DescentBB

My family wants to get out of California, but we're not sure where we want to go. We're seriously considering anywhere that meets our needs.

Needs:

Mountains/higher elevation foothills are okay.

Snow is okay as long as it doesn't stick for 3 months out of the year. I'm not down for getting snowed in.

We want land, between 20 and 150 acres for a reasonable price.
semi-secluded: 15-30 minutes out of town.

We're very conservative and prefer to live in a very conservative state.

Prefer west of the mid states.

Few people. I want to be left alone.

We really like Montana and Idaho but the amount of snow ruins that idea.

I'm going to stress that we want to be left alone part.


Please, if you're proud of your town and you know it won't meet our criteria, don't post it. We're going to research all suggestions and I don't want to waste my time. Also, please be specific..Oregan is a big place... so is Washington state, et cetera. We can't research every area of a specific state.

Thanks,

B-

I'll give you the best of the best possible locations:

Southern Washington State.
If you don't mind the rain, because prices are nice and low there, and if you drive across the Columbia to shop in Portland you don't have to pay any sales taxes.

But if you lived in Oregon, they hit you with really high property taxes, so take advantage of the lower taxes in Washington, and some places are really nice in the Columbia River Gorge, near Stevenson. It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there.

The Flint Hills of Kansas is very nice, we're a Republican state too.

Colorado, my man! You have no idea how many people move in here all the time, it's like it's the next great residential zone.

Obviously you don't want to live in the Denver metro area, but there are lots of places in Boulder County that fit your criteria. Unfortunately the snow part may not be to your liking if you really want to get remote (I'm thinking like Estes Park), but Nederland is pretty close to Boulder and there's LOTS of land out there. Lothar could tell you about the Golden area I'm sure, that's a great part to live in as well.

Colorado Springs, well if you don't mind hearing and seeing fighter jets fly around pretty frequently that's a great area to live near as well. Obviously since the Academy is there you can expect plenty of open space.

There's the Fort Collins-Greeley area, which is practically university central (CSU and UNC) but I don't know much about it apart from the universities, and I've rarely been up there.

And then there's Grand Junction, practically on the level of a "town" but it has a fair number of people. It's kind of a retirement area, if you know what I mean. There's really nothing exciting there (good for older folks I guess, but I'm in my 20s and need action!).

As for the conservative aspect, well you'll be glad to know that Coloradans voted a second term for Bill Owens (R) in 2002 by pretty much a landslide.

Though its not in the states at all, Scotland

Canada

Robo wrote:Though its not in the states at all, Scotland

Yeah, and how do you know when the winter is over??

Snow turns to rain..almost everyday

Scotland is beautiful countryside, Maine has the same qualities, just minus the rain. but still you have the snow.

I have not found anyplace in the US that has all those qualities 100% ..FP! a sacrifice will have to be made in one of those catagories to get the other 3. for me weather is not an issue

I realize that this exactly on the west side of the nation, but consider something like South Carolina. I don't know town names, but the western part of the state is in the mountains, yet it's far enough south that you won't extended amounts of snow. The mountains arn't too densely populated, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a location that suits you as far as size/distance from town. Probably the worst you will have to deal with is some rednecks. The same can be said for pretty much the whole length of the appalacians- just pick how far north you go by how much snow you want to see. Pretty much all the east coast urban sprawl is east of the mountains. As for conservative, like all of the south (cept Cali and Florida) is uber conservative.

BUBBALOU wrote:

Robo wrote:Though its not in the states at all, Scotland

Yeah, and how do you know when the winter is over??

Snow turns to rain..almost everyday

Scotland is beautiful countryside, Maine has the same qualities, just minus the rain. but still you have the snow.

If this is another one of those "It always rains in the UK" things then I have to stop you short. My girlfriend has been on holiday in Scotland for 2 weeks and the whole time it has been sunny for her. It doesn't rain as much as you think.

Jesus you guys and your myths...

Pay attention to the tax rates in the area you want to move. Chicago is 13%!! PA is only 6%.

You'd like PA, Pimp, it's as pole-up-their-ass conservative as you can get! Total police state, and you will be controlled.

Stay away from Southeast PA (Near Philly), it's far, far too crowded. If you stay close to the southern border, and go west, keeping below Harrisburg, you can find some excellent rural areas near Harrisburg and Pittsburg. Snow drops from Late-Nov to Feb, usually not all that much. No hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods.

