If you could live anywhere in the mid-south east coast...

You seem to be describing North Carolina. If you like mountains then Asheville would be your bet. It's a big enough town on its own (certainly bigger than here!) and not too far from Grenville/Spartanburg SC. Not too sure how far it is from Raleigh, I've only gone there from the west.

Check out Charlottesville, Virginia (beautiful *horse country*)

Asheville, NC is very nice too.

I live in Hampton Roads, and the Suffolk, VA area or Williamsburg, VA area are both actually quite nice as far as rural-but-close goes. They're both within a short drive to Virginia Beach and the city of Norfolk and have plenty of land/equestrian farms.

I like living in Hampton Roads because the traffic is not nearly as bad as other more populated areas, it's nice to be within a short drive to both Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks during the summer, and not too far away from the mountains during the winter. It's also nice to be within driving distance (3.5 hrs) to Washington DC.

And if you ever have to fly out of Norfolk, it's the easiest airport ever as far as security lines and such.

Lavern08 said:

Check out Charlottesville, Virginia (beautiful *horse country*)

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C'ville is also an extremely expensive place to live. Food isn't too bad, but shelter, utilities etc are horrid. I have a good friend who lives there. If she could save enough money to get out she would. The town is nice, you have the U of VA, surrounding countryside is lovely. She can hardly make ends meet on $43,000 a year, and she does not live 'high on the hog'. There are also few decent paying jobs other than connected to the university.

MM

If you want nice beaches, coastal North Carolina is good, particularly if you don't want the big hotels all over the beaches. The mountainous part of the state is still within a day's drive. I'm in Wilmington, which is small for a city but big for a town. Yet it has an amazingly vigorous arts community and, thanks to the university, all of the perks of a college town. And the beaches are amazing with 85 degree water in the Summer (thanks Gulf Stream). Downside - hurricanes and the strange mindsets that come with living in a beach community (body image issues, tourist migrations, mix of everything from wealthy seasonal home owners to rural single-wide residents sometimes along the same road).

Fenika said:

Wow, Asheville looks nice, and they certainly do a good job promoting organic and natural foods which is a perk.

I grew up in a very flat area, so I'm not used to mountains but don't dislike them.

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I live in Asheville. It's wonderful. We've been here five years and, weather and scenery-wise, it's the nicest place I've ever lived.

**cross Asheville off list**

HA HA HA HA HA!

J/K Perks.

It's beautiful. Here's some pics from the city's website.

It's a very artsy community. Lots of music and galleries and festivals. The climate is very nice - winters usually don't stray for long below 45 degrees, summers hover mostly in the 80s with moderate humidity. (Of course, it vaults these norms for a few days each year and it's snowed about forty times this winter, but you know how it is.)

Traffic is mild and there's lots of hiking, camping, rafting close by. There's lots of tattoos and dredlocks. It's a very interesting blend of the edge of the Bible belt cheek to jowl with neo-Pagans, Eastern religions, Unitarians, and I even met someone who worshipped Thor. No lie.

Asheville is full of utterly amazing food.

On the downside, it's a bit tatty in places. Old, you know. There are lots of places that still have above ground powerlines and a lack of zoning will make a odd mix of residential and commercial areas, but I got used to that pretty quickly.

Your GPS will be useless. Be prepared to be lost. A lot. Asheville is the only place I've ever been that you can be driving East, North, and South all at the same time.

Ah yes. The beach is a long way away, but as I can only stand sand in my crevices for, at most, three days running, it doesn't bother me. I'm definitely more a mountains kinda girl.

Plus, we have the coolest thunderstorms. I guess anyone who lives in the mountains has experienced this, but I'm from Washington, DC, so I was impressed.

When thunder rolls, is bounces off the hills, back and forth, and a peal of thunder can last for half a minute. If it hits right, you can actually feel the shockwave. It's wild.

Perks said:

Plus, we have the coolest thunderstorms. I guess anyone who lives in the mountains has experienced this, but I'm from Washington, DC, so I was impressed.

When thunder rolls, is bounces off the hills, back and forth, and a peal of thunder can last for half a minute. If it hits right, you can actually feel the shockwave. It's wild.

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I lived about an hour away from Asheville for a while and miss it terribly.

Middleburg and Upperville, Virginia are great for horse enthusiasts but are expensive areas. Bluemont is nice (Actor Robert Duvall lives in Philomont area not far away).

There are some less expensive areas around Middleburg too---Haymarket, Aldie, etc. not to mention Leesburg, VA (home to Morvern Park--location of many horse shows/events).

Loudoun County (VA) in general is nice---I live here and I love it.


http://www.middleburg.org/
http://www.middleburgclassic.com/
http://www.upperville.com/
http://www.visitloudoun.org/ **Check out the "Horse Country" video!

I've lived in both VA Beach and a little town southeast of Raleigh. My vote goes to NC, if it matters.

Fenika said:

It does, unless you are meeting me there in your current avatar

So why NC over VA? What's the difference between the states? I have a vague feel for what VA is like, but not so much NC (other than Duke's campus, lol)

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Hmmm. I may be a bit biased, but VA was very tourist heavy (from my POV), and NC far less so. Where I lived in NC was a reasonable drive to the coast, too, so I could still get to the beaches. I also liked the surrounding countryside better, too. VA had lots of beautiful trees and is *gorgeous* during the late spring/early summer, but I thought NC was beautiful year-round. I also like living in a smaller town, but with access to larger cities. That may just be me, though. I might feel differently if I had lived in Raleigh or Fayetteville, or some such.

And in VA you have to deal with the characters from DC...

The middle of nowhere really isn't so bad

Fenika said:

Of course, if you want to convince me to move somewhere else, I'll listen as long as it's not the middle of nowhere, cold, and rainy. Someone told me Oregon is nice...

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Well, it isn't rainy. I like Alaska, and we ended up in the middle of nowhere by most standards. It gets cold, the road only goes about 6 miles out to the dump, and the nearest road with a stoplight is about 400 miles away.

If I want to buy a McDonald's hamburger, the plane ticket would cost about $400, and UPS doesn't even pretend to deliver here. But when I drive or walk through town, everybody waves, and I don't lock my house or my car, and I know everyone on our street by name. And their kids, parents, dogs, cars, and who lived there before they moved in. I don't carry ID or money most days, and my car doesn't have a license plate, and the speed limit on our dead end road is about as fast as a kid can peddle his tricycle.

But, hey, somebody has to live in the cities. Just glad it's not me.

pdknz said:

Well, it isn't rainy. I like Alaska, and we ended up in the middle of nowhere by most standards. It gets cold, the road only goes about 6 miles out to the dump, and the nearest road with a stoplight is about 400 miles away.

If I want to buy a McDonald's hamburger, the plane ticket would cost about $400, and UPS doesn't even pretend to deliver here. But when I drive or walk through town, everybody waves, and I don't lock my house or my car, and I know everyone on our street by name. And their kids, parents, dogs, cars, and who lived there before they moved in. I don't carry ID or money most days, and my car doesn't have a license plate, and the speed limit on our dead end road is about as fast as a kid can peddle his tricycle.

But, hey, somebody has to live in the cities. Just glad it's not me.

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That sounds dreamy.