Where to relocate?

kmead

kmead

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kmead
Retirement/ lifestyle realignment is now sooner than I can believe. My wife and I want to move to either New England or the Pacific NW in the future. I lived in MD, but it's to hot and muggy. I think further north is better.

Our requirements are:

1) no temp swings of 114F to -20F
2)a garden must be able to stay alive
3)must be an airport with hangars for both aircraft
4)low wind
5)social life
6)old houses of any condition
7)liberal free-thinkers

I've had it after this summer. I do love my home state, but enough is enough.

Any suggestions?

Kevin
 
kmead said:
Retirement/ lifestyle realignment is now sooner than I can believe. My wife and I want to move to either New England or the Pacific NW in the future. I lived in MD, but it's to hot and muggy. I think further north is better.

Our requirements are:

1) no temp swings of 114F to -20F
2)a garden must be able to stay alive
3)must be an airport with hangars for both aircraft
4)low wind
5)social life
6)old houses of any condition
7)liberal free-thinkers

I've had it after this summer. I do love my home state, but enough is enough.

Any suggestions?

Kevin
Click to expand...

I love North Carolina.

I would avoid New Mexico, unless you like crime.
 
TMetzinger said:
Kevin,

In New England, try NH, VT, or ME. Even the "conservatives" up there are free-thinkers.
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Tim he said no temp swings and no wind that is not New England. Northern Cali might fit the bill or perhaps SanDiego
 
I live in the desert southwest for the last 16 years. Temps run 30F to 120F, occasional thunderstorms and flash flooding, but the city has the flood channels pretty much under control. Temps this summer are about 10F cooler, we just got to 110F this week for the first time this summer. My electric AC bill just came in at $200 for the month. Winter electric bills are about $30-40 a month, and the gas heat runs about $50 a month in winter. Spring and fall we get a couple of months of using neither.

I grew up in Maine and college in NH. August in New England without AC is tough. Winters can run -20F easily in Jan/Feb. My daughter now lives on the coast just south of Boston so there is a draw for us to go back to New England.

I too am looking for a country airport with hanger available. Need to check the taxes in the different states on retirement income and cost of living. I've got 10yrs more working time to decide.

We also lived in the Black Hills of SD for a time and really enjoyed it and thought of going back. We had an all electric house on a budget plan for about $140/month for utilities. Temps could run from -30F to 100F depending on where in the Hills you are.
 
P.S., no hurricanes or blizzards in the desert SW. But the ground could move from time to time. Just like in VA last week, and my daughter felt the tremor at work in Plymouth Mass.
 
SkyHog said:
I love North Carolina.

I would avoid New Mexico, unless you like crime.
Click to expand...

If staying east, I loved north Carolina like Nick. Plenty of diversity depending on what part. Charlotte was more cosmopolitan, progressive and a good business environment. One could live nearby and have a more rural setting, but easily get into the city. Coast to the east, mountains to the west and a lot of life style choices. There was a state tax called the intangibles tax that drove me nuts, but otherwise, a pretty good environment. Pretty conservative outside the big cities and still in what is referred to as the Bible Belt.

Best,

Dave
 
> Our requirements are:
>
> 1) no temp swings of 114F to -20F

In Massachusetts 100+ F days are rare. 90's, even upper 90's, sure we see those in July and August in spurts.

Winters can be cold, but I haven't ever seen -20F in Mass in the past 52 years (that I can remember). Getting below +10F in the winter happens a few days. No big deal.

> 2)a garden must be able to stay alive

Massachusetts, yep.

> 3)must be an airport with hangars for both aircraft

Avoid KBED.... waaaaay too expen$ive to hangar aircraft.

> 4)low wind

In Mass, meh, does any place in the US have low winds?

> 5)social life

in Mass, depends on your definition of social life, and the max driving distance to get there.

> 6)old houses of any condition

plenty of old houses in Mass
 
Northern California. It's the best compromise for all of the things you've mentioned. I would look in Mendocino or Sonoma County.
 
