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Not planning on moving, just thinking really. Being a scouser with the obvious Irish heritage, I'd probably feel more at home around Boston. But then the climate of California would be nice. I'd love the scenery of Utah and the lower crime of somewhere like Salt Lake City. I'd also fancy the terrain (and the rain) of Washington state.
So I don't know really...
California is the default choice for many - for the combination of job opportunities, coastline, outdoor activities both summer and winter, and so on. Personally I hear you on Utah, although I think after a while you'd like more excitement (and hence probably drive down to Vegas! 🙂 ). I have a friend in Boston, and another from there, and they both love it.
Personally I'm giving Toronto a try, and loving it so far. It's perhaps not as exciting as some other options, but it has a lot of benefits 🙂
Colorado all that is missing is the sea, Southern Oregon is nice, California only if you had shed loads of cash.
No where in the middle.
Southern Carolina was great, Maine, Vermont or New Hampshire.
Manhattan (West 42nd St). Boston is nice but a bit on the quiet side.
Certainly not Texas, Kansas or any of the large flat boring states in the middle, commonly known as Tornado Alley, Florida, Louisiana, because of the Hurricanes, or California because of the earthquakes. Illinois, North Dakota and the area around the Great Lakes because of the bitter cold winters. Possibly New England, upper New York State, Maine Virginia, or Maryland, but most likely Vermont or Washington State. Oh, and certainly nowhere near Yellowstone National Park and that damned great volcanic caldera it's sitting on.
Edit: of course, Oregon and Montana but particularly Oregon would be high contenders, Portland, Oregon is very cycle friendly.
Portland is very nice and exceptionally bike friendly
Loddrik, spread your wings... Move to the Wirral!!
Miami because its the only place in the US I've been too. it was fantastic though. Stayed in a 5 star hotel on the beach.
NYC - Manhattan, 1 Union Square 14th and Broadway. Pretty much everything/everywhere you want to do/go is within walking distance. (but no biking).
Santa Brooklyn
I have been to Colorado, Vail in fact, for the '94 Worlds, and LA in '93. Liked both, but the thin air at 8000ft takes some getting used to, and LA is very flat and mind-buggeringly huge, and just too spread out to make it a nice place to live, especially with the smog. Santa Monica's not bad with the Pacific right on the doorstep, but I'd prefer Oregon for the climate and scenery.
Oh, and certainly nowhere near Yellowstone National Park and that damned great volcanic caldera it's sitting on.
^^^^^^
Count Zero, I wouldn't worry about that, if that volcanoe goes and you are anywhere on the north american continent you can probably kiss this planet goodbye, even life this side of the pond might not survive
Springdale Utah was nice not many job prospects though. Also, Santa cruz, tahoe, bend Oragon.
Jackson Hole
Considering a move to Portland, Oregon.
Loved Boulder, Leadville and Crested Butte in Co. So much I'm hoping to go back next year.
Being to young to have been a hippy I have always wanted to visit California for some reason... Buttermilks, Bishop, Joshua Tree, Yosemite. These names all have a magic ring to me...
So could I split my time between Co for 4 months in the summer and the rest in Ca?
Portland would be my choice - very bike friendly, 0% sales tax, and loads of microbreweries 🙂
Canada 😉
My wife's American, and having spent plenty of time travelling back and forth living with family, I've come to the conclusion that to make a decent life over there you're going to have to be working 2 jobs, with very little holiday ...and hope to god you don't ever need to visit a Doctor or the Hospital.
POrtland / Seattle kind of area, for me. Beer, mountains, trees, what's not to like?
But for a fantasy life, either Oregon or Arizona 😀
Oregon first choice, Eugene/Bend/Portland, second choice Washington state, somewhere Seattle-ish. San Francisco at third place
Portland or San Diego!
Somewhere West. California/Washingston State/Utah
Santa Fe in New Mexico or Laguna Beach in CA or Half Moon Bay near San Francisco
As others have said; Portland Oregan. Really good feel about the place. Been there a few times and, of all of America, it's the only place I felt I could actually live.
Did the Seattle to Portland ride one year. Really well organised ride of 200 miles in 2 days. Mind you some did it in one!!!
Hawaii
Looks lovely. 🙂
Austin, Texas - Really nice city, had all of the good things about Texas whilst socially liberal and little of the overt bible bashing that is prevalent in other parts of the state.
San Francisco, California - The Brighton of America! Skateboarding, punk rock, anything goes cosmopolitan free for all. Quite expensive, but you can live just across the bay in Oakland for a fair whack less.
