[jwasbury]

I understand that winters can royally blow chunks in the Northeast, but I also know that "wherever you go, there you are."

Also keep in mind that the last 2 winters in particular have blown extra large chunks. Some of the worst ever recorded, I believe.

I am reminded a bit of my father and step-mother, who are two peas in a pod and never seem to be happy with what they have, where they are, etc. Been watching it for years.

She's changing jobs every couple years, doing technical writing for big telecom or pharma companies (the $ is good), then gets burned out and wants to do something for "the soul." She went to divinity school and is an ordained pastor now, working for small, dying congregations. She's burned out on that now and the cycle repeats.

They moved from the NYC metro zone to "get out of the rat race" and bought a place in the "country" part of NJ. She and Dad spent loads of time and $ renovating an old house, and now decided its "too much house" or "cost of living is too high", "taxes too high", etc.

Now they want to sell the house, and move somewhere that the cost of living is reasonable (as in cheap), but there are good work opportunities and where people are educated and enlightened and there is good "culture." I'm pretty certain that we're talking about some kind of non-existent nirvana here and such a place doesn't really exist. The reality is there are always compromises between cost of living/job opportunities/cultural opportunities/weather.

Another analogy that seems fitting for the venue, putting this is a car context:
1) reliable
2) cheap
3) fast

^pick 2

Regardless, I hope you can find a happy place for yourself, whether its a physical location or a state of mind.