Ideal living locations

[Cannatonic]

Jackson would be awesome, I've already lived there & loved it, and they have better amenities like a huge aquatic center now. However, it's so small that real estate has gone berserk. Too many celebrities & hedge funders have colonized the area in the last 30 years. Lots of people live over the pass in Driggs, ID to get affordable housing. Not sure I'd want to live in Jackson anymore. So far from any other urban center.

I've always thought Bend, OR would be ideal. Any of the larger Colorado mountain towns are nice. Flagstaff or Santa Fe area would be cool. I need to have at least a mid-size city nearby. Actually I've always been very fond of Montreal and Quebec City and would be happy in either one. Ditto for Vancouver. Living in Burlington, VT is probably a more realistic destination since I already have some friends in the area.

btw - Norwegian Air now has cheap, direct flights to Iceland and Oslo from Boston. Anybody up for an Easter trip to Norway? I'd love to do it.

[gitrinec]

Norway is on my destination list eventually, I liked Pinedale, WY small town . Just like a guide who took a group of us out to Rocky Mountain National Park for climbing, he had to live way outside the city which was Estes park just to afford an apartment, multimillion dollar homes all over.

[STG]

Mike:
I lived in Bend for a short time in the early 80's. I have no idea what it is like now, but I remember liking the outdoor opportunities. Durango is a smaller community than Bend but with many outdoor opportunities. If you are a trust funder, you can live anywhere. If not, the economic opportunities and your skills will dictate your choice. Colorado is expensive and Wyoming boom towns (e.g, Pinedale) also have high housing costs. I live in Montana but I do not like the changes that have occurred in my community, so moving is also on my radar. You can do research online and get lots of info. In the past, word-of-mouth, realtors and chambers-of-commerce were the sources of info about communities (often distorted info). Good luck with your search!

[MikeK]

Oh I doubt I'll actually move... just a pipe dream thread.

Everytime I've looked at moving I've checked the cost of living to wage ratio for other areas, and believe it or not, where I live now it is pretty low for the money I make.

If I wind up buying some land or a cabin in the Adirondacks, that will definitely lock me into NY.

If by some miracle I got a job offer out in one of those areas, I might jump at it. But I don't know that it would ever happen... and I'm certainly not independently wealthy.

[lilcliffy]

Well- I realize that I am a country mouse- big time. I wouldn't be able to afford, let alone stand living in a "city" as big as Fredericton- with a population of 56,000! There isn't even a million people in the whole province of New Brunswick!

For those of us with a lot of day-to-day home/family responsibility- and not a lot of disposable income- the real key is living somewhere where one can actually realize the lifestyle they want to live- on a daily basis.

I lived in British Columbia for several years- and did a lot of big-mountain skiing/mountaineering/paddling- but it still required a lot of time and travel to access it. I simply do not have the time or the resources to do that at this stage of my life.

In 2013, my family had to move- due to me taking a new job. We were living, at the time, in the middle of a 23,000 acre federal research forest. My son's number one requirement was that he could ski from the backdoor. He vocalized what we were all thinking!

On a daily basis, I can easily get out for a couple of hours. If I had to drive to ski/bike/hike, I would get so little- I'd be miserable. On my days off, I am lucky if I manage to double the length of my ski to 4 hours or so.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that if you have a lot of home/family responsibilities- life is waaay too short to live somewhere where you have to wait for holidays- or even worse save thousands to travel- in order to enjoy being outside.

Heck- I can't even afford to take my family to the local "resort" (a mere 260 metres of vertical) more than 1 or 2 times a season- and I still feel it is really a waste of money- when we can ski from our doorstep.

I will tell you what I can afford- we bought 115 acres of farm-woodlot in the Central NB hills for $115,000CAN. We are a couple of miles to the Nashwaak River for endless water fun. Our property backs onto thousands of hectares of forested hills, dissected by steep, spring-fed streams, and endless old trails. We are far enough inland, high enough up, and far enough North, that we typically have 1 metre of snow pack by Xmas, and 2 metres by the end of February.

