If You Could Live Anywhere In The US...

That one picture I showed you only has the tectonic plates and then the San Andreas Fault line further down.

And, Marsue, I read a lot. I don't sleep so I read.

I heard an Arabic proverb in Junior High that states..."Your head is your house, furnish it." I've lived by it ever since. (And Google! LOL)

Kwan, I've never heard that saying before but it is great advice and funny, too!

and how did we find out anything before there was "Google"? Oh, I remember! Encyclopedias! LOL Anyone remember those? I remember Jiminy Cricket on the Mickey Mouse show singing out "E-n-c-y-c-l-o-p-e-d-i-a!" LOL! --funny how things like that stick in your brain! --oops, I forgot what thread I was on--I should post this over in "Stop and Chat".

Great saying! I meant to add in my above comment that I can live anywhere I want and I chose to live here!

Nobody mentioned Louisiana----any particular reason why?
Hurricanes aside----I've always wanted to visit there.

I want to visit EVERYWHERE! This world is beautiful no matter where you go.

So true, but I would like to see some of my own continent before traveling overseas. My Aunt keeps nagging me to go see her in Cali, but I'm afraid it's too touristy---would love to see the mountains in BC, the deep South has always been alluring to me, but I think I've seen too many movies and am kinda scared of it---LOL

scared of what? what kind of movies? I've lived in the South all my life and it isn't scary to me. You must be thinking about the days of "Miz Scarlett O'Hara" LOL

I have never lived in Louisiana but my grandparents lived there for 10 years in the 50's. I visited them several times and my grandmother took me to see all the sights in New Orleans and to all the "fancy" restaurants. I was 16 at the time and was very impressed when she took me down to the French Quarter. It was about 10 in the morning and we were walking past a bar on Bourbon Street. It was open at that time of day and there was one of THOSE WOMEN dressed in a sparkly sequin top and black skirt and black nylons and high heels sitting on a bar stool. I would have stopped and gawked because it was my first view of one of THOSE WOMEN but my grandmother hurried me past. LOL I also saw my very first bidet in the upstairs bathroom at Diamond Jim's restaurant. Another impressionable moment on my young and very innocent mind! .
(Teen-agers were much more innocent in those days than they are now) Ah, those were the days! LOL

BTW, Louisiana is very humid--even more so than here in Arkansas and that is saying a lot! Gorgeous flowers and vegetation, though! The plants love the humidity!

I don't know, but it seems every Hollywood movie where something bad happens to tourists, it's set in the south. What's the movie that has dueling banjos in it? An old Burt Reynolds movie--

Anyways, I would love to see New Orleans---and someday I will---

Deliverance!

That's the one!! Scared the bejeesis outa me!!

I have been right here on the gulf coast for my 28 years. However, I have traveled on business all over this country and have spent time in many of the major cities.

I enjoy the big cities (LA, San Francisco, Chicago, etc) and their suburbs but I would never want to live there. Too much of everything. I have also been to "nowhere" and have found not enough (except for natural beauty, which is certainly worth something). Billing, MT (close to the Beartooth/Yellowstone) and St. Francisville, LA (antebellum plantations) come to mind.

I have to say that, despite the humidity, where I am is the best mix that I've found. Mobile isn't too big, but it has most of the resources (recreation, shopping, etc) that you could ask for. We live on the north side of town in an older neighborhood with very little crime; many of our neighbors are retired and are at home all day anyway.

