What You Like (and Dislike) About Where You Live

[kphoger]

Wichita, KS



How long you lived there?

14 years

What you like about where you live now?

It's like living in the suburbs, except without the major city to go along with it.  This means there are plenty of stores and restaurants and such, so I rarely have any reason to travel out of town for anything specific.  The city is big enough to allow for a level of anonymity, but it's small enough that we still occasionally run into people we know.  The cost of living (income vs rent) is well balanced compared to a lot of places in the nation.  Residents are decently friendly.  Traffic jams only cost you about five or ten minutes of drive time.

What you dislike about where you live now?

There aren't very many evenings when it isn't (1) hot, (2) cold, (3) windy, or (3) full of mosquitoes–so dining outdoors hardly ever happens.  Winter weather is just as likely to bring ice as snow, which makes driving horrible.  The local bus service, while adequate for most things, doesn't extend far enough out to reach my job, so, if my car's in the shop, I need to figure out a ride;  part of that is because I work in a suburb, but part of it is just the nature of the system.

Hows the road trip opportunities?

Being in the middle of the country, most destinations are reachable in a two-day drive.

Where are would you love to move to?

I don't know a whole lot about the practical side of living in other regions of the US.  But I like Texas pretty well.  My heart still belongs to Mexico, and I'd love to live there, but realistically I'd be more likely to actually move somewhere like the Rio Grande Valley instead.

[SP Cook]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?

In between Huntington and Charleston, WV.  Nearest "big"  city is Cincinnati.  Actually Columbus is like 20 miles closer, but I don't consider it a big city.

How long you lived there?

Since I was 22.  Grew up in the ultra-depressed coalfields to the south.

What you like about where you live now?

Not a lot.  Never envisioned my self living in WV when I was growing up.  Fate.

People always say "but its so beautiful" . Once you have seen one tree, you have seen them all.  People also always say "everyone is so friendly" .   Compared to what?  Not so in my experience.

What you dislike about where you live now?

Where to start.  The airport is awful.  Takes all day and three times the money to get anywhere.  The economy is permanently bad.  The education system ranges from putrid to mediocre.  Higher education is looked down up by the locals. 

Hows the road trip opportunities?

One of the things the marketing geniuses at the state's economic development office use is how you can be about anywhere in a few hours.  This is true.  Flip a coin and head in that direction.  It will be better than your starting place.

Where are would you love to move to?

SW Florida or Las Vegas.  As soon as I retire.  That very day.

[webny99]

Nearest "big"  city is Cincinnati.  Actually Columbus is like 20 miles closer, but I don't consider it a big city.

Columbus proper actually has more than double the population of Cincinnati proper. The metro areas are much closer in population, with Cincinnati being only slightly larger.

[SP Cook]

Columbus proper actually has more than double the population of Cincinnati proper. The metro areas are much closer in population, with Cincinnati being only slightly larger.

Yeah, I get that.  Columbus metro is just over 2M, city just over 900K; Cincy metro is 2.3M, city is just over 300K.  It is just that Cincy feels like a big city, to me.  Columbus is a combination state capital/college town/back office for some insurance companies.  When I am in Cincy, everything says "city" , when I am in C-Bus, everything says "overgrown" .

[bandit957]

Columbus proper actually has more than double the population of Cincinnati proper. The metro areas are much closer in population, with Cincinnati being only slightly larger.

Yeah, I get that.  Columbus metro is just over 2M, city just over 900K; Cincy metro is 2.3M, city is just over 300K.  It is just that Cincy feels like a big city, to me.  Columbus is a combination state capital/college town/back office for some insurance companies.  When I am in Cincy, everything says "city" , when I am in C-Bus, everything says "overgrown" .

I guess Cincinnati is more of an old city, much of it going to back before modern suburbs. Cincinnati was already one of America's biggest cities by the time of the Civil War.

[jlam]

Where do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?

I live in Weld County, Colorado; just east of Fort Collins.

How long have you lived there?