I live in Montana your temperature and garden constraints would prevent you from living here, sounds like you're looking for Portland or along the Oregon coast, plenty of free thinking, diversity celebrating, tree hugging progressive liberal folks in the peoples republic of Oregon, and... You don't have to pump your own gas or umm... can't? Or you could cross the border to WA state but thinking is actually taxed there so it's not free but they are liberal.
 
kmead said:
Retirement/ lifestyle realignment is now sooner than I can believe. My wife and I want to move to either New England or the Pacific NW in the future. I lived in MD, but it's to hot and muggy. I think further north is better.

Our requirements are:

1) no temp swings of 114F to -20F
2)a garden must be able to stay alive
3)must be an airport with hangars for both aircraft
4)low wind
5)social life
6)old houses of any condition
7)liberal free-thinkers

I've had it after this summer. I do love my home state, but enough is enough.

Any suggestions?

Kevin
Click to expand...

If I left here I'd go PNW...
 
I didn't see you mention living costs or taxes being an issue? (most would)

If you want a moderate temperature with no wild swings you need to be near a large body of water (and not the great lakes).
Now pick one that is not scalding hot all the time (the gulf) or at grave risk of hurricanes (any SE state).
My next concern would be to avoid places that get a million inches of rain a year like Seattle or constant am fog like Socal gets part of every year.
 
kmead said:
1) no temp swings of 114F to -20F
2)a garden must be able to stay alive
3)must be an airport with hangars for both aircraft
4)low wind
5)social life
6)old houses of any condition
7)liberal free-thinkers
Click to expand...

I like Maryland, but you already ruled it out based on it being too muggy. Also a bit short on liberal free thinkers, more of a big goverment nanny state kind of place. Also, for retirement, it's not a tax favorable place by any means and has a high COL.

I like the black hills of SD, they will be really short on the 'social life' and 'low wind' scale.

New Hampshire has been overrun by mass#$$@s in the southern part. If you want to find the 'live free or die' crowd you have to move to the northern 1/2 which is where the -20F temps will catch up with you.

Somewhere in the mountains in NC, TN or northern GA could get you pretty close to a lot of the things you are looking for, save for the social life ;) .
 
kmead said:
Retirement/ lifestyle realignment is now sooner than I can believe. My wife and I want to move to either New England or the Pacific NW in the future. I lived in MD, but it's to hot and muggy. I think further north is better.

Our requirements are:

1) no temp swings of 114F to -20F
2)a garden must be able to stay alive
3)must be an airport with hangars for both aircraft
4)low wind
5)social life
6)old houses of any condition
7)liberal free-thinkers

I've had it after this summer. I do love my home state, but enough is enough.

Any suggestions?

Kevin
Click to expand...

How soon are you expecting this to happen?

The weather in Puget Sound is a study all its own, Whidbey Island is in what we call the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains and we get about 22" average per year our highest temp since we have been here (74) is 99 for 1 day we normally have 1 week of temps in the 80-90 degrees per summer.

Summer days are long, it gets light at 0430 in June and the sun will not set until after 21:30 in the evening, but the winter days are short, it gets light at 07:30 and dark at 16:30. during Dec.

our average winter day is 35-45 degrees, .04" of rain, It froze here 3 nights last winter and we got 3" of snow which was gone the next day.

we live 3 miles north of OKH and 2 miles south of NUW, the town has the stores you need for day to day living ( its a 5 minute drive to down town) and its a short 45 minute drive to Mount Vernon / Burlington ( I-5 corridor) for all the big box stores.

The area is spectacularly beautiful in the spring summer and fall but winter time it is simply dull and gray.

Our most dangerous weather is gray, it will bore you to no end if you don't have a project to do.

Sports teams suck, but there are plenty of outdoor stuff to do in all the seasons, spring / summer salmon runs are still producing limit catches, hunting in the fall for bear, deer, elk, and goat. Olympic class skiing is 50 miles away. the the summer boating in Puget Sound can't be beat, South East Alaska is 500 miles by the inland ferry route, which you can duplicate with your own vessel. the city has a great marina, with open and closed space for boats up to 100'.

go to
http://www.windermere.com/?sa=t&sou...kOm0CQ&usg=AFQjCNHi2JF8ma_gsuFYGRoogPPu6h9Xkg

plug in the zip of 98277 and see what pops for ya, there are nearly 500 homes on the north end of Whidbey for sale.

the home market here is on its backside the homes that were selling at 500k 5 years ago are now selling at 300K
 

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Portland, OR. the temp doesn't get cold in the winter. If it gets lower that 32 degrees F. they freq. out. In the summer they have very few days in the 90s. You don't have to live right in the city. There are several nice air parks around Canby, OR. You can have your planes right in your house.
 