I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything, but how do you plan to find mountains without snow?

Umm, based on the person I think you are, Shawn. www.findyourspot.com recommends the following. Go there and take the survey yourself for possibly more accurate results:

Anacortes, Washington
Fountain Hills, Arizona
San Juan Islands, Washington
Page, Arizona
Grand Junction, Colorado
Whidbey Island/Oak Harbor/Coupeville, Washington
Port Townsend, Washington
Bisbee, Arizona
Green Valley, Arizona
Moab, Utah
Sequim, Washington
Bremerton, Washington
Estes Park, Colorado
Payson, Arizona
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Mount Vernon, Washington
Medina, Washington
Dillon, Montana
Sedona, Arizona
Lake Havasu City, Arizona
Bozeman, Montana

I know it sounds kinda hokey, but I was truly impressed by the demographic information that these folks have gathered. Hope this helps. <3

i was thinking the same thing, test. if you wanted something with even less snow than here in pittsburgh you could try west virginia. very conservative, not a lot of snow, mountains, no taxes and no people. if you wanted to be within an hour of a major metropolitan area (pittsburgh) you could look around the northern panhandle (Greely, WV) or any of the towns along the northern border.

edit: i cant think of any place west of the mississippi that meets all of your criteria. ive never been anywhere in the pacific northwest though.

I know everyone of the areas punisher posted here in WA.

All good places. Seclusion, go with the Sequim, but it's way the F away from everything. Towns in that area are Podunk at best.

San Juan’s are very expensive, they are out.

Whidbey etc gets expensive because you have to use the ferry system for everything unless you go to Anacortes at the north end of the island which is some ways out, but a little more civilized.

Port Townsend is out because it's all rednecks

Out of them all in WA listed by Pun, I'd say the best match for your criteria after talking to you on the phone about it would be Mount Vernon. It's near the I-5 corridor, out of the way with bit towns being Everett to the South and Bremerton to the north, both over 30 minute drives from the freeway onramp. So the farther from the freeway the better. Lots of acreage out there for sure. Not as cheap as Eastern WA as I mentioned to you, but very reasonable.

\And you can use your weapons there. Even hunt in your back yard.

oh yea, post +++

One more thing. A small note about the hunting. There is a HWY called HWY 9 that runs along side I-5 some miles apart. If I remember the regs right, everything from HWY9 to the salt water is shotgun/black powder only. East of HWY9 is all including modern firearms. So, go east if you end up here

Why don't you get a school bus and bury it. That seemed to work for Koresh. But seriously, have you thought of the Atlanta area? It is very conservative, it may get a little snow from time to time, there is still cheap land here, it is in the foothills, did I mention that most people here are right wing bible pounding nutjobs? You should fit right in

I also recommend the suggestions for Washington State.

You'd like PA, Pimp, it's as pole-up-their-*** conservative as you can get! Total police state, and you will be controlled

What in the heck?! Why would I want to be 'controlled'? That's what I'm trying to get out of.

I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything, but how do you plan to find mountains without snow?

Lower elevations generally do not produce much snow,if they do it usually doesn't stick for long.

Bill, we're looking into Washington state. Oregon is pretty much out, far too liberal for us now days.
Reasonable depends on who you talk to. My first house we purchased 4 years ago for 110k and it's now worth about 250K. The second house I purchased last August for 210K and it's now worth 320K. Decent size houses (1800 sq ft and 2400 sq ft). There are so many places that we can purchase a decent lot(100+acres) and a large house(4000+sq ft) for less than the cost of our lessor house. I'm all down for that.
We're just tired of stupid people and the California B.S. I know there are stupid people and B.S everywhere, but we can run to avoid them for awhile. Also, being far out of town limits our contact with people which reduces our chance of running into stupid people. The less people, the less B.S.. see, it's a numbers game.

Mid-life crisis? Perhaps.

Why don't you get a school bus and bury it. That seemed to work for Koresh.

Yeah, they make buses larger than your trailer, I'm sure.

did I mention that most people here are right wing bible pounding nutjobs? You should fit right in

[insert picture of spoon here]

Whoever suggested Canada can get a spoon too. Simply by suggesting that place makes you not worthy of going back to see who you are so that I can address you by name.

