Gretchen

ttt

wanderer

Where is Davidson?

kgh8m

Just north of Charlotte, NC. Although I would dispute its "20 minute" proximity to Charlotte, as has been asserted.

Gretchen

Wanderer, Davidson is where I have been directing you to through this thread. It makes me wonder, Wanderer.
I thought you might be interested in this paricular development. You said earlier in the thread you would check out Davidson. Whassup/

jrbnrnc

I lived in Chapel Hill for ten years. The area south of Chapel Hill in Chatham County either on Hwy 501 towards PIttsboro or on Mt. Carmel Church Rd. are good places to check out. Save on taxes if that is an issue. Hillsboro would also be nice and more convenient to Duke Hospital. Since moving to a town near Greensboro, we are grateful for much less traffic than in Chapel Hill, but that is relative. My experience with Davidson is that it was over an hour commute to downtown Charlotte on I-77 in rush hour.

Gretchen

Rush hour, that may be true. Other times it is much more manageable. These folks are not commuting to Charlotte.
I might add that it is "Hillsborough". I have to say that I was nonplussed by "wanderer's" question about Davidson. It makes me think they are not all that interested or invested in NC as a retirement situation.

peggy01

Wanderer, I have enjoyed following your various threads. My husband and I are also a long way from retirement, but are doing the same thing you are, exploring our options now. We have the same desires you do, and actually already bought a retirement home in Williamsburg, which we are currently renting out. We LOVE Williamsburg, but are a little worried about the humidity in the summer.

We currently live in Temecula, CA, about an hour north of San Diego. It's been a wonderful community, but the growth is out of control. When we moved here, 17 years ago, the population was about 20,000.00. It is quickly approaching 100,000.00 and the traffic is unbearable. We know we will not want to stay here, but we ARE starting to re-think the west coast.

I was wondering if you ever made the trip out to Oregon to check out Corvalis and Ashland, etc. If so, what did you find? I would love to hear your opinion, as everything you describe is what we are looking for.

wanderer

Hi Peggy01.

No, we haven't made it out to Oregon yet. That's still on our list to see Corvallis and Ashland/Medford/Jacksonville.

We think it will be too rainy for us, and we are not sure about the health care in this area, but we also want to see Port Townsend, WA just to know.

We just got back from a trip to Charlottesville, VA area (Lexington, Staunton, Culpeper) and found that too big and busy for our tastes or too quiet on the other extreme, although we really enjoyed our visit. Next year we have a week planned in Williamsburg.

I, like you, worry about the humidity of the Southeast. My husband has asthma, which is exacerbated by the situation.

So far, Sonoma tops our list. We actually loved Yountville, St. Helena and Healdsburg, but Sonoma was at least "somewhat" more reasonable if you bought in their retirement communities of Temelec, Chantarelle, etc.

We would like to visit Asheville as well, but it may be too big for us.

Looking forward to checking out Chapel Hill and surrounding area.

I think Oregon will have to wait until 2007.

peggy01

Wanderer: I agree with you. The whole Napa Valley area is fantastic. I haven't checked out real estate prices there, but am assuming it would be out of our range.

I think I read somewhere that you have a timeshare. If you haven't already made reservations in Williamsburg, you might want to check out the Marriott Manor Club. If you belong to Interval International you can trade there fairly easily. It is a beautiful resort and is located in Ford's Colony, a residential golf community. We try to go every year, during a different season. Early November is gorgeous and you can actually go on a "get away" week for next to nothing. We had a two bedroom villa for only $300.00 a week!

schlegal1

Hey Wanderer!
I was responding to your questions on Virginia and am anxiously awaiting a trip report now that you're back ;-). Seriously, I realize you didn't find what you were looking for but I would love to hear about your trip when you get a chance.

wanderer

Yes, thanks to all for their help!

I've just started a new job, so have been VERY short on time.

Will do trip report this weekend - we had a great time!

We are timesharing (exchange) next yr in Wmsburg, but not Ford's Colony. Forget the resort. Will post later this wkend. We tried to get that, but got another instead that looked nice.

kaleyna

I'm curious. What do the NC people think of Wilmington as an option? I have been told it has charm and it is on the water which is sounds like Wanderer really likes.

Gretchen

It is a lovely town but I think larger than they want.

kaleyna

Is it? I had thought it was fairly small. How large a place is Wilmington? One thing I had heard was that since the film and TV production has moved in, crime has gone way up. True?

Gretchen

Have no idea about crime. The movie business has somewhat slowed down I think. It is a fairly sprawling town--nice historic district on the waterfront, then on out toward the college/university on to Wrightsville. If they think Chapel Hill will be too big, I think Wilmington will.

Brian_in_Charlotte

I agree, Wilmington is choking on its growth. They're going to have to do something about the traffic situation there or will quickly lose their "lovely town" reputation.

And there are certainly some very bad pockets for crime around downtown. Not as bad, but similar to Savannah.

TerriGoLightly

Hi there -- I've been following your thread, too. It's funny you mentioned Oregon. I was in Portland this past weekend and lots of your criteria are met in Portland, though I realize it it much bigger than you wanted. Maybe some of the surrounding areas will be just the ticket.

Also, have you ever looked at this website? I tried it once and it came up with some interesting options...it may recommend some towns for you that you haven't thought of yet.

www.findyourspot.com

Good luck you you!

wanderer

Yes, thanks, know about "find your spot". That's where we found Corvallis, OR and Ashland, OR I think.

We considered Wilmington, but I think it is bigger than we want. I also was put off by the crime stats listed on city-data.com.

Still might to want to check it out at some point.

kaleyna

Another good site to use is http://www.bestplaces.net/
You can compare two cities at a time for all kinds of stats. I also use the stats at
http://www.epodunk.com/
as well

wanderer

What do you all think of Asheville/Hendersonville - as compared to Chapel Hill and Wilmington?