USA: Where should I live?

[quiet man]

Here's a question for USA-based members: what would you recommend in response to the above question? Here are my terms:

1. I abhorr monotony and want to live in a diversified landscape. A little plains, a little mountains, a little watery surfaces, lovely nature, that would be great.

2. I want to live in a smaller city not too far from a larger city. Someplace small and cozy, without too much pollution, family houses rather than buildings ("Hometown, USA"), but it should have a large city within reach.

3. I want a low (or at least acceptable) crime rate.

4. I want a diversified and rich community (in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, etc). And tolerant and open-minded, too.

5. I need all four seasons (at least two months of winter, snow and everything. So, no Texas or Arizona please ;) .

6. And, of course, I want a decent kung fu school (preferrably wing chun).

Do you know of such a place? Or one that comes close?

P.S. Of course, the same question goes for Canada (i.e., America junior ;) ).

[Kristoffer]

So ur moving are you? I have no idea, I wouldn't mind staying in NYC for a while though.

[Oso]

www.asheville.com

no wing chun though...and actually, our air quality is not great...but good compared to like, Atlanta.

Charlotte is <2 hours, Knoxville < 2hours.
Atlanta is <= 3 hours.

Property values just went up a lot in the city but if you're willing to drive 20 minutes to town then you can still find some nice mountain property reasonably priced.

[Oso]

LOL, here's where we have a huge flame war on who lives in the best area. ;)

[Ford Prefect]

New England would be a good choice.

1) Portland, Maine: Mountains near-by. Good opera house and culture in town. Boston is 2+ hours away. Good rivers and lakes near-by. On the ocean... I doubt there is much of an MA scene there though.

2) Small town, Massachusetts: I live in a small town myself with nearly no crime. Boston is a 35 minute drive. My land up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire is a 1 hour 45 minute drive. There are ski areas within 30 minutes and great skiing in the white mountains. Great hiking up there as well as kayaking, rafting, rock climbing, etc. (White Mountain National Forrest is an 800,000 acre park) Plenty of parks within a good drive in Vermont and Maine as well. In Boston, there is plenty of kung fu. In Boston and surrounding areas there is plenty of good MA as well. It's obviously near the ocean.

As far as culture, you have great museums, theatre, restaurants, the works. The birthplace of the American Revolution... If you want to drive for 3 hours, you can take a trip to New York City. Not a bad spot.

I'd also imagine that a city like Seattle or Denver may hold some appeal.

[Oso]

all I have to say is...why would anyone want to live with those accents...sound like a bunch of whining babies all the time.
















actaully, i'm not creative enough for a good flame war.:o


and, I'm gonna figure out where Ford's land is and go homestead on it.

I did some research on the White and Green mountains when I thought I was gonna thru hike the AT back in the early 90's ...beautiful.

[sean_stonehart]

Here's a question for USA-based members: what would you recommend in response to the above question? Here are my terms:

Your terms are unreasonable. Stay where you're at. :eek: :D



1. I abhorr monotony and want to live in a diversified landscape. A little plains, a little mountains, a little watery surfaces, lovely nature, that would be great.

Atlanta --

Foothills of the Appalachian Mountains
1100 Feet above sea level
Piedmont area (rolling hills & forests) just south of the city
Large Lakes in metro area
Beaches less than 6 hours away to warm water bodies (Atlantic & Gulf Mexico)



2. I want to live in a smaller city not too far from a larger city. Someplace small and cozy, without too much pollution, family houses rather than buildings ("Hometown, USA"), but it should have a large city within reach.

Lots of that outside the city



3. I want a low (or at least acceptable) crime rate.

Don't come to the US then.



4. I want a diversified and rich community (in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, etc). And tolerant and open-minded, too.

Plenty of that. Established Asian, Hispanic & Arab communities. Although the tolerant & open-minded piece may be a bit of a stretch. Atlanta's in the middle of the Bible Belt. Tolerance & open-mindedness is a play by ear event.



5. I need all four seasons (at least two months of winter, snow and everything. So, no Texas or Arizona please ;) .

Not much snow here, but it's mostly spring around here with a plenty warm summer.



