Pamela

Jenna,
Yes, there is hardly anything going on in Lebanon, but I didn't much like your last sentence. Lebanon is NOT NH. There are many wonderful places to live in NH (I have lived here most of my life). It's funny how people can judge a whole state just from living in one town.

Arabella

Lynn, of course I knew Chicago was cold and windy. I didn't know that it was so dismal during the winter. I thought the sun would occasionally shine!

Mike

Charlotte over Chicago due to its "rich soul"? Arabella, I think you've been drinking to much wine at your local Olive Garden.

Carrie

I'm not stupid either. I knew Chicago was cold and windy and that they had snow. What I didn't understand was that it was like that for 6 months of the year. A year has 12 months and 4 seasons, I assumed <big mistake> that Chicago did as well. But, alas, there is really no spring unless you call late May their spring, a short summer, very short fall and a looooonnnnggg winter with very little sunshine. I alos could not have known about the lack of chain stores and the "no car" culture. When visiting a place these are hard things to find out because tourists don't use them.

Jess

Wow, its amazing how different everyone's idea of perfect is. I would never live somewhere that only had chain stores--I hate them and boycott as much as possible. Same for cars.
I think my worst vacation stop EVER was Albuquerque--lit looked like a depressed episode of the Flintstones. I don't know what I was expecting, but I was SOOO relieved to be out of the city. It is the only place I have ever been that I don't think I could find some way to manage living in.

Dan

"I also could not have known about the lack of (Chicago) chain stores."

On behalf of all Chicagoans we wish you well, and happy shopping at your local K-Mart.

Carrie

I don't like chain stores for their "cute" merchandise or because they are pretty. I like chain stores like Super Walmart and Target Greatlands because they are convenient one-stop shopping. I can go in get my groceries, household items, toiletries, garden supplies or anything else I need like tires or even glasses all in one places. For busy people these are a must. I have driven and hour away almost in Chicago to get to the nearest SuperKmart so I would have to go to a bunch a different places and pay higher prices at each, search for a parking spot at each, get in and out of the car a 5 or 6 times in the rain/snow etc.

Carrie

I forgot to mention that another reason I like these all-inclusive places is that I go once a month and get everything I need for the whole month, groceries, supplies and other necessaries. I spend about $400-$500 and load up the car at one place then it doesn't take up any more of my time again for another month. The culture around here seems to be to walk to the corner grocery,Walgreens and buy one bag of stuff and walk back. People end up making 3-4 trips a week rather than 1 large one which is just not convenient.

allin

I Live in downtown Chicago and shop at Dominick's. I have a car and spend about 250.00 every 2 weeks on groceries, never had a problem parking. The only thing they lack is a tire store and when I need tires I go to a tire store.

Amy

I agree w/ Nancy about Charlotte. It's just one horrid strip mall after another. How many Old Navys does a town need? Plus the people are, shall we say, less than intellectual. Soulless?? That's an understatement!

arlingtonya

"For busy people these are a must"--wow, I thought I was busy, but I don't go to WallyWorld, so I guess not. But if you need parking more than museums, hey, enjoy Atlanta. I hear its residents get to spend a lot of time sitting in their cars, thanks to sprawl. It sure sounds like productive time for busy people.
I am glad to hear that Arlington is just like Takoma Park, which is where I wanted to live but couldn't (for logistical reasons). My neighborhood is full of furriners, though--just the other day at the playground I heard parents speaking to their children in Spanish, Russian, German, and French. I wonder if Roger would find all of them equally objectionable . . . .
My big mistake: Charlottesville. All the real-estate nightmares of a university town with almost none of the advantages.

Dan

"I have driven and hour away almost in Chicago to get to the nearest SuperKmart."

Please stop, you're killing me!

suzanne

I moved to the Newport area of Jersey City, NJ when I first started working in NYC. I couldn't afford Manhattan, and was desperate to move out of my parents house. JC was affordable and I had nice views of the river and downtown, but I was bored out of my mind out there!! It was one big construction site at the time (1991), and there was absolutely zero to do there after work. I had to climb over fences and walk through weedy rat-infested fields to get to the grocery store. I didn't have a car...I couldn't afford to park it. Luckily after 5 months my boyfriend (at the time) said I could move into his place in Manhattan. Though it didn't work out, I have no regrets. I HAD to get out of Jersey City! Though, I heard it's a lot better now, they added many new stores and businesses.

nina

And to think, I've never been to a Kmart or Wallmart in my life. I guess I've been missing out!

Obs.

Now, Arabella, I know you'll agree that the Charlotte area has produced some real southern beauties, one or two of which post at times on this site. It is afterall the Queen City, astride 85 to be sure, but people travel, and there's a quiet part here and there, and a lovely airport. And it's not too far from your nation's capitol, just between us.

Traveling man

Agree with another poster that you can't judge a whole state based on one town. We moved from Los Angeles to San Ramon, California, south and east of San Francisco about 50 miles. What a strange place! It was all "planned" with street names that followed a theme. Almost no mature vegetation, miles and miles of pink and beige houses, everyone was white, blond, blue-eyed and drove Camrys. Their idea of an ethnic restaurant was TGIFriday's or Chili's. The really kinda scary part, though, was the great number of community swimming pools, tennis courts, running trails, etc. It was almost like some breeding ground for the Aryan nation. The place gave us the creeps so we moved just 50 miles away to another world entirely.

Marcus

San Ramon huh? Except for the TGIF it sounds like what most of us want.

nina

Well hello, Obs. I was wondering when you would make your reappearance. Some posters just have an unmistakable style!

Once

Houston, for sure. My visits were in the early Spring or late fall (the 4-6 weeks when the climate is tolerable) and after the oil bust, when everyone left town and the traffic improved remarkably.
Outside the aforementioned periods the weather is just miserable, and the air quality is horrendous to boot. As the economy improved and population returned traffic became worse and is now just as awful as ever.
Since culture was brought up in some other posts - in Houston it's a lot like a Hollywood set - beautiful facade but don't look behind it. The new and nearly new rich love to splash cash around and get their picture in the paper, but deep in their hearts they are most comfortable in a double wide.

Lynn

My big mistake: The Twin Cities in Minnesota. We visited beforehand and had good friends who'd grown up there, so we thought we were going into it on an informed basis. Boy, were we wrong! It's a pleasant enough area (even including the long, nasty winters), but the people were way too provincial for me as an east-coast gal--they were very suspicious of outsiders and horribly narrow-minded. We stayed way too long, but the moment we got our chance we got out and never looked back; you couldn't pay us enough money to back there. I certainly met some wonderful friends with whom I still correspond 12 years later, but by and large it was a negative experience.

We also lived for four years in southern New Mexico (Las Cruces), and although the people are far friendlier there than in the upper midwest, it taught me a valuable lesson. When you're from a diverse, cultural "melting pot" like the east coast and then you move to an area that's overwhelmingly populated by one ethnic group, it's going to feel very odd to you. In New Mexico it was Hispanics and in Minnesota it was Scandinavians. I have nothing against either group per se, but if that's 90 percent of the culture you encounter after having grown up with a lot of diversity, the area will never "feel" right to you and will in fact seem boring.

We're back on the east coast now and would never again consider moving to any area that doesn't have some variety in its population and culture. An important point to remember as part of your research before you move.