Where's the best place to live?

[Purrybonker]

...so the car is tucked in for a long winter's night,
and the markets have been bouncing a bit. More and more I've been thinking it's time to cash out of this place and look for a warm beach, or at least a place without snow and where the Porsche livin' is easy 24/7/365.

Europe has a lot to offer, what with everything good (and there's soooo much good) being so accessible, either by train, plane or better yet... porsche. Maybe Valencia, Barcelona or south Portugal.

I've been looking into the options in Mexico and even Cuba, but each of those come with special kinds of baggage.

Are there outstanding locales in the US that I should be openning my eyes to other than the seemingly obvious San Diego area? You know, places where the climate is moderate, the economy ain't backslidin', and the natives are friendly...

[vash]

not california, go away.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Not here. It sucks here.

Really.

[nostatic]

San Diego ain't like it used to be.

Unless you have a lot of money, CA is stressful.

[LeeH]

Guess it depends on what you're looking for. This may help:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028612337/ref=ase_avsearch-bkasin-20/002-5593119-1423251

[tabs]

Best place in the WORLD TO LIVE is Monceito, CA....American Riviera, great climate, ocean views, close to Los Angeles. You just need the panango....$$$$$$$$$$$$....the entry is steep....$50M...but look at it this way U could be Ophra's neighbor and claim to know her housekeeper on a first name basis.

Or maybe Central Coast of CA....San Luis Obisipo area...up around Cambria...property is a bit cheaper now that they have had their earthquake...very beautiful country, a little distant from amenities

Las Vegas if you like the Desert, lots of 24/7/365 entertainment, golf courses, 1st class restruants, gambling, conventions/trade shows and International Airport....LA is 4 hours away by car....property values are climbing rapidily...Everything is close by in the town.

Tucson...another desert town, laid back, good cultural amenities, U of AZ is there. golf courses, restruants, retirement destination. More of a spread out rural feel than the highly planned tract house developments in LV. Phenoix is 90 minutes away wt Airport. Property values on the climb.

[dd74]

Originally posted by Purrybonker
[B...I've been thinking it's time to cash out of this place and look for a warm beach... [/B]

Does Libya have a beach?

Neverland has promise...

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I'd love to live in Scotland, personally.

Had my fill of Los Angeles

[chibone_914]

California is the best place in the world to live. You have great year-round climate here. (unless you like tornados and torential rains, go to Texas)

You have great mexican food, nearly every culture is represented here. You'll never be bored and its the Porsche capital of the world.

Besides, you can get the best hot dogs on the planet at Pink's (corner of La Brea/Melrose).

Now, I'm gonna eat.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

I think I just need to get out of L.A. and move back to Ventura County.

Buy a barn somewhere, raise sheep

[juanbenae]

not here in No Cal. we have no more room. so cal might take you, if so you can have our water we send down there.

[pwd72s]

I'm waiting for our NZ and Oz posters to weigh in. If getting away from snow is your bag, forget the Pacific Northwest...it doesn't happen often here in the Willamette Valley, but when it does, it can be a female dog!

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Paul, I hear you guys got 7" of snow plus 1" of frozen rain on top of it. Makes fun driving in the P-car, eh?

[nostatic]

I have contemplated an emigration to NZ on more than one occasion...

[dd74]

Originally posted by nostatic
I have contemplated an emigration to NZ on more than one occasion...

Heard that's tough. I'd go north. Maybe to BC. Canada has all the benefits of the U.S. w/o being a terrorist target.

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by BlueSkyJaunte
Paul, I hear you guys got 7" of snow plus 1" of frozen rain on top of it. Makes fun driving in the P-car, eh?

Makes for no driving in much of anything. TV news out of Portland tonight said supermarkets up there are running out of food. Partly because of panic buying, but partly because trucks simply cant make deliveries. I-84 is closed from Troutdale to Hood River, I-5 is a skating rink North and South of Portland to who knows how far. The airport has been "all flights cancelled" for days. Crossing my fingers for a thaw tomorrow. In a nutshell, Oregon has been pretty much shut down. My Kudos to power company line crews throughout this state. They are doing an amazing job in horrible conditions, restoring power when ice laden limbs or trees topple across the lines. And they are doing this 24-7. Whatever they are being paid, it isn't enough...they are the ones keeping people alive up here.

[dd74]

Originally posted by pwd72s
Makes for no driving in much of anything. TV news out of Portland tonight said supermarkets up there are running out of food. Partly because of panic buying, but partly because trucks simply cant make deliveries. I-84 is closed from Troutdale to Hood River, I-5 is a skating rink North and South of Portland to who knows how far. The airport has been "all flights cancelled" for days. Crossing my fingers for a thaw tomorrow. In a nutshell, Oregon has been pretty much shut down. My Kudos to power company line crews throughout this state. They are doing an amazing job in horrible conditions, restoring power when ice laden limbs or trees topple across the lines. And they are doing this 24-7. Whatever they are being paid, it isn't enough...they are the ones keeping people alive up here.

How often does that happen up there? Yearly? I thought it rarely snowed in the PNW.

[Hockey fan]

They're saying it's the worst storm in Portland in 10+ years. It's ugly here. I just walked 4 blocks to Plaid Pantry and the ice is so thick on top of the snow you don't break through it when you walk.

I know it's nothing like the midwest or the northeast, but we just aren't ready or able to handle these storms. We have very few snowplows so everything but the main highways are nasty.

It got up to 25 degrees today with no east wind. The wind all day yesterday kept the wind chill between 4 and 7 degrees all day.

It's also the first time I've ever seen the mail not be delivered because of the road conditions.

More freezing rain forecast for tonight.

We usually just have a day or two of snow a year which lasts about 24 hours.....

They think the airport might end up being completely shut down until Friday if things don't improve rapidly tomorrow.

Cabin fever officially begins tomorrow at noon!

[pwd72s]

If this happened every year, I'd be gone. Snow itself happens every year, but mostly in the high desert towns east of the Cascade Mountains. Here in the Willamette Valley, snow on the ground is fairly rare...once every couple of years, but it's usually gone by the next day. Mountain passes get snow, lots of it, every year. Think I read somewhere that an inch of rain equals a foot of snow, and we get well over 3 feet of rain per year where I live. Last time I saw krap this bad was mid 1970's for ice...but we had one hell of a blizzard back in '69 that kept things shut down for a couple of weeks. Right now, I'm looking forward to our usual winter weather pattern of temps in the low to mid 40's, and rain...lots of rain! Oregon is a state of many different climates. Before they tore the town down, (another story)Valsetz, Oregon (coast range) was the wettest spot in the lower 48, with an average rainfall of over 14 feet per year. On the other hand, Bend, Oregon, perhaps 150 miles East of Valsetz, gets an annual rain/snow fall (measured as H20) of maybe 12-18" (guessing here...relying on memory from having lived there for a couple of years) and is high desert sagebrush type country.

[ubiquity0]

I'm going to go back to NZ one of these days. I can't even imagine what I could get there for the price of a teeny 2-bedroom home here in SF.