Best place to Live in America

[Donut]

How would you carry all those knives while wearing pajamas?

[Dr. Snubnose]

How would you carry all those knives while wearing pajamas?

Shame shame! You didn't read any of my deep concealment threads....Doc :p

[defenestrate]

If I could talk the wife into it, I'd move to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Beautiful, with 4 seasons and a decent climate.

Richmond, VA. Everything you want from a big city, in a small city. Houses are affordable right now. Great affordable eating. Very friendly town where you can have a decent conversation with a complete stranger over a cup of coffee. Great time to buy real estate there right now. Gun friendly (my liberal friends there carry). Now also home to the largest university in VA, VCU. A stunningly beautiful boulder strewn river runs right through the city.
If my family didn't live there, I would.

My dream location is the Appalachian Mountains near the TN/NC border (this includes SW VA, some areas in N GA, etc) - incredible beauty, nice climate with 4 seasons, not a lot of people but more culture per capita than many areas, many people with a solid survivalist vibe that I can appreciate. Land outside of resort areas isn't too pricy. Main issue is employment and the lack of good jobs (or any jobs in many areas) has kept me from moving there so far. Once I get my own business off the ground, this may change.

Richmond is a great city. I was born there. Didn't know VCU was now the largest in the state - both my parents graduated from there. The river you refer to - the James? I have fond memories of it from childhood. Incredible history, some good real estate deals, pretty solid culturally, and generally a good place to live. High on the list of actual cities I would consider living in (I'm about to move close to Memphis for a job, but not actually into Memphis).

[gijoe945]

Mineola, Iowa, population around 100. Have bank,post office, and steakhouse within 500 feet. On thursdays during summer, thousands of bicylists consume on an excellent night with large band, 4000 tacos, 13 kegs of beer and inumerous amount of pitchers of margaritas. Coffe club every morning except sundays. Snow around Christmas,warm during summer and Im retired.

[jackknifeh]

Mineola, Iowa, population around 100. Have bank,post office, and steakhouse within 500 feet. On thursdays during summer, thousands of bicylists consume on an excellent night with large band, 4000 tacos, 13 kegs of beer and inumerous amount of pitchers of margaritas. Coffe club every morning except sundays. Snow around Christmas,warm during summer and Im retired.

Got any pictures? Lots of places mentioned here and for some reason this is the first one I though "I'd like to see this place".

Jack

[gijoe945]

Without looking, I believe we have website from a quadracentennial. RAGBRAI went through a couple years ago and it starts in Glenwood which is 5 miles away this year.

[gijoe945]

Tacoride mineola

[psimonl]

I'D move to New Hampshire just for the quote on their license plate: "Live free or die"... How cool is that.

I Visited Reston Va and the Washington surroundings and was quite please

[buddy54ck]

Hi Doc,
I surely don't know, but when You find out,please let Me know.
I need a change of scenery. LOL
Charlie
P.S. Maybe Golden Col.

[Handwrecker]

I'D move to New Hampshire just for the quote on their license plate: "Live free or die"... How cool is that.

New Hampshire is the best. Low amounts of people, high amounts of gorgeous natural resources and places, plus you're still close to Boston if you need to head into the city. I spent about 10 years there, and would love to go back.

[Piercieve]

I love my home of Birmingham, AL. The southside of Birmingham especially. Old churches/industrial type buildings, the old Sloss Furnace, lots of old homes and cool businesses. Largest cast iron statue in the world, or Vulcan, god of the furnace, who looks over the city, and moons Homewood in his bare @ssed forge apron. And the city is built right off the north side of a ridgeline... Kind of reminds one of Chattanooga, which is also a gorgeous city.

3 real months of temperate winter, beautiful fall season with plenty of deciduous color, incredible spring weather, and a nice, muggy, lazy summer.

The Coosa, Cahaba, Black Warrior rivers within reasonable distance. Talladega National Forest and the Sipsey Wilderness (one of our nations most gorgeous locales IMO, with lots of Native American sites, not to mention awesome kayaking, look up some pictures. Land of 1000 waterfalls so they say)

Smith lake 45 mins to an hour to the north, (where I occasionally reside) 2nd or 3rd cleanest lake in America (debated) and over 400 feet at it's deepest.

Relatively lax gun and knife laws, plenty of good ranges, IDPA matches almost every weekend.

[Jesting Devil]

Another vote for the west coast! The weather is just oppressively nice... (even if it raining at the moment... :rolleyes :)

Sant Barbara especially. Never too hot, never too cold, and the city is sandwiched between the Pacific ocean and some rather beautiful mountains.

I have to pinch myself sometimes to be sure I really live here :o

And we could always use some more FMA teachers around here! :D

Edit: I lied, the suns back out again!

[marlinspike]

The smaller towns in NC to the north of Charlotte (but not too far north)

1 - cops are cool enough there to enforce the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law
2 - one of the few places left in this country where building inspections are still related to safety instead of collecting permit fees
3 - weather
4 - roads
5 - the people know how to drive and what the left lane is for
6 - decent enough laws regarding guns and knives

[Nonprophet]

Southern Iowa....

[hickster]

AK for me! :)

hickster

[Monocrom]

Tell me the best place to live in America and why...maybe I'll move there....Doc :D

Well, I can definitely tell you it's not New York City. Guess what, Sal would agree with me.

[angusW]

Joel Skousen has a few good ideas on where to live in North America. He wrote a book about it. "Strategic Relocation--North American Guide to Safe Places"

http://www.joelskousen.com/strategic.html

From his bio. "Joel Skousen is a political scientist, by training, specializing in the philosophy of law and Constitutional theory, and is also a designer of high security residences and retreats."

I've never read this book so I can't say if it's any good or not but I've heard him in radio interviews and he seems to know what he's talking about.

[The Deacon]

Think everyone's idea of a great place to live is going to be somewhat different, since we all have different likes, dislikes, needs, and concerns. Hoping the Greenville/Spartanburg area of South Carolina will be one for me, but my idea of great may be quite different from Doc's.

[Dr. Snubnose]

Think everyone's idea of a great place to live is going to be somewhat different, since we all have different likes, dislikes, needs, and concerns. Hoping the Greenville/Spartanburg area of South Carolina will be one for me, but my idea of great may be quite different from Doc's.

I agree with you Deacon, the Greenville area is just beautiful....would be one of the few areas in SC I would consider....If you go to the coast you take your life in your hands as the coastal cities are some of the most dangerous for violent crimes in our nation.....Doc :D

[Dench]

Alaska