Best Places to Live

[SlowButSteady]

I ditto what people have said about Asheville, NC.

Small town with scads of cultural opportunities, eclectic, funky and outdoorsy.

It's kind of alt-everything, in a good way.

Trails, mountain biking, good white water, snow skiing in winter. Not far to bass lakes and trout fishing. A good way to the beaches, though, depending on which ones you like. Probably five hours +/-

If you cycle much, you'd better like hills.

My DH took me there to get my tattoo, when tats weren't legal in SC. On a Friday night, we waited over 5 hours to get inked.

Also, consider Greenville, SC. 1 hour from Asheville, 2.5 to Atlanta. 3.5 to Charleston. Downtown is an eater's destination with a nice assortment of decent to excellent eateries. Enough shopping, cultural and sports opportunities. 2 hours to mountains and about 4 to beaches--yet still has a small town feel.

A cycling destination. Hincappie lives here and is developing a sports-friendly upscale community in the mountains. The surrounding countryside is rolling with lots of country roads.

Of course, the Greenville area people tell me how lucky we are just southeast of there to have great rural roads on which to cycle.

[snowtulip]

I need to start using my frequent flier miles and visit some of these places!

Tuckerville, thanks for the info. on Arkansas (unfortunately I've only heard negative things about it, so it was great to hear the positives). I currently live in Albuquerque, spot didn't recommend.

I'm concerned about CA because I'm not very inclined toward living in an area where there are earthquakes (or any potential natural disasters).

Are there many natural events (earthquakes, tornadoes, etc) in Pacific NW and Asheville?

[tulip]

there are sometimes little rumbles in Asheville, but nothing to even knock a picture off the wall. Maybe once every couple of years. Rare.

PM me if you get serious about AVL (local for Asheville). I have family there, my brother is a big cyclist there (and very cool real estate agent), and he and I can tell you about the neighborhoods.

[Tuckervill]

Glad to be an ambassador for all good things Arkie!

Parts of Arkansas are on the New Madrid Fault line, which runs up along the Mississippi River, kinda, up into Missouri. It's one of those faults that if it ever goes, it will be horrendous. There are little rumbles to be felt, but I've never ever felt one, even when I lived in Memphis.

People get concerned about tornadoes when they think of Arkansas, but I've never worried. There is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent them, so why waste your energy? We did find ourselves huddling in the hallway during that last megastorm.

Karen

[froglegs]

I'm concerned about CA because I'm not very inclined toward living in an area where there are earthquakes (or any potential natural disasters).

Large earthquakes happen pretty infrequently, but they do happen. I happened to be a half mile from the epicenter of the Northridge earthquake in 1994 and it was the scariest 20 seconds of my life.... but I haven't felt anything remotely close to it in the last 14 years, and haven't felt any earthquakes at all in at least three years. Earthquakes are something you can be prepared for just like any other natural disaster, and I would definitely take them over tornadoes or hurricanes.

South Carolina has all 3.

[maillotpois]

How can I not love where I live? It's where BJ Hunnicutt lived with Peg and the kids, close to SF but still rural (a large % of the land in Marin County is protected open space/farms), access by bike to mountains and beaches - and it has its own song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pUA_-oWeVw