Pun, I'm checkin' it out.

Thanks guys.

You know why Oregon is ruined for you, dontcha? Because in the past 20 years all the Californians came up here and pretty much annexed it! Although east of the mountains it's pretty conservative...but you wouldn't want to live in the high desert I believe.

And yes, it does rain a lot in Scotland. They have 3-4 relatively nice summer months, and the east coast is a little drier, but generally it's wet. After all, it's a maritime climate.

What's with the spoon. I don't get it. Oh, and leave my trailer out of this

a spoon, you know.. to eat his a$$ with

Cool. Thanks.

Genghis wrote:And yes, it does rain a lot in Scotland. They have 3-4 relatively nice summer months, and the east coast is a little drier, but generally it's wet. After all, it's a maritime climate.

Even though I live right next door to it?

You could move to Hanmer, in the South Island of New Zealand. Or, if you have a little more money, Queenstown, New Zealand.

http://www.hanmer.com/
http://www.queenstown-nz.co.nz/

Although, NZers might be a little too liberal for your liking possibly. However, we don't mind stick-in-the-mud conservatives as long as they keep their ideas to themselves.

Dude....Los Angeles is the place for you..
Not alot of snow...The people are way nice.. Plenty of room to breath...Youd barely see anyone cause your closest neighbor is like...20 feet away... Whats nice is that 100 acres would only cost you like 100 or so million.

The air is fresh...The concrete, billboards and endless tangles of power line after powerline always makes you feel cozy and protected..

Im just sayin....think about it.. L.A.
Has a nice ring to it hu?.. Los Angeles..

bleh... take me with you barry

Vote #2 for Colorado!

Climate: I absoloutly love the climate here. First off, it's very dry. This is a good thing though. For snow, it means most of the time it's the light fluffly powdery stuff you see in Christmas cards and stuff -- you can walk through or shovel up to a foot deep no problem. Usually there's 2 large snowstorms a year (3+ feet) then the rest are <4". Less humidity also means that you can go from 30 degrees to 100 degrees in a day and not even notice it (okay, you can, but you know what I mean). Either temp you can go walking around outside in. Snow is almost never a problem though. There's enough at interspersed times to get exciting, but never really enough to get on your nerves. This also means that the ski areas (2-5 hour drive from here, depending on where you're going) have up to 1-3 feet of powder on them (awesome for skiing and boarding!)

Location: Well, I live in Monument, Colorado, and I would definitly recommend that. We got our 4600 sq. foot house for about $270k, though that was 11 years ago and I'm sure the price has gone up. It's a pretty secluded neighborhood, I live on 1/2 acre and I can only see one house pretty well, the rest are pretty covered by the trees. It's a 25 minute drive to Colorado Springs, and a 2-10 minute drive to Monument, depending on where you live. It's high elevation (about 7000 feet).

I know many people want to be left alone, yet the thought of driving an hour down from the mountains to get a bag of groceries isn't what they want. Monument might be the place for you then. You could go from living alone on your land and just coming out to get food all the way to a semi outgoing person. Monument's still pretty much a small town.

The neighborhood is very safe too. I know people who leave their houses unlocked 24/7 and have never had problems (granted, *I* still lock my house, and I would recommend doing the same wherever you go) but packages are left on doorsteps, when I take care of houses people leave their keys and payment on their front steps for me to pick up. It's pretty good.

Yes, this is a very conservative area. Not really my style, but you would like it.

If you're seriously looking into this area and are looking at neighborhoods and stuff, let me divide it up for you:

West of I-25 (between the mountains and the interstate): Don't especially want to live here. Closer to the mountains seems to be all taken (you might want to look at right at the bottom of the foothills), but closer to the interstate you're getting into Monument and the properties are only so large.

Between I-25 and HWY-83, North of HWY-105:
This is where I live (none of y'all come stalk me now ) there's King's Deer, Woodmoor, Arrowwood, etc. There aren't that many trees in King's Deer and the properties are an acre or so large. It's a very nicely kept area, but pretty expensive IIRC. Woodmoor and Arrowwood have more trees (thus more seclusion) but I'm not sure if there are any properties open. I'm sure people are selling their houses, but I doubt you'll find anything bigger than an acre, most smaller.

Jackson Creek - Between I-25 and HWY-83, South of 105:
Don't want to live here, this is a more classic housing development (suburb style).

