Cities Or States You Definitely Wouldn't Live In

Discussion in 'Not Sure Where it Goes' started by Cody Fousnaugh, Apr 3, 2018.

  1. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Dallas and any other big city. Been there, done that.......never again. We have gone to "downtown" events in Los Angeles and Charlotte, but would never live there. Only time we go to downtown Jacksonville, FL now is when we take our boat on the river and to the Landing. To many things, as in crime, has happened in downtown during the day and night.

    As far as States go, no more Southern States, no East Coast States, no West Coast States and Southwestern States get way to hot in the summer.

    Some would consider Cheyenne, Wyoming a "big city", because it's the Capital of Wyoming. We sure don't see Cheyenne as a big city, compared to here.
    Billings, Montana is the Capital of Montana, but I would never look at Billings as a "big city".

    So, which cities or States would you not live in and why?
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have been in most of our states, with the exception of Alaska, Hawaii and, I think, Kentucky. There are probably places in each of the states I've been in that I wouldn't mind living. I would stay away from the big cities, so I'd probably avoid those states that consist almost entirely of big cities. I'm thinking I probably wouldn't mind living in a small town in the Dakotas, but well away from the oil fracking booms, or maybe Wyoming or Idaho.
     
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  3. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I have visited all the states but Oklahoma, but there are none I would not live in; there are several I would prefer to others. There are cities and regions I would avoid, especially if I still had young family members. The cities have the advantage of the cultural events and museums; the more rural areas have more freedom and allow one to own more property, have livestock and large gardens. Of all the places I have lived, I felt most at in Western North Carolina, but my wife is happiest here in Alaska...that is why we have lived here 29 years. I never actually lived in New York City, but I stayed there and visited often. I would avoid both New York and California (and several other liberal states) because of high taxes and arrogant people, although I like Upstate New York and California north of San Francisco.

    I haven't found a country that I like better than the U.S., although parts of Canada would be acceptable to me. I have always said--and taught my children--that all places have advantages and disadvantages to living there; you just have to find the set of circumstances that fit your needs and nature best.
     
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  4. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    In the beginning, when we first moved here in 2009, we really, and I do mean "really" thought we'd like it here. Unfortunately, we didn't check out the yearly weather good enough and a few other things. We though boating was done year-around, but during the so-called "winter months" in northeastern Florida, it can get pretty cold. We've seen overnight temps in the mid 20's and a daytime high of 45. On Christmas Day 2010, it was actually snowing in our apartment complex. I got video of it. Zoomed into some trees with the video camera and sure enough, it was coming down. Not sticking, but definitely snowing.

    When we left Colorado, we had no idea that we were leaving things we really liked and liked to do. In part, we are a "Western" type couple who love seeing livestock, wearing Western style clothes and going to rodeo's. None of that is found where we are. We also love power boating and fishing, but in freshwater lakes. And, we will never see a nice full-rack Bull Elk here.

    We know about the winter weather in Colorado and Wyoming, but, sometimes, a person has to take the good with the bad in order to live in a place they really like. Actually, it's almost unreal just how many Seniors live in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, let alone other really snowy areas of the U.S..
     
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  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I spent most of my younger years in California and Texas, where cold meant below 70, then I moved back to cold-weather country just before I turned fifty. I'm backwards, I guess.
     
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  6. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I think that @Don Alaska has hit the nail on the head (so to speak) with his response that there are advantages and disadvantages to any place that a person chooses to live, and each person just has to decide what attributes are most important to them, and then decide on a place that has these attributes and has property that they want to live on.
    Personally, I love north Idaho; but I no longer want to live in that much cold and deep snow, and neither does Bobby, although we both love the people and the privacy out there, and the lifestyle.
    We really don’t like living in a larger place like Huntsville; but it does have everything that we need readily accessible, and the winters are mild.
    All in all, I would choose to live on the west coast of either Washington State or Oregon State, and be close to the ocean, all other things being equal.
    The weather is mild, and the summers are not too hot like they are out here. And I could be close to the ocean.
     
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  7. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    "
    @Cody Fousnaugh
    I lived in Las Vegas many years ago, while it was still quite nice there. first 30 years just outside Chicago, 20 in Phoenix, 13 in the middle of 7 million acre Mark Twain National Forest (Missouri), so have experienced both big city as well as no city (no town, even).

    I liked the latter best, closest neighbor almost a mile away. But negatives exist everywhere. Missouri had biting flies as big as half-dollars, ticks everywhere, a farmhouse heated by woodstoves. Currently, we reside in an unicorporated area of Mohave County, Arizone, 7th. largest county in the U.S. I believe. However, we are "next door" to Bullhead City, which is situated just across the Colorado River from Laughlin, Nevada, gambling capital of Southern Nevada. Bullhead is a newly-formed city which grew up largely due to the construction in the early '50s of Davis Dam, a mile to the north. Davis impounded the Colorado 100 miles south of Hoover Dam, creating yet another man-made lake, Lake Mohave.

    For some reason, this area is very attractive to retirees, and "snowbirds" in winter. Cost of living index in Bullhead is lowest of any city in the entire state of Arizona, and is one-half that of much of that of the towns in California, across the river from us.

    We checked out Montana, Northern Nevada, and North Dakota, as possible retirement locations. -35 degree lows often in winter stopped us. But, yep, it gets HOT in the Southwest Desert in summer. We've wondered if Global Warming will extend it's nasty reach into the deserts, and summer highs will more commonly exceed 120 degrees, which are rare, so far. But shirtsleeves or a light jacket at most in December are definitely "hard to live with, don'tcha think?
    Frank
     
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  8. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    California. Oh oh, I'm in California. Never mind. Seriously, Northern California has some nice areas.