Nine years. I spent my toddler years in southern Arizona.

What do you like about where you live now?

Practically everything. The weather is gorgeous, the western view is gorgeous, and almost everything I need is within driving distance.

What do you dislike about where you live now?

There are no accessible large bodies of water. I have to travel a couple hours for any sizable lakes, rivers, or oceans.

How are the road trip opportunities?

Not great. There are only a couple ways east from here, and they are flat. North is pretty cool if you go along 287. Going South is fun through Taos, but boring along the East Side. The west is absolutely gorgeous. Ski towns and crested mountains as far as the eye can see.

Where would you love to move to?

I would love to stay here for a long time. If I were to move, I would go to the Pacific Northwest. Once you get past the rain, I hear it's beautiful. Especially with all the coffee joints.

[frankenroad]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?

Cincinnati, OH

How long you lived there?

Ages 0-18, and 34-now (almost 66)

What you like about where you live now?
- it is a great place to raise kids (hence why I moved back in 1990)
- relatively low cost of living
- lots of history (I am a volunteer tour guide for a local museum)
- lots of hills
- great weather in September-October
- generally, the people here are very friendly
- robust arts scene
- great craft breweries


What you dislike about where you live now?
- hot humid summers; rainy/slushy winters.  (During the 16 years I lived away - I lived in both New Hampshire and Michigan and I prefer those winters)
- polarizing politics; my city and neighborhood are fairly liberal but the state is full of Trumpers overall
- none of my grandchildren live here.
- not near a major body of water
- so-so public transportation
- no direct flights to anywhere anymore.  When CVG was a Delta hub, you could fly to Europe, California, and Hawaii non-stop; now those destinations require one or even two layovers.

Hows the road trip opportunities?
- pretty good.  Most of the country, and a significant portion of Canada, is within a 2-day drive.  There are also a lot of day-trip destinations.

Where are would you love to move to?
- as I near retirement, that has been the big question in my mind.  I may stay here; I may move to Columbus which is where some of my grandkids are (and where I went to college).  I may move to the North Coast of Ohio to be near the water; I have a summer place on Lake Erie, but it is not habitable year-round.  I have even explored moving overseas (most likely coastal Spain).  The only area I have completely ruled out is any state that borders either the Gulf of Mexico or Florida. 
My other grandchild is in California, but I can't afford to live there. 

[JayhawkCO]

How are the road trip opportunities?

Not great. There are only a couple ways east from here, and they are flat. North is pretty cool if you go along 287. Going South is fun through Taos, but boring along the East Side. The west is absolutely gorgeous. Ski towns and crested mountains as far as the eye can see.

Just depends on your distance of road trip. Aurora doesn't have cool road trips, but 20 miles west does. Severance is the same, right? You can be in Poudre Canyon relatively quickly.

[CoreySamson]

Where do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live on the southern outskirts of the Houston metro area.

How long have you lived there?
Almost 11 years.

What do you like about where you live now?
Lots of things, such as:
- The people here are super friendly and the culture is diverse.
- I live just close enough to Houston that I have close access to world class healthcare, entertainment, and other big city amenities whilst living far enough away that I don't have to regularly deal with big city problems. This is a highly underrated reason to live where I'm at.
- The culinary scene in the area might be one of the best in the country, with Tex-Mex, barbecue, and seafood all in vast numbers in the area.
- I live pretty close to a lot of historic Texan sites, such as San Jacinto, the first capital of Texas, and numerous other significant areas.
- The beach is less than an hour's drive away, and there are numerous nature reserves in the area.

What do you dislike about where you live now?
The weather is gross 75% of the time, so there's that. It's muggy, hot, and mosquito-ridden for over half of the year. Also, hurricanes and flooding are huge problems. There's almost no scenery save for the ocean, and it's flatter than Illinois.

