Where do you live??? and What is it like living there???

[LindasBusyKitchen]

I am curious about other cities, towns, states and countries... Where do you live, and what is it like living there??? What are the highlights of your town or city? What do you do there in your spare time? What kinds of interesting restaurants do you have in your area?? Anything you would like to share?

[LindasBusyKitchen]

I live in Rochester New Hampshire, and I feel it is a great spot to be. Rochester is a small city of about 30,000. It is located in the middle of the state on the coast, and the Maine border is about 3 miles away. The weather here is mid 70's-high 90's in the summer, and it doesn't usually get below freezing in the winter.

I am an hour from the White Mountains, and about 30-45 minutes to the beaches (Hampton, Rye NH, York and Ogunquit, Maine), an hour and 15 minutes from Boston Mass, and 30 minutes to Manchester NH, the largest city. There is lots of lakes in the area so fishing, boating, swimming, water skiing, and canoeing are very popular. Hiking, backpacking, and camping is enjoyed in the White Mountains and surrounding areas throughout the spring, summer and fall. If you want theater or the arts Portsmouth or Boston is the place to visit.

In the winter there is skiing, skating, sledding, snowmobiling, ice fishing and winter sports such as ice hockey.

In the spring we have a Strawberry Festival in nearby South Berwick Maine, Children's Festival Day in Somersworth in June, Market Square Day in Portsmouth, Rochester Fair every September, Seafood Festival in Hampton in September, Apple Harvest Day in Dover in October, and lots of country fairs and festivals in other parts of the state. I love it here in New Hampshire, where the air is clean and the traffic isn't too bad.

They don't have many ethnic restaurants locally, but the Chinese and Thai is very good... The Mexican restaurant is not good at all here in town, which really bothers me because I love Mexican food. Margaritas restaurant is the only chain Mexican restaurant that we have and it's ok, but nothing to write home about. The seafood restaurants are awesome in this neck of the woods and lobster, clams (both steamers and fried), oysters, scallops, crab, and shrimp are easy to get fresh anytime.... For fish, I would have to say haddock is the most enjoyed fish here, but you can get fresh flounder or filet of sole,swordfish, salmon, tuna, sea bass, bluefish and lots of other fresh fish at the fish market throughout the year. I love the fresh water fish here also, and my favorites are large and small mouth bass, white perch, horn pout (catfish only smaller and sweeter), and fresh water smelts.

I live right in the heart of town, in an apartment, and traveling in the town is within about a 4 mile radius, so it doesn't take 45 minutes to get from one side of town to another. Life here is pretty laid back and all my family is in the area, so I call this home

[Kchurchill5]

Sarasota FL, about 45 minutes south of Tampa. Otherwise the west coast of FL about 1/2 way down the state.

It is beautiful, blue water, white sand, very cultural, but also it can be very expensive. It is one of the more pricey areas on the west coast of Florida. But after college my parents and I moved, so this has been home for 30 years.

My parents and family have all passed other than my son which lives just 10 minutes from me, so this remains home and I wouldn't want to move.

During Feb-Easter, it can be very touristy, and the town does cater to that. Hotels and restaurants are always packed and the beaches are busy. Roads ... are a mess, but it is all part of living in FL. Late Spring and summer we get a lot of tourist from overseas.

It is HOT, I won't lie, but last year, many places were MUCH hotter than we were. We do get the hot humidity which is difficult, but it doesn't bother me. All business have AC and I don't know of any homes or cars that don't either. The winters, this year has been very warm, but we have our cold days, but usually warm, sunny and beautiful.

It is very cultural, The John and Mable Ringling Museum - Ringling Barum and Bailey Circus, St Armands is a prominent shopping area, A Beautiful State Park, Pristine beaches voted one of the best in the country "Siesta Key." Marine Selby Botanical Gardens which is world renown; also Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, also world renown.

I love the outdoors, so it is perfect for me. Fishing, the beach, state park with one of the largest natural canopys in the world; biking hiking year round. I love windsurfing, sailing, boating, diving. The Keys ... Siesta, Lido and Longboat are beautiful to walk, roller blade or bike. We have 2 year round farmers markets, several year round art shows; The downtown area and another small area has great local ethnic markets. Many diverse restaurants; of course shopping malls, but I rarely go there.

I-75 is just 15 mi east which allows easy access north and south. US 41 runs N and S up and down the coast. The down town area is is centrally located and the out skirts run north, east and south, so travel is very easy.

I live within the county, but probably 15 miles from downtown, however I don't have to travel more than a mile or so to get to pretty much anything. Subway, fast food, banks, gas stations, grocery stores ... 3 within 10 minutes. Tons of restaurants close by as well. Everything from Sams Club, Walmart, Target, other major stores again within 10 minutes which makes life very easy and convenient.

I live in a small community on a lake which is very peaceful and relaxing. We have no through traffic and no sidewalks, so it is very private. Me, I'll take fishing, the beach, hiking in the park, rollerblading and enjoying the small local hole-in-the-wall seafood restaurants, etc. I don't enjoy a fancy restaurant or many chains, so give me the small unknown places and I'm happy.

So that is my town

[LindasBusyKitchen]

It sounds like the perfect place to live Kim, except for the extreme humidity. I lived in Deerfield Beach, near Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale, Florida for 8 months, when I was training for our family wine making business, and I was miserable. I got a Vitamin D deficiency from being inside all the time. I just couldn't take the humidity and heat, so I stayed in much of the time while I was there. It appears it is the perfect place for you. I love hearing about other places and the things they offer in the area, from being in the country to city life. I am hoping others share with us too!