Do I dare to tell you that both OR, and Wa are blue states?

WE are so blue that Patty Murray is our senator but we are trying to fix that.
 
Massachusetts isn't the best place to live. They don't call it taxachusetts for nothing. But if plays and museums are your idea of socializing, there are quite a number of community theatres and quite a number of art museums all over the place. You'll find some fine restaurants and quite a number of local Mom and Pop places worth a second visit.
We certainly have a lot of history.
There are some nice airports in the area that MASSPORT hasn't taken over. The average small single is about $165 a year for registration. Tiedowns are around $100. you can fly mostly year round. This last winter was an exception but we're mostly high 20s and low 30s through the winter. There are the occasional below 0 days and a few singles but all houses have central heat and cars and planes have heat too.
While there are the occasional 90 degree days. high 80s and 60% humidity are normal.
I complain about the weather like everyone else does but I wouldn't live anywhere else. Just look at the fall colors.
 
Tom reminds me, I am so photon-addicted that I would also do a search for number of vfr days per year. Anything under 300 would throw me into a fit of S.A.D., I believe!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Tom reminds me, I am so photon-addicted that I would also do a search for number of vfr days per year. Anything under 300 would throw me into a fit of S.A.D., I believe!
Click to expand...

If you are willing to fly under the marine layer we get more VFR days than San Diego.
 
kmead said:
Retirement/ lifestyle realignment is now sooner than I can believe. My wife and I want to move to either New England or the Pacific NW in the future. I lived in MD, but it's to hot and muggy. I think further north is better.

Our requirements are:


7)liberal free-thinkers

I've had it after this summer. I do love my home state, but enough is enough.

Any suggestions?

Kevin
Click to expand...


I think you should choose New England:)
 
I think New England would be great but for the winters.

To be honest, I think the DC area has an awful lot going for it BUT FOR July and August.

Savannah area is nice BUT FOR June-August. And it has better winters than DC.

It doesn't have the same culture though, of course, and any international flight has to connect through ATL or NYC.

What I've seen of the West Coast... I'd move there in a heartbeat except for the time it takes to get to Europe.
 
Consider looking at Pennsylvania. We live in Williamsport, PA. The scenery is beautiful, this is the first summer I've had to use my AC in 5 years of living here. The winters usually aren't too chilly, either, with it being rare to see much below 10F. Some of the best motorcycling roads of the north. Easy flying, but still fun and beautiful. Good access to NYC, BOS, PHL, PIT, DC (if you want to go) while still living in a place that feels like the middle of nowhere. Snow in the winter isn't too bad, either. Usually one or two "big" snows of <10" per year, rest of the time you'll get <2" dustings a couple of times. I just drive vehicles with good 4x4 and get up my (very steep and curvy) driveway just fine.

The laws tend to be more on the conservative side, but I doubt that you'd really find them problematic. People are friendly, prices are reasonable. Very easy to pick a place to live with land for a reasonable price and be close to an airport. Lots of local history and old houses. Plenty of airports with houses on them. No worries about the Rockies and their associated weather phenomena. Flying in the Aztec year-round is no problem.

Really, I love living in PA.
 
Oscoda Mi.

Ok, it gets chilly in the winter, but you don't have the 112 in the summer.

11,800 feet of runway with no tower and no stupid class B to worry about. http://airnav.com/airport/kosc

Watch the sun rise over crystal clear Lake Huron. Lots of wreck diving just up the road off Thunder Bay.

No congestion.
 
woodstock said:
What I've seen of the West Coast... I'd move there in a heartbeat except for the time it takes to get to Europe.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure there are quite a few direct flights from SFO-Europe although, you are right, it would take more time. Or you could decide to explore Asia...

I've lived on both the east and west coasts and in between and I would definitely choose the west over the east. Colorado is nice but it does have those temperature swings. It almost never gets over 100F, though, and rarely gets down to -20F, at least in the Denver area. I think the weather is much nicer than people from other parts of the country imagine.
 
No one has mentioned Idaho - I've wondered about that state.
 
