Why do you live where you live and why do you choose to live there instead of somewhere else? What makes you love where you live, or keeps you living there? Try and keep it positive.
I live in the Seattle area. It is by far and away the best mix of skiing and mountain access mixed with a world class international city in the USA imo. I can ski pow in the morning, mtb incredible trails in the afternoon, and go have dinner at a James beard award winning restaurant then catch a concert at one of the umpteen venues around town. The folks are pretty laid back, lots of outdoorsy folks to recreate with, good sports town, economy booming, and has a great beer, food and wine scene. Also a very dog friendly area.
Katy, TX (outside of Houston).
My wife is from here. Great schools. Most diverse county in the nation. Lot’s of work in my field in Houston. I’m not a suburbs kind of guy, but it’s doable.
I’ll speak to where I’ve been, rather than where I’m at, as work keeps me mobile.
But I loved my time in Central Coast CA. Nearby San Luis Obispo. It reminded me of growing up in San Diego, except now San Diego is way too crowded and traffic is a nightmare. Central Coast is still very laid back, has beautiful weather year round, fantastic food, gorgeous scenery, and enough “stuff” nearby if you want it and enough solitude available if you prefer that. Beautiful beaches too.
I still have a very vivid memory. I found a great craigslist find of a bunch of Ironmind stuff. Drove an hour away, loaded it all up in my car, and was heading back home during rush hour traffic. I hit a traffic jam in the middle of Pismo beach.
The sun was setting on the beach and the radio was playing a good song, and I looked out on the water and thought “This could be worse” and just sat in traffic and enjoyed the view and the music.
I’ll add, I grew up in New England, so it’s also “home” for me. I’ve got a work contract and some really great local ties now.
I spent a good chunk of time in the Denver area, and it was a place I could have seen myself moving. Same with a recent trip to Southern California. It’s beautiful, but I really dig the smaller scale of where I live. I spent some time in the Boston suburbs and inconveniences of the city drained me more than the benefits could restore.
I went to college in SLO. One of the most awesome spots to live. I still love visiting there.
I now live in Silicon Valley. It’s actually my favorite place I’ve lived. The weather is perfect, I am surrounded by mountains in both directions, and I just feel so connected and in the middle of everything. When I want to, I can get to SF by a quick train ride, go over the mountain to Santa Cruz, drive down to Monterey, and get up to wine country. Lots of hiking and natural beauty in NorCal. Also, there is just so much culture and food at my fingertips.
The main downside is the cost of living. My household income pushes $300K, and we are literally middle class here. I love our house and location, but the cost of it is crazy for what it is. That said, it has increased in price by over $500K since we bought not too long ago, and Google is moving into downtown San Jose and the prices will keep climbing. Traffic is bad, but nothing like SoCal bad. Also, I can easily bike to work and walk to restaurants and pubs, so it doesn’t affect me all that much.
I live in Alabama and hate it. I want to move out west but it’s hard to leave family and a great job. Every time we go out of state for vacation I’m reminded just how much this place sucks.
I’m in the south hills of Pittsburgh. There is plenty to do year round. Sports, entertainment, we get all 4 seasons of weather sometimes in one day, and occasionally we’ll skip one entirely for the year. Awesome food almost everywhere. Outdoor amenities aht tha ying-yang. Great universities and no joke- brilliant people litterally all over the freakin place.
I like the people and the terrain and the way that the woods smell. Just the way the hills and ridges are shaped and treed in makes it look like home and no where else looks the same.
I don’t know. The places on my mind I’ve never been too except CO. Thinking Northern California, Montana, Utah, Colorado. Somewhere with amazing views. I think Northern California would probably be best lol. Not a big fan of a bunch of snow.
Edit: forgot the WHY. A big reason is a fresh start where I body knows me. I’m not running from anything, I just want to go somewhere where No one knows me and I don’t know them. I’ve lived in my town my whole life. Lots of people I don’t care to see and memories I don’t care to relive.
We also don’t have mountains, more than 2 seasons, beautiful views, stuff like that.
I don’t really like where I live (Ottawa, Canada) but the options aren’t much better. I would say up to around 2008 the world didn’t seem like such a bad place, things took a turn for the worse after that.
If anything Southern Ontario (south of Toronto) might be a bit better due to warmer weather, but the problem is finding a decent job over there. My wife has a good government job, which complicates things further.
I"ve done this. It can be difficult. For an entire year I don’t think I made 1 guy friend, only girlfriends, which 90% of them I’d end up sleeping with and then ruining the friendship when things went sour.
Every time a relationship ended all the people I met through that person had to cut ties. haha.
Pros:
I like living on the beach. Here you can drive on the beaches, so I can drive 30 miles down the shore, which is a barrier island, and be in no man’s land. Great fishing obviously and high biodiversity side it’s an estuarine environment. “Authentic” TexMex is a big plus.
Cons:
It’s sometimes too hot for the beach. Also hurricanes.
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