6. And, of course, I want a decent kung fu school (preferrably wing chun).

Plenty of Wing Chun here with Jason Lau & Francis Fong being the top of the rung.



Do you know of such a place? Or one that comes close?

Nah... not without a beginning that goes "Once upon a time in a land far far away..."



P.S. Of course, the same question goes for Canada (i.e., America junior ;) ).

No comment...:D

[Oso]

I flew into Atlanta not that long ago.

or tried to as the plane bounced off the smog layer....



;)

[sean_stonehart]

I flew into Atlanta not that long ago.

or tried to as the plane bounced off the smog layer....



;)

Well you know if we didn't have those pesky mountains to our north east, there'd be no smog. If we could just flatten them out & sell them as condo space as the winds would be able to keep blowing it away from us. :eek: :D

Also just understand you can't fly anywhere in the Southeast, including a one way ticket to Hell, without changing planes in Atlanta... :p

[Oso]

ahem, another vote for Asheville would be our Airport. There are many non-stops for the east coast flying out of here now.


if Sherman had done a better job....:cool:

[sean_stonehart]

ahem, another vote for Asheville would be our Airport. There are many non-stops for the east coast flying out of here now.


if Sherman had done a better job....:cool:

Eh anybody can beat up women & children... :eek: :rolleyes:

[Emeraldphoenix]

Take a look at Seattle

[SPJ]

Take a look at Seattle

Seattle is cool but with a lot of rains.

:D

[SPJ]

1. I abhorr monotony and want to live in a diversified landscape. A little plains, a little mountains, a little watery surfaces, lovely nature, that would be great.



me too. close to nature or heaven and earth.

:)

[TenTigers]

I live in Long Island, New Yourk. It's costly, but I am an hour from Chinatown,20 minutes from the bay or the ocean, two hours from the mountains, on the island, there are rolling hills, pastures, windy roads on the North Shore-but very expensive. BUT there are areas in Queens that have great neighborhoods-Flushing, Woodside,Kew Gardens, Brooklyn, you need to shop around-there are up and coming areas that are not expensive..yet. Or, you can go to the other side Staten Island has some really nice areas, as well as New Jersey.
The winters are cold-but there is skiing and snoboarding .
There is deer hunting, and great fishing, whether you like salt water-bass, blues, tuna, mako, mackeral,weakfish, porgies,bonito,-or fresh water-bass, pike, trout, catfish,perch, sunnies, etc
And you cannot beat Chinatown. and NYC is the cultural Capital of the World-museums, shows,beggars,restaurants,hookers,night clubs, everything you want.

[Oso]

Eh anybody can beat up women & children... :eek: :rolleyes:

LOL, true.

it was the only thing I could think of...and I'm certainly not a ****yankee

[Indestructible]

CALIFORNIA!

Northern Cal that is. Overpriced and all the small cities are becoming large but it's still better than any place else.:D

[fa_jing]

I'm going to vote for small towns in the Perkiomen valley NW of Philadelphia. Very picturesque, historic yet diverse. Example: Schwenksville. Not too far from the Poconos and not too far from the Jersey Shore.

[Chief Fox]

I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I think it's a great place to live and it meets a lot of your requirements too.

1. A little plains, a little mountains, a little watery surfaces, lovely nature, that would be great. (YES!)

2. a smaller city not too far from a larger city. (YES) Denver is only 1 hour away. I wouldn't exactly call Denver a BIG city like on the east or west coast but it's not bad.

3. I want a low (or at least acceptable) crime rate. I'm not sure what the crime rate is but I'd say it's acceptable. So (YES)

4. I want a diversified and rich community (in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, etc). And tolerant and open-minded, too. Colorado has had a boom of people moving into the state over the last 5 to 10 years so I would say the community is somewhat diverse. I would say that most people are open minded but there are some big religious organizations here so sometimes we get a bad rap for that.

5. I need all four seasons. (YES) A lot of people think of Colorado and they think winter but the hidden secret of Colorado is, the climate on the front range is awesome. How does over 300 sunny days a year sound?

6. And, of course, I want a decent kung fu school (preferrably wing chun). (YES) The school I attend is a decent kung fu school. There are couple Wing Chun options in town including an EBMAS school. Also, if you're willing to make the drive, there are more options in Denver.

