A nice place to retire?

How about Cape Fear?

Well, okay, why not Maine? The Maine coast is lovely and fairly remote. If the setting requires beach but not necessarily an ocean, you might consider the Great Lakes. There are many out of the way homes in that region.

Southern beaches have been pounded by hurricanes in recent years as we all are aware but places like Galveston (which is both beach and island) could be an option or even somewhere along the Mexican penisula.

There are also the Georgia coast and also the Barrier Islands off the Carolinas.

Now is that better??

Retiring to Florida is so common in the US it's a cliche. If you say, "They retired to Florida," everyone just nods.

johnnysannie said:

There are also the Georgia coast and also the Barrier Islands off the Carolinas.

Click to expand...

Anyone who retires to--or lives on--a barrier island obviously doesn't know that the geological function of barrier islands is to disappear in the next big storm.

In the US, a lot of people retire and remain where they always lived. It can also depend upon the social and economic strata of your characters.

I'll just throw out someplace near Charleston, South Carolina...say, Kiawah or Seabrook Island.

Cape Cod, or one of the smaller towns on Martha's Vineyard would work however.

ac

If it has to be the U.S., I'd go with Northern California or Oregon. If we can wander beyond the continental U.S., how about Vancouver Island or PEI in Canada? Or if you want a place that speaks English and has LOTS of beaches, how about Australia or New Zealand? If the grandkids are visiting, it may depend on where they live. Kids on a 24 flight from the U.S. to OZ would not be a pleasant experience.

What about the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington state. They are near Canada. It is so gorgeous out there. I spent a summer there once and loved it so much, I returned in November.

Summer advantages - it does not get dark until 10 p.m.! I remember playing volleyball and thinking I was so tired, until I looked at my watch and thought, My God! It's so late!

There is amazingly striking coastline and it can be pretty isolated. A perfect place for one to write on a laptop. You can only get on some of them by ferry. There are rain forests in the area (I spent two weeks time on Whidbey Island too - naval base there)

I hitchhiked through the area (I was 22) not realizing the Green River (serial) Killer was in that same area during that same time.

So, that can be interesting.....serial killer history.

On rare winter nights, you can even see the Northern Lights. AMAZING!

<sigh> now I want to go back.

ETA: killer was Green River Killer not Son of Sam (thanks Dave, for pointing that out - for some reason I had in my mind that it had been Berkowitz)

Hey Sharon,

I can fairly easily get you info on Vancouver Island or the San Juans, if you would like. I also have a friend who lives on the beach in Massachuesetts, who I can ask to be in touch with you, if that location would be more to your tastes

Hoping this helps,
Chac/ Heather

Aruna, here's a great small, quaint, upscale Maine town on the ocean:

http://www.bluehillme.com/

I think it has a great name.

If you want to go where the action is....

the Hamptons on Long Island would be a interesting spot! Unlike the Caribbean, it's more than just sandy beaches and beautiful weather (summertime, that is); there are numerous activities, museums, vintage antique shops, etc. More than that, it's full of quaint charm, history and all kinds of wild life (besides the human kind...lots of deer, wild turkeys, and various small critters usually seen in the forest. As famous as the place is, there are still plenty of undeveloped wooded areas in addition to the beachfront properties.

If you want to go very cheap, you could go with India or Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, a couple could live near the beach for hundreds of dollars a month. In India, you'd probably want Goa - it's much more international, but prices are still cheap. Well, honestly, you could go with Thailand as well, but I don't know as much about it...

I just found this thread, and had to toss out the Delaware beaches and bay areas for consideration. I grew up there. They are beautiful, small towns for the most part, but with tourist traps nearby. Depends on which beach you're interested in. And come on, who would think to look for your retired heroes in Delaware??

quidscribis said:

If you want to go very cheap, you could go with India or Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, a couple could live near the beach for hundreds of dollars a month. In India, you'd probably want Goa - it's much more international, but prices are still cheap. Well, honestly, you could go with Thailand as well, but I don't know as much about it...

Click to expand...

One of my cousins relocated to Thailand, not to retire but to live. He loves it - the climate, the people, the food, etc. He also can live relatively cheap. He doesn't live in the area affected by the tsunami but in the north, near the Burma border. The pics he sends are lovely!

All the beaches in Massachusetts and Maine are going to be cold and snowy in the winter. Many people who can afford it keep summer homes there and winter homes elsewhere in the southern states. You might google Cape May, NJ and see if it meets your needs. It has the advantage of being within a few hours travel of New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC if you need to have any action take place in a city.

This one is on the West Coast--Morro Bay, California. It's a slow-paced place where they have only one stoplight in the entire town (or at least they did when I was there). Its claim to fame was Morro Rock, an extinct volcano (part of seven, I believe) that was mined for rocks for the breakwater. When the pet rock craze was big, Morro Bay printed bumper stickers that called Morro Rock a pet rock. Jutting off Morro Rock is a a rock formation that looks like the face of a man with a sharply pointed nose.

You can walk out on the wharf and see seagulls sitting right on the supports or watch as the otters swim in the water. Always very damp, with lots of fog--I think there's a lighthouse nearby, too. The ships you find moored at the wharf just seem to fit the area--older ships with faded or shipped paint jobs, but not seedy looking. Just well used.

If you walk on the beaches, you can find sand dollars, clams, mussels, driftwood, seaweed, and, unfortunately, jellyfish. There's even old rusty anchor on the beach--a very large anchor.

One of the first views of Morro Bay I always had was the power factory. We used to call it the "three fingers and two thumbs." It had three large smokestacks and two tanks that stood out from a long ways off.

If this places strikes your fancy, visit http://www.webshots.com. They have a bunch of photos of the area uploaded.

margaret carlisle said:

the Hamptons on Long Island would be a interesting spot!

Click to expand...

Yup, that's my suggestion, too. Or Montauk Point (just a little further east than the Hamptons). It's the end of Long Island. It's a very rich area, but I lived in a motel there for a summer while I managed a charter fishing boat for my dad. The sunrises and sunsets were out of this world. Never in my life have I seen anything more gorgeous. I could wake up just before dawn and claim my own space of beach that seemed to go on forever and ever, even in the height of the season, where I was totally alone. It seemed like it was just me for miles, on this perfect beach, watching this perfect sunrise, no sound but the gentle waves and a couple of birds. A writer's paradise.

India, of course, is the place where I myself will reture - it's my secret home! And my son is in love with Thailand. But they don't really fit the story/characters.

Click to expand...

Sri Lanka's been called the cleaner, more hassle-free version of India. Just, you know, to play with your retirenment plants.

How about...

How about Phoenix? I Know of a LOT of people (retirees) who go there...