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Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 10:06 am
by BrummieDave
Moderator Message:
RS Thread for overspill from "If you could live anywhere in the UK"



JohnB wrote:As people can live anywhere, what you see is in house prices and salaries is the cumulative choices of people moderated by their family and friend networks. "If you could live anywhere" means removing constraints, so you might be rich, able to work from home, have no caring commitments, no family ties and be able to make friends easily.

I'm FIRE and single, so have fewer constraints, but am stuck in London until Mum dies. Then I could go anywhere, with the big constraint of my social network (I lived in Boulder, CO for 2 years, glorious place to live, but their lack left me lonely and deeply depressed), so its likely to be Reading, not because its lovely, but because its best for seeing my friends.

Pragmatic answer as you get old, live on the bus route from the town centre to the hospital in the place your least flakey child lives.


Hope things work out for you John. Friends are very important, and if Reading has them, that's a key part of your decision.

Can you clarify your comment about Boulder please as it looks like there's a typo, or a word missing perhaps, and I'm interested in what left you "lonely and deeply depressed" there. I've never been to Boulder, although I have been to Colorado three times, and a close friend has very positive views from visiting his offspring at Uni in Boulder hence my interest. It scores highly in the best places to live, US version. Another high scorer particularly for 'best places to retire to' is Santa Barbara, CA, which I have visited and like very much, and St George, UT, which I am visiting in September. Hence my interest in Boulder if that's not too OT.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the Us where would you choose?

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 10:26 am
by JohnB
Boulder is a university town on the edge of the Rockies, very sunny (more than Miami) and liberal, think Berkeley or Austin, but you can catch a bus every 15 minutes that takes you to the start of a spectacular 3000' climb. But I struggled to make friends there, and once I'd done everything touristy within 500 miles, and done 100 mountain walks, I missed my social circle. I found the same when I was in Exeter for 18 months on a contract.

So if I could persuade all my friends to relocate there, they'd love it, only if they could persuade their families to relocate ...

Utah/Arizona is about the most spectacular place on the planet. Send my love to Bryce and Zion.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 10:44 am
by BrummieDave
JohnB wrote:Boulder is a university town on the edge of the Rockies, very sunny (more than Miami) and liberal, think Berkeley or Austin, but you can catch a bus every 15 minutes that takes you to the start of a spectacular 3000' climb. But I struggled to make friends there, and once I'd done everything touristy within 500 miles, and done 100 mountain walks, I missed my social circle. I found the same when I was in Exeter for 18 months on a contract.

So if I could persuade all my friends to relocate there, they'd love it, only if they could persuade their families to relocate ...

Utah/Arizona is about the most spectacular place on the planet. Send my love to Bryce and Zion.


Thanks John, all makes sense.

And you guessed it, my stay in St George is because I'm then in Bryce, Zion and finishing with Grand Staircase-Escalante. My visits to Colorado being for similar adventures around Breckenridge and Vail. I think the stat I was told at the time is that CO has more peaks above 14,000 feet (53 if I remember correctly) than the Alps. But in terms of spectacular, that award (so far) from me goes to Yosemite, closely followed by the Havasupai Reservation, AZ. Let's see if Bryce and Zion overtake them.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 10:56 am
by JohnB
Ah yes, Scenic Byway 12 and the 100 mile views. I urge you to go to Little Wild Horse Canyon, a wonderful slot canyon you can explore on your own.

If only this thread was "If you could go on holiday anywhere..."

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 14th, 2020, 11:47 pm
by JuanDB
Yosemite! I cannot imagine a more beautiful place than the valley view of El Capitan and half dome. A memory to cherish for a lifetime.

Entirely OT of course. Apologies!

Re: If you could live anywhere in the UK where would you choose?

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 1:05 pm
by todthedog
Off topic did you see the chap climb El Capitan (C4) with no ropes. Amazing.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 3:51 pm
by BrummieDave
todthedog wrote:Off topic did you see the chap climb El Capitan (C4) with no ropes. Amazing.


I think you're referring to 'Free Solo', the film about Alex Honnold making the first ascent of El Capitan alone and without ropes in 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU I would recommend it to anyone as a good film anyway, but especially to anyone who wants to know what all the fuss is about this particular rock in this particular valley.

I was last in Yosemite in June 2019 and actually watched the film on the flight over to San Francisco. Whilst I was in the valley 10 years old Selah Schneiter became the youngest person to ascend El Capitan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGwB4Wi_aFg although her record has since been broken by a 9 year old.

To put Alex Honnold's achievement in perspective, El Capitan is 3,000 feet/almost 1 km of vertical granite with some very challenging technical elements as you would expect. From the valley floor the human eye cannot really see climbers as they ascend, and even with binoculars it's difficult to see people on the rock. That is how big it is.

Experienced climbers normally spend three days with two nights on the climb, Selah Schneiter took five days, Alex Honnold, without ropes and totally on his own, took 3 hours and 56 minutes. He has since ascended with fellow speed climber Tommy Caldwell using ropes in 1 hour 58 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsC_1CRqt1Y

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 15th, 2020, 4:02 pm
by JohnB
2 hours is getting close to Naismith's rule, 3mph + 30 minutes per thousand feet of ascent. Given that its vertical, that is astonishing.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 4:37 pm
by BrummieDave
Moderator Message:
RS Thread for overspill from "If you could live anywhere in the UK"


Glad this thread was moved rather than deleted, and I notice the revised title is focused on the US, rather than global.

So within that context, I'll throw in another favourite place, and perhaps one with a nod to being a great place for retirement (which is the subtle theme that runs throughout many of the boards on Lemon Fool): Sonoma, CA, and Sonoma Valley generally.