How are the road trip opportunities?
Actually pretty bad by American standards. I'm hemmed in by the Gulf of Mexico on one side, and much of the country is a long distance away. Shorter trips pretty much consist of going to Louisiana or somewhere else in Texas (both of which are pretty boring when it comes to scenery). The closest interesting hills or mountains are either in Arkansas or Oklahoma.

Where would you love to move to?
I would love to move somewhere with better weather and scenery, but part of me would like to stay in a smaller Texas city. Either way, I would like to live in a somewhat big city. So either somewhere like Rapid City, Boise, Tucson, or NWA would appeal to me; or I would like to settle somewhere like Lubbock, Corpus Christi, or Odessa.

[kphoger]

How are the road trip opportunities?
Actually pretty bad by American standards. I'm hemmed in by the Gulf of Mexico on one side, and much of the country is a long distance away. Shorter trips pretty much consist of going to Louisiana or somewhere else in Texas (both of which are pretty boring when it comes to scenery).

Not to mention Houston being in the way of a lot of the opportunities.  Leave at the wrong time of the morning or get back at the wrong time of the afternoon, and you've got rush hour to deal with.  Yuck.

[mgk920]

- Where do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?

Central Appleton, WI (the Fox Valley metro area)

- How long have you lived there?

My entire life.

- What do you like about where you live now?

The weather is generally very nice/ideal year round (summers are incredible!), with oppressively hot and gooey or cold and blustery periods lasting no more than a few days each year.  We're also out of the tornado/blizzard belt, so those storms are generally a minor issue.  We do get them, but not as often nor severely as areas south or west of there.
.
- The people here are super friendly and the culture very is diverse, and yet the local 'legacy' culture is very interesting and engaging.  Cultural celebrations and festivals are frequent and interesting. The area also has a first-rate selection of restaurants, cuisines and night life - many locals have no idea of how good they've got it in this department.  The presence of a well-established major professional sports team that is an integral part of the very fiber of the local culture, too - it is a big part of what makes the area so incredibly interesting.

Yet, if you do need a 'big city' fix, one is only a few hours' drive time away.

- What do you dislike about where you live now?

Likely the fractured and highly Balkanized nature of local governance. It is sort of a 'too many leaders and not enough followers' thing with very poorly drawn lines. This is a major problem statewide and will likely not be seriously addressed within any of our lifetimes.

Also, the lack of useful common carrier intercity passenger rail service outside of the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor.

- How are the road trip opportunities?

The NE Wisconsin area is pretty well connected to the rest of the USA.  Scenery in the region is also highly varied and not boring at all with lots to do.


- Where would you love to move to?

In state, I've always been strangely attracted to next-door Waupaca County, it is an interesting place to know and explore.  out of state, I've always liked the Chicagoland area.

[formulanone]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Huntsville, Alabama

How long you lived there?
9 years; lived in few different places in Florida for 30 years.

What you like about where you live now?
- People somewhat friendlier overall, generally easier-going and more patient
- Less traffic, less likely to be honked at or needlessly cut-off in traffic
- More centrally-located for travel compared to before; Central Time Zone is less strain on me after all the bouncing around
- Cost of living is a little less, home prices were far cheaper. Twice the home for half the price.
- Compared to Florida, the peak of summer's intensity lasts about 2-3 months, instead of 8-9 months
- There's an actual autumn and spring (though number of days and participation may vary)
- Mountains, hills, forests, and clear streams/rivers aren't far away
- BBQ exists here
- I can be a little different than the average Bubba and that's thankfully not weird enough
- I'm rarely around due to work travel, so new little things surprise me
- Far less insects around
- No hurricanes
- Can see entire constellations from my backyard
- It's growing a good bit and it's nice to hear from people (from other places) mention that Huntsville's now the biggest city in the state

What you dislike about where you live now?
- I'm not into religion, and less so into politics (is there a one-sided die?)
- I'm rarely around, so I feel a little isolated and have few friends and family here
- The town is loaded with ex-military or military contractors; I'm neither (though a few people comment that is refreshing not talking about those things)
- Alabama has a historical stigma problem (I wonder if I counter-balance it in both good and bad ways?)
- Winters are a little longer than I'd prefer; March-April are annoyingly inconsistent from day to day.
- We've become a 3di for Tornado Alley.
- I didn't use the beaches more than twice a year as I got into my 30s, but I miss being less than 30 minutes away from them (it's an all-day trip down there now).
- No sidewalks outside my little neighborhood; must drive to everything. Not even a few choices for eating/social/shopping to walk to.

