Posted on 07/13/2020 9:31:37 PM PDT by SquarePants
Dateline- New Hampshire. The last few years my kids and my wife and I have had a really amazing experience living in Manhattan. The restaurants, the shows, the culture were more than just wallpaper for us. We actively tried to engage in them and had the time of our lives. We were truly blessed to be able to share with our kids experiences that most people outside of NYC don’t get. The growing up experiences that the “insiders” get. Like 8th grade graduation at Columbia University or music day at the Lincoln Center or art appreciation at there Met. It’s a special place to us. That’s why it’s so hard to say I may never live there again.
On March 14 we packed up our car on Central Park West and headed uptown and out of town. We were planning on three days to go to New Hampshire and see a vacation home we had interest in and drop off our daughter back at school. We were coming back on the 18th off March to our really well planned life. I was going to work another two years, and then the next two to four years we would enjoy the city with all the kids in college. All of this would be financed generously by the vacation rental of this home we were thinking of buying. Frankly we needed to replace the Miami home we had recently sold. So off we went for a 3-4 day trip.
Well, four months later we are still here, living in what turned out to be our dream home and if I’m being honest, loving it. New Hampshire has no income tax, lower property taxes than there home in Florida we sold to buy this, and zero sales tax. A fact you will notice if you decide to purchase a firearm. Did I mention New Hampshire is a constitutional carry state? The daily hiking, swimming, kayaking, floating, atv-ing, fishing, and exploring are well worth the trouble of the telecommute. And constitutional carry helps keep my telecommute secure.
Right now I’m starting to wonder how long I’m going to be willing to pay for our apartment in the city. An apartment in a city that seems to be falling apart and eating itself. A NYC where dozens of people are getting shot every day but no citizen is allowed to own a gun for self protection. Oh and the cops? Yeah. Pandemic aside, the public structures that held NYC together seem to be under attack. For generations NYC has been the place in America that’s perhaps closest to the razor’s edge of (I’m going to put a blank here so I don’t say something about a third world crap hole that anyone would call racist like Calcutta or Paris or Chicago or something). At any rate it feels like the problems facing New York might make it a war zone, culturally if not literally. Heck maybe it already was and I didn’t notice. Hm.
I think I may have been born a Live Free or Die guy, but I only recently am discovering it. As a native of the Deepest South, I had no idea how awesome it could be up here. We can do an outdoor adventure every week for years before we would run out of things to do from hikes to swimming holes to white water rafting to kayaking to fishing and shooting and climbing and camping and on and on. I’ve always enjoyed that stuff, but doing it in 70 degree weather... I almost don’t miss the biscuits.
Oh yeah my electric bill this month was like $120. No A/C needed in the White Mountains. How could I not be considering staying permanently? Live Free or Die!
One of my sisters abandoned NY for Maine about five years ago. And they haven’t looked back.
IBTZ
Maine is another under-appreciated New England’s state. Also constitutional carry. We are near the border and I go over to Maine a couple of times a week. Great local hardware store there. He assembled my grill for me like he enjoyed doing it, and refused to charge me for it.
Maine makes my list I’m preparing for my wife of States I Will Visit From Now On, which is possibly identical to the list of states that have reciprocal carry laws on the books. I’m sure that’s a coincidence. And just a joke. I’ll have to go back and forth to NY at least periodically. We do still own a business there.
” The restaurants, the shows, the culture were more than just wallpaper for us. We actively tried to engage in them and had the time of our lives. We were truly blessed to be able to share with our kids experiences that most people outside of NYC don’t get. “
Fun factoid, the rest of the country also has an astonishing variety of restaurants, shows, and culture.
We caught the tail end of winter, and all of mud season. We were getting sod and other work done so maybe it wasn’t as noticeable, but it was pretty sloppy and unpredictable... so I get the name “mud” season. My wife likes to ski so we know the area in the winter too. First thing I bought was a 4x4 pickup. Reminds me I need to get that Generac.
Hell yeah, I win!!!!!!!!
Totally agree. Nostalgia is a funny thing. I’m sure the stuff you remember is valuable to you. But to me there was nothing like my kid finishing his homework, eating dinner, and walking across the street from our home to Lincoln Center to see the NY Philharmonic do Looney Tunes. The city really brought out the best in my youngest son. Great memories and in not sure when that will happen again.
If you run low on things to do, this year CTTC (Climb To The Clouds, the oldest auto race in the USA) is cancelled, as well as NEFR (New England Forest Rally), but hopefully next year they will be run.
We need volunteers for many different positions.
You have plenty of time to become a ham radio operator, which will make it really interesting.
To have a real appreciation for the area, there are some books you might like to read.
"Spiked Boots", and "Tall Trees, Tough Men", among others by Robert Pike.
If you can find it, "Smoke From a Thousand Campfires", by Paul Dougherty.
"We took to the woods", and other books by Louise Dickinson Rich.
We may cross paths at some point, look for the guy in the Mercedes Benz U1300l Unimog, which may or may not have a Zeppelin NATO radio shelter chained down in the back depending on what I'm doing, or my 404 Unimog radio van.
If you are into snowmobiling, look for the guy a Skidoo Expedition with a lot of lighting on it, recovery gear, etc., and a pair of high tech snowshoes on the front.
If on ATV trails, the guy on a Rokon Trailbreaker (made in NH) That is set up the same a a Special Forces one.
I don't do the last much, too busy rebuilding our Victorian Era money pit.
You will see small Amsoil stickers on all of these.
There is a Coos county Republican Meeting at 1973 Presidential Highway (route 2) in Jefferson, NH Thursday the 16th of July from 7PM to 9PM.
We should be able to maintain our distance.
I have a few horribly outdated web sites you may have already seen about the area.
“Wait for the winter and the “fifth” seasson which is called “mud”. This takes place between winter and spring.
Wait for the black ice on the roads. Chains on the car wheels. Heating bills.
Good luck, mate.”
Black flies. You forgot black flies.
Went to Mardens in Rumford and in Lewiston.
They had a great deal on some work boots, plywood and wainscoting.
Our compact car (Excursion) was packed.
You never know what Mardens is going to have a good deal on.
Their commercial, "I should have bought it when I saw it at Mardens", is real.
We got to see some new roads, letting Earthmate and Google maps guide us from Rumford to Lewiston.
On the way over we took a "shortcut" via Dolly Copp. Used four wheel drive a little descending from one place we visited.
So far the black flies haven't been bad from what we've seen in NH.
They seem to be worse in PA this year.
However, this year it seems, the deer flies are making up for it.
NH real estate taxes are insane
Well, sure sounds like you made it to a better place now.
MAINE...where the state bird is the black fly and the state flag is a blue tarp.
Winter is coming.
I live in MA but visit NH, ME and VT all the time, winter, summer doesn’t matter i love it up there!
Spending 7 days at York beach, ME in a few weeks Spent Halloween week in North Woodstock, NH last Oct and had a great time.
I would LOVE to live in NH...snow doesn’t bother me.
Check out the Green Mountains of Vermont you couldn’t imagine a more peaceful place.
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