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Roanoke is nice--oldbandnerd can fill you in on more details about it, but I also would offer the western Triad of North Carolina--Winston Salem/Greensboro/High Point --decent airport, total area pop. of nearly a million, (so a pretty fair amount of "big city" stores, etc.) but the largest city of the 3 cities doesn't even eclipse 250,000. The western side (Winston, etc) is closer to the mountains, and a bit more rural in orient. Greensboro is where I-40 and I-85 come together and can take you to Charlotte or Raleigh in pretty short order. Nice place to be.

I am planning to move to Williams, Arizona, after I leave Vietnam. It's 30 miles to Flagstaff from there. Flagstaff isn't a big city but it has Northern Arizona University and a Costco. What more do you need?

-there is green grass, hills, and trees with leaves that change in the fall

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-there are four honest-to-goodness seasons

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-it is not often obscenely hot (100+) or obscenely cold (below 0)

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-it snows (almost) every year, but not to the point where driveways have to be shoveled all the time

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-it is a medium-sized town - not 5000 people, but not 500,000 either

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-you're not IN the country, but it's not too far away

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-conversely, you're not IN or necessarily near a big city, but there's one (with museums, symphony, etc) within 3-6 hours

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-cost of living is not through the roof

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-it is relatively clean, safe, and a good place to raise kids

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This sounds like "NWA" or Springdale/Bentonville/Fayetteville Arkansas.

Imagine a town big enough that you aren't rural, minutes away from the Boston Mountain Range of the Ozark Mountains, Devils Den State Park, and many other great outdoor things. You are still VERY close to OKC, Tulsa, Kansas City, 8 Hours to Dallas.

On top of all that, a great euphonium teacher lives and works in Fayetteville.

The crime rate is low. There are four distinct seasons. You are close enough to see Major Orchestras in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and even Texas if you wanted to.

How about my town?
http://www.city-data.com/city/Cookeville-Tennessee.html

...and not just because I live here. We shoppedfor a lot of cities/towns before we came back here. People stop at red lights and do not park in the fire lane at Wal*Mart. Art/music/drama/dance are all thriving here. Crossville is about 30 miles East and is a major retirement destination. I play three to four big band/combo jobs there a month.

you could move to Aurora...if you can find a nice place to live here there are many great neighborhoods but it is the 2nd biggest city outside of Chicago in IL with the 2nd highest crime rate...it has 4 seasons it gets to about 99 tops (usually) and I haven't seen it get below zero in my lifetime that I can remember. Some of the towns around here are nice. St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia. good schools. CSO is about 40 minutes away. 3-4 community bands around aurora. that's about it.

I know it's not the most brilliant of cities on this earth, but Decatur,IL satisfies a lot of the requirements you give. There are (somewhat) four seasons, although they run together some years. It almost never gets above 95 degrees, (although, to be honest, the humidity does make it feel well above that sometimes.) It snows most years, and it is usually not that bad. Town's about 75-000 to 80,000. The country is not too far away, (there's also a great wildlife sanctuary right on the city limits.) Cost of living is not that bad. It isn't the cleanest place to live, what with the Archer Daniels Midland world headquarters and Staley's processing. But that only affects the way-eastern side of town, where not very many people live. There's a nice couple of golf courses, a lot of city parks, and a very active university, (Millikin University.) It is a relatively safe town, (although don't go west of the university on Main; trust me on that one.) The town is 3 hours from Chicago, 2.5-3 hours from St. Louis, and 3-4 hours from Indianapolis. All in all, a nice city. I wouldn't necessarily suggest living in Decatur itself, but most of the cities here in central Illinois are pretty much the same.

Williams, Arizona

I'd have to agree with NWA. I live in Gentry Arkansas and its really nice. Its not to hot or cold and its a good place to raise kids. Gentry is a small town (like 2,500ish people). But its real close to Fayettville and all that. I really like it here and by the sounds of it you would to. Its got the green hills and all that, and a nice small town feel. But, then you're only 10-15 minues away from siloam springs which has stores and reseraunt and only about an hour away from fayettville.

You had the mid-Atlantic pegged until the cost-of-living requirement.

There are a lot more places that meet your requirements than you think. But the nicer the terrain thecloser the cultured city, the higher the prices.

