bicycle culture

[cherinyc]

When I grew up and moved to the city (first Los Angeles, then Davis and eventually to Sacramento), I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life: I wanted to be able to walk to the grocery store and to restaurants and theaters...

Xeney - I think you've helped me a great deal with what you've said above. I am getting ready for a move to Denver, CO - having lived on the East Coast my whole life. And when I tell people I am moving there, the first question I hear is "oh? are you moving for work?"
NO - I am not - I am moving for life. This is the first time I am moving somewhere - that I am NOT going for financial wealth, but for quality of life. To quote you above "I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life". Well maybe not so quickly, but I have learned that I don't want to be in an area that is not health/life friendly. Nor do I hope to have a child someday, and raise them in an area that they can't be outside and active.
To each his own right? But I applaud you, and mimi, and the others - who have put material things (higher wages, bigger houses, etc) second to just being able to feel healthy and alive.
I am feeling very overwhelmed and emotional (slightly teary) about all this right now...that tells me I've just had a "EUREKA" moment.

[mimitabby]

Xeney - I think you've helped me a great deal with what you've said above. I am getting ready for a move to Denver, CO - having lived on the East Coast my whole life. And when I tell people I am moving there, the first question I hear is "oh? are you moving for work?"
NO - I am not - I am moving for life. This is the first time I am moving somewhere - that I am NOT going for financial wealth, but for quality of life. To quote you above "I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life". Well maybe not so quickly, but I have learned that I don't want to be in an area that is not health/life friendly. Nor do I hope to have a child someday, and raise them in an area that they can't be outside and active.
To each his own right? But I applaud you, and mimi, and the others - who have put material things (higher wages, bigger houses, etc) second to just being able to feel healthy and alive.
I am feeling very overwhelmed and emotional (slightly teary) about all this right now...that tells me I've just had a "EUREKA" moment.

I left NJ in 1970. I would be lying if i said i had no regrets. It would have been nice to be near my grandparents for the rest of their lives, but on the other hand, I just had to get out of the ratrace. Seattle is a big highpowered city, but things are just so much more lowkey here (we invented grunge!)
Good luck.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When my DH and I bought our house 3 1/2 years ago, at first we thought we wanted a nice secluded country place out in the sticks. But after thinking long and hard about it, we made a conscious decision to buy a smaller property IN TOWN purposely so that we would be able to walk or bike into town much of the time. We also anticipated a time when gasoline would be unobtainable. We did not want to have our life depend on our cars (we already work at home with our own business). We love being able to do our errands into town now on bike or by walking!

Take heart- cars are no longer getting bigger and bigger! GM and Ford are unable to sell us their monster vehicles anymore and going bankrupt- people ARE buying smaller cars (look how Toyota and Honda are expanding their plants every day to keep up with demand), and they ARE beginning to consolidate their trips. And people ARE buying more bikes and using them!