SO- for me- being able to ski, day-to-day, from my doorstep is KEY. So I would not want to live out west again- I would spend more time planning my adventures- than actually enjoying them.

Laurentian Quebec is the dream spot- my wife would have us move there if we could make it work for employment. I was born in Quebec and my parents fell in love with Quebecois culture and particularly their love of winter. I have been in Quebec City over Xmas before during a mild winter- everyone I overheard was talking about moving to Saguenay if this ever happened again!

The BC skiing in Norwestern NB and the Gaspe is epic as well.

Some of the best BC skiing I have ever done is in western Newfoundland- lots of elevation above tree line, stable winter- and TONS of snow.

My pitch is for rural life- in a climate with a true winter to enjoy in your backyard!

As I don't cut wood for a living anymore- I do need to work in town. My commute is 50 kms- 40minutes. I drive a car that gets 80 miles to the gallon- that I purchased for $18,000CAN. Works for me.

Rural living has gone out of style I guess- but I believe that you can live a more cost-effective outdoor life, if your are willing choose to be a country mouse.

[MikeK]

What car Gareth!

I don't know of any cars that will do 80mpg.


I love being a country mouse. I grew up that way. I could easily move back where I grew up and commute (longer distance) to work.

... but... the snow is better in the Adirondacks, the mountains and forests are nicer, there is way, way, way more public land than western NY and my wife is a teacher, so in theory if we had a place there, she could spend all summer with the boys there and I could go up on weekends. I'd probably save vacations for when the boys and wife have off school and head up during the colder months to ski, as well as weekends.

Drive 2 hours 5 days a week or 3-4 hours twice a week? The latter is actually less travel, more efficient and twice as enjoyable. So I'm really still leaning toward that... financially, it's much tougher owning and maintaining two residences... especially in NY where our taxes are very high.

[Cannatonic]

country moose or mouse haha. The truth is, all of us live in pretty cool places right now. I'd never for settle for living somewhere too far from the mountains and winter!

[lilcliffy]

Remember I am working with imperial miles to the gallon.

2012 Toyota Prius C. It is the first car ever that if I take the back road (the scenic route) and "baby" it- I can actually routinely beat even the EPA/Consumer Guide test mileage. I regularly get 3-3.5L/100kms in that car. Around town, I can keep it as low as 2L/100kms! If I put in on the highway, and drive the speed-limit- the best I can get is 5L/100kms. AMAZING LITTLE CAR! And with the seats down in that little hatchback- I can even haul my weekly feed requirements for my livestock.

Have you looked at living on one full-time income? We are doing it. We would need two FTEs if we lived in town ($115,000CAN wouldn't even buy our house in town). The cost of living is so much lower in our little rural community that we can afford to live on one full-time income. Our kids live in paradise and have a 15minute bus ride to school. The 40 minutes I drive is perfect for me to decompress and crank up some tuneage- it also gives me chance to catch up with long-distance family and friends on my bluetooth phone.

I know of couple of fathers- both with wives that teach in public school- who are at home full-time with their kids and land. It makes me soooo jealous...I am working at it- my long-term goal is not to retire- it is to make enough cash off of our land to pay the bills- and then makes some extra self-employment income to play with. I am planning on eliminating my commute to "work" long before I reach "retirement age".

[MikeK]

We are on one income now since the boys came and will be at least for a couple years, if not until they start school. With my wife being a teacher, we will have very little need for child care once they start school and we have Grandma right up the street for when we do.

I really don't like the idea of the kids going to daycare and wasting one entire income on that, but my wife has good benefits, retirement and she still has student loans, so she's going to need to go back to teaching eventually. As of now, we'll need to tighten up our belts and ride through until she goes back to work.

[lilcliffy]

I really don't like the idea of the kids going to daycare and wasting one entire income on that

With you on this- and young children can benefit GREATLY from someone at home full-time...

BUT- the more than full-time job of being a stay-at-home parent is not for everyone- and in my experience, that has nothing to do with gender.

Despite how ambitious and social my wife is, she is doing very well working at home.

I would equally choose to be home, but currently, my employment and the pay associated with it are higher. So- I head into to town to work "among them English".