Rick "who lives in his retirement plan" Denney

Asheville is quite picturesque, to be sure. From what you've described, it -might- be a bit bit more rural than you're looking for. You'd be closer to Atlanta and Knoxville, further from DC. Certainly would meet the weather requirements, but you might have to do a bit more driving for all the quasi-big city needs. I'm not sure about price of living--it's really gone up out there over the past decade, from what I understand, and the downtown has striven to maintain its artsy/folksy/bohemian appeal, but apparently at a higher price, now. Charlotte would be the biggest close airport, at about 90 min-2 hours. Greenville-Spartanburg Airport might be about the same distance, too.

I live there. Southwest Missouri. Sorry, I already own the house in the nice neighborhood where you want to move to.

All kidding aside, Christian County, Missouri, is just south of Springfield, has two towns, Ozark and Nixa, that are growing well, with everything you mentioned. The reason it is growing is because of everything you have set out as criteria.

There are some great areas in upstate New York that I have been to that seem to fit your description. There is a tiny town called Norwich that I have been to (it's pretty small, probably smaller than you're looking for), that is absolutely beautiful. Binghamton, NY is about 30-40 minutes away, NYC is c. 3 hours. Housing costs, from what I've seen, are pretty cheap. The country....well, I'm familiar with the area because I go camping on a piece of property about 20 minutes from the center of town. There's plenty of farms around. It's a really beautiful area, and like I said, pretty cheap to live in, especially for the northeast.

Winters might be harsh from time to time, I don't really know. But the summers are beautiful.

Figure it out for yourself. For some, Fargo, ND is wonderful. I know a fellow who spends much of the year at the South Pole. No one bothers him; it's quiet and he gets to spend a lot of time on hobbies and reading. In the away season, he spends his time in New Zealand.

knuxie wrote:Boulder, CO....

Last May, I spent just a day in this sometimes sleepy, sometimes bustling town of over 100,000 just NE of Denver in the foothills of the Rockies, and I already know where I plan to retire.

The air is clean, the city is not far away, and you can jam out with a certain pianist who lives not far away in Estes Park. : )

There is always a "but" to every location. For Boulder, the biggest "butt" is the local politics, which is way left of the old Soviet Union. Also, don't get murdered in Boulder if you want your murder solved. And, don't be in town if they ever decide to stop serving beer on campus again. Finally, you need to accept the fact that over $100,000 of your tax money will go to pay Ward Churchill's salary and benefits.

On the other hand, Williams, Arizona (population about 5,000), is one of the friendliest places around. Most everyone comes from somewhere else. Arizona is business friendly and has low taxes. The weather is great all year long... and it very definitely has four seasons, without the hot summers of the desert.

As far as the isolation... yeah, it's got that, too. I think, though, that Seligman is probably a little more isolated. It gets hot during the summer, too.

EuphManRob wrote: Aurora, IL
great.

Two words I have never before seen in such proximity.

EuphManRob wrote:

Rick Denney wrote:You had the mid-Atlantic pegged until the cost-of-living requirement.

Well, yes. I do love the mid-Atlantic, although my requirements actually seem to be tending toward Appalachia.

Not much difference. I live five miles from the Blue Ridge, 10 miles from the Shenendoah River, and 80 miles from the Eastern Continental Divide. The Harper's Ferry office of the Appalachian Trail is within 10 miles. That's about as Appalachian as it gets.

But I'm also an hour from Washington, DC and Baltimore, and three hours from Phildelphia. I can be in North Carolina within five hours tops, and darn near in New York in that amount of time.

That's about as Mid-Atlantic as it gets, even though I have a view of the Blue Ridge.

Winchester, VA and Hagerstown, MD should both be on your list. If you like more hippies and fewer rednecks, consider Harrisonburg, VA. All three are along I-81, which runs up the Shenendoah Valley.

Rick "just don't expect it to be that cheap" Denney

The original post said "on the face of this planet". It's a little hard for me to accept that the best place to live on the face of the planet lies within a 1000 mile radius of Cleveland.

How about New Zealand? Or the Channel Islands?

bloke wrote:bloke "nope, California is NOT on the list - with or without its nuts...' nothing but a falsely-irrigated desert meeting up with some mud-hills next to a large body of non-potable water.

You've obviously never been to Northern California.



Not a desert, thinly-populated with awe-inspiring scenery. About as much in common with Sacramento as Memphis has in common with Boston. In spite of the screwy politics, it's a wonderful place to visit.

Chuck(G) wrote:

bloke wrote:bloke "nope, California is NOT on the list - with or without its nuts...' nothing but a falsely-irrigated desert meeting up with some mud-hills next to a large body of non-potable water.

You've obviously never been to Northern California.

Despite the name, Weed, California is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.