busbus wrote:What about the northwoods of Wisconsin? If it works for militia types, it would probably also work for people who want to be left alone.
Sort of close to Minneapolis.
Houses are CHEAP, good fish frys, VFW halls, winter sports, kick ass summer recreation, Indian reservations, Korbel Brandy up the wazoo, no statewide smoking ban yet, decent drug trade, farm bred women, etc.
This is true! How could I have forgotten the
good portion of my former state?
Wisconsin also has a generally good educational system and the property taxes have stopped going up drastically each year since we got rid of Tommy Thompson.
Places in Wisconsin I would suggest:
-the Minocqua area: absolutely gorgeous up there, you can have a house in the woods and no one will bother you and you'll probably be within walking distance of a lake, most of the lakes are not polluted to hell, and there are actually a plethora of really good restaurants up there. The con side is that you'd have to find a job and most of the economy is tourism-based.
Downtown Minocqua is situated on the island. Tourism plays a substantial role in the economy of Minocqua. As a forested lake community, tourists enjoy typical outdoor activities such as waterskiing, fishing, hiking, bike riding, berry collecting (not on private property), swimming, go-karting, miniature golf, river rafting, movie-going, and viewing the Min-Aqua Bats water ski show in the summer. During the fall, rifle and bow hunting draw a large amount of avid hunters, as does the annual downtown merchants' Beef-O-Rama held the last Saturday in September. Also in the fall, the annual HMMGG Festival, an alternative arts festival, has been held just outside of town since 1986. In the winter months, available activities include Nordic (cross country) skiing, ice fishing, downhill skiing in nearby mountains, snow tubing, sleigh rides, snowmobiling and dining at area restaurants. Minocqua's nightlife includes many bars featuring live music in the Summer months. It is very popular during Fall season to drive through the Northwoods admiring the fall colors
-The Ashland/Bayfield area: I lived near Bayfield when I was a child and NO ONE gives a fuck what you do unless it's in their yard. You'd probably wind up with a job working for the railroad or the paper industry, but it's beautiful and inexpensive to live thre. The downside is the mosquito population in the summer and the winters are awful, but it's a small price to pay for living near the most beautiful lake in the world.
-Marinette/Menominee: Twin cities, one on Wisconsin's side and one of Michigan. You make the call based upon which state's taxes you'd rather pay. Both cities are about a 1 hour 15 minute drive from Green Bay, so if you like football and hockey you're set. Great fishing and hunting up there, amazing camping all over the U.P. and the WI Northwoods, cheap Leinie's aplenty, snowmobile culture, boating culture, more jobs than most places north of Green Bay, and fairly nice beaches. Probably THE best pizza place in WI is 15 minutes south, in Peshtigo. There's a surprisingly awesome supermarket (it actually has better selection than any store in Green Bay), as well.
Benadrian and I have oft spoken about getting out of California. It was a bit more of an ASAP thing back when we lived in Oakland, but Alameda has grown on us both and is unexpectedly non-characteristic of the rest of the Bay Area and reminiscent of Wisconsin or Michigan instead. In fact, I would actually suggest Alameda if the CA school system wasn't in the midst of a budget crisis.
Before we found this place, we were considering trying to find a month-to-month rental situation and evacuating to Chicago as soon as Ben or I found a job there. I'm sure we'll eventually move, and it will likely be somewhere in the U.S., as neither of us has skills that are particularly enticing for another country. Canada aside, I can't really see myself living in a foreign country so far away from my parents and friends. I pretty much ruled that out completely when I decided to not move to Australia a few years back.
Places that Ben and I have also considered moving:
-Boise, ID: We decided this was probably a bad idea given the Mormon population and the amount of distaste I have for their religion. I do kind of miss Idaho, though, so perhaps Moscow or Orofino or some other city/town is a faint possibility.
-Bellingham, WA: I haven't been there but Ben liked it, and I haven't had a bad experience with Washington, ever. Not even with Spokane or Tacoma or my Clarkston birthplace.
-Missoula, MT: I love Missoula, but I worry about it being so far from any other major population centers. This is probably a silly concern as I don't really care about most things involving cities, apart from rock shows and occasional restaurant sampling, but it's still a concern. Still, Ben and I have Missoula ranked high on our list of places to live. Also, I could finish one of my useless Bachelor's degrees at the University, which is looking to be increasingly more of a necessity given my current hopeless unemployment.
-Fort Bragg, CA: I have no clue what either of us would do in terms of jobs or a business, but I've wanted to live here since I first visited back in 2002. Ben thinks it's nice as well.
I don't have much experience with the East Coast, despite living there for 2 years. Mainly, I've been in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, D.C., and the Arlington-Alexandria and Richmond areas of Virginia.
One of my summer jobs involved setting up appointments for trucks containing paper products, so I spent close to 6 hours a day on the phone with people working at receiving departments all over Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. It was an interesting way to find out where people were the most happy, snobbish, rude, stupid, witty, clever, friendly, hard-working, etc.
Based on my experiences, the places I have never visited but to which I would probably blindly move are:
Augusta or Portland, Maine
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Places I will never fucking go to, based solely on phone conversations:
Newark, New Jersey
Anywhere in Quebec
"To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost."
-Gustave Flaubert
