Davidson NC--it would be a lake for your boat until the child graduates from a great school system.
Just north of Charlotte.

How important is that to you, Dukey1? We watch tornadoes, floods, blizzards, ice storms, droughts, wildfires, etc etc in other cities on television and try not to be smug. We see temperatures below freezing and above 100 in other cities but if they occurred here they would set records and make headlines. We willingly accept clouds and precip in exchange...that's why we are the Evergreen State. Check out your home city's annual precip against Seattle's.

Eastern Shore of MD is a good idea. We used to live in Easton. Very cute downtown, nice restaurants. Or go to Oxford/St. Michaels to be right on the water. Easton has an artsy-ness to it as well.

How cold does Edmonds get? I can handle (and enjoy) some cold but just not for half the months of the year...

Unfortunately, no lakes for us. The boat is actually a 40 foot long, 24 foot wide sailing catamaran that is for ocean/bay use!

Does anyone know of a Southern Oregon town that has a quaint downtown and good schools? It wouldn't have to be on the coast; we could keep our boat in a marina and use it sometimes.

Thank you!

Edmonds doesn't get very cold, but it is in the convergence zone so will get some of the snow when a storm rolls in. Even down to the water. It is not cold for 6 months of the year though. Damp yet, but not real cold.

There is a marina in Everett, right next to the Navy base. Also a Marina up at Whidbey in Oak Harbor, again, next to the Navy base. We have sailed out of both of those areas quite a bit.

As for southern OR, for quaint look to Ashland. The sailing will be an issue though since this is inland.

You could look a long time before you find a place better than New Bern, especially since Wilmington has become popular with retirees from the dreaded North and has been invaded by movie people.

Have you looked at both the Beauforts (NC and SC)? both are near military facilities, and SC does not tax military retirement income. I don't know about NC.

Easton and Annapolis are both wonderful. I think St Michaels might be too small for your children, and Oxford is very.very.quiet off season, though any place with a Hinckley yacht dealer has got to be a going place in the summer.

If you need your husband's income to live off of, you really need to carefully research the medical community and locums opportunities.

Most radiology groups don't use locums, as they need people with very specific skills- neuroradiology, interventional, vascular interventional, mammography certified.

Your husband also needs to be specifically licensed for each and every state he will practice in. That can get to be very cumbersome and expensive.

How about West Michigan? Particularly Grand Rapids? We have an area downtown called the Medical Mile because there is literally a mile of medical hospitals and offices. It's a great place to live for anyone in the medical community. We're also 30 minutes from Lake Michigan. Grand Haven, Holland, Spring Lake or Muskegon would be a good place to keep a boat to travel on the "big lake" as we call it, but there are also lots of little lakes right around Grand Rapids, depending on how big your boat is.

Grand Rapids is also affordable, somewhat cosmopolitan, and growing. There are quite a few religious conservatives here, but not all of us are like that here. If you leave them alone, they won't bug you. ;)

I forgot to add that Michigan has loads of wineries and bike trails too. From Grand Rapids, you're also 3 hours away from Chicago and 2 hours to Traverse City, where there are about 25 wineries.

Here are some links to explore:

http://www.experiencegr.com/
http://downtowngr.org/
http://www.visitgrandhaven.com/
http://www.michigan.org/
http://www.bikegrandrapids.org/maps/
http://www.michiganwines.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids_Medical_Mile

Friends chose Edmonds, WA for most, not all, of the reasons you have listed and are very happy living there.

You might think about Portland,Oregon or somewhere nearby - it meets these requirements:

--Close to the water. We have a large boat--and could even live on it (again) if the location were right.
1. Portland has the Columbia River Gorge

--A smaller town feel where we could walk or bike-ride to shops and restaurants.
2. Portland is a medium sized city but biking is very important to Portland residents and they treat it as a major priority.

--Fairly liberal attitudes--not a staunchly religious community
3. Portland is Extremely liberal in a good way (especially when it comes to the environment.

--Outdoor sports, such as biking, hiking, etc.
4. A way of life in Portland!!

--Wineries nearby would be nice but not a requirement
5. Some up and coming vinyards are all around the area.

--Light traffic (if possible)
6. Many people in Portland bike everywhere and they have great public (free) transportation within the city limits.

I might add that the concerns for the environment, alternative transportation, and organic, local farms and first class restaurants are making Portland a great city to live in.