Visalia California, Gateway to Sequoia National Park.

iHartMK wrote:Visalia California, Gateway to Sequoia National Park.

I've lived in Three Rivers, but only during the summer. Seems that temps can be rather uncomfortable
in the Valley, but of course you have the mountains close enough to carry you through.

I went to Shaver Lake quite a few times. Nice area.

Boston...

Omega:


Located here:


Repentance:


Located here:


Pinnacle Gully:


Located here:



ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC .........

And five hours north on 93, there's....

Quebec Ice:


Quebec Big Walls:


Located here:

lcarreau wrote:WHY would a person want to live within ANY major city, especially if they're in love with the outdoors ???

For me, it's hard to appreciate each of them without the other. Too much time in the wilderness and I miss the city, too much time in the city and I really miss the wilderness. Museums, music, people, culture, school, tall buildings, crack heads. Not to mention that most rural areas are filed with ignorance, I mean, there are a few token intellectual people in rural areas, but not for the most part it's just rubes.

Fletch wrote:

Dow Williams wrote:one of my daughters came back from West Africa, ready to settle down from having traveled and living abroad for several years...

Peace Corps?

Not to get off topic here, but funny you should ask...where Teach for America did buckle on placement, the Peace Corp did not...once my daughter and her husband got accepted, wisdom teeth pulled, the whole works...they were going to station them in Fiji!!!.....they said no way, both had already pulled quite a few stints overseas and knew there was much more need for them in West-East Africa or India than Fiji.....so they went with the Tostan Group and they based them out of Senegal (West Africa)....turned out to be a great move and both felt like they accomplished so much more than the impact they might have had in Fiji.

TRONA CALIFORNIA

TRONA has one hell of a golf course. Nice place to retire ..

The Chief wrote:Boston...

Omega:


Located here:


Repentance:


Located here:


Pinnacle Gully:


Located here:



ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC .........

And five hours north on 93, there's....

Quebec Ice:


Quebec Big Walls:


Located here:

Boston!? Are you nuts?
We say bad things about people from Boston.

Portland,Maine!

Go for Hawaii! It's just two years, learn to surf, kiteboard, windsurf, whatever.
NY would be cool. The climbing is 2hrs to the Gunks or Cats, or 4 hrs to the daks or a bit more to the whites, but you get to experience the big Apple. Boston would be good too.
Colorado is obvious for the climbing, but you live in Seattle so not much difference. So those are my choices in order...

Thanks so much everyone for the local wisdom. After chatting it over with my wife again here is the truncated list of the areas we would be interested in:

Seattle (I live here, kind of have to consider it)
Colorado Springs
Denver (my family is from Denver. I have been there many, may times. I hear its much nicer now).
NW corner New Mexico (four corners area) Toas, Durango, Flagstaff, Shiprock!
Chicago (My wife is fond of Chicago and has deep connections there)
Boston (The only place on this list that neither my wife nor I have been to but if THE CHIEF says it plays, it plays)

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.

Nice to hear. I have relatives in Albuquerque and eastern NM and liked the area very much, although it haven't been since 1984..

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."