The I don't like it here, stream of consciousness, where to live thread

[bagtagley]

Nice, I'll keep an eye out. Orange Montane jacket on Seth Pistols. I doubt I'll stray very far from the bunny slope, though.

[iceman]

Bag you should come visit Tipp and me and explore DC. Sure there's mind-numbing sprawl and traffic but in DC itself and in Montgomery county where I live there's a lot of cool places too. Not cheap but the economy's always good. Its been a good place to live for me.

[Sirshredalot]

Bag you should come visit Tipp and me and explore DC. Sure there's mind-numbing sprawl and traffic but in DC itself and in Montgomery county where I live there's a lot of cool places too. Not cheap but the economy's always good. Its been a good place to live for me.

The downside for bagtagley is that it would be difficult for him to get both a walkable neighborhood and easy access to biking. The city has a ton of good things going for it, but the commute to MTB is a buzzkill, and I imagine it would be worse if you have kids. Upper Montgomery County has a ton of good, flowy XC, but I get the impression that a Germantown townhouse development isn't his speed when he asks for a walkable neighborhood. Having said all that: buy my house in Ward 5 DC so I can move to Utah this summer!

Maybe Rockville center?

If you want a walkable non-sketchy downtown, easy access to top-shelf biking and a good hill for your kids learning to ski, maybe Frederick?

[sb]

Skip Fredneck, I work there. The Shed is great but only one plus in a place with too many negs one of the worst being insane traffic/drivers, that goes double for DC too.

Elkins?

I will bet you will love Ashville.

[bagtagley]

ice, I do need to come up and visit, but Shred hit the nail on the head. I already gave up great skiing, I'm not willing to give up great biking.

We've talked about a lot of places in WV, scotty. The hangup always ends up being the schools, among other things. That's really a big downside to Asheville. I'm 2.5 hours from Canaan right now. I'd hate to add 5 hours to that drive.

[Shredhead]

My wife is extremely close to her family, ie. we see them almost everyday. We left a place that we have a passion for, to be near them. It's been good for my kids and I don't regret it.
But I still think about my happy place everyday and expect to move back soon.

I think family is very important, especially when your kids are young. But as they get older, I don't think they need the reinforcement as often. Once you get more than a couple of hours away, how often will you really see them?

It sounds like your just trying to find a better substitute for your happy place. There are places a lot worse than Cville. I think I'd stay until you are vested and your kids are older.
Then reassess were you'd really like to be.


Three ticks/year? You need to grow a tougher nutsack!

[Sirshredalot]

ice, I do need to come up and visit, but Shred hit the nail on the head. I already gave up great skiing, I'm not willing to give up great biking.

To be fair, I do think that both the biking and schools out in upper Montgomery County are legitimately great. Granted, the riding's not techy. But there's 50+ miles of it. If the wife and I were going to stay around here, we would bite the bullet and move to suburbia out in that direction just to get ride-from-your-garage access to the trail network. The problem is that if you want a neighborhood where you can walk to the grocery store you need to be closer to Bethesda, leaving you a 20 minute drive to the trailhead, which wouldn't be bad on its own. Except those neighborhoods are as expensive as anywhere in the country that isn't NYC or SFO. And the traffic on 270 is wretched if you have to commute by car to work.

[Tippster]

Sirshred: Would Kentlands in Gaithersburg fit the bill? You'd be right next to the Shaeffer Trails... http://www.bikekinetix.com/t_md/md_s...arm-trails.php

[Sirshredalot]

Sirshred: Would Kentlands in Gaithersburg fit the bill? You'd be right next to the Shaeffer Trails... http://www.bikekinetix.com/t_md/md_s...arm-trails.php

That actually does get you pretty close to the MTB trail network. I think you could spin pretty quickly into Quince Orchard Valley Park and then follow the Seneca Creek Connector back to the Schaeffer Farm. From there you can connect to Hoyles Mill and Black Hill. And I know there are some connector trails that take you all the way down to the canal tow path on the Potomac and up to Little Bennett, though I've never gone that far afield.