I've lived in Colorado Springs for the past 12 years and it's been great. I do miss the ocean sometimes having spent a large part of my life at the Jersey shore but the mountains are awesome and there is a lot to do and there are a lot of lakes and resevoirs. If you like camping then Colorado is great. If you like Mtn. Biking then Colorado is great. If you like trail running then Colorado is great. If you'd like to have an outdoor life style then Colorado is great. Oh and if you like to ski or snowboard than Colorado is FREAKIN' AWESOME!

Here are some links:
http://www.coloradosprings.com/
http://www.gazette.com/
http://www.pikes-peak.com/
http://www.gardenofgods.com/
http://www.blacklotuskungfu.com/
http://www.wtcolorado.com/
http://www.selfcarearts.com

Other places I would consider if I were you.
New England is really nice.
Many places in California are really nice too but also very expensive.
Atlanta is nice but you have to get used to telling people what "flavor" of coke you want. "Can I get you something to drink? Sure I'll take a Coke. What kind?"

Anyway, good luck in your search.

[sean_stonehart]

There's only one flavor of Co'Cola. Anything else is just a coke. ;) ;)

[David Jamieson]

Everything is better in Baltimore.

:p

Seriously though, If I was to move south into the states, there's only a few places I would be interested in living.

#1. New York City NY - Need anyone say anything more? I mean, come on!

#2. Los Angeles CA - It's a west coast new york thing. Pretty dang big with a bajillion opportunities...like new york.

#3. San Francisco CA - Oh man, look at all the kungfu dudes there with the for real.

#4. Atlanta GA - It's big, it's a cool city, It's got a coca cola museum! And you can endlessly ride the Marta round and round and round. It's also warm there most of the time.

#5. Taos NM - No weather, big arts community and the desert is lovely.

#6. Scottsdale AZ - see taos, but without the artists.

#7 Freemont CA - Opportunity to moon Gene and the KFM peeps on a regular basis while you panhandle for kungfu tips outside their offices.

#8 Seattle WA - If it's half as nice as Vancouver, it's a great place to be. Also, if you like your coffee, it's probably the only place in the USA where you are going to get anything approaching a "good cup of coffeee"


Other worthy mentions:

Boston MA - good place to go to school apparently.
Chicago IL - High crime rate is dulled by wicked Blues music scene.
Detroit MI - Motor city madness, pretty happening place and right across the river from canada where you can start drinking 2 years earlier!

[brothernumber9]

Takoma Park, Maryland is where you wanna go

[Oso]

maybe but I got lost as hell trying to find Sueng ga faat that one time.:)

[quiet man]

Thanks, guys. Some very good responses here.

Vermont, Maine, New England - based on my own research, yes, they were my favorites too. Especially love the scenery there. But I always thought they were like this predominantly WASP, upper-class-caucasian, stiff-upper-lip sort of place, something like that... must have confused them with Connecticut :) .

Colorado - like CF says, I always thought Colorado had winters only. The way he describes it here, it sounds much better now...

Georgia - thanks, but I think I'll pass. I'm a little wary about the South (but not when it comes to southern belles though)...

NC - sounds interesting, have to look into it more.

[Oso]

if you get serious about the NC mountains, just hollar at me.

I've lived in the only two 'cities' in the mountains and will give you the scoop.

I've also lived in the RTP area and have some experience in Charlotte and Wilmington.

[GreenCloudCLF]

#5. Taos NM - No weather, big arts community and the desert is lovely.


Man, my wife and I plan to move there from NY after law school...good call David...smart man...eh.

[MasterKiller]

Dallas has the hottest chicks in the country, possibly the world.

[SanHeChuan]

TEXAS is the greatest place on earth! To hell with those seasons, it gets cold here and it snows in the hill country about every 7 years.

my vote is for san Marcos or Buda anyplace between Austin and san Antonio or if you prefer east Texas Victoria maybe.

both Austin and san Antonio have WC schools, plus they have the added bonus of being in TEXAS

TEXAS ROCKS! Don't the teach kids anything in school now a days?

Sorry my brainwashing kicked in

TEXAS RULES!