[Kchurchill5]

It is hard Linda, you got to love the heat; that's for sure. It works for me ... but I do get tired of the humidity come August with it is 90+ and 90% humidity. But then I love the winter being so nice and fall. There is a place for all isn't there.

I love to visit out west, CO area, however ... Just too dry for me, but part of the year I absolutely love it.

[Denise]

We live just outside Hilton Head, SC. It's 7 miles to the ocean from here, which we love. We're at the beach whenever we can be. It's beautiful here, I love it. Very quaint here in our area. We live in a subdivision with lakes, but it's only 5 minutes to bars, restaurants, shopping. There is just about anything you want to do here, from golfing - there is a golf course on every corner - to charter fishing to kayaking on the river. We are surrounded by water. Like Kim, it is VERY hot and humid here, I think we were hotter and more humid here than in Florida. There was one day last summer that the heat index was 123. Yep, 123. It was fascinating But we only have about 2 weeks of "winter", if that. We have been down to 32 at night twice this year, both in January. Our coldest daytime temp so far has been 50 degrees and only a few of those. Today in the 60s, in the 70s over the weekend. The spring, fall and winters are stunning. Makes up for that nasty summer humidity It is VERY touristy, of course. Traffic can be horrific during the season, but you just take the back highways, the tourists aren't hanging out anywhere but the hot spots. I just love it here, it's so laid back and it's like being on permanent vacation.

Edit to Add - Restaurants? There is one on every corner, it seems. Everyone here has outdoor dining and all restaurants have daily happy hour. Love it.

[foxysnana]

I live just outside the city limits of Phoenix AZ, but I can be in the city in 10 minutes or less. As the 5th largest metropolitan area in the US, it is very crowded and busy here. Everyone in every area can have easy access to any of the freeways, but still freeways and city streets are always crowded. It is very culturally diverse here, with us being so very close to the Mexico border, and so many Canadians that have winter homes here. Many so called "snowbirds" are now permanent residents but we are in the thick of "snowbird" season right now. We are in a valley surrounded on 3 sides by mountains, so the desert is very hot in summer (a solid month of 120+ temps in July or August, this year we had over 100 nearly every day from mid-May thru mid-Sept). This year we had the over 100 temps plus 30 to 40% humidity, so it was awful. The winter here is pretty mild, a couple of weeks of 30's at night, and 50's in the day time, the rest of winter is usually upper 40's at night upper 60's during the day. every business and car has A/C here, and nearly every home and every apartment building has swimming pools. I live in an apartment in a very busy area, so restaurants, bars, stores, all within 10 minutes of where I live. Excellent Mexican food here, also some other ethnic foods that are excellent as well. We have 4 major sports teams here, so plenty for every fan (AZ Diamondbacks baseball, AZ Cardinals football, Phoenix Suns basketball, & Phoenix Coyotes hockey). Lots of shopping in the area, any type store or restaurant you want can be found here, along with any type bar or club. Lots of hiking, biking, ATV and motorcycle riding. We are about 2 hours from the White Mountains, so lots of people escape there for fishing and cooler activities in summer, there is snow in winter so skiing, snowboarding are available then. Phoenix is a 2 hour drive from Tucson, another hour to the old wild west town of Tombstone, so an easy drive to go walk back in time, see what Tombstone is all about, or even go thru the ghost tours if that is what you want to do. Phoenix is also about 3 hours from Flagstaff, which is the gateway to the Grand Canyon, so that is on a must see list. There are several lakes in the mountain areas, so there are lots of opportunities to fish, camp, swim, water ski. As far as theater and other live entertainment, there are a lot of opportunities for that as well. Several theaters, plays, concerts from the garage band to country, from rock to classical and more. There is always something to do here, but it is quite expensive.

[Ninner]

I live on the Canadian side of The Great Lakes. I live in a village that is known to be one of the three oldest in Canada. For most of you I would like to say that Canada is "vaste". I am centrally located & it would take me by plane to go West 7 hrs. & East 5 hrs. We have many things here that you would enjoy but we also have the cold temps & snow. I am fortunate that I have two homes. The one I live in today is my Mother's home which I acquired after her death. I have what I think is a very lovely property on Lake Erie, I have many friends who visit me from this or others sites over the years.

[Denise]

We lived in Phoenix for a year when I was in 3rd grade and I cried when we left and moved back to Missouri. I LOVED it there! I have always wanted to go back. The food, the culture, the weather...yes, I appreciated that as an 8 year old I'm sure it's very different now. Loved the mountains, Superstition....and was it South Mountain?

[Laury]

We live in Gainesville, Florida. It's primarily a university city of about 100,000 people. It's about 90 minutes for Jacksonville and St. Augustine. It's about 2 hours from Tallahassee, Tampa and Orlando.
When I first arrived, in 1992, from Beverly Hills/Century City, CA, it was a huge shock. I, mostly, got used to it.
There are cultural activities going on- 2 community theaters, lots of concerts of all kinds of music, museums and art fairs. There are nature programs, lakes, etc.
The winter doesn't get that cold. The summer is very hot. I just make sure to stay inside with an air conditioner and many fans. Some of the people who have to come around and check things like smoke alarms try to stay in our apartment as long as they can because we keep it extra cold in the summer.