Where to live - suggestions please

[GlueGuy]

Do you ever miss the dramatic changes in seasons?

Not really. If you never leave sea level in the bay area you might. However, even when we lived in the valley, we always managed to get out of town on a regular basis. The higher elevations still get the seasons.

Also, we live at 2400'. So, even though we're a hop, skip, and a jump from Silicon Valley, we do get seasons here. The leaves change color, we get snow almost every year, and so on. Granted, most of the trees are evergreen, so there probably isn't as much "color" as other places. But it sure is nice not having to wear anything more than a light jacket; even on the cold days.

The SF bay peninsula is unique. Even though the valley is highly "urbanized", the urban area is very, very "narrow" (just 6 or 8 miles). Outside of the urbanized strip, is all country. Pretty neat that even the people in the "city", can literally take a short bike ride into the country.

 

[ejb]

The property tax limits that you have mentioned before I do find VERY appealing...at least sales tax you can control (i.e. by controling your spending), but when property taxes get out of wack its hard to do anything about them except sell the place and move on.

My property taxes go up every year, and there is something called prop 2 1/2 that limits the increase every year, but we constantly hit the limit AND end up voting overides to pay for the school.

Right now property taxes is my single biggest (non-discretionary) expense. Propbably not a lot compared to some, but a lot in my book.

This year I am going to be looking into some sort of woodland and/or agriculture tax break for not developing my land.

If CA was not so darn far away from family, I would consider at least checking out the place. Most of the places I am looking at are within 10-12 hours driving distnace from friends and relatives, so that cpombined with the warmer climate makes it more likely we would stay on this coast. I think a move to CA may just be too much of a change...


I do think I would prefer it over taxachusetts where I now live.

 

[ejb]

The west is VERY appealing to me...I am the kind of person that would like nothing more to live inthe middle of 1000 or more acres of land and not see anyone else, except my immediate family. The little browsing that I have done it seems that huge parcels of land are still available and are actually afforable.

The wife on the other hand....

 

[Anonymous Poster]

try bath county or highland county in virginia. bath county has no stoplights, nope not even one. and highland county has only one stoplight, it flashes red on one side and flashes yellow on the other. its some of the most beautiful mountains you will find anywhere.

 

[glennmac]

I, too, have lived all over the country: NY, MA, FL, TX, CT, ME, So Cal, and No Cal. Travelled about everywhere else. NOTHING else has California's climate. We all have different preferences in what is important to us. Brightness is important to me; ie, the percentage of time the sun shines. In California, you will almost never see a cloud in the sky from about May to October, and not a whole lot in the other months. The gloomy, Stygian, Edgar Allen Poe belt extends from New England through the upper Midwest. Lot of clouds. Around Binghamton, NY, is one of the most Poe-ish areas in the country. Personally, were I in a position to choose, I would rule out the entire Edgar Allen Poe belt. Another striking thing: New England and other Eastern states have turn outs on roads where there are "scenic vistas". I remember when we lived in No Cal for three years that the routinest of views was better than any "scenic vista" in the East. In the West, all natural phenomena are more spectacular: the high things are much higher, the deep things are much deeper, the growing things are much bigger, and everything is clearer and sharper and pointier. So Cal has slightly better weather than No Cal, but it is basically desert and overcrowded. No Cal has an unsurpassed mix of geology, topography and climate zones. Another benefit of No Cal is that you can probably live for free on beautiful property by squatting on the second homes of computer geeks, who only visit them occasionally. Many of these are even stocked with tractors to use. Sorry about this long paragraph, but I am unable to create paragraphs and Gatorboy aint getting his cup until I can.

 

[MossRoad]

That's because the area between Cin. and Dayton is one of THE fasted growning areas in the nation.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...Sorry about this long paragraph, but I am unable to create paragraphs...</font color=blue>

Hi Glenn,

You're in one tough position right now to make a "legal brief"... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I had stumbled across a '79 Arizona brief that referenced your '75 brief (The Navigability Concept in the Civil and Common Law, 3 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 511, 515 (1975).)...