Portland, Oregon - Cheap to live, beautiful scenery, indie rock central, good beer (micro-brewery capial of the US).
I used to visit Seattle, Washington a lot whilst I was living in Vancouver. I quite liked that too, but not as much as the other cities I mentioned.
I'd give the Mid West a miss really with the possible exception of Chicago. New York and LA are a little too hectic for my liking too. Boston is quite an interesting city and there's a real sense of history there, but, the East Coast urban sprawl does nothing for me.
To me, my own personal little 'American dream' involves the West Coast, cowboy country or the untamed wilds of the Pacific North West.
Haven't been all over - but of where I did go Nothern California - and specifically the Sanra Cruz area
I just liked the place - atmosphere reminded me of Brighton (where I live now) - except with the addition of Sandy Beaches and proper surfing. Obviously good riding, but also a real bike culture in the town too. Seemed very liberal etc compared to the rest of the states. Also there is something about the N Cal coastline which I love.
Another for Portland, my folks lived there for 3 years, loved it. Not that pricey, 0% tax, mount hood 40 mins one way for 3/4 of the year skiing or MTB and the beach and hour the other way.
We hired harleys and rode around mount hood (150 miles) one day, magical times!
Why would you want to live in a country with no healthcare, welfare or proper legal system - detention without trial and torture.
[s]Where[/s] Why would you live in the US?
Fixed the title for you.
With so many great places to travel to and live why pick the US?
BB
Because its bloody huge and has got some amazing stuff to see.
Because its bloody huge and has got some amazing stuff to see.
That's what you have holidays for
Portland, Oregon - bike friendly it may be, but all the local parks and forest next to the city keep bikes to the doubletracks. Apparently there are no decent singletrack trails within an hour of the city.
I'm in the Mid-Atlantic, corner of Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Here it's pretty flat, but hundreds of miles of singletrack within a short ride. Central Pennsylvania has some epic riding spots too.
I hear good things about the riding in Vermont and elsewhere in New England. I loved being in Boston too, very friendly city, very European feeling.
Greenwich CT
Afluent, policeman to help you cross the roads, it's own private island with beach for residents only,another beach, and your only 50 mins from NYC on the train.
Southern Oregon is nice, California only if you had shed loads of cash
Ashland, Medford and Grant's Pass are all close to the California border and the Pacific Coast, with some magic white water on the Rogue River. Brilliant people, great scenery, fantastic country, rubbish food though.
There's still gold on the Rogue, you can stake a claim and mine as long as you're resident in Oregon (we found gold in the river, next to an old mine)
London, Old England. 🙂
Quebec. But if I had to go south of the border, anywhere in New England.
I can think of many, many places I'd not want to live in the US - mostly the places I've visited/worked...
Florida comes pretty high up the list, along with the Mid West.
Somewhere among the minor(for USA) mountain ranges probably. Poconos, Appalachians, Cascades, Blue Ridge, Olympics. Still not been to Texas or California though, nor far into New England. There's lots to like. We took my brother in law on holiday to Seattle five years ago and he promptly moved there (Tacoma actually). Portland is indeed nice, but last time I went it was unbearable in a heatwave, and we abandoned the trip and headed for the coast where seals swam around us catching sardines while we paddled.
I'd move to back to Colorado with little thought TBH.
Would also consider PacNW (Oregon, Washington, British Columbia etc), New England, most of the Mountain States (Alberta and Montana through Utah and Colorado down to New Mexico). California, mid-West and South hold little appeal to live, although I'm sure great to visit.
Most of the mountain states have a more transient population with the many folks coming in to spend the summer riding, climbing, rafting, etc and then the winter for the snow; you get a pretty diverse group of society. Makes for a far less stereo-typical "American" culture than you find in the Mid-West or the ghettos* you find in the big coastal cities.
However, having already been there and done that to some extent, I'd rather do South America (Chile, Argentina in particular) or parts of Asia - Japan at the top of that list.
*as in one ethnic background, keeping mainly to themselves, i.e little italy, chinatown, little poland etc not the "Rap" version...
Southern Maine for me. On the coast, hour to Boston, less to White Mountains of New Hampshire for great riding, much nicer people than most Yankees ([i]northerners, not a generic term for all Americans[/i]). Portland, Maine is one of the coolest small cities on the east coast.
To be honest I would not want to live in the USA in the medium to long term. It is an economic time bomb waiting to explode sadly.