It's a push (I added this category)
- Despite the local airport having a dearth of direct choices, I'm usually home sooner than I was out of FLL. It's an expensive airport, though.
- You won't make up time in traffic here. That's been better on my fuel economy and wear-and-tear.
- Why are half my neighbors so strange and clannish and bitter all the time? ...no different than previous places!

How's the road trip opportunities?
- Actual curvy and interesting roads are just 30 minutes away, instead of at least 90-120 minutes
- Being more centrally-located compared to being in the cul-de-sac of the US makes for more opportunities
- Two hours' drive to Nashville, Birmingham, and Chattanooga
- Nice to be one day's drive from several large cities; I guess a span from Orlando, Kansas City, Columbus, and Gulf Shores is doable from home within a day's drive.
- Unfortunately, Alabama has only recently found some spare change for road projects; I-65 is in dire need of improvements, and some major roads are just patently unsafe in some places
- Frankly, I have a lot more fun driving around to isolated places than before, whereas the rural stuff used to be quite distant
- The red mud makes some getting used to

Where are would you love to move to?
- Tough to answer that one; sometimes my heart's still in Florida, but it rarely feels all that relaxing anymore (though I still maintain it doesn't have as many wackos as the media will have you believe). But the older I get, I seem to like the pace of the Midwest...nobody seems entirely upset for long, and I'm in a business where I tend to see people get easily upset. But I don't think I could get used to shoveling snow and dealing with that even 5 out of every 10 winter days.
- I like a little activity and energy, but I also like it when things are simple and quiet. I'm like that drinking water bird that can't have too much or too little.
- It will probably just wind up being wherever my wife is happy. And that works for me...after all, I'm getting sent to whowknowswhere every week, so I get variety.

[DandyDan]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Mason City, Iowa, in North Iowa

How long you lived there?
Since October 2016, although technically speaking, I didn't move into my residence until November.

What you like about where you live now?
People are friendly, can get anywhere I have to go in 20 minutes or less, cost of living is low, there's decent architecture here, I don't feel unsafe here (something I get arguments about, BTW)

What you dislike about where you live now?
It's a challenge to socialize with anyone outside work acquaintances and even then, all anyone wants to do is drink. I also get the impression most people here have always lived here and don't want to experience life elsewhere, train noise is terrible and so is car traffic noise

Hows the road trip opportunities?
There's always opportunities, but most of Iowa is flat and so is Minnesota. The Driftless Area east of here is not flat, though.

Where are would you love to move to?
Strictly in terms of my job, over to Clear Lake. But part of the reason I moved here was so I could go to the Twin Cities whenever I wanted.. That was where I lived as a kid and would love to go back.

[thspfc]

Near Madison WI

17 years

I like that it's a decent size city, it's pretty, it's got a big university, and it's got nice suburbs.

I dislike that it's a heavily liberal county, has cold winters, and doesn't have all the amenities of a truly big city (such as a large airport).

Road trip opportunities? Same as everywhere else, I guess. Nice that it's along I-90 and in the middle of the country.

I wouldn't mind moving to Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, or Missouri.

[Sctvhound]

30 year old man here.

* Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Just outside of Charleston, SC on James Island. Live 10 minutes from downtown, work 15 minutes. Two hours to Myrtle Beach, Savannah, less to Columbia.

  * How long you lived there? My entire life. Family in NJ but never lived there


  * What you like about where you live now?

