The Ideal Place to Live

[Wildsky]

Quote:

under-funded or not, in CA my son had 30 kids in his class, here, there are 8. The advantages are many! His teacher is very young, but they have so much fun, and there is an assistant as well. So 4 kids to 1 adult. Compared to 30:1 in CA.

 

[Xtina]

Where in the Midwest did you move? Also, I realize it's sort of a useless statement on my part, since all public schools are underfunded. Except maybe in richest neighborhoods in the Northeast.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Grand Rapids, MI, is a really AWESOME place to live if you can bite the bullet and handle the snow: great city scene with nightlife and things to do (clubs/dancing, bars, restaurants, pro sports), major concerts are held here (Broadway shows, we have an orchestra and ballet company, etc., major entertainment acts come here), it's close to the Great Lakes (if you're an outdoors person, you would love it -- almost anything you can do outdoors -- except mountain climbing -- is available here ), we have public transportation, it's a nice, growing area with friendly people, and there are lots of good schools. Once you head closer to the lakeshore, there are other artistic and interesting communities to check out, too -- Grand Haven, Saugatuck, South Haven all are nice. Grand Rapids is surrounded by rural communities; it wouldn't be too difficult to own a piece of property outside the city and a condo downtown.

The snow is what may scare you away, though. We get lake-effect snow (not as bad as in New York State), but it can be overwhelming to people who move here and have no idea how to cope with it.

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:
I'm in Nebraska. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Really the school here is MUCH better than the one my child was in, in CA. Here he gets Gym class every day (they go to the high-school) and he plays in the band (he plays the Baritone - its bigger than he is

)
Its a real sense of community, the high school kids come to the elementary school now and then, and help out, read to the kids or help the little ones with art and things like that. Its really neat! ALL the kids know each other, my little one in the pre-school knows half the high-school kids because of them coming to help out etc.. The pre-school kids walk to the library once a week, and a few high school kids come down to help them (hold hands crossing the street) and help them pick out books etc.
You just will not find that in many schools or communities.

 

[Xtina]

That's cool. I used to be fascinated with Nebraska when I was a kid because I read a children's series about a family that lived there. But somehow, the book glossed over the bitter cold winters

 

[Xtina]

I thought I'd try to kick this thread back up since a lot has changed in our personal situation since I made my original post. Now, I'm not idly thinking about possibly moving. Now we have real impetus. My husband is interested in going to graduate school in a place where we can afford land. Then, he got kicked out of his band that he's been in for two years this week, so our instinct is to run away from Portland as soon as we can. That would be December at the soonest.

My husband has criteria that he wants in a place, and this time, I'm going to follow his lead instead of selecting a city I want and going for it. And it will all depend on where he gets a job, so as job opportunities arise (if they ever do in this economy) I will probably be bumping this thread to ask about each place.

Right now, we're thinking again of Rolla, Missouri, so I've been talking about it on a few other threads. But I wanted to hear suggestions based on our new and simplified list of things we want:

1. Good college with graduate programs of study in environmental science-related topics.
2. Affordable land within 10 miles of the town. Roads that are bikeable between the farm and the city. I bike 10 miles to work now so it shouldn't be a problem to bike from farm to town.
3. GOOD farm land. Not polluted, not rocky, not swampy, just nice land for raising vegetables and livestock.
4. An arts community. An "alive" main street.
5. Warm or hot summers, snowy but mild winters.

Those are the basics. There are a million other things I want, but I tend to type long, so I'll stop there for now.

 

[mtnhomechick]

Rolla's a nice city. Winters aren't always so mild though. Not sure how rocky the land is there.

It starts getting Hilly south of St. Louis.

 

[mom'sfolly]

If it weren't for the graduate programs, I'd say Northfield, MN. It doesn't meet the non-cold requirement, but its a great town. With two small liberal arts colleges there (nationally ranked schools) the public schools are well funded. Professors don't want to send their kids to bad schools. It is in a rural area about 40 minutes from the Twin Cities, and the art and music scene there.

Madison, WI would work, but cold there also.
Albany, NY but not bike friendly
Austin, TX, thinks its bike friendly, but isn't, land is not cheap close to town
Ithaca NY: Cornell, the Finger Lakes, affordable real estate, lake affect snow, wineries, lovely spring, summer and falls,

 

[Xtina]

Thanks for your help guys!

Ok, as far as climate goes, here are my thoughts. I'm used to an average winter high temp of around 45, having lived in Portland for three years. I've learned to like snow. I like cross country skiing and I'm sure kids would love to be raised in a place with snow. What I don't want is an experience like my husband had when he went to Minnesota in January: they were scraping ice off the inside of the car's windshield. That is more than I can handle. So, if a place has snowfall every night so that the ground has a blanket of snow up to a foot deep for an extended period, I'd say that's ok. I'll go skiing. But I don't want to have very bad wind chills all the time, I don't want to spend all my time de-icing everything, and I don't want any animals to be in danger of freezing at any time.

So to me, states like the Dakotas, Minnesota, the Lake States, Maine, New England, and all of that are off limits. Conversely, a place has to have adequate rainfall, which I forgot to mention. So California and the sunbelt are off limits too. No desert for us, which is sad because I always dreamed of moving near my brother and sister in CA.

 

[conradpdx]

I'd think some place like Little Rock would be alright. Lexington Kentucky (probably one of the friendliest places I've ever been- and there is only 4 states left for me to visit) isn't bad either. Both are good towns. But I'd still stay in Portland. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Nashville? Louisville?

Honestly i like that whole little strip of area from the Ohio river valley south to the boarder lines of Miss/Ala. From Little Rock over to the Atlantic. Though I'd stay out of the Mountains, a little too remote for me (other than rafting/canoeing down the New River).

But personally I'd stick it out in Portland. I love this town.