Just the right distance from a major city, San Francisco in this case, close enough when you want it be there, far enough away when you don't. Excellent climate of course, far enough from the coast to avoid most of the coastal mist this part of CA particularly is renowned for, with lovely warm days overall. Lots of outdoor activities, including hiking and cycling both from the town, or nearby in State Parks. Superb produce for the kitchen, excellent wine from the surrounding vineyards, world class beer from various local breweries (including America's top beer, and subject of much previous discussion on LF, 'Pliny the Elder'), close enough to Napa to visit, but this more famous neighbouring valley acts like a magnet for the tourists keeping Sonoma Valley thankfully much, much quieter. Pretty town square with around 20 wine tasting rooms (lots of lovely Pinot Noir), good restaurants and bars, and a real local community sense of identity with regular farmers markets, and inclusive social activities.

Great place for a holiday and, I would imagine, to live.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 4:54 pm
by simoan
JuanDB wrote:Yosemite! I cannot imagine a more beautiful place than the valley view of El Capitan and half dome. A memory to cherish for a lifetime.

Entirely OT of course. Apologies!

I guess you've never been to the Torres Del Paine in Patagonia then?

BTW If I had to live in the US it would be as far from the mainland as possible. Does Hawaii count?

All the best, Si

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 18th, 2020, 5:10 pm
by tjh290633
BrummieDave wrote:I'll throw in another favourite place, and perhaps one with a nod to being a great place for retirement (which is the subtle theme that runs throughout many of the boards on Lemon Fool): Sonoma, CA, and Sonoma Valley generally.

Just the right distance from a major city, San Francisco in this case, close enough when you want it be there, far enough away when you don't. Excellent climate of course, far enough from the coast to avoid most of the coastal mist this part of CA particularly is renowned for, with lovely warm days overall. Lots of outdoor activities, including hiking and cycling both from the town, or nearby in State Parks. Superb produce for the kitchen, excellent wine from the surrounding vineyards, world class beer from various local breweries (including America's top beer, and subject of much previous discussion on LF, 'Pliny the Elder'), close enough to Napa to visit, but this more famous neighbouring valley acts like a magnet for the tourists keeping Sonoma Valley thankfully much, much quieter. Pretty town square with around 20 wine tasting rooms (lots of lovely Pinot Noir), good restaurants and bars, and a real local community sense of identity with regular farmers markets, and inclusive social activities.

Great place for a holiday and, I would imagine, to live.

We had a cousin who lived in Sonoma, which we visited in the month of Charles & Diana's Wedding. He owned a factory there, which came with the local airfield and a vineyard. The latter was farmed out to Sebastiani, and as a result he got "growers' rates" for their products. Sadly he passed away a few years later and his widow moved to Davis.

They lived just out of town on a wooded hillside, which might not have been good in the recent fires. I agree that it seemed to be a very nice place to live. Easy to drive to Larkspur to get the ferry to San Francisco. On another occasion he picked me up in his company's aircraft from SFO and we flew to Sonoma Air Park. They kept a couple of aircraft because his business required service men to fly to places distant from commercial airports, and it was more economical to use their own aircraft.

Nice countryside around too. You will notice that the grass is usually a straw colour, and I was shocked one day to see a rotating sign outside a shopping centre give the date and 104°F. You get a bit isolated from the outside temperature in a car with a/c.

TJH

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 19th, 2020, 3:43 pm
by BrummieDave
Another place that looks ideal for both holiday and to live, particularly in retirement, is Sedona AZ. I've only spent two days there, but it's got a lovely laid back vibe, is home to lots of retired hippies and folks serving them with holistic meds etc. and other such services, has a wonderful (dry) climate, and has the most stunning local scenery too.

I've got friends who have visited it for longer than I have, and they too say it's a very chilled, very pleasant place to be. I must go back soon.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 19th, 2020, 7:28 pm
by tjh290633
If you are of the right disposition, Santa Fe, NM takes a lot of beating.

TJH

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 19th, 2020, 7:34 pm
by JohnB
I love visiting the American deserts, so sunny, such clear seasons, low humidity when its hot, glorious scenery, but I'm always conscious its so spread out. You'd need to be so confident that you could have a good social circle in the community you are in, as its 2 hours to anyone else. See my earlier comment about Boulder, Colorado, and there you have a million people in the Front Range.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 19th, 2020, 7:54 pm
by AleisterCrowley
I've never been to the US but rather like the look of Santa Fe! Possibly somewhere in Maine for a more English feel - Bangor?
A friend worked in Savannah GA and recommends it.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 19th, 2020, 9:15 pm
by zico
AleisterCrowley wrote:I've never been to the US but rather like the look of Santa Fe! Possibly somewhere in Maine for a more English feel - Bangor?
A friend worked in Savannah GA and recommends it.


Having travelled through quite a few US states, Maine seemed about the unfriendliest state we visited. Bangor seemed a bit of a dull town, and though Acadia national park is pretty spectacular, it isn't that big.

Have a cousin who lives in Encinitas on the California coast, about 30 miles north of San Diego and maybe 100 miles south of Los Angeles. Seemed one of the best places to live, good Mediterranean climate, laid-back surfing town (unlike the snootier and non-laid-back expensive places north of LA) close to a major city, within easy reach of either desert scenery.

In general, Colorado and California seemed more welcoming places than the Eastern States.

Re: If you could live anywhere in the US where would you choose?

Posted: February 19th, 2020, 10:41 pm
by AleisterCrowley
I'll stick with Santa Fe then - Stephen King ain't gettin' a new neighbour

Distant relative lives in San Clemente south of LA, which looks OK - my sister visited a few years back