Geographic Dissatisfaction
The "I'm moving to PDX" thread got me to feeling reflective.
Apparently, I've been diagnosed with a syndrome, which applies to people who move often to escape their own spiritual/emotional/financial/etc. shortcomings, just to find the same problems in their new worlds. So, that being said, where to go next? I've pretty much been up and down the EC, to wit:
NYC, NY: Grew up there as a young kid, poor, was scared alot.
Catskills (Big Indian/Pine Hill/Phoencia/Woodstock): A great place for your avg 7-12 year old. Lots of outdoors stuff, skiing, always found some way to go to Bell. or Hunter Mtn (i.e., somebody's mom worked at the cafeterias, or printed their own lift tix, kids hitchiking was accepted back then), many friends w/hippie parents who let us get away with murder, communal living arrangments, parties. But the non-hippies could get scary.
New Haven/West Haven: Pretty horrible. Must've been adolescence.
Groton/New London/Norwich: Even worse - navy brat. Drinking either helped me survive that or caused my problems, not really sure which.
Charleston, SC: A great place to live, went to the College of, which is right in the middle of downtown, beautiful walking city, great arts scene, beaches nearby, taking a Hobie about a mile offshore with a cooler of bear and a tourist hottie, the tidal creeks for fishing and oystering, and working in a beach bar was the shit. There were a lot of ultra-conservative/Citadel-type asswipes there, but the city isn't as buttoned-down now as it used to be in the 80's.
Isle of Palms, SC: Cool little beach town (the kind of place where if you were a local who was pulled over for dui, the cops would escort you home) until Hugo. That cleaned out the riff-raff, which is why I ended up in
Athens, GA: Awesome college town w/great music, an absurd amount of coed hotness, and cheap living. Good hiking/kayaking/biking to be had in the NE GA mountains, an hour away. You could live there for almost nothing, if you had speed dial to the local college radio station to win free show tix and meals.
Cleveland, OH: (Motto: "Cleveland! We're not as bad as you think!") Friendly people, very interesting cultural mix. But as far as black/white, maybe one of the most segregated cities in the country. It is one of the poorest major cities. Littered with wonderful dive bars, and one of the best outdoor live music venues ever right in the industrial center of the flats.
Athens, GA (again): Turns out living in a college town isn't so great when you are grown up and have a family. Hard to find a decent job.
Cincinnati, OH: Been here for 3 years, pretty bland, can't think of anything that positive or negative. Sort of nice downtown, with hilly suburbs like Mt. Adams that try a little too hard to be hip. Really shitty chili. They put it on spaghetti, and put cinnamon in it. Close to KY - the Rednecks here could show the posers in SC and GA a thing or two. The airport is the most expensive in the country, which makes my skiing jones hard to support. We're thinking about moving - again.
Hmm... where to? We don't want much - just someplace with friendly people, a low cost of living, beautiful scenery and outdoors activities to be had, good schools, not a cultural backwater, near a decent sized, real walking city where I can continue my career as an underworked gov't employee, and an airport nearby that isn't dominated by one carrier (FU DELTA!).
(The biggest problem is that all our relatives are in SC, but I tell my wife we could move to Utah and get LOTS more relatives.)
