Is employment much of a consideration? What field of work will you be in?
Oh lol missed this. I had a relative from Engalnd visiting a long time ago and we had a big Earthquake. It was so exciting to him he couldnt go back to sleep all night. He called home just to tell them about it. He thought it was the greatest thing ever lol.
Well that confirms that Alaska is off of the list. We only had 34 of them...today. http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Seis/recenteqs/index.html Oh, and then there are those pesky volcanoes... http://www.avo.alaska.edu/ Seriously, put some effort into looking at Denver or Salt Lake. Oklahoma City is pretty nice, too. Go to Barnes and Noble or online and look at some books for the areas.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Austin, TX. I would have said CA hands-down, if you want good weather (I wore shorts today). Outside of that though, Austin seems to be a good mix of decent weather (except for a little heat during the summer), good cost of living, fun activities, nice scenery, lakes, good people, etc. I've never lived there, but I've visited twice and would live there in a second if Southern CA didn't exist.
Besides the cost of living, bizzaro politics, crippling taxes, massive gridlock, .... ... and people with very large chips on their shoulders. "Research Triangle" in NC was shaping up to be a good area. But the dot-com collapse crashed the local economy and brought in the "entitlement" politicians. Tampa/Clearwater was a nice area, other than the traffic issues, until the politicos gave up on Dade county and started mucking about with areas they hadn't made hopeless yet. (There was that politicially ambitious Tampa mayor who started mutating the city.) Political hagling over the fresh water supply will probably destroy Florida. Stick a big solar panel awning over Arizona, and it'd be pretty good, away from the cities.
One important factor to keep in mind is water. I don't mean the kind for recreation, but the knind you need for living. In the S, SW and other areas water use/availability is becoming a pretty hot topic and will only get worse in the future. It's -5 right now, but given the problems the rest of the country saw in this past year, it's a small price to pay to live next to the worlds largest body of fresh water =)
Hard to find that perfect climate/environment. I love Chicago, but the weather here in the winter is worse than Colorado. Granted, you get the regular snow fall. But overall your winter weather is milder. But here, spring summer and fall more than make up for it. Michigan is much the same, and for the most part it's a pretty state full of good people. Basically, anywhere the weather is nice now will probably suck in 6 months.
There is plenty of water in the Great Lakes region. I have lived in Michigan my whole life and couldn't see myself anywhere else. We actually have seasons with warm temps in the summer and cold temps in the winter. Snowfall in the metro Detroit area is moderate and not as high as it is on the Western part of the state (I lived there for 4 years too) there are plenty of places to ski and snowboard if that is your thing and if you are a boater or evey have any designs on owning a boat Michigan has the highest boater registrations of any state in the US. True, the job market has suffered through the current governor but she is term limited and can't be re-elected and the housing market has taken a beating in the past several years, but all that means is that the houses are a bit cheaper than they were when things were really humming for the big three. Not only all this but we have Ferrari, Lamborghini, Spyker, Bently, Rolls, Bugatti, and 2 Maserati dealerships all within about an 8 mile radius of eachother. There is also the Michigan Internation Speedway, Milan and Lapeer international Dragways, as well as the Drtroit Grand Prix and the North American International Auto Show. Who could ask for a more car friendly enviornment?
++ on O.K. City. Seems perfect - about same climate as Colo Springs, maybe just a "little" hotter in the summer...none of that ugly depressing mountain scenery to worry about all day, no dangerous curving mountain roads to catch you unawares, great place to learn to fly - if you like 45mph headwinds and gusty crosswind landings. Property reportedly very cheap, too - according to a few old high school buddies who stayed behind when most of us left for Texas...
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For your own good you may want to quit posting those ridiculous pictures. I like living in Houston, but don't know that I would recommend it. I've met a lot of people that have moved here recently and love it. I would recommend Austin. Especially if you can afford to live in a nice condo downtown or a home near one of the lakes. I plan on having a home over looking the lake some day. It's absolutely beautiful. As much as I love the weather and scene in CA I could never live there. Although a group of my friends and I have tossed around the idea of buying a mansion out there and just partying for a few years. But that's about a next to nothing chance. Although it would be fun.
Houston BLOWS. It's flat, no scenery, smoggy, endless freeways and traffic, no recreation, infested with Katrina criminals. Worst city ever.
North Carolina is great. If you have kids (or will), we have one of (if not the best ) public universities in the country at UNC-CH and great temperate weather. The people are awesome, and if you live near Raleigh you will always have stuff to do.
Stay out of the DFW area, we already more than enough people here. Go to Houston instead, plenty more opportunity down there especially if you want to be in the car business. Besides the summer months here is something most people can't cope with.