Here it's true that we don't get to build snowmen, but we don't have to worry about the ground heaving our plants up into the air, either. :)

Speckledpig, do you mean to tell me that you survived Beartooth Mountain, too? Wow, that is one trip I don't want to repeat. It was the middle of June and my one-eyed husband (blind in his riht eye)was driving that day (WHAT was I thinking!--The only day of our 3 week vacaton that he did any driving) It was foggy and sleeting and raining. Good thing I couldn't see all the way to the bottom of that mountain--I would have been a basket case! I practically hyperventilated all the way to the top--LOL and when we reached the summit there were actually people skiing down the mountain (all 12000 plus feet above sea level) in the middle of June! What an experience for a southerner! LOL

I think Beartooth mountain is less than 12,000 foot (almost 11,000 foot on the highway that crosses it) but it was the highlight of one of our western trips. We went over the first week in July at dusk with a huge meanacing storm on top that looked like we were heading right into it. Anyway we talked more about that mountain than Grand Canyon, Zion, The Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, Teton Pass (between Victor, ID and Jackson Hole, WY), and Yellowstone.

We would go back there just to see if it is as scary as it was 15+ years ago. We survived Beartooth!

10,000 or 12,000 ft. above sea level--it's all the same when you are scared of heights like I am!

I should have bought one of those t-shirts that said "I survived Beartooth Mountain" LOL

We just bought the postcards. I've told so many people to cross this mountain when they go visit Yellowstone but most never do. What a shame.

If they like thrill rides at the carnival, they would love Beartooth with all its "switchbacks"!

Speaking of switchbacks, highway 120 from Oakdale into Yosemite is pretty fun if you have a snappy rental. I was only there for a day, but that was one of the best days of my life! Incredibly beautiful. I want to go back for a week.

I don't remember the route we took into Yosemite (from Monterey) but the American River appeared to be flowing uphill at times (optical illusion?) once inside the park. Mariposa Grove was really great to visit too while in Yosemite but they really paled in comparison to Beartooth.

I would like to move to Upper Michigan someday. It's really beautiful there. And I hope to in the future.

Speaking of switchbacks, on the mountain between Vernal and Manila, (I lived both places) there are some scary switchbacks. It doesn't take quite as long as Beartooth tooth get down but while you ARE on it came scare the bejeebers out of you! One night, my first husband and I were on our way home from Vernal to manilla and came on a trucker that had jack-knifed. We were the first on the scene and had to get help. It was too late for the driver but his partner was still alive.

The Texas Hill Country has the best overall climate in the US. Having spent some time there, I would indeed agree with the National statistics.

That sounds scary when a trucker has an accident on a mountain. And then to be the first one on the scene must've really been a stressful event.

Talk about switchbacks - there is a back way up Signal Mountain in Chattanooga that has two "hairpin" curves. The first time I tried it I couldn't understand why the trucks were waiting to hang a turn when they were on the inside lane. They were waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear so they could use the outside lane to get around the curve. Only when I tried it in my small Datsun pickup did I find out how tight the turn was. I had to back up to get around the curve. Very embarrassing.

The Island of Capri off Naples, Italy had a lot of switchbacks but then their trucks (30+ years ago when I was there) were little carts behind motor scooters so they could handle the curves just fine but they sure couldn't build up a lot of speed either.

The Texas Hill Country does have nice winter weather, but the summers are way too humid IMHO.

I grew up in Illinois and now live in north Texas, and have travelled much of the country. It is a tossup for me.....I like two areas: climactically, I love the Seattle area and the crispness of the air in winter and the mild summers ......but I also absolutely LOVE the Eastern TN/Western NC area in the Smoky Mountains area...some of the most beautiful scenery ever. Climate is relatively mild as well.

Cactus, will you explain to me what IMHO means? That is one group of initials I can't quite figure out. BTW, I hope those lucky relatives of yours who went home today with one of your quilts told you how much they appreciated you gifting them with such a special gift!