    I too agree there are advantages and disadvantages to many places. If I was able to move and began to look at other places, it would be difficult to know where to start.

    I hated Washington State but it was more circumstantial than what the area was really like. I did live there as prices for rent and property began to really go up and of coarse who did they blame? Californians.
     
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  9. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I'm across the country, in Maine, and we blame Californians for most everything that's wrong with the country too. Not everything, though. Some of it we blame on the Canadians. Damned Canadians.
     
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  10. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson
    My nephew has worked at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff since the '80s. During that time he has become disgusted with the great influx of Californios who remain there for good. They have infiltrated the Municipal structure politically, and of course distributed their Liberal thinking all about, influencing just about all facets of living there. Just like in California now. So, the "old-timers" blame the Californians.

    Now, Flagstaff is located in what is likely the loveliest part of Arizona. Centered within the largest single stand of Ponderosa Pine trees anywhere on Earth, at 7,000 feet altitude. To have heard the numerous examples cited indicating Flag has "gone to the dogs" over the years, really pierces deeply into my psyche. It was near the top of the list of places I wanted to live when I left Chicago in 1972.
    Frank
     
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  11. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    A lot of folks in the West blame Californians for many of their problems--and justifiably so. Californians flee California because they don't like what has happened in California...then proceed to try to turn wherever they move...into California...with all the liberal policies, political correctness, and taxes that they claim they didn't like about California. Most people are smarter than to do that, but not Californians.
     
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  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    That is exactly what was being said in north Idaho back in the 60’s when I was growing up out there. Now, those Californians and their offspring have been there long enough that they believe that they are “natives” to Idaho, and we do have a lot more of the invasive laws that they brought up with them from California after trying to escape the ones they didn’t like, and the high cost of living there.
    Now, the houses in north Idaho (sleepy little logging towns) are almost not affordable to anyone who didn’t move their with money and a good source of income.
    Actually, things were changing so much back in that time period that most of the new restrictions and city ordinances might have ended up coming about anyway; but since it happened at the same general time as the vocal Californians were also moving to other states, they got the blame for it everywhere probably.
     
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  13. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I worked in Flag and studied for my bachelors at NAU way back in the late 70's. NAU had the foremost Hotel / Motel, Food and Beverage course of studies in the U.S. and the students dressed accordingly. Suit with tie was the dress code and demeanors to match if a person wished to land that Hilton or Hyatt career but when I went back to visit about 20 years ago, that had all changed.
    A previous no-no, visible tattoos and piercings and slovenly appearances were all too prevalent with the new wave students. People I would not hire for the positions in a major hotel or even as a no tell motel house keeper much less in a high paying management position made me feel as though I had just entered the twilight zone.

    When I perused the rest of the city, there was nothing that I readily recognized and even a couple of the restaurants I used to go to and the place where I was employed as the Food and Beverage director had radically changed to places I would not frequent because of an obvious shift in ambiance.
    Even a youth hostel where I spent a lot of time looking for potential employees in the past had dramatically changed. The place looked and smelled more like the animal house than the nice, clean and nearly formal temporary residence I remembered.

    Nope, I wouldn't live there again the same as I wouldn't live in the spawning grounds of those who flooded to Flag,........ southern California.
     
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  14. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    When I first met my wife in So. Calif.(Orange County), she was in the "thinking" stage of moving to Laughlin, NV. I had stopped in Laughlin on summer day, while traveling, and darn near fried my feet, even with shoes on, walking across the parking lot of Don Laughlin's Resort & Casino. The blacktop was THAT hot! I talked her out of that area and she totally agreed with moving to central Colorado (The Front Range). For a total of 5 1/2 years, we lived in both Englewood (south) and then bought a house in Parker. Had the best of all worlds there.......freshwater boating and fishing, rodeo action in different areas, going to the Elk "rut" (breeding time) in RMNP, Fairs and country-western dancing in a couple of nice nightclubs. None of this we have where we are now.

    Just don't ask me how we wound up here...........we are still asking ourselves that. Only thing we can come up with......we made a mistake.
     
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  15. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    As far as people "trying to change an area", that's what was happening to Norco, Calif. in So Calif. When I first started going to a roping arena and tack store there, everything was fine, BUT then the "city" folks started moving in from Orange County. Body piercings, wild colored hair and tattoos. Things I had never seen in Norco, because nobody there wanted that "big city" stuff. And then, those same folks wanted to remove the horse trails that went alongside Main Street and replace them with sidewalks. Norco was a "horse town" and had even had an article written about it in the magazine, Western Horseman. It was no big-deal seeing folks wearing Wrangler jeans, cowboy hats and boots on horseback there. In fact, Norco had one of the biggest rodeo's in the area. Very nice purse that drew in some top rodeo cowboys.

    There was a very good café there called Cowgirl Café that served a great country breakfast. I had been there before meeting my wife and took her there. We were totally shocked at who was going into this café now. There were some Norco folks, but plenty of the "city" folks as well. Don't know if the newcomers from Orange County were able to "take over" Norco, but the local residents were sure fighting them.

    Funny, but I heard a few former Orange County people, sitting in this restaurant, complain about the smell in the area. There were a few large Dairy Farms, just a couple miles north of Norco. I told my wife, "they are complaining about the smell of horses and dairy cows, but they chose to move here."
     
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