If you had to pick up and move where would you go?

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Where would you move?

  • Northeast

    Votes: 3 1.2%
  • Mid-Atlantic

    Votes: 9 3.7%
  • Southeast

    Votes: 17 6.9%
  • Midwest

    Votes: 36 14.7%
  • Rocky Mountains

    Votes: 91 37.1%
  • Texas

    Votes: 8 3.3%
  • Southwest

    Votes: 17 6.9%
  • Pacific Northwest

    Votes: 43 17.6%
  • Nor-Cal

    Votes: 8 3.3%
  • So-Cal

    Votes: 13 5.3%

  • Total voters
    245

JP4CY

I'm Mike Jones
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Dec 19, 2008
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Some awesome towns over the years I’ve been to where I could live:
Ames
Hood River, OR
Ft Collins
Traverse City
Nashville (before it got really Vegasy)

Now an overall compromise could be Kansas City. Affordable, just enough of winter, lots of distinct neighborhoods, plus it’s Hilton South.
 

mramseyISU

Well-Known Member
Nov 8, 2006
6,327
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Waterloo, IA
Amsterdam, Reykjavik, or Brussels internationally,

Domestically, probably somewhere in Colorado.
If those are your European cities I’d add Helsinki to that list. I had a chance to spend a couple days in Finland last year and loved it. If I could figure out how to do an ex-pat job with Deere in Tampere I’d be all over it.
 
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SpokaneCY

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
13,294
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Spokane, WA
Some awesome towns over the years I’ve been to where I could live:
Ames
Hood River, OR
Ft Collins
Traverse City
Nashville (before it got really Vegasy)

Now an overall compromise could be Kansas City. Affordable, just enough of winter, lots of distinct neighborhoods, plus it’s Hilton South.

Hood River is a special experience for beer lovers... And all the other stuff as well.
 
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JP4CY

I'm Mike Jones
Staff member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Dec 19, 2008
63,958
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Testifying
Hood River is a special experience for beer lovers... And all the other stuff as well.
seth-rogan-smoke-weed.gif
 

Sousaclone

Well-Known Member
Apr 29, 2006
1,795
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North of Seattle
PNW. Specifically, somewhere around Sedro-Wooley, Washington. Close to mountains, the San Juan Islands, Canada & Seattle. Not too cold, not too hot. Beautifully green.

KC, how familiar are you with that area? Company I work for is bidding a rehab job on the Lower Baker Dam (30 minutes east) and I'm considering trying to get on to that project. Just curious about the area if you have any experience. That area looks decent. Small-Medium town, but close enough to Seattle or Vancouver that it's not isolated, and it looks like most of the amenities / errands / stores are right there along 5 so it's not a 45 minute drive to get groceries.
 

ImJustKCClone

Ancient Argumentative and Accidental Assassin Ape
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Jun 18, 2013
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traipsing thru the treetops
KC, how familiar are you with that area? Company I work for is bidding a rehab job on the Lower Baker Dam (30 minutes east) and I'm considering trying to get on to that project. Just curious about the area if you have any experience. That area looks decent. Small-Medium town, but close enough to Seattle or Vancouver that it's not isolated, and it looks like most of the amenities / errands / stores are right there along 5 so it's not a 45 minute drive to get groceries.
If you like an outdoor life, that region is gorgeous. Or at least, it was when I lived in Washington. We liked going up into the Ross lake area.
However, I haven't lived there since the 70s. I have a friend that still lives in the region, so my current info is second-hand.
@besserheimerphat lives out there somewhere, on the west side of the Cascades, I think. You should ask him!
 
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besserheimerphat

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Apr 11, 2006
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Mount Vernon, WA
KC, how familiar are you with that area? Company I work for is bidding a rehab job on the Lower Baker Dam (30 minutes east) and I'm considering trying to get on to that project. Just curious about the area if you have any experience. That area looks decent. Small-Medium town, but close enough to Seattle or Vancouver that it's not isolated, and it looks like most of the amenities / errands / stores are right there along 5 so it's not a 45 minute drive to get groceries.
Sedro is a nice small town. I live in Mount Vernon, about 15 minutes from Sedro - my kids have friends there, and we often make the short drive. If you can't find something there, you can definitely find in in Mount Vernon/Burlington. I'd probably compare Sedro to Boone, and Mount Vernon to Marshalltown. We haven't really ever NEEDED to go to Seattle for anything, but we go probably once a month for cultural or specialty stuff. There's also Bellingham to the north, about 100k people with the state's 3rd largest public university. A lot like Cedar Falls, but with more Canadians. Both are in the Skagit Valley, a relatively flat/agricultural area with the Chuckanut Mountains to the north and Cascades to the east. Baker Lake is a nice park, and Hwy 20 is one of the main ways to get into the Cascades in this area.

The Skagit Valley is not nearly as liberal as Seattle or Bellingham. Kind of a reddish-purple island in a sea of blue. Culturally it feels very midwestern.

From Sedro you can get to salt water in about 20 minutes. Anacortes (AH-nuh-COR-tiz) is a nice town with lots of boaters, fishermen and retirees. There's also Bayview state park and Larrabee state park, both with access to the Salish Sea. The San Juan Islands are a 60 min/$90 ferry ride ($90 round trip, and the inter island ferry is free) from Anacortes.

Lots more to share if you're interested. We moved here from Ames in 2012 and love it.
 
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besserheimerphat

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Apr 11, 2006
10,278
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Mount Vernon, WA
KC, how familiar are you with that area? Company I work for is bidding a rehab job on the Lower Baker Dam (30 minutes east) and I'm considering trying to get on to that project. Just curious about the area if you have any experience. That area looks decent. Small-Medium town, but close enough to Seattle or Vancouver that it's not isolated, and it looks like most of the amenities / errands / stores are right there along 5 so it's not a 45 minute drive to get groceries.
Forgot to ask when the job will be done. If its between June and October, you should absolutely get out here. Summers in this area are the best in the entire world. November to April is pretty grey and damp. The mountains are still green and gorgeous, but the weather really puts some people off. May and June are a crapshoot. We're on the edge of the rain shadow from the Olympics so it's not as bad here as it is further south.
 

isuno1fan

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2006
22,829
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Clive, Iowa
Ames, Iowa

My wife and I returned to Ames after a 30 year absence to attend my son’s freshman orientation. Turning off of Duff and traveling down Lincoln Way I had the feeling that I had just returned home. Ames is a special place.

yep....people don't realize what they had until it's gone. Hard to beat anywhere in central Iowa.
 

ruxCYtable

Well-Known Member
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Aug 29, 2007
7,131
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Colorado
Did it a year ago and moved to Colorado Springs. Still seems surreal, I thought I'd live my whole life and die in Iowa.

Love it here but it may not be our final destination. I still think I'd like to live by the ocean before I die.

PS: No bugs, no allergies and no humidity in COS!
 
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Chitownclone2

Active Member
May 13, 2010
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We lived there in our mid to late 20’s and for part of it for rent free in Corp housing. Fun time to enjoy the food, music, sports, etc! I couldn’t imagine being stuck in an apartment there during Covid and not really being able to enjoy outside space and all NYC has to offer.
 

JY07

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2009
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DSM
Just did a quick check and a $250k home in Portland you’re looking at $2600 a year and in Austin it’s $4950 a year (and I’m sure it doesn’t include that 11% hike that just happened).

That's about on par with central iowa, so I don't know if I'd call it out of control (or maybe they're both out of control)

Is there a website where you can put in a desired temperature range, and it tells you which areas hit that range most often?