Don’t get me wrong, I like Sandy Eggo fine – it’s just that, you know: So many other people do too. It’s busy here. The rush hour can feel like a half-hour knife fight in a phone booth, and on a Friday evening you couldn’t get me to face the highway traffic on a bet. Expensive too, both in terms of taxes, overall cost of living and real estate.
One of the loveliest places I’ve ever visited was Perth, West Australia. It wasn’t just that the natives spoke a kind of English, and that the pubs sold refreshing and roborative adult beverages, but also that Perth reminded me of San Diego viewed through the lens of a “wayback” machine, a simpler time. Sun and beaches, golf and fresh air – but without all the over-congestion. I may have mentioned the pubs. I found myself thinking, “this is what it must have been like before, back in the 50′s.” Charming.
We’re pretty much committed to the local at least until the girls go off to college, even if it means taking work as a Walmart greeter after I retire from the naval – they’re that settled in down here. But for our own part, once the kids are launched downrange, we’re committed to downsizing a bit, and open to the idea of moving.
Now you are a tasteful set of readers, with evident discernment, so I wondered if maybe you’ve got some ideas about places to live in This Land of Ours.
In an idle moment last night I went a-googling for real estate in Portland and Bend – just two examples of places I think I wouldn’t mind settling down at. Much good that it did me: It doesn’t much matter to the Hobbit that you can buy a five bedroom place with acreage for horses by a babbling brook in the Portland environs for less than it costs to get your lawn mowed in San Diego – it rains too much for her up there. “It’s good for your complexion,” I told her, but no – you’d of thought she was made of sugar cubes. She feels the same way about Seattle, a place I always considered a possibility.
Nothing going for Missoula, Montana either, don’t care how many trout there are to be hooked in the Bitterroot. She hardened her heart against Flagstaff, AZ after I fell in love with it while passing through but she heard that the snowfall was measured in meters during the winter time. Something about being born Brazillian, I guess.
My dream home would be a Victorian type thing if we lived in the city, and a rambling log cabin affair if we lived in the country. I’d like convenient access to a river you could wade in, and maybe tease a rainbow with a dry fly when the hatch was on, although a smallmouth bass can be every bit as much fun. I prefer mountain air to sandy beaches, would rather hunt quail than sail on a Sunday afternoon, but wouldn’t mind being able to do both. Neither too cold – shoveling snow wears thin after your first few tries – nor too hot of course.
Now then: Where shall we go?
I suggest Greenville, SC. In the mountains, near trout streams. A couple hours to good beaches, a couple of hours to Atlanta or Charlotte for bigger city amenities. Home to Furman U. Near a great big lake for boating. Very nice motorcycle riding. And four seasons of weather, none of them awful.
I see the city is looking for a zookeeper, a position for which Navy training might be the key…
‘Course, Raleigh, NC ain’t bad either…
Damn you, Seniord and Brad, you gave my secret away!! This retired Jarhead has 2 more years max being a Beltway Bandit, and then me and She Who Must Be Obeyed are settling permanently into our house on her brother’s farm in Augusta County, Virginia. Mild winters, delightful summers (on the hilltop where we always catch a breeze), great kayaking, fishing, whitetail deer in the backyard, and nobody bats an eye if you have a gunrack in the pickup. 30 minutes from Charlottesville, 40 minutes from Lexington, 2 hours from DC (if there were ever a reason to go to DC), only a bit longer to the beach. Real estate right now is very reasonable, but it won’t stay that way. Yeah, it’s my little piece of Heaven.
We’re working a phased approach – once -3′s HS days are complete we’re moving further west out of occupied territory IVO I395/495, thence to a dual siting – 3 seasons log home up around Deep Creek MD (MD, WV or VA still tbd) and something further south for winter (maybe even back to Southside Hampton Roads)…
- SJS
Not one vote for rural PA?
What’s up with that?
Good gun laws, (too much HRC on the TV ads from over ‘there’ north of us)
low crime, low taxes, beautiful scenery, sensible people…….
cheap land……
sensible people, what few there are……
Hey, all, do military folks just have to live in an area with a certain population density? Too used to being around so many folks that they can’t stand the empty places? or what?
VA and WV are lovely, but too warm…..
d
dk:
As one family that spends a lot of our spare w/ends up in Lancaster and environs, we do like the area & it is nice enough for visiting, but there is that Yankee aspect re. living there…
- SJS
Oregon has a state income tax.Now, I know you’re used to that living in California, but in Washington we don’t have a state income tax.You need to make a few phone calls and check out if your physical state residence or your home of record decides whether or not you pay state income tax on your retirment pay.
