[Sca-cooks] OT, OOP: Where to live?

[Terry Decker]

With the limitations you've placed on it, I'd say you are looking at West
Coast, San Francisco and south, or Florida (where I would suggest looking at
St. Petersburg-Tampa-Orlando.).

In your place, I might consider looking in the area around Paso Robles or
San Luis Obispo.

Southwestern Florida meets most of the criteria.  I always found the Gulf
Shore more pleasant than the Atlantic side.  The rest of the Gulf Coast was
abysmal, with the exception of New Orleans which I always found fascinating,
but not to the extent I'd like to live there.

I don't think you would find Texas or Oklahoma to your taste.  Too cold in
winter, too hot and muggy in summer to survive without air conditioning.
Too many allergens.

You might or might not like New Mexico.  Californians have been gravitating
to the Santa Fe-Taos area since the 1920s.  The summers don't get too hot
and the winters are relatively mild.  Unfortunately they've also raised
prices to San Francisco levels without raising the wages to match.
Albuquerque has become too overcrowded and expensive with water problems
like L.A.  Belen south to Las Cruces isn't bad (Socorro is in this stretch)
but it is mostly rural and has reduced cultural activity.

Tuscon and Phoenix require air conditioning in the summer.  Of the two, I
prefer Tuscon.

Mass transit in most of these area is not to the quality of the Bay Area and
most will require an automobile.

Ignore the floods, tornados, hurricanes, forest and grass fires etc.  Every
region has its natural problems and if their destruction was the rule rather
than the exception, most people wouldn't live there.  It's just extremely
unpleasant being one of the statistics.

Bear

I am purely speculating, i have no real plans to move, but...

...there are times when the expense of living in the San Francisco
Bay Area kinda gets to me. It's one of the most expensive places to
live in the US - San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay are all in
the top 10. Most people i know spend *at least* 1/2 of their income
on housing, even though conventional wisdom says it should 1/3 or
less).

But it is also considered one of the places in the US with the best
"quality of life", which is not dependent on money - i love the
ethnic and cultural mix, the great natural beauty, the lovely
architecture, the lack of weather extremes, the "bohos" who
experiment with all arts and with life itself.

I can't live any farther North, because i HATE HATE HATE cold (and
it's already too cold for me here - average temps. most of the year
in the 60s Fahrenheit - brrr-rrr-rrr :-). And i get SAD when it's
dark for too long. I have no fondness for snow and i figure that i
can drive somewhere to visit if i want to see it... which is highly
unlikely.

I don't mind temperatures of 85 degrees, but when it gets below, say,
75, i get cold. I can deal with moderate humidity. But i dislike air
conditioning, so i don't want to be where it is absolutely necessary
much of the year (like often over 95). I dislike the smog of the Los
Angeles area, otherwise i might have stayed, but my eyes burned all
the time, quite literally 24/7.

I like "culture" - good theater and music, good museums - good fabric
and needlework shops - and good "ethnic" restaurants and food markets
- and good libraries, either public or university, so i can continue
to expand my research. Oh, and i'm politically left of center, so a
very culturally and politically conservative place would probably be
difficult for me to tolerate.

I am not "wedded" to a particular profession... i am educated (BA &
MA) and have some experience in a number of areas of work...

So, i've been wondering... where would people recommend? Any suggestions?

Or should i just stay here, in this nearly perfect place :-)

Anahita

"The truth must be taken wherever it is to be found,
whether it be in the past or among strange peoples."
-- al-Kindi, Baghdad (801-873)

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