Off topic With all the people out of work in the IT field on this board, you talk to each other and try to go into business for your selves. I think you would be surprised at what you could do together... just a thought

Buendia

I'd like to nominate NEW MEXICO!!!!!!!
Best place in the US to live!

Why:
- the perfect climate (sunshine all year, but there are seasons, snows but melts off quickly, cool summer storms)
- incredible food (spicy...mmm!)
- wonderful people
- amazing history (prehistoric, Indian, Spanish)
- lots and lots of outdoor opportunities (hiking, skiing, rafting, climbing, backpacking)
- a good economy (and lots of job opportunties in Albuquerque, our largest city)
- dramatic blue skies, mountains, big open spaces - Georgia O'Keeffe liked it enough to move there so she could keep painting it.
- cost of living pretty low - esp. in Albuquerque (higher in Santa Fe)
- multi-cultural
- it's small enough that it's easy to be involved in the community, politics, volunteer work

SanBernardino

Just found this thread. Encouraging to read about Texas. I have done a fair amount of living and travelling in the Western states.

I will ditto the previous post about New Mexico. I was very impressed by the cultural options and general attitudes there. Overall, really tolerant and friendly feelings in Sante Fe and Taos. My husband and I are different skin colors and there were no strange looks, double-takes, or what all that happen in more homogenous places like Oregon.

I lived in Oregon before marriage and loved the place for all the reason mentioned in the previous posts, plus Portland has decent variety of cuisines and nightlife, while Eugene gets more of the intellectual culture. Overall, Oregon offers a wholesome, fun life for a family, however Oregon is sharply divided in culture between the big 3 cities and the rest of Oregon. Oregonians are very down to earth, but not especially warm to differences.

Alaska has a more relaxed feel, and is beautiful *in the summer*. The winter darkness there is too much for me and I strongly encourage visiting in the winter if anyone thinks about moving there.

California has everything, only problem is everyone knows it, so you share it with a crowd. However, California is a wonderful state for the weekend backpacker -- there are unspoiled places here, you just have to walk further than other Californians!

Frankie Boy

Even conservative areas such as Orange County are pretty open to mixed-race
and ethnicities-my wife is Mexican, I am Italian-Irish from New York-my
neighbors in an upper-middle class area include couples of Chinese,
Filipino, Japanese, black/white, Mexican/white, Argentines,
Chinese/white,and Iran/white descent. The gringos here are from all over
the USA (we have quite a Southeast conference contingent on this street!)

Some times it's pretty funny-my wife (who has two masters degrees and
originally got to the USA on a Fulbright scholarship) gets mistaken for the
nanny since our 3 1/2 year old daughter is lighter than both of us-mostly by
other Mexicans! As for the gringos, they are amazed that she actually had
no plans to move here until she met me in Mexico City airport (she had a
good career as an academic in Tampico and therefore had no need financially
to do so)...

We do know a couple where the wife came here as an illegal nanny and years
later met and married an attorney and now lives in a $900,000 house in the
Bay Area! Talk about hitting the lottery, eh?


"SanBernardino" <member12808@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Just found this thread. Encouraging to read about Texas. I have done a
    > fair amount of living and travelling in the Western states.
    > I will ditto the previous post about New Mexico. I was very impressed by
    > the cultural options and general attitudes there. Overall, really
    > tolerant and friendly feelings in Sante Fe and Taos. My husband and I
    > are different skin colors and there were no strange looks, double-takes,
    > or what all that happen in more homogenous places like Oregon.
    > I lived in Oregon before marriage and loved the place for all the reason
    > mentioned in the previous posts, plus Portland has decent variety of
    > cuisines and nightlife, while Eugene gets more of the intellectual
    > culture. Overall, Oregon offers a wholesome, fun life for a family,
    > however Oregon is sharply divided in culture between the big 3 cities
    > and the rest of Oregon. Oregonians are very down to earth, but not
    > especially warm to differences.
    > Alaska has a more relaxed feel, and is beautiful *in the summer*. The
    > winter darkness there is too much for me and I strongly encourage
    > visiting in the winter if anyone thinks about moving there.
    > California has everything, only problem is everyone knows it, so you
    > share it with a crowd. However, California is a wonderful state for the
    > weekend backpacker -- there are unspoiled places here, you just have to
    > walk further than other Californians!
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

LuTziE

I would like to nominate Maine.......only here would they still build wooden houses, feel the need to 'vent" attics and flooring, suffer yearly from frozen pipes, tons of snow, record cold spells, have few jobs, be a poor state, and still have the time to be nice to everyone................... i wouldnt live anywhere else!!!
ok, yes i would, but the scenery and the people here make up for everything that is bad.

anyone4tea

I'd say Atlanta, Georgia! Hi all other Atlantans from an imminant immigrant Atlantean!