I was never able to find it... but I bet it had paragraphs.../w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[RonL]

Billboe

I've been going to the White Mountains since I was a young child. In the late 50's my parents would rent a cottage on Newfound Lake or Webster Lake for 2 weeks each Summer. In the early 60's my parents bought a camping trailer and we would stay in the White Mountains all Summer. My father would come up on the weekends. Every two or three weeks we would move to a new campground. Lafayette campground in Franconia Notch, Moose Brook State Park in Gorham. At that time the Interstate was not completed. We would travel route 13 to Concord and then travel route 3. The Kancamagus Highway was a dirt road then.
In 1973 I bought a brand new Super Beetle ($2500.!) and spent my three week vacation touring around Northern New England
A couple of years ago, feeling nolstalgic, my wife and I bought a diesel New Beetle ( 48 MPG ) and toured Northern New England. We stayed at The Mount Washington Hotel ( www.mtwashington.com ) something I always wanted to do. The following year we stayed at the Mount Washington and searched the area for propertiy. We found the property in Lyman that we liked and bought it. Later that fall we again were going to stay at the Mount Washington but they were shut down for maintenance. After a search on the web we made reservations at The Wentworth ( www.thewentworth.com ) in Jackson New Hampshire ( jacksonnh.com ). What a beautiful little Town. You cross a covered bridge to enter Town. Cross country and Alpine skiing seem to be the pasttime in this town. There is a cross country association ( www.jacksonxc.org ) . If you join you get a pass to use the trails.
If you don't like Winter, Northern New England is not for you. To me there is nothing more refreshing for the soul than to snowshoe into the wilderness. The silence is deafening. A cup of hot chocolate never tasted so good.
Excuse my ramblings.

RonL

 

[billboe]

Well RonL, from your passionate writing, you sure seem to have purchased in the right area! Mount Washington Hotel was about 10-15 minutes from my house. I've hiked most of the mountains in the area and ridden snowmobile just about everywhere (it was my transportation before I was legal to drive). I must say that I do miss the moutains and the beauty! Although I have many fine memories of winter in the White Mountains, winter would be one reason for me, personally, to stay away...

Good Luck and Enjoy!!!

 

[blurrybill]

ejb,

Hope this doesn't come off as too controversial, but the following is only opinions... I grew up partially in Colorado (before the many booms) and in Iowa where there are more family roots. Parents met in Co. Springs in early WWII. Then, after college post-war they returned to Co before eventually going back to Iowa where I attended 8th-college. Spent years in Colorado and dearly LOVE the mountains.

Settled back in central Iowa for many reasons, but mainly so that our daughter would have ties to a PLACE. Won't bore you with the dissertation research, but I worked with elderly in an attempt to find out why they did so well in spite of physical infirmity and other inevitable losses. A huge part of their ability to be content and at peace seems to do with PLACE ATTACHMENT. I differentiate SPACE from PLACE. A space has no meanings attached; a place is a space with meaning. How do we get them? Staying put, basically. People who transverse their locales filled with meanings - where they worked as a teen, the school they attended, the site of the 19xx flood, where they proposed to their spouse, etc, etc. -- all and more allow them to experience life with a certain degree of contentment that others never know.

I said I dearly love the west, particularly Colorado -- have backpacked nearly every wilderness many, many times. But settling in this area (Iowa) was done to allow our daughter to be closer to some aunts and uncles, an aging grandmother and to be able to grow next to the land, our land. A PLACE where I hope she'll know the meaning of chores of some kind, have the memory of sweat and accomplishment and know in her heart that wherever she settles, she has a home - a place with meaning from having been there most of her life. Just in the past 2.5 years, that has begun to happen.

We made up our minds that this last move was the last. I used to hate Iowa winters and vowed I would NEVER return following the first college graduation. How ironic -- have always loved the spring and now I know why... without the "pain" of winter, we might not appreciate the earth coming to life as much. I actually find beauty now in the slumber of the earth and find more beauty all the time in the winter. And, I experience the absolute joy of spring more than ever before.

Sorry to drone on... It sounds as though you have a wonderful property with many assets. Plus, a great family with children at an age when they are establishing memory meanings each day. My vote? Stay there and sink roots as deeply as they will grow. My youngest sister through her husband's transfer lived many years in Pampa Texas. She and they bloomed there and in adjusting to the locale, she said many times, "We have to bloom where we're planted."

All the best with your decision.

Bill