- The cosmopolitan food and drink scene. Charleston is a huge food city, probably only topped by the majors like NY, San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago and LA. Dozens of breweries have popped up over the last 5 years as well
- There are about 6-7 months a year where the weather is just plain nice
- The city becoming more connected to everywhere with the growth thanks to Boeing and everything else
- You can fly to just about every major city in the US relatively easily
- There is no shortage of things to do with the beaches, downtown, 3 well-supported minor league sports teams, and monthly "big" events like Spoleto, Southeastern Wildlife Expo, Food and Wine, Cooper River Bridge Run
- Big enough to feel like a city, but you still see people you know around town all the time
- For young kids, tons of field trip opportunities. Saw Fort Sumter before most of us even knew what it meant
- The scenery from one of the many bridges in the area feels like routine, but it never gets old


  * What you dislike about where you live now?

- The traffic for our size area (150K city, 850K metro) is crazy. All it takes is an accident on one of 10 bridges or I-26 to foul up things for a commute
- Housing prices are extremely high. Some places have doubled over the last couple of years. "All-cash" buyers have predominated
- Most people are ill-prepared for bad weather. Rush hour rain fouls entire area up, while a hurricane evacuation or a freak snow (which we do get here) closes things for days
- Downtown area has gentrified and not in a good way. Three universities in the area and few cheap places to live. Large percentage of stores and restaurants cater to high-dollar tourists
- So many transients that move in and out within a couple of years
- The 6 months a year the weather is almost exactly the same (80-100, muggy, chance of afternoon thunderstorms)
- Charleston isn't a "sports town." Only an event city. People arrive extremely late to everything and leave early. Most folks just follow their football team and are very casual about everything else

  * Hows the road trip opportunities?

Great. But with 5 beaches within 45 minutes you don't need to do much. Closest major league sports is Charlotte 3 hours away. Mountains are 3.5-4 hours.


  * Where are would you love to move to? Nowhere else, hopefully

SM-G998U

[Max Rockatansky]

That transient population probably is driven a lot by the Navy in Charleston. I was in line to transfer there back in 2015 until my Mom fell out of remission which led to me staying in Florida another year.

[abefroman329]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
The Far North Side of Chicago

How long you lived there?
Since October 2013

What you like about where you live now?
Great place to raise a family, what with all of the world-class museums and parks.  Good schools.  Summers are very mild; I can count the number of days where it gets to 90F or higher on two hands, sometimes one.  Tons of access to public transit.

What you dislike about where you live now?
The winters will drain your soul from your body.

Hows the road trip opportunities?
Getting to the nearest expressway takes some time, but the expressways themselves will take you anywhere you want to go.

Where are would you love to move to?
All other things being equal, San Diego.

[skluth]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Palm Springs, the far, far east end of the Los Angeles/ Southern California metro

How long you lived there? Almost four years

What you like about where you live now? No snow. Relatively liberal city with good volunteer opportunities for retirees. About 25% of the population is gay (as am I). Lots of sunshine. Great hiking trails, some within walking distance of my home. Taking the tram up the 8500' on hot days in summer. Lots of stuff to do even though I'm too old for some of the more popular stuff like Coachella.

What you dislike about where you live now? It gets freaking hot from July 4 to Labor Day; it's still hot in June and September, but I don't mind it. There is literally only one way, I-10, to realistically drive west to Riverside, San Bernardino, LA, and Orange County and traffic through the San Gorgonio Pass can be bad to a complete standstill for several hours; don't even try on Monday mornings after Coachella and Stagecoach. It can also be really, really windy here, but that's mostly an issue close to the I-10 corridor and hardly noticed if you live in town. Largest county in the US without an IKEA.

How's the road trip opportunities? Fantastic. Pacific Coast is two hours away if there's no traffic (which never happens). LA and Orange County are about two hours away. San Diego is about three hours. Also lots of interesting destinations nearby through the desert to Joshua Tree (one hour drive), the Salton Sea (1½ hours), and the Mojave (two hours). If I want mountains, I can drive to Idyllwild or Big Bear in less than two hours. Even Santa Barbara is only four hours away.

