I need a change of scenery...

[diddy_mouse]

Hi all! :wave:

My husband and I are growing weary of where we currently live (VA) and want a semi-drastic change. We are looking to move out West or possibly the Mid-West. Neither of us have lived in these areas before and we really want to find a place that will help us move on to the next phase of our lives.

So far, we've thought about Wisconsin, Colorado, and Oregon. I'd love to hear from any of you who might live in these states. Any advice would be most welcome! We don't plan on pulling up stakes right away (like next year)...but narrowing down a goal we can set our sights on would be ideal.

Thanks everybody!

 

[Pongo]

I recently moved out west on a semi-whim, and am currently loving the decision. I don't know much about Wisconsin, Colorado, or Oregon, but I'm headquartered in Missoula, MT right now and Montana is a beautiful state (at least the western half) with much to do and discover. Missoula is nice, kind of a college, town, but still nice. I've also heard great things about Bozeman, MT as well.

I've been to the Denver area before and absolutely loved it as well.

Also, my heart belongs to northern California, and you're lucky enough to end up there, I envy you.

 

[Nicole220]

I moved from California to Northern Colorado for college. I absolutely love CO, so it gets my vote. It's gorgeous here and the people are so friendly, which is something I'm not so used to. There are plenty of different cities to choose from, and all offer something a bit different.

 

[Zip-a-Dee Do Da]

I live in a suburb off of Denver, Colorado. Although it is mostly all just one big city around here. I have lived in the same house my entire life, so I do not have much to compare to...but I will see what I can say!

Pros:
Mountains are amazing, scenery is beautiful.
If you move to the city, you can always find what you need. We have great hospitals as well.
Great downtown area, somewhat ruff in some areas, but a lot of things to do.
Skiing! (personal only been 3 times...:lookaroun) Winter sports
Losts of neat tourist destinations
A really nice big airport, easy to catch flights anywhere, but is VERY confusing compared to other airports
A range of weather (Positive or Negative? ha ha)

Cons:
Really bad traffic
Things that come with the city.........pollution (Brown Cloud over Denver), some crime, people aren't overly friendly here (but then again this is coming from someone whoes family lives in a tiny town in KS, ha ha)
We can get really extreme weather, like a really really really hot summer, then a really really really cold winter, and vice versa. Weather can change in 5 minutes.
Takes a while to get places



Just ask if you have anymore specific questions for me!

 

[diddy_mouse]

Thanks for the input so far!

I think one thing I'll do is go on some websites and request information as well. Now I realize that travel brochures and tourist guides have a skewed/biased view on the location they are talking about, but I can still gain a good deal of information from them.

Something about the West has intrigued me. As a kid I lived in Monterrey as well as San Diego but I was really little and barely remember it. :lol: We definitely want to be near a large city (most likely to work in) and live in the suburbs/smaller town.

I just hope the job market will be kind to us in some form or another. But that's a whole other issue in itself...

 

[disneypearl]

I love Colorado. I currently live in Michigan but plan on moving to Northern Colorado as soon as I can. I love the mountains and the weather (including no humidity).

 

[DznyGrlSD]

:wave: Move to Florida!!!

 

[DormaNesbit]

We live in New Jersey but my husband brought us to Michigan to visit his family this summer and I loved it! In fact I found a house and if he could find a job I will tell him lets go!!:wave:

 

[wedway71]

Midwest?

I moved to Indianapolis after living in Florida for 35 years. We wanted a change in scenery too. My buddy was from Indy and told me about it.
I went online and saw how much your money can buy in Indy.

We flew up and fell in love with it. We have been here for 3 years. The only bad part was we have no family here and for a while had no freinds....

What attracted us to Indy was we could buy a 4 bedroom, 2 story house, almost 3,000 square feet, double car garage for only 135K....(brand new)

In Florida, that would not buy a single wide in the swamp....

 

[maggiegrace1]

We are also ready to move away from what we have known our whole lives and to somewhere completely different then what we know....so ours is a drastic change...

Our plan is to move up north hopefully next year..my dream is Vermont...I have looked already for areas and housing and schools..exciting planning for the future..

Good luck in your quest to move..and let us know what you decide on also..

 

[kstella]

I live in the Milwaukee(WI) area and like it just fine. Lots of things to do and all the ethnic festivals on the beautiful waterfront, traffic is not horrendous but I think a lot of that right now has to do with the very high unemployment rate. Lots of houses available for sale.