Posted on 12/01/2014 6:21:06 AM PST by Iron Munro
More than 10 years ago, Barbara Zierten and her husband retired to a small town in California's scenic "gold country," in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
"It's beautiful here," said Zierten, 73, explaining the attraction of the area east of San Francisco. They also were on a tight budget and reasoned that a small town would be cheaper.
But as time has passed, they have decided the area isn't an ideal fit. For one thing, the library is open only part time. "I'm a reader," she said. "So it's frustrating." And a bad experience with a hospital has led her to seek treatment for health concerns in San Francisco, a two- to three-hour drive away.
Perhaps most dispiriting to Zierten, a liberal who closely follows politics, is that the population's views tend to be much more conservative than her own. Particularly irksome is one resident who often puts up large signs critical of Barack Obama: "The latest said, 'President Ebola.' "
"I didn't do my research," she conceded. The couple is now contemplating relocation to Sacramento.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
We just moved from the Sierra Foothills in CA, as we got tired of the Bay area people moving in and then complaining that it was “too conservative”. We retired to Greenville SC. Cost of living here is about 1/5 of what it was in CA. Food prices are as high as other places, but careful shopping at outdoor markets offer great value. This is a beautiful little city with a lot to offer re culture/ outdoors etc. We love it here.
Consider South Dakota. There are many small towns with cheap housing, no state income tax and a generally conservative population. These towns are also crying for doctors, nurse practitioners, teachers and lawyers. The cons...big extremes in weather and rather isolated
Yes. we’ll stay near our kids.
A lot of libs don’t have kids (thank God).
“I just posted the article for discussion.”
I’m glad you did. It’s a good topic.
Thank you :)
Re: Greenville
It’s east coast, too, which is nice... As long as it’s out of reach of most tropical weather. I’ll check out the outlying areas.
she doesn’t know about ebooks?
Well, the isolation wouldn't be a problem, as I grew up in a "town" (unincorporated) so small that "Welcome To" and "You Are Now Leaving" signs were on opposite sides of the same post.
BUT...no way in heck could I stand the winters. A work colleague and very good friend moved back to SD (born there) after a work career in south Louisiana. Yeesh......forty below zero with NO wind chill factored in.
I agree, but tell any liberals you know, that South Dakota is a terrible place to live. Thanks
San Francisco liberals retire to small town to experience a different life style but are surprised to find there are people who think differently and live differently than they do.
The one factor these liberals did not take to mind is crime rates which goes along with racial breakdowns. Seems hood rats enjoy picking off elderly white people. And if liberals get their way, this is going to get much worse as it was during the 60’s-80’s. During that period, more white were murdered by blacks than soldiers were killed in the Viet Nam War.
So when you retire, look at crime statistics and racial statistics and nearby hospitals. Stay away from liberal areas that elect liberals and where law enforcement could care less about black on white crime or crime in general and constantly raise taxes. Get a one story house. Go to the local grocery store and listen up and pay attention to how the local people interact with one another.
Go to a high school football game and see how the coaches, parents and little brothers and sisters behave.
Perhaps most dispiriting to Zierten, a liberal who closely follows politics, is that the population's views tend to be much more conservative than her own. Particularly irksome is one resident who often puts up large signs critical of Barack Obama: "The latest said, 'President Ebola.' "
"I didn't do my research," she conceded. The couple is now contemplating relocation to Sacramento.
I have a bi-lingual saying for lefties like this, "Adios, Mo Fo!"
Thank-you for sharing your beautiful life story.
This article was written by someone who had an ax to grind against conservatives. The author looked around for a topic which they could use to beat conservatives as so bad, that good people had to leave their house due to the horrific atmosphere. Just look at the author’s selection of pictures to support his point. Nothing about the area, but about the evil conservatives who are destroying this couples life.
One possible explanation:
It may be that the place of residence of some people is determined, during their working years, solely on the basis of the availability of high-paying jobs.
Then, when they are facing retirement, the available of jobs is no longer a factor in their calculations.
Rather, as retirees, they are then concerned solely by such other factors as: climate, proximity of family, etc.
Regards,
the problem with Sf is aht not only is it expensive but you are likely to get AIDs from one of the Queers or the druggies
I love the Gold Country, but my husband wants tropical beaches. Earlier this year, he traveled to the Philippines to visit my folks, and he’s been over the moon since.
We talk about Panama, because it is practically first world. Last night, he showed me pictures of Belize for its beautiful Caribbean white sand and all the pretty places to kayak.
He tries to seduce me with these expat experiences:
http://bestplacesintheworldtoretire.com/
We did as lot of traveling to places like Uruguay, Panama, Belize, Thailand etc. Lots of pluses and minuses for each place. We spoke to many expats and did a lot of research and ended up staying in the US.
You have to decide what you want, how much you want to spend and how far away you want to be. Good luck.
OH, please tell me about Uruguay. I was interested because my father had gone to Montevideo when he was in the Navy. I saw pictures of the beaches, but they looked cloudy and cold. I was also worried about it being vulnerable to Argentina (I imagined a financial collapse and people swarming in), but I like beef and my husband tried to lure me with owning bug-out ranch land.
Thank-you for the good luck.
The beauty of that country actually comes through as backdrop to von Stroheim's silent epic Greed - based on the sadly unsung but delightfully timeless Frank Norris (1870-1902) novel "McTeague," now well into the public domain along with all of that writer's other interesting work at Gutenberg.
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