Where are would you love to move to? San Diego, but I can't afford the housing. (The Coachella Valley is surprisingly inexpensive for California.)

Note: While Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Indio, and Coachella lean liberal, conservatives also find homes here as Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and La Quinta are moderately-to-quite conservative.

[triplemultiplex]

I've been living in Madison for 6 years now.
I like that this city is large enough to have plenty of stuff to do, but not so large that it gets in your way.  In 15 minutes I can be surrounded by farms or surrounded by reveling yuppies.  It has fantastic bicycle infrastructure and lots and lots of parks and open spaces both in the urban area and just a little ways out of town.  The lakes are of course beautiful and I utilize them regularly.  And as a craft beer enthusiast, I live in one of the best places on Earth.

People complain about the winter, but I like winter.  It makes you appreciate summer and it keeps out the riff-raff: the weak who are offended if they have to put on a jacket.  That winter is the reason why there aren't venomous critters crawling around everywhere and why the mosquitoes don't carry deadly tropical diseases.  Besides, shoveling is great exercise!

As for things I don't like, I happen to live close enough to one of those lakes that I get to experience the various lake fly hatches that occur throughout the warm part of year.  The lake flies themselves are harmless; they don't even have mouth parts.  But they support a robust population of spiders.  None are venomous, outside of some intruding black widows or brown recluse that probably hitched a ride from down south.  But it is annoying to have webs over everything by mid June.
Like others have mentioned, housing prices suck.  I'm not even attempting to look at buying property because I know it's a madhouse out there.  But that's true everywhere that's not some backwater shitburg with nothing going on.

Road trippin' is decent.  Roads in all directions and cool places within a day's drive.  I spend a fair amount of time in the Baraboo Hills myself.  Though mountain driving opportunities are absent, if you're into that.

I feel pretty dug in here for now, but I'd be down for living closer to one of the Great Lakes.  I was living in Milwaukee when I first joined this forum and liked it very much.  But it did take longer to get from there to cool places I like Up North.  I could probably adapt to most places in the Midwest, but I do need access to two important resources.  I have to live in a place where the range of the brook trout and the walleye overlap:

[Ted$8roadFan]

Great thread, thanks for posting.

quote author=ZLoth link=topic=31302.msg2723497#msg2723497 date=1648957998]
This should prove to be an interesting topic leading to some interesting discussion and perspectives. Lets have everyone discuss where they live, and answer the following questions:

• Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?

Just west of Boston, Ma, inside 128 (i.e. I-95).

• How long you lived there?

Born and spent most of my life here until mid-20s before moving away for grad school and worked. Moved back in 2008 to be closer to family.

• What you like about where you live now?

Lots of things:

Quality of life
Strong economy/job opportunities
Educational/cultural opportunities
High quality health care
Relatively low crime
Relatively temperate weather
Being able to experience all four seasons.
Variety of landscapes within short distance (lakes, mountains, hills, valleys, ocean, islands)
Highly involved/active citizens
Historic charm
Great food scene/food traditions
Growing racial/ethnic diversity

• What you dislike about where you live now?

Basically, Boston is San Francisco with snow, with all of the opportunities and drawbacks.

Exorbitant cost of living relative to the above (esp. housing)
Crumbling/aging infrastructure of all kinds
Congestion/terrible commuting options (alleviated in part by hybrid work)
Winter, esp. its unpredictability
Climate change (hotter temperatures, more frequent floods, etc.)
Provincial arrogance
Declining socioeconomic diversity/declining opportunities for the working and middle class
The increasing dominance of the meritocracy
Virtue signaling wokeness/progressive bubble

• Hows the road trip opportunities?

Awesome. Plenty of great places to go in Massachusetts and all six New England states. Plus, driving to other Northeastern States, the rest of the US and Canada is easy enough (if long).

• Where are would you love to move to?