Jeanie said:
No one has mentioned Idaho - I've wondered about that state.
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I lived in Boise for about a year. It was nice. Boise is/was a decent-sized town but it is far from any big city. That took a bit of getting used to for me since I had always lived within an hour or so drive of big cities. Northern Idaho is even nicer in a scenic way, but I'm not sure how many "liberal free thinkers" live there. I thought that's where many of the isolationists and white supremacists chose to locate. It may be different now, however, and maybe it was just stories I heard. I think the OP needs to tell us whether he prefers city to country and if he is on a budget.
 
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Everskyward said:
Pretty sure there are quite a few direct flights from SFO-Europe although, you are right, it would take more time. Or you could decide to explore Asia...

I've lived on both the east and west coasts and in between and I would definitely choose the west over the east. Colorado is nice but it does have those temperature swings. It almost never gets over 100F, though, and rarely gets down to -20F, at least in the Denver area. I think the weather is much nicer than people from other parts of the country imagine.
Click to expand...

Quite a few, absolutely. Doubt any of them are in the 7 hour range (ie making a weekend trip doable).
 
Sorry about the freethinker note. As the sale of my shop is finalizing and reality is starting to sink in, I cant help feeling jumpy. I know it's the right time to let things go, but it's been a part of my everyday life for so long. The good things are that the shop will remain intact and my employees will keep their jobs.

I do knock my home state of KS a bit too much. I really do owe a lot to the central location and this perfect airport for our success. The extremes weather we see and the need for more social and intellectual events are forcing me to an earlier move.

The ares of interest for us now is much of New England, Oregon, and Washington. I have been in the Pacific NW at airports but we haven't been out to get the feel of things. We're looking forward to some visits. I have spent much more time in the New England areas and know what to expect. I don't want to live in the major metro areas, but I look forward to what they have to offer. Best of all, they have crusty old houses.

Kevin
 
Your requirements mandate migration. Generally Start the year in FL South of the Tampa - Orlando corridor. End of April or early May depending on your hot versus cool tolerance travel to Northern MI. Plant towards end of May for landscaping and garden harvest in August and September. Migrate back to Fl in late October or early November based on cold tolerance, Hurricane tolerance and color change / snow arrival. Plant in November or December to harvest in February and March.

Highs can be limited to the low 90's and lows to low 40's with good travel planning and a little luck.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Now pick one that is not scalding hot all the time (the gulf) or at grave risk of hurricanes (any SE state).
Click to expand...

You may be right on the hurricane front, but we are NOT "scalding hot" in the Gulf.

Note that I say "in" the Gulf. We live on a barrier island off the Texas coast, and the temps are always 10 - 15 degrees cooler than the mainland. (Which, of course, is why everyone comes HERE for vacation!)

As for hurricanes, they give you lots of warning for them -- as opposed to the tornadoes, ice storms, blizzards, hail, straight-line winds, and floods that we lived through in the Midwest for half a century. :D

Our hurricane escape plan? Lock the front door, point the motorhome and airplane toward Austin, and go party for a few days on Sixth Street. Let the insurance company worry about the rest.

As for "free thinkers", well, you won't get any more laid-back than on this island. Unlike much of Texas, this sure ain't "Bible Country"... :yikes: If you're wearing clothing, here, you're probably over-dressed!

I can't imagine living anywhere else. 330+ days of VFR flying per year, and I've had to wear shoes precisely four (4) times since moving here 18 months ago... ;)
 
Sequim. Here in the PNW we have a secret called Sequim. With 320 days of sun, the most flyable area in the Puget sound, it is sheltered by the shadow of the Olympic Mountains. I often see homes on the airport with beach access & dock, and for less than my suburban home & standard lot. Diamond Point is but one of the many airports, Private & public in Sequim (the sectional shows 8 but I know there are a couple not on the map). A mild even climate little to no snow at your home(here in the PNW we keep our snow up on the mountain, we go visit the snow, it does not come visit us). Best of all the Spruce Goose Cafe at Port Townsend is but a few minutes away, and up here we all know they have the best pie of any airport diner. Dave
 
What about the PacNW, I have wondered how often the weather was wonderful on the coast but you really couldn't get out to go anywhere - ie past the mountains to the east.
 
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