In the short term, either Florida for its heat or the mid-west for those wonderful, but occasionally deadly, thunderstorms and tornadoes.
QUOTE:To be honest I would not want to live in the USA in the medium to long term. It is an economic time bomb waiting to explode sadly.UNQUOTE.
You what?
It's a far safer bet than the UK.
They have oil, gas and water in abundance. They still make things, they have a can-do culture of the sort that has long since disappeared here and more importantly, they have room to expand.
Alaska
bravohotel9er - Member
QUOTE:To be honest I would not want to live in the USA in the medium to long term. It is an economic time bomb waiting to explode sadly.UNQUOTE.You what?
It's a far safer bet than the UK.
They have oil, gas and water in abundance. They still make things, they have a can-do culture of the sort that has long since disappeared here and more importantly, they have room to expand.
They still make things do they?
Most of the US economic boom came from shipping out the basic manufacturing of goods to the third world where labour is cheap.
I am not saying that the UK is in a better position by any means as we have followed a similar economic model.
My worry would be forking out the money to move to the USA and then be in a country that will decline economically in the medium to long term.
It's too late to get into the economic and structural problems within the USA but they do exist in the same way as they do in the UK.
My fears are for my children...
To be honest I would not want to live in the USA in the medium to long term. It is an economic time bomb waiting to explode sadly.
You'd have to persuade them to let you in first. Not necessarily a forgone conclusion.
Crested Butte, probably.
Although I also loved Fanta Se, er, Santa Fe.
VEGAS Baby !
No, honestly .......
Apart from the Casinos & gambling Loads of stuff goes on there, shows, concerts , boxing, Nascar, and as it is such a tourist destination it's pretty easy to get to any where else in the US if you fancy a holiday elswhere, the weather seems pretty stable but winter sports available close by( ish )
I had a week there last year and spent 1 of the days out in the desert with locals in a 4 x 4 which was brilliant and saw loads of riding opportunities within a 1 hr drive ....
Can't wait to go back some time ..... though living in the US is not top of my "to do " list 😉
Nashville or Knoxville Tennessee or Galveston Texas Although the Wind and tide might put me off a bit
Don't know if anyone said Squamish yet.
My dad has liv ed on the east and west coasts and now lives in Colorado.
California is great, but expensive and too much traffic.
East coast is a lot like Europe - both good and bad in terms of climate etc
Colorado is fantastic and would be my choice (Boulder to be precise) but also expensive
We have the chance to move there within the next 12 months but have decided to stay in Europe becuase of the health care (we have a sickly kid) job opportunities (I am a consultant and don't want to be away from home 4-5 days a week) and vacation entitlement added to the distance from our families.
Seems boring and I would never have expected to make that decision but I guess I am just more boring and grown up than I used to be. I have also finally learned to appreciate the good things about living in Scandinavia 🙂
Seattle because it very close to Vancouver
I've lived in the midwest and one thing I actually miss is the huge storms, they're ace.
I think there are lots of places I'd live quite happily, up Michigan, milwaukee, st Louis, Seattle, Portland, salt lake city, Denver
Anywhere along the Sierra Nevada, California. A stunningly beautiful place with so much to see, to live here would occupy a lifetimes holidays; Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Lake Tahoe to name a few highlights. I found the old gold rush towns to be very welcoming, lot's of microbreweries and you're only a short hop into either San Fran or Vegas if you fancy a weekend blowout.
The island of Kauai, Hawaii.
On the mainland: On the banks of the Hood River in Oregon.
Both locations mean I could ride my bike, windsurf and surf loads. 😀
In Hawaii I could do them in shorts all year round.
In Oregon I could hit the pistes with little fuss.
I'm loving the love for Oregon. I lived in Corvallis for a year at Uni, and it was a great spot. Biking trails from the edge of the town. Portland would be very nice. I found it a very non-stereotypically American culture.
Downieville and i,m not coming back..........
Downieville and i,m not coming back..........
Done the race then?
For my 2c it would probably be Tahoe CA - easy access to Norcals West Coast & Utah, Moab, Fruita arent too far away either..
Colorado. I've not been to a lot of places in the states but the people in Colorado seemed to be very nice and fairly laid back and for the most part were very outdoor orientated. Fairly certain I'd not be keen on California too.
I would hate to live in Texas, really didn't like it there. Didn't like New York either.
Mammoth. Best place I've ever been.
We could live in the USA. We don't.
EDIT: to clarify, many places in the USA would be nice (Oregon, Washington etc) but there are significant down-sides compared with the UK. And up-sides of course.