Not sure. I've actually lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida and am familiar with those regions. Having done so, I've learned to appreciate Boston more. The former all had their attributes, including  lower costs of living, but that was offset by other expenses, less robust job market, weather, and distance from family. It's hard to imagine me living anywhere else, but the cost of living may become unbearable. If I don't move to a smaller city outside of the Greater Boston area, I'm intrigued by the mid-Atlantic (Virginia and the Carolinas) if I were to move again.

[/list]

Yes, this is going to be very subjective questionnaire, but something that I would really enjoy reading the answers on.
[/quote]

[citrus]

Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in San Francisco, within a stone's throw of the end of the Central Freeway.

How long you lived there?
10 years!

What you like about where you live now?
- Most things I need are close; my job and my partner's jobs are both close (I enjoy a walking commute!). I'm a big city person, and it's really easy to get around if you're already there. The center of my industry is here; a top-notch institution of my partner's is here too. We have plenty of local friends and some extended family in the area.
- For the Bay Area in general, you can generally find some of the best of a lot of things I enjoy here: food, coffee, wine, music, art, etc. We don't have a monopoly on this, but there's a lot of high-quality, non-generic things to enjoy.
- Weather is pretty mild year-round. It helps that I live in the sunnier parts of SF.
- Tons of beautiful landscapes around close by (Marin Headlands, Land's End, Santa Cruz Mountains, etc.) and within a day's drive (road trips!).
- You can be a weirdo and people generally don't care and won't bother you about it. That said, people are generally ambitious and intellectual.

What you dislike about where you live now?
- It's very expensive here if you don't have a high-paying job, some luck (like buying a house in the 1970's), or both. Housing is by far the biggest driver. And there are are lot of things that become more convenient if you can pay for it (off-street parking, Ubers, and so on).
- You have to take more general precautions than most areas of the US in terms of petty crime. I've never felt personally threatened, but you can generally assume that visible items (especially inside unattended vehicles and packages on the sidewalk) get taken. So there's some inconvenience.
- It's not a well-appearing city at street level - you see lots of trash, homeless people, etc,
- Whatever is going on in SF gets sent to the national media as "representative of what liberal cities are like" - and depending on what sources you read or watch, positive and especially negative aspects of what it's like here get exaggerated to the point that it's barely recognizable as rooted in truth.

Hows the road trip opportunities?
- Fantastic - there's a lot of amazing roads and scenery in California, Nevada, Oregon. Only downside is getting out of the Bay Area along with everyone else on Friday afternoons....

Where area would you love to move to?
- I love where I live; if I had to move, it would likely be someplace like Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver. I'd probably do okay in Boston or DC - and if I really was looking for a change, perhaps New Zealand or Scandinavia.

[Ned Weasel]

• Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?

Northeast Kansas, Kansas City area.

• How long you lived there?

All my life, minus about four years.

• What you like about where you live now?

It has grass and trees.
It isn't as outrageously expensive to live here as it is on the coasts.
It's less likely to be affected by rising sea levels than the coasts.

• What you dislike about where you live now?

Most of my friends either moved away or never lived in this area to begin with.
The racist football team and its racist fans.
No mountains and no ocean.
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
The vast majority of the malls died years ago, and there's only one that's still doing well at all.

• Hows the road trip opportunities?

Well, it has roads, so you can road trip around here.  But frankly, I'd say the most interesting places to road trip to are at least eight hours away.

• Where would you love to move to?

In the U.S.: Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
Outside the U.S.: Ireland.

[JayhawkCO]

Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.

With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.

[kphoger]

Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.

With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.

I disagree also, and my parents both grew up in the Shawnee-Mission area.  When I think of dining in the KC area, I think of a healthy number of non-chain choices.

[Ned Weasel]

Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.

With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.

I disagree also, and my parents both grew up in the Shawnee-Mission area.  When I think of dining in the KC area, I think of a healthy number of non-chain choices.

Where are all the mom-and-pop/greasy-spoon diners?  Where is there even one that's open all night?  There USED to be a good place called Chubby's in Westport, but it ain't there anymore.