Charlotte is probably ideal for you then. It is surrounded by semi-rural areas that are still easy commuting into town, but contain amenities like feed stores, local farmers, and acreage that won't cost you your retirement. You can opt for a fashionable horse-friendly area like Waxhaw with its communities centered around fancy equine facilities, or a farmers & grit area like Monroe or Gastonia where cows and pigs are more the style. Or a trendy, small-town area like Fort Mill where backyard chickens are not unusual but the schools are wonderful and the parks well kept and beautiful. Or any number of other communities, including two centered around each of our area's large lakes, all within easy driving distance of Charlotte's city center.
Plus, you would know me.
But, lest I draw too glowing a picture, Charlotte does have its down sides. For one thing, it's a city without much of a soul, sad as that is to say. We've been busy tearing down our history for the past fifteen years and replacing it with McMansions and high-rise condos for all the bankers who move down here from New York. We haven't had time to stop and realize we've been tearing out our soul right along with it. We've also torn down or moved all our historic old farm houses along with their centuries-old trees, to make way for expressways and housing developments. The city's character reflects the diversity of our background (a good thing, imo), but also the unbalanced effect of ripping everything out and replacing it with whatever today's latest fad happens to be, brought in to us expressly from New York. We also spend way too much time wishing we were New York, which is pathetic.
Fortunately, the little towns around Charlotte have retained much of their character, though it is often unfortunately overshadowed by the fact that they are often simply bedroom communities for Charlotte proper. But there is still much to love here. We do still have some historic residential areas that are breathtaking, and lots of cultural opportunities, big sports teams (if you're into that kind of thing), and some fun and funky things to do as well as some quirky areas that have not lost their flavor--the arts district of NODA, the funkytown district of Plaza-Midwood, and the gingerbread-cutesy gentrification of Chantilly, for instance. There are even a few shards of history left downtown, though you'll have to look hard to find them--there is a settler's cemetery right down town, along with a couple of gorgeous old churches.
Whew. I should probably write all this up and submit it the visitor's bureau. Naw. They wouldn't print it. Maybe the newspaper would, though. Oh, whoops. Another down side to Charlotte: Our world-class newspaper stinks. The writers can't write worth a crap and the news is rarely newsworthy. As a writer, I find the entire endeavor insulting and repulsive. So they probably won't ever print anything I write. lol
But let me just reiterate: Move here, and you'll know me. That's important, right??
Oh, the weather's nice too.