CheshireGal

Hi DexterBerkeley

Sounds like a crackin' plan, however we have just spent the past 6months traveling and we're campervanning around Europe for the next couple so once were back our budget will be spent and it'll be time to find our next home - hopefully quickly! Do your friends have a shortlist they have compiled?

CheshireGal

Small world! Just visiting now and am so excited to be here in time for Cheshire new potatoes for a change! We lived on these during the summer as kids.

Boulder sounds nice, but I have heard it's quite expensive so I'm not sure if we could afford it. Maybe I'll take another look at it.

Out of curiousity, why are you glad charlotte nc didn't work out? (You mentioned that on a separate post) we aren't considering charlotte, but ALOT of people/posts have mentioned Asheville, Raleigh and Durham areas to us.

Pulaski

So there's hope for you yet!

There are a number of towns across NC that aren't Ashville , which BTW IMO is "up there" in "taking it to a new level", but which have, farmers markets, local wineries and breweries, "historic district zoning", and what have you, and with good access to several local lakes and not too far from Charlotte airport, which has direct flights to London.

Jerseygirl

I lived in Mickle Trafford and Rossett for many years.

Wintersong

I just said that because Pulaski lives there

To be fair, the whole family actually got quite excited about the Charlotte possibility... especially when we realised how much house we could buy with our money

CheshireGal

Hi Mrken30

We visited bend a year or so ago and thought it was a gem! If I could find out the Bend equivalent in other states I would be very happy! We loved the surrounding areas too, very cute and lovely scenery.

Oregon has a piece of my heart but the amount of grey and rainfall on the Portland side of the cascades has me feeling that I could just be in the UK nearer to family. That said I can't rule it out because I fall in love a little bit more each time we visit Oregon! Hah. Is bend typically blue skies or is winter overcast too?

Guindalf

Yes, Athens and the surrounding area is a great place to live with plenty of good restaurants and night life if that's your thing. My friend's son and his (now) wife both graduated from UGA and still live there. We go down there as it's the nearest Trader Joe's to us! It's about an hour away.

Pulaski

Er, no, I don't.

mrken30

Bend is on the east side of the cascades, so I am assuming it has more of a continental climate.

I know Portland has rain, but to be fair during the summer we don't have that much. It's much like living in Cornwall. Also Portland doesn't get the extremes of weather like many other places, primarily due to the ocean and being between 2 mountain ranges.

It takes me about an hour to fly to Bend from here, just a little bit more to get to sisters. It's terrific scenery flying over the mountains and down the Columbia.

Wintersong

According to your own bloody posts, you do.

Or are we just being pedantic about "in Charlotte" vs. "in the Charlotte area"?

CheshireGal

Sounds great! Any chance you might reveal some of these secret said locations?

Pulaski

Find one where I said I lived in Charlotte!
Trust me, we didn't put 310,000 miles on our Accord commuting in from the burbs.

In a state with probably only a couple of cities that anyone has heard of if they haven't actually visited the state, it doesn't make much sense to say I live in Podunk. ..... Much like Chicago, or San Francisco, where actually very few people live, such that most people who live within a couple of hours will tell the world at large, they "live in Chicago" or "live in San Francisco".

The funny thing is, we used to live in the only suburb of London that most Americans have heard of.

Married2abrit

Well I would not recommend Charleston, SC even though I was born and raised here. The airport's landing fees are some of the most expensive in the nation and those fees are tacked on to tickets (articles in the local paper stated that the airport's executive board can set those fees with impunity). If I am lucky I get approximately 6 weeks of temperatures 65 degrees F or below. We have a local joke "spring came on a Thursday this year". We do not have a Democrat elected to any state office and it has been like that for at least four years (we used to have a Democrat for the state secretary of education-- Inez Tannenbaum but she lost re-election and that position has been held by a Republican ever since). As one of my friends from Detroit says you'd be living in "the belt buckle of the Bible belt". There are 13 known gangs in the area (Latin Kings, MS13, Mexican Mafia, etc). My friend from Detroit relocated due to Boeing and the families making the move had a 6 week course regarding the culture of this area describing in depth the poor wages, racism, political climate, religious views, etc before they were transferred. I hope this information is helpful to you.

carlrush

If it wasn't for the politics I'd suggest looking at Boise, ID.

Boise Ranks #6 Best Place to Live: U.S. News & World Report | Grow. Ideas. Here.

Close to nature/outdoorsy - VERY
Easy access to either a ocean or a good size lake (i.e. A Tahoe) - and hour or so commute would be fine - lots of lakes to canoe/water ski in
Vibrant community/town (i.e. Summer movies/concerts, good music scene, abundance of independent bars, restaurants, shops etc) - yes, lots of craft brew pubs popping up all the time, WholeFoods & Trader Joes
Good Weather (which for us means plenty of sunshine, not too much rain and snow but ideally somewhere that does to some extent experience all the seasons) - all four seasons, no rain and very low humidity
Old houses with Character - we would love to buy a Victorian or Georgian place. - North End neighborhood and downtown have lovely older houses
Affordable on a family income circa $120k (possibly more but we like to be a bit more frugal and save) - very, you'd live like a king on that
Near a semi decent airport (boring but important and my husband flies regularly for work) - regular easy flights to LAX and SFO as well as Chicago, Denver, Houston, Dallas etc
Not TOO big a place - ideally a population around 100k people (large town, small city size) - Boise itself is about 200k but doesn't feel like it. Surrounding towns are more like 50k - 75k.
Needs to be a Blue/liberal town/city even if the state isn't. - Hmm...
Good location for Road tripping to other towns and cities - we love a good road trip vacation! - Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Bend, Oregon coast etc

Since the growth of Boise State University the city has become more balanced politically (although the rest of the State is clearly still very Red). I've been visiting family there for 15 years now and it feels a lot different. I think you can always find like-minded people wherever you go but personally I think hearing both sides of the argument is healthy.

MidAtlantic

Taking your important points in relation to Athens GA:

Close to nature/outdoorsy Yes

Easy access to either a ocean or a good size lake (i.e. A Tahoe) - and hour or so commute would be fine. Lake Lanier about 1 hour

Vibrant community/town (i.e. Summer movies/concerts, good music scene, abundance of independent bars, restaurants, shops etc) Yes to all

Good Weather (which for us means plenty of sunshine, not too much rain and snow but ideally somewhere that does to some extent experience all the seasons)Almost - the seasons are hot/humid and cool

Old houses with Character - we would love to buy a Victorian or Georgian place. Yes

Affordable on a family income circa $120k (possibly more but we like to be a bit more frugal and save) Definitely

Near a semi decent airport (boring but important and my husband flies regularly for work)Atlanta Airport 90 minute drive

Not TOO big a place - ideally a population around 100k people (large town, small city size) Yes

Needs to be a Blue/liberal town/city even if the state isn't. Yes

Good location for Road tripping to other towns and cities - we love a good road trip vacation! Yes