There are several communities along the Columnbia River (on the Washington side) that are every bit as livable and affordable as the Oregon side. I don’t recommend living in the gorge on either side of the river because of the wind most of the year and the freezing rain in the winter. As soon as you climb out of the gorge the weather is the same on either side of the river. The further inland you go the more extreme the weather gets, ie hot in summer, cold in winter as you go east. Milder as you go west.Nothing, nothing will compare to the weather in San Diego…as you know,that’s why it’s wall to wall house from LA to SD.As soon as the land developers get a hold of Camp Pendelton the megalopolis will be complete.
I must say, I agree with one of the posts above.Keep an eye on where your grandkids are…that’s likely where Lex will be.
One more…fishing is good in both Washington and Oregon.Hunting is better if you stick close to the Cascades.Deer, elk, antelope, goat in them thar hills.Olympic mountains in Washington are very good for elk and goat.Black bear are ever where, grizzley bear are in the Olympics.
The trouble with being career military is you have SO much exposure to SO many fine places to live. I’m in general agreement with Barb (#5), Fontessa (#19), and most of all…with Papa Ray (#36).
I did, and am doing, that RV thing. Traveled for a year with a small motorcycle behind the motorhome (replaced eventually with a car-hauler with a Miata on top) and did the “went there, did that” thing for as long as it pleased me. It was pretty easy to do when one’s not encumbered (for lack of a better word), i.e., single. Methinks it would be much different with a Significant Other…but that’s just a feeling I have.
I simply love New Mexico, but I’m not ready to say it’s the Final Place. Yet. My personal drivers for that Final Place are:
1. Low taxes…with no state income tax and “reasonable” property taxes for when I finally give up that “goin’ mobile” thing.
2. Fairly reasonable weather, e.g., no hurricanes, NO snow (the only place I wanna see snow is on the pages of NatGeo, or maybe on Teevee), and low or no potential for other natural disasters, such as earthquakes.
3. Proximity to a base, preferably USAF. “Tricare for Life,” commissary, BX, the company of like-minded individuals, and all that. I know I may alienate most of you with this (what with being on semi-friendly territory), but USAF’s “Quality of Life” index, even for the retirees, is SO much better than the others. YMMV.
4. And finally: culcha. Concerts, restaurants, cigar bars, Starbucks (or an equivalent) and all the good things in life. This is the point that makes me think where I AM isn’t where I’ll BE in a year or two, or three.
And about grandchildren… I have five. The airlines go to where they are every single day, and several times a day, at that. Besides that, what with both boys still on active duty, they haven’t “landed” yet, either. TBD…
If I didn’t live in the best country in the world, then Australia would be @ the top of my list, hope to visit it someday! Only did one Wespac in my short stint in the USN & unfortunatly we got no where near the land of Oz.
You’re aquainted with San Luis Obispo County from your NAS Lemoore day’s, you should CHK it out. Mediterainian climate is great, traffic congestion is nothing compared to what you used to. 10 golf courses are in the county, that doesn’t include the Country Club in the City of San Luis Obispo. Cost of Living = less that San Diego, heard this morning that median price of a home in the county was about $550K, down from peak of approimately $625K last year. People I know do some quail/deer hunting in area, no fresh water fishing to speak of in the county. Cal Poly SLO has a good reputation for it’s Engineering/Ag Dept, & the Kat should check it out, I would imagine it would have pretty good Veterinarian program.
I’ve heard that for the hunter/fisherman the Shasta area is a paradise. Redding wouldn’t get much snow, but you wouldn’t have to go far to have all you wanted. All I know about it, is that it gets hot there at times.
Your very first poster nailed it. Sedona or Precott Arizona. You can do your hunting fishing etc without the Flagstaff snow. Whats really cool is look at the distance between Sedona and Flagstaff. So you can go there for breakfast.
SJS–do I come off like a Yank? gee, I thought I came off as a hillbilly! Lancaster and that area is absolutely lovely, but still….I was down for a doc visit a few years back, and those folks consider that rural!! shocked my tiny mind….that’s far too many folks for me. I like to look out my window and see less than 5 homes…things are getting a little crowded here again, but then, I wanted to be closer to town. If you ever decide to come farther north than the Amish, check out the PA Grand Canyon, and let me know. I’ll show you some local sights. d
I have thought about this also. The only places I’ve been in this whole country that I’ve found appealing are along US-95 in Idaho. My cousin lives just south Fruitland on a small ranch so I’ve spent some time there playing with her Belgian horses.
I’ve traveled by motorcycle up US-95 and Id-55, US-93, Id-21 through that whole bunch of little settlements: Lewiston, New meadows, Cascade, Riggins, Moscow. I’ve spent time in Montana, but west of “The divide”, along Mt-200, (really liked Thomson Falls), and US-12. The thing I noticed most were the people. They were all “real” people. The kind you not only wouldn’t mind having as neighbors, but damned proud to have a neighbors.