[hikesalot]

My wife is extremely close to her family, ie. we see them almost everyday. We left a place that we have a passion for, to be near them. It's been good for my kids and I don't regret it.
But I still think about my happy place everyday and expect to move back soon.

I think family is very important, especially when your kids are young. But as they get older, I don't think they need the reinforcement as often. Once you get more than a couple of hours away, how often will you really see them?

It sounds like your just trying to find a better substitute for your happy place. There are places a lot worse than Cville. I think I'd stay until you are vested and your kids are older.
Then reassess were you'd really like to be.


Three ticks/year? You need to grow a tougher nutsack!

We struggle a lot with this same question... to stay close to family or not, or when is a good time to move, blah, blah....

Just curious what your (and wife's) thoughts are on what age is ok to move the kids away? Things we think about... we have nieces/nephews in middle & high school and it would be so nice to be able to go to their activities (sports, musicals, etc), but we're too far away for that (and the grandparents are closer to them, too). But if we move our youngster closer to family, do we then not want to pull him away from those close relationships? So we're stuck there until after he graduates high school? I'm hoping not.

[ncskier]

Just had the conversation with my wife this weekend. We have lived in North Carolina for 12 years to be near family. As the kids get older, believe it or not, you see family less. At least in our case. My kids are the youngest, so as their cousins are getting older, getting cars, going to college etc, we find ourselves alone more and more. I asked her and said "if we spend new years alone and christmas with friends, would you go somewhere else close to skiing, smaller community etc". She didn't really answer me directly. Instead she asked " are we going to be one of those old couples were you live somewhere else part of the year". My answer was of course not, "I'll just be one of those resentful old men who wishes they followed their heart." The conversation ended there. I have made peace to book lots of flights to ski and got my kids skiing early. That way we can out-vote mom for family trips. Spring Break in Colorado is now on the agenda. Good Luck. Asheville is a cool town, Four Seasons etc

[iceman]

Skip Fredneck, I work there. The Shed is great but only one plus in a place with too many negs one of the worst being insane traffic/drivers, that goes double for DC too.

Elkins?

I will bet you will love Ashville.

Old Town Frederick is cool and coming up. It's surrounded by 7-11/Mickey D/Walmart sprawl but the Old Town is cool, compact, and has some great restaurants and old historic buildings. If you're not commuting that's a good place. If you are, NFW.

Elkins. What??? He's not inbred. I don't think. Close to Snowshoe and insane biking but c'mon. Elkins.

Asheville probably is the place.

You know the issue bag. You want things that don't exist together much in the Mid-Atlantic. Much more common in New England but hey. I have to drive (2 miles) to the grocery store. But it's a great grocery store. I could bike out my back door, cross one twolane blacktop and not touch tar again for 150+ miles (if I still rode). I live 3 miles from Schaeffer Farm (noted above) and I can be in Georgetown in less than half an hour or the Kennedy center in five minutes more. The cosmopolitan/good schools/walkable village center/hilly terrain for biking combo is hard to find around here. You want all those things plus you need to stay in this region. Something has probably got to give.

[Shredhead]

Just curious what your (and wife's) thoughts are on what age is ok to move the kids away?

My kids started to become very independent in Jr. high and that's when I'd do it.

[iceman]

okay here's a cool town for ya bag: Boonsboro.

Great rural location at the very base of South Mountain, cool historic center, good (not amazing) schools, plus half the town is owned by Nora Roberts, which is cool if you're the romance novel enthusiast I'm guessing you are (kidding, but that woman has put miliions into that town, seriously). Very rural but a defined village center, also just a few miles off I-70 for trips towards your family. South Mountain is the Maryland name for the Appalachian Ridge, it goes up just behind the town. The Appalachian trail passes just a couple miles behind the town.

Also Shepherdstown WV is pretty kewl, actually the whole WV panhandle is pretty sweet if you don't have to commute, a bit short on villages though.

