Posted on 07/17/2011 4:11:56 PM PDT by ChocChipCookie
Minden is beautiful in the summer and very cold in the winter. We almost moved there but the winter scared us away.
I’d love to live on the northern Pacific coast, but I would be miserable with the libs there. I was born and raised in Massachusetts... 20+ years of that mindset was enough for a lifetime. My part of Ohio is dull, predictable but very much right of center aside from OSU and state employees.
It’s Portland that is liberal - the rest of Oregon is pretty much conservative - but unfortunately always gets outvoted.
I was thinking exactly what you wrote. There are wonderful places in Arizona where it isn’t remotely as hot as Phoenix. And where you can buy acreage, too. I really like what I’ve seen of Arizona and it would probably be the state I’d move to if I didn’t love my home here in paradise.
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* California
* Florida
* Georgia
* Idaho
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Kentucky
*Maryland
* New York
* North Carolina
* Oklahoma
* Tennessee
* Texas
Idaho is the only state that you'd have to fight me to get me to leave. Texas was nice, as was Arizona, and if I weren't here I'd be in one of those two. But Idaho is the home I'd always wanted, and didn't find soon enough. Museums and opera houses be damned...if you want quality of life, Idaho is the place to be.
The rural/suburban environment close to shopping can be found all over SW Idaho. Eagle, Middleton, Star, Kuna, Melba, Homedale, etc, etc, etc. I live in West Boise, not two miles from the busiest intersection in the state (Eagle Rd and Fairview Ave), yet in 45 minutes, I can either be out in the desert, or at elevation 8,000' in the mountains.
BTW, Mormons aren't boogeymen either. I have a good number of Mormon friends, and they're just good folks. If you tell them you're not interested, they'll generally back off. That's the case both in the Pocatello area and the Boise area, both of which I've lived in.
Idaho's not for everyone, just people who are looking for a damn good quality of life, rock-ribbed conservative neighbors, and extremely low crime rates. Even after TSHTF, I seriously doubt the JBTs will even come here, because they're vastly outnumbered by the fiercely independent and well-armed citizenry.
Check out my song "Sweet Home Idaho"...it sums up what I feel about my adopted home state. It's track #5 in the Music section of the left sidebar.
Big Dawg Music Mafia - AJ Anonymous' page
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
If you start thinking about Washington ... AVOID KING COUNTY at ALL COSTS ... I refuse to do business there PERIOD
TT
Golden Shores?
Winters, well, they're actually pretty mild by Alaskan standards. But there is snow. Quite a bit of it, actually, some years. What there isn't, is much work. But if you happen to have cash this is an unprecedented opportunity to buy a lot of vacation land whose owners have found it a dispensable luxury. They don't have jobs here, either.
It's a difficult culture to capture in only a few words - small-town Western America still resisting urban blight and paying a price for doing so in economic stagnation. There are compensations. A large Bald Eagle just flew over me. Yeah, compensations.
You do have to learn to watch out for the local crazies, too. Heavily-armed, occasionally bad-tempered and very independent, mostly conservative and all dangerous. That feller Noumenon, for example, a neighbor of mine... :-)
Minden/Gardnerville is pretty country but UNBELIEVABLY WINDY! It seems every afternoon the winds come roaring down the Sierra Nevada.
How do you stand that?
BUT the big downside that drives normal people away from here is the liberals.
They are fanatics about their politics. They live and breathe liberalism, environmentalism and socialism 24/7. They can smell a conservative the minute you walk into their shop and most of them will let you know it.
A good many of them are down right nasty and resent anyone who doesn't agree with them 100%. Whoever said liberals believe that crap they spew about tolerance has no idea.
Socially, this can be an uncomfortable place to live.
I think I’m going to get this book to help make my decision.
Strategic Relocation—North American Guide to Safe Places
Drift, are you thinking of moving, too?
Lewiston, ID., is one of my favorite places. Just visited a couple of weeks ago. Moderate climate, low elevation, at the confluence of the Snake (Hell’s Canyon) and Clearwater rivers. Quite isolated — don’t move there if you want to be close to a big city. A great place to raise kids.
Idaho is going to be less expensive, and certainly as outdoor oriented. Kids will certainly learn more about what it means to be self-reliant. You really can't go wrong.
Yes, I live in central Florida. There are some fairly remote areas in the state but also way too much population. Plus I’m getting tired of the humidity.
The Woodlands, TX. 20 miles north of Houston. Its boom town, Exxon is building super community. PLENTY of construction jobs, abound.
Scottsdale is our second home so we know about heat. But we’re going to head slightly north by next spring to either Sedona or Flagstaff. Great home buys available now in Flagstaff and there is often snow in the winter. If you are okay with tax structure in Arizona seems to me like it would be a good idea to stay in that state. At least you have a Republican Governor PLUS Sheriff Joe.
Doesn't that go without saying?
We've lived in Northern California on the Mendocino coast for 30+ years, and must say it's beautiful. If you're trying to escape the hot weather I can promise you that can be accomplished here. If we hit 75 degrees we think we're having a heat wave. My husband is in real estate and I run a couple of vacation cottages so we're a little bullet proof. Unfortunately real estate has not been great recently, but all in all, we feel blessed to live in such a wonderful area.
Idaho is the way America used to be. The national office politicians and governor are all Republicans as are the overwhelming majority of state politicians. We can carry concealed (with an easy to obtain permit) or open. You can carry loaded rifles, shotguns or pistols in a vehicle. Machine guns and silencers are legal. You can only have one wife and she has to be an adult female. We do have a state income tax that runs about a flat rate of 8%. The weather is dry and tolerable.
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