Matthew Udall

I grew up in central California, but I don't recommend it. Too hot, too many pesticides, etc. (but some people love it).

I really enjoyed living in Utah (Salt Lake City in particular... although I also enjoyed my brief time in Ephraim Utah). Fantastic skiing, and the windsurfing is good too. There is around a 3 month window each year where you can decide to drive in one direction to go skiing, or drive in the other direction and go windsurfing. People are nice, cost of living is low, and the place is pretty clean. There are 4 distinct seasons there, and yes, one of them is winter so you would have to get used to it (I had to get used to living in the snow, but that just opens up more opportunity for other types of fun).

San Francisco was my next stop, for around 10 years (moved there to join my girlfriend who moved there from Utah as she started working for American Airlines, and to attend law school in the city). Another fantastic place to live, but you had better have a good job in order to be able to afford the rent. My rent jumped from paying in the mid 200’s in Utah, to the upper 700’s for a studio apartment in the city (I had sticker-shock every time I paid the rent each month, for around the first year I lived in S.F., but I got used to it). Lots of diversity and a true international city, which I like, plus neighborhood atmospheres that range from yuppyville to hippytown (I spent most of my time in the hippytown area... hey I lived right on Haight Street and that is what that neighborhood is like). The weather is very mild. Not too hot, not too cold. Actually, you can get away with just a sweatshirt (no jacket needed) for most of the year. Hardly any need to own a car in S.F., and in fact if you don't have one you could just rent one on the one or two days a year you might need one (of course, I'm basing this statement on "my" need for a car in S.F. back then).

Pasadena is nice too (So. Cal.). For the L.A. area, this is one of the nicer places to live (I wouldn't mind Venice Beach either). Cost of living semi low, not as much diversity, more drab than SF. But hey, I'm so busy with my practice now that I could be living on the moon and it really wouldn't matter as I don't have "that" much extra time to explore. But I will say that I do far more "outdoor" things such as camping with my friends, like I used to do in Utah, than I did while living in San Francisco. And the car is king here in So. Cal. so you would need one.

Scout

Ahhhhhhhh Cindy, now Savannah is a whole other story, lol. That gracious city is part of my old stomping grounds since I am an old Georgia Southern girl and my brother lived there for several years. If I had the opportunity to move there I would jump at it. Great little town :-)

Cheers,

Leslie

Joyce

beyness wrote in message news:...
    > I personally think Indiana is pretty horrible and I live in
    > Indianapolis! It doesn't encourage you to get out at all and I
    > haven't had the most interesting conversation among the average citizen
    > here.. I guess I got spoiled being in the UK for 2 months, with really
    > good newspapers, Sainsbury's and intelligent conversation... not
    > knocking anyone that lives in Indiana, but I'm getting a bit stir crazy
    > living here.

My family moved to a quiet little town in Indiana from a larger city
in Illinois and we love it here. We find that the people are very
friendly.
Though they may not know your name...they know your face. There is
always a hearty greeting and conversation. We have access to about 6
different newspapers also...no shortage of local. big city, country,
and world news.
I'm sure a big city like Indianapolis offers everything you are
looking for...it doesn't come to look for you...you have to go look
for it.

Joyce & Larry

Kara Tyson

Lyme is throughout the country. The only state not reporting is Montana!

Kara Tyson
Lyme Disease Support Group of AL

Caro

I will have to agree that living in/around San Francisco is really great. I really enjoy the international flavor of the area. Working at Berkeley, I do not feel like I am 6000 miles from where I was born... and people react in a lot of ways like French/European people. Also, the food is great. During my 3.5 years in Michigan, I had forgotten how good it was to have "real" bread in the morning and tasty fruits and vegetables. My favorite store is Trader Joe's... If you have one near to you, you should go, it is AWSOME! Also, being a city girl (it doesn't help to have been raised in Paris and have lived there for over 20 years...), I love San Francisco.

I love it there but my husband preferred Michigan. The housing is dowright crazy if you want to buy a house, and we are wondering if we will ever be able to get one... I think that we will live here for a while, but we might moved (maybe back to France?) in a couple years.

Caroline

abba48uk

It just has to be Illinois of course......................for all lovers of .....ummmmmmmmmm......................CORN!!