IMHO= In My Honest Opinion

Thanks, three! Now that I know what it means, I'll have to start using it! LOL

I loved the clean crisp air in Grand Forks North Dakota, but the growing season was too short and the winters too cold.
I loved the Fort Worth Texas area where you can start some things in February and the winters are usually short and mild with ice or snow once in a while.
I liked New Mexico what little time I spent there. They had the starriest skies and it was really beautiful there in the winter where it would snow and melt before noon the same day.
I lived in Altus Oklahoma but didn't garden then. The storms scared me with Tornato threats, but you couldn't find friendlier people.
Missouri is pretty with some bad winter weather, but four seasons.
When I was a teenager I visited in West Virginia and it was beautiful.
I don't know how the garden season is there either.
I also traveled through Kentucky and it was a very green state, and pretty.
If you are planning a family, the further north you go the better the school system. You should think about that.
Texas was a whole year behind in education when we moved north to Illinois.My son had to be held back because he couldn't make the transition from one school system to the other.
My husband was in the Air Force so we got to move around a lot while my son was groing up.
Leaving North Dakota to come back to Illinois my son got to graduate highschool a semester earlier because again the further North school was ahead. So even though he stayed back a year he graduated by the move we made on time. LOL
Even Steven.
It isn't a matter of a bad education system in some places, it is just that they are either ahead or behind. In the end everything they learn is included.

'Home' some might say, is what you make of where you are. Haven't most all of these comments been about someplace where we aren't but might like to be ? I'm 'at home' here in the often wet, dark, cold Puget Sound area of the NW. Given a choice I would winter in the warmth of a more southern clime and summer in the magnificence of the Sound. Choice, desire, ability and most of all, economics, means sticking around all year. Those whose lifestyles require moving from area to area, though often at a cost to child rearing, are in a better position to fix the "ideal" location in their vocabulary. All this research is great Heather.There are so many unforeseen hazards in a spontaneous move. Crime, climate, local politics (good-old-boy or not ?) State and Local taxes and prohibitions, Schools and Universities, a wealth of things that may not show up until you run afoul of them. It looks like you will be well prepared for the move when it's time draws near.

I have traveled through and over the Redding/Shasta area several times and it is truly a beautiful part of the country. If that is where you finally lodge you would be hard-pressed to find a lovelier spot.

You make a good point, balvenie - and sometimes if one were to move he would also find that the grass only appears greener on the other side of the fence, but that there are also drawbacks. I like other areas of the country for climactic reasons, but having lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years (similar climate to the Puget Sound area), I would also dread the long, dreary winter days with drizzle and no sun in sight. I live where I live (Texas) because this is where the jobs are, and I could never hope to earn or live at my current standard (low cost of living here!) in many other parts of the country as I do here. Texas in my opinion, as a former northerner, has a miserable summer climate (though September through May are OK), but that is off-set by a very friendly populace, nice neighbors, low costs, and lots of growth and opportunity. Some people love the weather here, though! I guess everything in life is a trade off!

I've enjoyed reading about so many places; great thread theme, and I hope it's helped, heatherjoy.
Before moving to Alaska many years ago, we came from ncalif; Redding is so very different from here, that I couldn't possibly take the summer heat any more. It does offer access to other areas, from the ocean to the mts and the variety places to go is nice; we still have family there.
For me, Alaska is home.
Kiska

Heatherjoy...an excellent choice! I'm trading some plants with folks in USDA 7b, in that area. The most beautiful Christmas tree I ever saw was east of McCloud. Probably, Hat Creek. There is lots of useless land there! Open spaces and Lassen NP is a short distance away. Check out that geyser south of the park! The ocean is still within a days driving distance. McArthur-Burney Falls...good stuff. Had a great ham radio experience driving north through there once. I was on 5 and a fellow ham was on 89. We talked in between the mountains for over an hour while passing through that beautiful country. Friendly people. I'd like to remind you that this is the 'west' where there are some rangy characters both good and bad. If you don't protect your property it will eventually disappear like everywhere else. Additionally, the carrying of a firearm is fairly common and having a shotgun around is better than a big stick. I hope this doesn't scare you but if you are going to be outside-of-town there are big cats and bear to contend with.

and....there are many areas in that area not in sunset zone 7 so you should know where the bondaries are. (as opposed to USDA zone 7b) if you want the best gardening, orcharding.