As you know a member of the board is moving away from Boston to MN and another just posted about the possibility of moving in a couple of years. What I m wondering is just what keeps most of us planted right where we are? I had the benefit of living in CA for a few years, which we really enjoyed, but then moved back to the East coast...a move which we wish we hadn t done, as we realized we really enjoyed our lifestyle out there. But we moved back home to be near family again and well...you know how that goes...sometimes distance is a wonderful thing! But here we are living in the expensive Boston area wondering what really is keeping us here. We have friends that have uprooted and moved to lovely areas of the country where they bought brand new homes for half or less than half of what you could expect to pay here, and they say the cost of living is much less. They have found the school systems to be comparable and found comparable jobs. So what keeps us or you where you are? Have you thought recently about moving, getting away from expensive, congested areas but just not able to make yourself do it or take the risk. I often find myself wishing my husband had the kind of job that could decide it for us by just telling him he s being transferred!!
CamperrooWe are moving from Toronto to Oshawa, both cities are in Ontario however Oshawa is on a much smaller scale...I can t wait! My job is based in downtown Toronto however I m on the road a lot so it doesn t really matter. We chose Oshawa as it s one of the smaller big cities within a reasonable amount of time from Toronto. My husband and I would love nothing more than to move to a very rurarl area but with three high needs children and now a mother living with us, we needed some of the creature comforts a bigger town offers. If it weren t for employement we would have loved to chose another a much different area.
CamperrooWe re living here because I can t think of any better place to live. We are living near the ocean on the northern outskirts of the Los Angeles sprawl in an area where we can and do camp and enjoy other outdoor activities year-round.
For this we give up alledged family contact...where we think we would spend a lot more time with family, but in reality we probably get to see more of them by visiting than we would if we lived there.
gsm x2
CamperrooWeather: Though Texas " Super Summer" can be brutal, the rest of the year is great and there is nothing I have to shovel[: (]!
Job (and other income producing interests): Pays good for the little I do. " Bennys" are great! I m getting close to retirement.
Most of all, kiddos and grandbabies: Nuf said on that.[:D][:D][:D]
Actually, about the only place I can think of that I d like to move to is the Texas Hill Country. Still puts me too far away from my prime reason for staying put.
CamperrooYepp, we do think about moving.
Both have lived in this city all our lives, and only about 2 miles from here.
We keep watching everyone else moving around, and think we would like something different.
But.......
Kids like their school
My business is here and hard to move and keep the customers
Camperroomy husbands job keeps us here, and the kids dont want to start a new school. If I had my way I would move tomorrow!
CamperrooI can tell you what kept me in Mass. for 43 years.
Tradition.
My family has been here forever (OK, not forever, only since 1620). New Englanders stayed behind when all others went west. Most New Englanders who settled on the West Coast travelled there by boat. Going across land was too far. Which meant you had to have money. Why would you want to go to a wild, uncivilized land when you already had money? It was too far to go overland when California and Oregon were being settled. It was too far for Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas. Nobody left. As the barriers to leaving came down, one important one stayed up, and that was the psychological one. Nobody left here to go there, never mind that it used to be impossible and now it isn t.
My children were born in the town I was born in. My father was born less than 20 miles from here, in the town his father was born in, who was born in the same house his father was born in. I have followed this back. Since 1643, my ancestors have moved three times. Only my father went more than 5 miles. He went less than 20.
There are good things here.
There are great opportunities for entertainment, food, and nature within a day s drive. You can be in Montreal, New York, or New Brunswick in a day or less (OK, Montreal might be a stretch in a day). Whether you like the sands of Cape Cod, the theaters and museums of Boston, the restaurants and history of any New England state, the rocky coasts of Maine, the mountains or lakes of New Hampshire, the Mansions of Rhode Island, or the 17th, 18th, or 19th century " towns" of Plimouth Colony, Surbridge Village, or Olde Mystic Seaport, you can get that here in a day, a few hours drive, or less. Even in Vermont, there are things not found anywhere else. The Shelburne museum in Shelburn Falls, VT is unlike anything I have seen anywhere.