Harry

I'd have to say North Texas (DFW area), but I'm biased...it's where we live, and most of my wife's family live around here, so a lot of why I like it so much is for family reasons.
It's not a bad place, though...cost of living is way cheap (esp. housing), salaries are decent, and there's no state income tax. The people are very friendly.
Work-wise it's not a great place for me. I am a computer animator and there are only a handful of companies in Dallas in this business. I am working right now, but the future of the company is looking rocky, and I have scarily few options for looking for another job.

I believe you!! My wife and I drove through Atlanta on the way back from seeing some friends in Virginia a couple of months ago, and yeah, it was pretty intense!!!! Dallas is pretty crazy too, but you rarely see anyone doing more than 85, not so in Atlanta! I'd say you guys drive on average at least 5-10mph faster than we do.

-Harry

beyness

I think this post proves that no one thinks the same and advice like this is all relative to wht someone wants.

hmiller

I agree that it depends what your looking for in both lifestyle and career.

I grew up in Washington State and had a short defect to Oregon. Gotta say those are two beautiful places to be living. Especially if you enjoy the outdoors.

Don't let all those stories of the Seattle rain fool you. I live about 2 hours from Seattle and we get to enjoy all 4 seasons, including snow. And it doesn't rain nearly as much

southcoast

I actually find it interesting to find out what it is like in different states from fellow ex-pats.

Every state has its pro's and con's, different climates, drivng conditions etc. so I find it very informative.

So apart from Texas being a very nice state, I have been to Florida's pan handle twice now....(Destin) I absolutley love it down there, the summer has 85-90 deg heat with a great afternoon sea breeze's....ideal for windsurfing, jet-sking and fishing etc....

Mrtravel

Kara Tyson wrote:
    >
    > Lyme is throughout the country. The only state not reporting is Montana!

How do they drink the tequila?

Mrtravel

abba48uk wrote:
    >
    > It just has to be Illinois of course......................for all lovers
    > of .....ummmmmmmmmm......................CORN!!
    >

A good state to be FROM
I couldn't take the weather.
So, I left to join the Navy in Florida
Then came back to college. BS ISU '88
Then left to go to IBM in Austin
Didn't like the weather and big bugs.. The bats were cool
But, I did run into Willie at Broken Spoke

IBM moved me to Silly Valley in '91 to support Intel
I tired of IBM in '93 and then left Silly Valley toward Sacramento in
'95
In Oct '95, I moved over to Scotts Valley, on the coastal side of the
mountains that separate the Silly Valley from the coast.. It is
great.... Except the cost of housing is not so low
Nothing decent for a house for under 500K. I bought a small condo about
3 1/2 years ago for 206K.
It is now worth about 350K and is only 900 sq ft (I think that is about
84 sq meters)
It is great to see the deer walking down the city streets sometimes, and
the beach is about 10 minutes away. It is a city of 11000 people, but
close to culture of San Jose (Go Sharks) and SF (Go Giants and 49ers). I
can be from my house to the San Jose airport in 30-40 minutes and to SFO
in under an hour. Downtown SF in about an 1 1/4 hours. Monterey in
about 45 minutes.

Ed Chernenkoff

No one has mentioned Kansas.. Damn I wonder why..

Anyway, should be moving to Texas soon..

Ed

Jo Brayne

my british hubby doesnt like anything that goes bzzz, especially if it has black and yellow stripes *LOL*.

As for the driving habits thing, i vote Boston the worst. I was witness to someone who rammed 5 times repeatedly into the back of someone just because the car in front didnt go the split second the light turned green. For the sake of a few seconds, it took hours glued to the road for them and months through court.
I have never seen anything like it but the danger/risk/hazard level of driving here in Yorkshire is SCARY! The way people slice you up and drive so close behind you that you can't see their headlights when you're doing 70! They think they own the bloody road here in the Dearne valley.

My vote is for Texas. Nice weather, cheap houses (4BR 3 BR for 100k plus), BIG cheap cars, lots of companies in Texas, and not least TEX MEX! Plus no state income tax.

beyness

My problem with deciding a state, is I always go there in the summer (North Carolina, Colorado, Maine), love it, and then realize it's bloody cold there in the winter! Greg and I are thinking for moving out to Boulder this summer or fall. I know it will be cold, but at least there will be mountains! We'll probably never have a hosue, the way like to move around, but at least we'll see the country and have loads of fun!

I haven't heard much from the North East yet! Where are you guy and gals? Give us some accolades for NH and Maine!