Check out Boonsboro for real.

[Tippster]

Lotta crack & meth in the greater Boonsboro area since it's so close to Hagerstown and the I70/I81 interchange. One of my best friends grew up and lives there on a farm, he's also the Assistant DA. It's funny going out w/him in the local bars (like Capt. Bender's in Sharpsburg) because every local under 50 either went to the pokey for a while because of him or has a relative who did. It's not a bad place but I'd rather live over the hill in Middletown.

[iceman]

Lotta crack & meth in the greater Boonsboro area since it's so close to Hagerstown.

See? Nothing but upside!

You gotta agree that's a cool town Tipp, it's not like there's open-air meth labs in the town square, c'mon. Middletown is also nice though I prefer Boonsboro myself.

[Tippster]

Well, since it has no square...

I know. It's a totally different place now vs. 25 years ago as well. Nora's done good remodelling the Inn BoonsBoro.

Cool thing about the schools is that the Elementary, Middle, and HS are all on the same (pretty large) grounds. They're all quite good too, especially compared to the rest of Washington Cty.

[sb]

Between Boonsbucket and Shetown its the latter. There are very good private schools in the area, plus theres the college for higher(PI) education.

Sorry, growing up there I just can't call it a university.

Shetown and Boonsbucket are both still close to the Shed and other biking in the area. Rivers, check. Hiking, check. Shetown has become a place for $$$$$ people to hang out in along with the pretend hippys.

[Marshall Tucker]

Just had the conversation with my wife this weekend. We have lived in North Carolina for 12 years to be near family. As the kids get older, believe it or not, you see family less. At least in our case. My kids are the youngest, so as their cousins are getting older, getting cars, going to college etc, we find ourselves alone more and more. I asked her and said "if we spend new years alone and christmas with friends, would you go somewhere else close to skiing, smaller community etc". She didn't really answer me directly. Instead she asked " are we going to be one of those old couples were you live somewhere else part of the year". My answer was of course not, "I'll just be one of those resentful old men who wishes they followed their heart." The conversation ended there. I have made peace to book lots of flights to ski and got my kids skiing early. That way we can out-vote mom for family trips. Spring Break in Colorado is now on the agenda. Good Luck. Asheville is a cool town, Four Seasons etc

Very close to my situation and well said, almost down to the city & conversation. I wish I'da questioned where to live more when I was baggs age, +-. Way to easy to get into a job, mortgage, school system, etc.

IMO sooner or later a chris bates type is gonna buy out or get an ownership position in Wolf Laurel and you'll have the best ski area south of the cannan valley 15m north of asheville on the interstate. Won't happen today, or Jan 15, but it will happen. One Day.

[iceman]

Between Boonsbucket and Shetown its the latter...Shetown has become a place for $$$$$ people to hang out in along with the pretend hippys.

Something about this statement confuses me.

[sb]

Something about this statement confuses me.

Easily cornfused, I have those days too. Both towns have come a long way in the last 30 years, things change and rarely stay the same. About 15 years ago Shetown became one of those places for rich folk to have an extra address. Its still nice but for Bags it may be a small version of Cville.

And I would also add that in Fredneck the place has become more bike friendly in recent years, certainly a plus for road and mtn biking. In fact between Washington, Frederick and Montgonery counties there are quite a lot of back road bike trips to be had. Greg LeMond shows up every year for a big week long Catoctin charity ride that he claims is one of his favorite rides in the world.

[Benny Profane]

Could someone use the real names of the towns mentioned above? I know Frederick, but, the others....

[iceman]

The two towns we were talking about just above are Sheperdstown WV and Boonsboro MD. Actually pretty close to each other.

[Benny Profane]

Thanks. Just to add, I did a 70 mile ride north of Frederick last summer, and, I have to say the biking in the Hunt Valley and north of that above Baltimore is much better.

[bagtagley]

I'm pretty sure Shetown is in Thailand.

I don't own a road bike. Though, I might if I lived in Shetown.