There are no whale watches that leave from Michigan. There are no 17th century towns in Colorado. They never made whaling boats in Ohio, Arizona or Idaho. You won t find lobster fishermen in Kansas, Minnesota, or Montana. They don t have truly fresh swordfish in Kentucky, Arkansas, or Nevada (OK, maybe in Vegas there s a casino that flys it in every day, but 99.8% of it is previously frozen).
People tend to be more professional here than in most parts of the country. The corollary to this is that they tend to be less friendly...at least until you get to know them. Most outsiders don t have the patience for the process to get poeple to open up to you.
The money is good, and I have had the opportunity to make a lot of it over the past 5-6 years...but the cost of living is not good.
I m not saying there s anything bad or wrong with other parts of the country, but living in Massachusetts can be comfortable. That is, once you re used to the raw, gloomy winters, the dirty politics, the confusing, lousy roads, and a pace of life that can taken the breath away from a hyperactive Californian.
We have made the decision to leave, but it s not because I don t love New England, it s because it s time, after 384 years, to move on.
Austin
CamperrooWe stay here because we just haven t found anyplece that we enjoy more. We see the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains from the end of our road. It s not too expensive to live here, the schools are good and our families are relatively close by.
I have a 12 minute commute to work, which takes me past open fields and woods and then into the historic part of Saratoga. Blaise takes a nice scenic route to work, which is 20 minutes from home.
We have a state forest up the road and a state park 20 minutes away.
Yeah, the winters are snowy, but we enjoy it. When we don t will be the time we start looking for elsewhere to settle.
kathybrjThe weather[8D]
CamperrooHave always lived in Central NC. Early in our marriage, we seriously thought about moving to CA, but the work did not pan out.
After 13 years of marriage, started adopting our babies. DH came up with moving to CA again, I told him NO, we adopted this baby to give her family and she is going to be close to her family.
So here we are, we have moved four times but have stayed in NC. Would consider moving somewhere else in NC close by, but with our three adopted girls I still want to remain close to family.
CamperrooWe stay in the Cincinnati area due to my job. All of my family (bro s, sister, mother, father) live in the Dallas Texas area. I really miss not being around for family get together s and only see them every 12 to 18 mos. But being that I m in the CNC electric discharge field there isn t much of a calling for that line of work in Texas [:(]. Now that I am activated in the AF visiting famliy in Texas has become more difficult and all our visiting plans were put on hold until deactivation back to the reserves and civilian life.
I would do back flips to move back to Texas with my family but you gotta have a job to feed the family and in my line of work jobs are scarce in that neck of the woods.
CamperrooDH s job has moved us 7 times in 22 years and we ve been in some awful places but we LOVE where we are now, in the gorgeous Shennandoah Valley of Va. Although his job has some challenges now (upper management style) we love it here and it would take just the right offer to get us to go anywhere.
Why do we love it here? We have the house we always wanted, DD is in a good school and is doing well, I have a 2 minute drive to work and because I work for the public schools DD has NEVER been in child care after school, the state parks are wonderful for camping, the mountains........
Like I said, we ve moved a lot and it can be great or terrible.
Tena
CamperrooDH and I were just discussing this. We moved here a year ago from MN for his job. Other then the heat, and being so far away from family, I m starting to like it. Of course once again there s rumors the job will be moving....this time to the Cincinnatti area. We re in a wait and see mode right now.
One thing I found is that even though there are things you may not like, alot of it is because it s not what you re use to. i ve found that if I can keep an open mind, and make an effort to get to know people, I could probably enjoy living anywhere. DH is a little less able to deal with change though and while he s " warming" up to life in TX he d be happy to get back to the genral mid-west areas. We ve decided that no matter where we move to, we will always give it a minimum of 2 years before we decide we don t like it.....unless the job decides for us LOL.
It is a very real possibility that we will try to move back to MN at some point, but the main reason would be to be closer to family. I really miss that my children aren t going to be able to have the close relationships with their cousins and that the rest of my nieces and nephews do. Of course having grandparents nearby to babysit is another big plus in this area LOL
CamperrooThis area has been good to us, so we should not complain.
At the same time it would be nice to be out of the " beltway" as most Washington, D.C. folks talk about it. If we could we would like to return to the midwest, preferably Indiana. We miss the people, the traditions. and family.
DH is trying to make a job switch but those kind of things at our age is hard. We feel closer to America when we are home...kinda funny when you think we are in our country s Capital. We have lived in Chicago, Minnesota, Indiana and L.A. but always prefer the Midwest. Someday we will go home, we hope.
CamperrooWe don t stay put for long. Longest stay was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (3.5 years) shortest was 9 months in Lee s Summit MO. DH job keeps us moving across the country. I guess that means he does a good job. I moved alot as a kid, so it s not a big deal; plus when a large corporation moves you, they do most of the work and cover most of the $$$. My daughter was in her third state by 18 months of age.
CamperrooI m a transplant! I moved here when the US Navy sent me here back in 1976, and with the exception of a few brief interludes, I ve remained here! I m a Mass native, and have a deep yearning to return ----- someday! I miss the snowy winters, and closeness to family.
I ve stayed here for a few reasons actually, but perhaps chief among them have been the mild winters. While I really do miss the snow, I ve enjoyed the lack of it in this part of the world. And if I really want to play in the snow, all I have to do is head west for about an hour, the other 3/4 of the state get snow regularly.
The other reason is roots! When I lived in Mass, my parents moved often, usually every 3-4 years, one town to the next. If they moved any more often I would have thought they were gypsies or something! But moving every few years as a kid meant I never had any really close bonds with friends. Yes, I ve got several good friends up there, but not like I ve made down here living in the same area for the last 27 years! I ve made roots here, deep ones!
I also have state I hate the summer weather here, though there was a time when I loved it! I guess getting older makes it harder to deal with the heat and humidity. So perhaps one day I ll give up the roots and return home ----- Someday!
CamperrooWhat keeps us here in Central PA are family, jobs, low crime rate, good schools, 4 seasons, nice state parks. Do I need any more reasons?
CamperrooWhen I was getting out of the service, I was thinking about where I wanted to plant roots. I was stationed in N. California at the time and knew, after had been there a year (never seen skeeters the size of fighter jets before), California wasn t for me. Upstate NY wasn t that great as far as jobs went at that time, and, after had spent 3 years in England, I knew I wanted someplace with that slower paced lifestyle. A friend of mine had moved to the KC area and she invited me out to visit. So I took some leave and spent a week with her, and after that I was sold. People were friendly, jobs were plentiful, there was a huge cross section of different cultures and activities, and the cost of living was low enough u could have a decent lifestyle at $10/hr. (I was half expecting to find Baptist revival tents on every other street corner, but was happy to find it was BBQ places instead) Granted..the summers can get oppressive as far as heat and humidity goes, and I do miss the upstate NY winters (the winters here are more brown then white), but there is always something to do here, the sense of community is strong, top notch school systems (son is in one of the best rated public schools in the country), the history of the old west, the history of the much older west (let us not forget there were others here way before most of our ancestors came over from Europe, or were forced over from Africa), and it s ok to watch the cars rust, and the grass grow. The fishing is good at the local lakes, and the people in the farming communities still wave at you as u drive thru their town to say howdy. I still have 2 sisters in upstate NY (One in the Syracuse area, and one in the Albany area) along with an aunt, uncle, and cousins, and every time I drive back to visit, I am reminded why I didn t return to settle in the Syracuse area. KC is growing at a huge rate, and the economy here has taken a not so good turn, but I don t think I could live anywhere else.
On another note..My dad retired to Boulder, CO from upstate NY for tax reasons, the Rockies (he still skiis at 75, and still back packs, canoes, white water rafts at times and other things), and he likes the climate, and culture.
CamperrooWhat brought us here after I got out of the USAF in St. Louis was a desire to return to the south (we re from Florida), and the job offer here in Austin.
Why would we want to leave? The job is good, but who knows how much longer I ll be employed with so many programming jobs being taken from Americans and given to Indians? We love Austin...it s a very cosmopolitan town. The people are friendly, and very laid back. The city is clean, and very much alive. (St. Louis is a old city, with many bad, decaying areas). There s so many parks to go camping at within a few hours drive (or less!). The state is wonderful...we ve got mountains in the west, bayous in the east, a sea shore south, nice hills where we live, plains and canyons north.
The summers are hot, but hey, so is Florida, and so is St. Louis. The winters are wonderfully mild...we can go camping year round!
If I lost my job, the only reason we d leave is if I found a job elsewhere. Otherwise, we love it right here. Probably the best place we ve ever lived.
CamperrooNot much is keeping us in New Jersey. Moved here to be close to the Ocean and to help take care of my wife s aging Grandparents. They have since passed away and we find we prefer the Ocean with out the beach clubs and condos. We spend more time on the beach on Cape Cod then we do here. The traffic and pace of life here are killers. My Mother and Sister -in-law are still in the area, so my wife gets torn now and again. DW is a Cardiac RN and I am a Network Engineer, so we can find work where ever we go.
We are looking at possibly relocating to Central PA or joining Family Life Mininstries in Little Rock, AR. We are both from Upstate New York and miss the pace of life there but not the ailing economy. After oldest DD graduates from High School next year, we have a window of oppurtunity before youngest DD starts High School. We don t want to interrupt the high school years if possible.
Al
CamperrooSmall town in a big State. 30 degree below zero winters with a 40 mph wind keeps the riff-raff out. No wierd bugs, scorpians or lizards. Hunting is wide open. Fishing is great. Lots of places to camp where you won t see anyone all week long.
The only bad thing is the out-of-state eco-freaks who seem to think they have to " save" us natives from ourselves.
CamperrooWe sort of ended up in SC when DH retired from the AF. I really hated it at first because he promised me we would live out west, New Mexico. However, since buying the PU and realizing how close we are to all the places we love to camp, I m beginning to feel this area is not so bad after all. Within three hours we can be in the mountains or on the beach. Add a couple and we are in Florida. We can camp almost all year long. It doesn t get any better than that.
aldebnjEveryone here has such really interesting replies! I guess for us it s hard to leave the familiarity of where we are, yet we aren t that thrilled with it anymore. We are starting to research towns within a half hrs. drive or so from here and already realized we could sell our house, pay off debt and buy another home and reduce our mortgage debt by a few hundred dollars. Sounds like we should jump at such a simple change don t ya think...but DD is just starting high school this year and is now getting all worried we ll be moving and she ll have to start at a new high school where she knows no one. So that makes us feel guilty...but then again she would only be moving less than 45 min. from where we presently are so she could easily stay in touch with her friends and then also make new ones. Can you say anxiety!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DC24 years of working in real estate keeps me where I am in a familiar market place. I was born and raisef in the next county and live within a 25 minute drive of there but work is perhaps a 33 from that original homeplace. Where I live now is only about 17 minutes to the office. My grown children and the grandkids are within an hour s drive. I love the small town charm and living in such a nice area. When I move, it won t be far from here.
CamperrooWhat? Move away from Vermont?? Well, maybe during Mud Season!!! IF you don t know what Mud Season is- It s that 1 to 6 week period in Spring when every bit of dirt, roads, driveways, yards, walks, etc turns into quicksand about 2 feet deep!
Actually what keeps me here is my job, pays well, commuting to work and meeting 10 cars in 10 miles is heavy traffic! The seasons- I love to Camp, Paddle, and Cross Country Ski, and VT & NH have some of the best of each! AND the number ONE reason- the house is paid for!!!
CamperrooI grew up in Elizabeth, N.J. in between the oil refineries and New York city. When I was a kid I d look at the horizon from our front porch and watched the World Trade center going up. I loved growing up there, it was a wonderful place. One of the best things was being able to be at the Pennsylvania mountains, New York Mtns, Washington D.C., Canada, the Jersey shore in less time than it does to get out of Florida. But this thread is what keeps me where I m at and that boils down to Family, business and the Ocean in that order. When it comes to the Ocean this is a hard place to beat, and oh yea YEAR ROUND CAMPING on the ocean to boot.
Happy Camping
CamperrooCamperroo,
Yes, when seeing friends and family moving all over the country can give one the wondering feet. I am here to say after moving 35 times or more both in my military and civilian careers, THE GRASS ALWAYS LOOKS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE. My friend, Home is where you hang your hat. Enjoy where you are because before you know it things will change and be different and you will miss what it was before. There is nothing wrong with staying where you are.. Besides just think of the money you will save by not moving..[;)]