If it were me I would be partial to Seattle if all else were equal. I have done 6 summer vacations in the Cascades in the last decade for hiking and mountain climbing. You also have the Puget Sound there. Beautiful city. But if I were to live there I would probably prefer something like Bellingham. If I worked in the city itself I would want to live there. Something that avoids the traffic as best as possible. The worst case would be to join the rush hour traffic every day. This holds for any large city in your list.

Boulder area appeals to me for Colorado.

Boston would be OK but very expensive, and horrific traffic. If you want access to the mountains to the north live in the northern burbs. Great sports town and running community. Great for culture and near the sea coast.

For the northeast and outdoor activities it is hard to beat Burlington, Vermont (not on your list). Within a 2 hour drive you can be in the heart of the Adirondacks, New Hampshire White Mountains, Montreal, or the Vermont Green Mountains (less then 1 hour for the latter). You can practice your French when in Quebec (culture), or on the trail (you meet allot of Quebecers on the trails, hence Montreal has great access to these hills as well). Oh, by the way, you are on the shores of Lake Champlain, in a college town. The bad thing about anything northeast is the weather is generally dreary and damp, but you are used to that if you are living in Seattle. I have heard from others who had lived in Seattle that Vermont has statistically more cloud cover though. It keeps things very green though. I will likely live here until my employer kicks me to the curb. The other warning about Burlington as several friends who were from Chicago wound up moving back there because they missed the big city activities Chicago could offer and Burlington could not.

I have always scratched California from my list of prospective places to live due to horrific cost of living stories.

I assume you are partial to staying in the USA, as Vancouver & Calgary looked like great places for a mountain lover to live as well.

I'm already here - New Mexico. Great climate, lots to do, not crowded, not expensive.

Shiprock? Why?

At least go to Farmington, I might be there.

Apropos topic right now.

After living in southeast Alaska from 92 to 2008, I kind of forced myself to try living in CONUS again and shake things up. Moved to Golden, CO, but the office I was in was PWAC infested though I was slowly getting into living there but moved to northern Idaho which is much more my cup of tea.

Now I am in for two possible positions at opposite ends of the country. Seattle, a downtown job or Arlington, VA basically for spiking the income. Considered Duluth, MN but did not throw my hat in....climate, despite being "warmer by the lake in winter."

I noticed that you left out ARIZONA.

Yup, I know that 330 days (outta the year) of blue skies and sunshine is a hard pill to take.

Hey, what the hell do I know ??? I live in central Arizona.

ACTUALLY ... if your wife is anything like mine, WHEREVER she ends up is where you'll BE.

I will vote for SEATTLE !!! I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!! Jobs, Truely glaciated mountains, lots of great hiking and climbing folks. Great community for mountaineers. That is why REI, Eddie Bauer, and so many other climbing outfitters have roots here. You need three lifetimes to truly experience the beauty nearby.

Boston....incredible NFL team, just being that close to Brady and Belichick would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, super running town, love running the marathon or along the river....but same as above....closest crag has tons of mosquitoes....more than I have seen in Alaska...good luck driving out of the city to get to the countryside/trails/mts

Don't totally bash the northern Boston area or southern New Hampshire. I got heavily seduce to Seattle by Rainier and the Cascades but Manchester, New Hampshire was a good place to live for five years. 45 minutes to the ocean, and the Boston area, an hour and a quarter from the Whites, and 2 hours from the Greens, not to mention Rock Rimmon a 150 granite wall with a 5.12 on it INSIDE THE CITY. Personally I am glad I lived there but like Seattle much much more.

I was born in the D.C. metro area and lived there (except for Frostburg State University in western Maryland) for 23 years. Honestly though my parents and brother live there and I am close to them I don't go back to visit. There is some nature and the season of fall can be pretty in West Virginia and western Maryland. That being said it is no where near as plentiful as where you presently live in Seattle. You would get homesick in a hurry, especially when the humid weather and haze starts to roll in. Restaurants and culture in D.C. are great and amusement parks are plentiful (Six Flags America, Kings Dominion) (Seattle is lacking there) but that is not enough for me to ever want to go back outside of a ten year family reunion.

ExcitableBoy wrote:

lcarreau wrote:I noticed that you left out ARIZONA.

I did, I have been quite a few times and my wife has a house in Scottsdale, but neither of us want to live there.

Sorry, guess I should have left a smiley face there ...

I have been to Seattle several times, but prefer to live in AZ. Hey, to each his own. Best of Luck !!

DOD spending $721.3 billion Base budget + "Overseas Contingency Operations"
FBI counter-terrorism $2.7 billion At least one-third FBI budget.
International Affairs $10.1–$54.2 billion At minimum, foreign arms sales. At most, entire State budget
Energy Department, defense-related $20.9 billion
Veterans Affairs $66.2 billion
Homeland Security $54.7 billion
NASA, satellites $3.4–$8.5 billion Between 20% and 50% of NASA's total budget
Veterans pensions $58.4 billion
Other defense-related mandatory spending $7.5 billion
Interest on debt incurred in past wars $114.8–$454.2 billion Between 23% and 91% of total interest
Total Spending $1.060–$1.449 trillion

Teach for America $20 million

Dan, I would pay attention...hearing details the Repugs will try and cut it in the next two weeks. I am all up for cuts...but come on people...lets hear about some serious money here. Police the world. Fail to educate our own. The gap is closing.

Seattle for the best all around variety.

Las Vegas if you want to rock the sandstone all year long, and you don't mind heat.

Colorado for a decent mix of hiking, rock, and a little white water thrown in.


My personal choice: SEATTLE. But all three are cool in their own way.

lcarreau wrote:ACTUALLY ... if your wife is anything like mine, WHEREVER she ends up is where you'll BE.

Like a trip to Crazytown?