East of HWY-83:
If you want lots of land this is the place for you. Most of it's open farmland, but you can get some really good wooded properties. If you want a specific location, see if you can find anything along Roller Coaster Rd. these properties are large and very nice.

School:
If anyone is in school in your family, Lewis Palmer is rated the top school in the state, and as a student I'm very happy with it. Plus I run the tech club there, so that means we have LANs, including D3!

If you have any more questions PM me or post here, also if you want me to take pictures I will.

I want to correct one misstatement that Testiculese made: southeastern Pennsylvania isn't completely crowded. Sure, withing 20-30 miles of Philly is pretty much your standard suburbia, but there's still some open space to be found. If you were looking for something more out-of-the-way, upper Bucks and Montgomery counties, as well as out farther into Lancaster and Berks counties, would probably be what you're looking for. Lots of open farmland, pretty much rural. Not that much snow, except for the occasional heavier fall (my area in Central Bucks county got 3 feet of snow in January of 1996 ). The area is pretty conservative; actually, except for Pittsburgh and Philly and their surrounding suburbs, Pennsylvania is fairly conservative. However, it's nowhere near a police state; I have no idea what Testi's talking about. I've lived in this area of the country for all 18 of my years, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Maybe something around here fits your bill .

Live in Northern California!

Red Bluff!

Only 100° six months out of the year! And you're surrounded my mountains that are not THAT snowy!

Its a rednecks paradise! With Cattle Fields mixed in with trailers on cinder blocks, you'd love the atmosphere!

If Mount Vernon, WA is too close to the general metro area....Sedro Wooley (which is east of MV) might do the trick. There are a ton of older farms that are going defunct, area for horses, yada yada yada. And it's close enough to the mountains for the spectacular scenery (see Stress's thread on his road trip) and the other way for the water and some convenience (like hospitals), the gas prices are lower in that area too because it is a direct line west to some refineries. It's close to Canada (but who would want to go there)

If you really want seclusion you can find a few towns up in the hills. And Eastern Washington can be even more sparse. There's all sorts of great little towns up around here...come check it out!

My best friend has some land out in Casa Grande, on his property is part of a mountain. We go ATV riding all through out the mountains up there. Great level shooting ranges. Land is cheap. There is snow zero months of the year. But If you like the rain you are SOL.

Arizona is probably only second to texas for conservative states. And there is no other place in the world that has sunsets that light the sky on fire like ours do.

I will admit, that I've lived here all my life and am as biased as they come. But it does seem to meet what you specified.

I wouldn't recomend casagrande, just because its being built up so and I can see it being a big city in 10 years. But there are tons of other places in this State.

Only draw backs is that cowboy hats seem to be mandatory for small town conservatives

I'm not trying to be a smartass or anything, but how do you plan to find mountains without snow?

Funny, I rarely see mountains with snow.

Winthrop WA has that "out in the middle of no where" feel with all the comforts of late 19th Century Western american.

I took that test,Pun.. here are the results. Amazing!

http://www.findyourspot.com/survey/Resu ... 57D83A0430

heh.

Robo wrote: Jesus you guys and your myths...

I have been to Scotland, Ireland, and England on quite a few occasions... August is the only time of year you would visit.. That is the sunny month

Flame busted!

... only I frickin _live there_

Barry - Linky no worky! But yeah, the demographic info is pretty sweet and it's a great way to "investigate".

PS- You guys should quit crapping on the dude's thread. Read the original post. He wants to live in the Western US. Not fvking Scotland or Pennsylvania or New Zealand.

k.

Pun,
The test results were all Idaho or Montana. heh!
I'd be all down for those places, but I don't much care for a lot of snow.

B-

Live in the beautiful Lake County of Northern California! Kelseyville, Upper and Lower Lake, Ukiah... It's got mountains, you can be secluded, the snow don't last too long... And if you've ever been there, you know you don't want to live there. Hey, there's always Weed, California on the Oregon border.

Arizona or New Mexico would be my picks.

Funny looking at Pun's list... I live in Oak Harbor and have to go by Anacordes on the way to Mt Vernon.. Its nice up here I guess but I miss Texas.


Seattle is not that far away so if you need something you can get it.Oak Harbor has that small town feel. Property prices are going through the roof here on Whidbey Island though...