Talking trash about Texas...:(

[Donkwoon]

Seacoast NH has everything that you list but there is not much Kung Fu. There was a mma school that included jkd among it's curriculum but I think that it closed a while ago.
I will teach the kung fu forms and drills that I know but I only include some intermediate wing chung (spelling?) as an adjunct to the training.
Around here the towns of Portsmouth, Dover and Seabrook come to mind for what you want. The town that I live in, Barrington, is more rural but much more pretty, spaceous and allmost %100 crime free. I'm about 30min from Portsmouth and about 1hr30min from Boston. Pm me if you want more details.

[Ou Ji]

TEXAS is the greatest place on earth!(

Dude, don't you live in Cherry Point, NC?

Texas is the only state I know that thinks it's another country.

[Mook Jong]

Along with everything that 10 tigers said about long island, i believe that Chris Serras has a Wing Chung school located somewhere in Suffolk. Apparently in suffolk alone there are about 300 hundred MA schools. In all of those one has to have some credible wing chung.

[Yum Cha]

Taos is about the most depressing little town in New Mex. Pretty ribbon for the tourists, but underneath its racism, poverty, crime and broken dreams. Its a split community between wealthy retirees enamoured with the way it used to be (but never was) and generations of some of the deepest poverty in the US. Illustrated with could-be and wanna-be artists, general losers posing as "alternative lifestyle" and euro trash all struggling to make enough to ski the winter and pi$$ it up at Eskys brew pub. But, it has beautiful surrounds, and tremendous hispanic/native american culture, fair enough. I'd drown my children rather than raise them there.

Its fun for a few weeks, but after that, bail, all the rest of the young folk do, if they can.

I'm surprised that nobody mentions the Pacific Northwest besides Seattle. Oregon has much of the same, but less populated, Portland, Eugene are both groovy, or head over the cascades to Bend and lose the rains. But, all the rain brings beautiful forests and wildlife. The coast is probably comparable to new england, but the warm currents coming up the coast keep it a bit warmer.

Northern California, like Arcada and Humbolt County is pretty laid back.

Arizona has seasons, just go to altitude.

[CoRWiN]

Greetings Quiet Man, i've been doing a lot of thinking about this exact thought lately. My girlfriend will be finishing college this semester and we have plans to live together right away, she being a teacher we want to find the ideal place to start. Now personally i'm going upstate New York, to Orange/Sullivan/Ulster county some big towns around there are Middletown, Montgomery. Here's some of the adavantages...

A. Train that goes to New York City is right in Middletown, it takes about 1 hour and is only like 7 bucks.

B. Much cheaper taxes then Long Island, which is the typical sub-urb of the city.

C. LOTS of space for development, I use to live up their and it's amazing the poulation boom goin on up their. Theirs a ridiculus amount of more space available. I laugh when people talk about thier big 1/4 acre property acre here, when i was living on 17 acres (very typical) up there.

D. Combination of small quaint towns, with mass market areas. Middletown for instance has a huge strip with mall, walmart, etc... where as the town of montgomery is all mom and pop stores.

E. If your interested in opening your own business it's ideal to the massive influx of population.

F. Don't know your family situation, but this area has some Excellent School districts.

Now the other area I want to check out is North East Pennsylvania. The reason for this is it has all the things listed above except MUCH cheaper taxes. From what i've researched though land is being quickly bought up.

If you live in either place and you can get a job in the city, you have plenty of top options in terms of Martial Arts.

[Chief Fox]

Greetings Quiet Man, i've been doing a lot of thinking about this exact thought lately. My girlfriend will be finishing college this semester and we have plans to live together right away, she being a teacher we want to find the ideal place to start. Now personally i'm going upstate New York, to Orange/Sullivan/Ulster county some big towns around there are Middletown, Montgomery. Here's some of the adavantages...

A. Train that goes to New York City is right in Middletown, it takes about 1 hour and is only like 7 bucks.

B. Much cheaper taxes then Long Island, which is the typical sub-urb of the city.

C. LOTS of space for development, I use to live up their and it's amazing the poulation boom goin on up their. Theirs a ridiculus amount of more space available. I laugh when people talk about thier big 1/4 acre property acre here, when i was living on 17 acres (very typical) up there.