Why?

Three days after Christmas it was 23 celsius, and the other big reason? My fiance lives there!

We have had some beautiful times in the mountains of Dahlonega... and of course a quick drive down to the beach of the Gulf.

Kath

dutchman2001nl

I'd say Kentucky !!!!

cropmom11

Me again.... Sorry to be butting in yet again on your discussion, but I am in need of a bit of help.

Our options as of now are:

Oklahoma City, OK
Kansas City, MO
Springfield, IL
Jackson, MS
Little Rock, AR
Omaha, NE

Looking for feedback, especially from non-Natives.

Again, thanks so much!

Alicia

P.S. Particularly interested in:
People--friendly? Open to outsiders?
Food
Local Government--how many restrictions, etc.
Roads
How frustrating is it to get settled--getting your DL, for example.

18 months ago we relocated to PA... in a burb outside of Philly. We really dislike it here. The government regulations are insane. [Coming from the South where the most regulation you have is "wear your seatbelt/keep your tags current" this constant needing a permit--to build a fence in your yard, pour a patio--is annoying.] I've tried four times for my Driver's License and the last time was denied b/c my birth certificate doesn't have my married name on it. ???!!??? We've had the building inspector called b/c after it had rained 9 days in a row, we hadn't mowed ur grass yet that day and the grass was a good 1 1/2" tall.

The food is not to our liking. No one appears to know what sweet tea is and, while I know this sounds odd... a HUGE tradition in our family is bakery cake for birthdays. At home, you get white cake, with thick white icing, very sweet--made with lard and sugar. Here, "white" cake is actually yellow--not very good--and the icing,,, ick. My kids won't even eat it! Each birthday is a little sadder without our tradition. Most restaurants here are not very good, NO Mexican worth a hoot--and only 4 in an hour's radius anyway.

The people where we are... well, unfriendly is putting it kindly. They talk fast, drive rudely, honk a lot... Everyone here is a 5th generation native and not interested in outsiders. I live in a small neighborhood and we know NONE of them! And when I meet one, they say, "Oh, yeah, you guys are from Kentucky." So, they discuss us, apparently.

The cost of living is INSANE. Example, We live in a 1700 sq. ft. TWIN [that's a townhouse in KY... two houses together] and we had to pay 195,500. And that was a deal! [In Ky, we had 3000 sq feet, 1 1/2 level lot on the corner for 155,000.]

I'm ready to leave, but scared. The next stop is probably it for a long time. We sooo thought we'd LOVE the North--we weren't thrilled with our tiny town in KY. Outside of the cost of living, we found ourselves immersed in a small-minded culture, no museums, etc., no interest in anything deep--discussions, etc.??? Yeah, right! My book club read Trans-Sister Radio, at my suggestion... they read it and then griped about how it was "against God's will for ppl to be trans-sexuals." We were excited to come North where we thought we'd find more educated ppl, more to do, etc. etc. etc. What we've found is ppl very similar to where we lived before! In nicer, more expensive clothes and no worn out washers on their porches, but similar otherwise... It's unsettling. I'm sure in other parts of the North--other sections of PA even--it would be different, but the harsh winter is too much for us. Can't hack it. The cold is a WHOLE different kind of cold! So moving someplace else in the North is out of the question. And the rudeness and government stuff is too much to overlook as well.

O.k. I'm REALLY signing off now. Thanks

sibsie

Try doubling that for the area my fiance lives in.

SidAngelika

I have been to Florida to New York.. all the way to Seattle, down to San Diego... and always come back home here in Oklahoma..

Your close enough to drive to the Mountains in Colorado, to the Ocean in Texas or any big cities of that is what you like. I personally love the country... Like the saying says.. you can take the Man out of the Country but you cant take the Country out of the Man!
You can still buy land here, and build a place in the country, cost of living is better than average, lots of christan values here, makes for a good place to raise up your children. Oklahoma for me!