I’ve come to think that the quality of your neighbors is the most important consideration. Have a problem? Word gets out and 20 people show up to help, (you buy the beers and pizza).
Having spent 35 years here in Doity Joisey I had forgotten that there are areas of “real Americans” out there. (They aren’t like people here at all.) Where people are better than you thought possible and total strangers bowl you over. So, instead of looking at “places”, look for Americans. I found little bunches of them all along those roads.
Good luck!
Your description below sounds a lot like North Central Arkansas.
I have lived in Missoula Montana, Coeur d’Alene Idaho, Seattle Tacoma Everett area of Washington,
and Spokane Washington.
Sandy eggo Long Beach and Mare Island CA were courtesy of the USN.
I’d go to Western Montana / North Idaho / Eastern Washington to retire
______________________________________
“My dream home would be a Victorian type thing if we lived in the city, and a rambling log cabin affair if we lived in the country. I?
Your description below sounds a lot like North Central Arkansas.
I have lived in Missoula Montana, Coeur d’Alene Idaho, Seattle Tacoma Everett area of Washington,
and Spokane Washington.
Sandy eggo Long Beach and Mare Island CA were courtesy of the USN.
I’d go to Western Montana / North Idaho / Eastern Washington to retire
______________________________________
“My dream home would be a Victorian type thing if we lived in the city, and a rambling log cabin affair if we lived in the country. I’d like convenient access to a river you could wade in, and maybe tease a rainbow with a dry fly when the hatch was on, although a smallmouth bass can be every bit as much fun. I prefer mountain air to sandy beaches, would rather hunt quail than sail on a Sunday afternoon, but wouldn’t mind being able to do both. Neither too cold – shoveling snow wears thin after your first few tries – nor too hot of course.”
Here’s a novel thought:
Where does Mrs. Lex want to live? She’s followed you to the far corners of the earth over the years, right?
Of course, when you open that door, you may have a hard time getting it shut again.
“Of course, honey! I’m sure Tierra del Fuego is *lovely* this time of year…”
I didn’t see anyone else with this suggestion. Sorry if it gets you in trouble!
Just my $.02.
Good luck,
-DM
Auburn,
California…
….Some second thoughts…. (after some dinner at a local diner,,,,hummm, make that: supper at a local diner).
I’m guessing you’re in your early 40′s. And, pretty soon an “X fighter pilot”. You’re a bit agressive, (a fighter pilot “gotta be”), certainly intelligent, and you can’t sit around playing golf. You would want to be doing something useful… And lucretive as you have a couple of children to put through college. Oh, and what does the little woman want? Kids gone, empty nest and all that. Does she have a dream? Is she working towards that dream now? Is she already living that dream?
Anyway, you will find a really good job with some small to middling modern company that’ll pay really well for your skills and “attitude” and you will want to live close to it, (commutation being wastful. Well, maybe you’ll get a motorcycle. That’ll take the curse off all that wasted time).
Everything else now means nothing but “day dreaming”. There are responsibilities and a second career to build. Any plans as to where to retire are a waste as what will these places look like or be like 20/30 years from now?
I think you are still too young to be thinking about a rocking chair on a front porch in the afternoon sun with your trusty hound dog at your feet…. remembering the places you’ve been, the people you’ve known, the food you’ve eaten, the girls you’ve – oups!
“Places to Live”? Yep. Really the wrong question!
The best of luck anyway.
Pixiekiller’s first post hit on some of my favorites, up highway 95 from Boise. Not that different from Bend, but quite a bit more conservative, political wise. And if you need a city near by, Boise is a big town with asperations of cityhood. I live in Meridian, a bedroom community right beside Boise. If we stay here after the last kid is out of the house we might move a little farther out into the countryside.
And what little snow we get usually melts before you can shovel it.
By the way, where is your “comment clock” set for? I posted at 11:21 PM Mountain time and got posted at 9:21 PM. Isn’t that out there in the ocean somewhere?
dk:
Spent the better part of a week last summer w/family exploring central PA and yes, it is beautiful country, especially when seen from 2-lane blacktop mountain roads. Probably do the same this summer only back through mountains of western NC as it’s been too many years since we last did so…
Ref was to geographic location – as for the pejorative use of Yankee, I’ll reserve that for the occupiers of Northern VA
- SJS
Baker County, Florida. 30 minutes west of downtown Jacksonville, Fl. Still country, but not too much so. Close enough for you to take advantage of your retirement benefits, but far enough away if you choose not to do so.
As I read your post, I look across the street at a beautiful Victorian house. I live five minutes from a clear trout stream well stocked with rainbows and brown trout. The place? Golden, Colorado