D. Combination of small quaint towns, with mass market areas. Middletown for instance has a huge strip with mall, walmart, etc... where as the town of montgomery is all mom and pop stores.

E. If your interested in opening your own business it's ideal to the massive influx of population.

F. Don't know your family situation, but this area has some Excellent School districts.

Now the other area I want to check out is North East Pennsylvania. The reason for this is it has all the things listed above except MUCH cheaper taxes. From what i've researched though land is being quickly bought up.

If you live in either place and you can get a job in the city, you have plenty of top options in terms of Martial Arts.
Wow, upstate New York sounds great.

[CoRWiN]

Dude there's nothing like waking up on a cold winter's morning, with snow all around and having a nice cup of tea as you stare out at the Catskill mountains. Or during the night bundled up on your proch as snow falls listening to the trees crack. BTW if your into rock climbing the town of Gardnier which is in between the town of Pine Bush and New Paltz has some of the best Climbing and Spelunking in the world.

[Oso]

man, caving is cold & wet in new england/new york area

[fa_jing]

I have a friend from Portland, OR and he says it's great.

[Ronin22]

Thanks, guys. Some very good responses here.

Vermont, Maine, New England - based on my own research, yes, they were my favorites too. Especially love the scenery there. But I always thought they were like this predominantly WASP, upper-class-caucasian, stiff-upper-lip sort of place, something like that... must have confused them with Connecticut :) .

Colorado - like CF says, I always thought Colorado had winters only. The way he describes it here, it sounds much better now...

Georgia - thanks, but I think I'll pass. I'm a little wary about the South (but not when it comes to southern belles though)...

NC - sounds interesting, have to look into it more.


Easy on Connecticut my man. We are not all stuffy, Burberry wearing, BMW/huge SUV driving, soccor crazed elitist snobs. Southern CT is pretty cool, it's right on the coast just outside of NYC and pretty close to the hills of Vermont and NY. Also if a hurricane comes up this way we have Long Island to block it for us;-). It has a lot to offer , check it somethime.



R

[Ford Prefect]

and, I'm gonna figure out where Ford's land is and go homestead on it.

I did some research on the White and Green mountains when I thought I was gonna thru hike the AT back in the early 90's ...beautiful.

You had better come armed and a good shot! :) I have signs posted for no tresspassing, trapping, or hunting on my land since its 4 acres sitting snuggled up to nothing but miles and miles of wilderness, and I enforce it. There is a great veiw of the mountains in Franconia Notch (along the AT) from the land. I can't wait to put a cabin up there.

[Oso]

if you see me then I have failed....
























;)


sounds sweet. I remember reading about the Franconia Notch.

I miss the mountains. Funny, I still live above 2000' and the highest mountains in the east are less than 5 miles away....but I'm definitely living in the city. :(

[Pork Chop]

*Hi-5s SanHeChuan*

I'm going back to Texas in less than 2 months bro!

It'll probably be Fort Worth, but I'm applying for jobs in SA and Austin as well.
I may try to see Yi Yuan up in Lubbock if I get the chance- he still up there?

Really didn't realize how much Texas stuff I'd miss till I got out here.
The only stuff I might miss from out here is my gym buds, my gym, and the food delivery options (but with Texas restaurants, who'd miss that?).

Screw seasons. If I gotta warm my car up for an extra 5 minutes before dealing with heavy traffic that triples commute time and roads that never offer a direct route, while my skin feels like it's being flayed off; then it's time to go.

[SanHeChuan]

I may try to see Yi Yuan up in Lubbock if I get the chance- he still up there?

I don't know, Last I talked to him was two years ago after I read that he had some fighters win at Taiji legacy. Then this last year he was the assistant coach for the USA san shou team, so who knows.


Dude, don't you live in Cherry Point, NC?

Not by choice but by contract. I'll be moving back in Feb 2007.


Texas is the only state I know that thinks it's another country.

I know it's weird they must put subliminal messages in the Texas State History text books or something. Maybe it’s some kind of mob mentality where everyone feeds of each others enthusiasm.

Our official Texas State tourism slogan was, “It’s like a whole other country.” A few years back. I don’t know about now.
:cool: