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Off-Topic What made you settle down where you did?

I was born on the South Eastside of Chicago and lived there till I was about 8/9. Then my family moved to Northwest Indiana, where I went to elementary, middle and high school. Went to art school in Chicago and have stayed here mostly since then.

After graduating I did a brief stint in Philadelphia thinking I would stay on the East Coast. Great city but just wasn't for me. Eventually I moved back to Chicago and have been here for the last 11 years. I thoroughly enjoy the energy of the city, the mix of cultures and things to do out here.

At some point I would love to live in a place like Colorado or New Mexico that offers more in terms of outdoors and nature. But for now, I'm still young so I'll see where life takes me.
 
surprisingly, sounds like i'm not the only one here who at least began in southern illinois.

i retired early and moved back to socal high desert where i'd been a young punk. i wanted to live someplace rural, with basically decent weather, access to mountains or at least lots of open space for outdoor stuff, and close enuf to at least one major teaching hospital that i could count on getting decent healthcare, which is now rare in the rural us.
 
inertia, comfort, laziness.

I don't beat myself up about it, and overall I'm happy w. my life choices but yeah, I wonder if I probably would have enjoyed living somewhere else.

I'm not young, but I figure I'll likely move 1-3x more in my lifetime (to take care of aging parents, to retire, and maybe when I'm too old to take care of myself).
 
Hrungnir said:
Well, uh, I get pandhandled constantly on the sidewalk and drugs are prolific lol. But the violence, the violence is overblown. And you do get used to it.
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Interesting. In general in Seattle, the homeless panhandle by holding their cup and asking to the crowd. But they rarely ask a specific person or get in someone’s face. It’s prolific but not in a way that impacts my day-to-day. Tent cities impact me more simply because they keep setting up in all my dog’s favorite bathroom spots.
 
I grew up in Toledo Ohio, so it's obvious why I left. Bounced around a bit in my adult years due to grad school for my ex-wife and career opportunities but always seemed to end up in Arizona. Tried moving away from Arizona at least three times and I keep coming back. Last move was in-state from Phoenix to a suburb of Tucson (you couldn't pay me enough to live within Tucson city proper).

Love the year round outdoor opportunities for training outside. Even in the summer, it's cool enough to be outside hiking until 9 AM near my house or all day if I drive an hour to a higher elevation in the mountains. Then come home to a pool to cool off in.
 
I'm Italian born, lived for 25 years in Treviso (North East, it's where Prosecco comes from!) but relocated to England 13 years ago.
First in London, I moved for work there, then in Bristol. I moved because it was cheaper (back then at least) and my company had an office in town. I stayed ever since, but grew tired of it as of recently. I've just moved in with my partner about 2 months ago and we're staying in Bristol for the time being till we find a better option.
She's from Poland, I'm from Italy, neither one of us is keen on staying in Bristol and bringing up a baby in this city nor in a country that's currently free falling with no way out of austerity and recession.
 
Born and raised in Massachusetts about 30 miles west of Boston. Have lived in the same town 20 miles south of there for 26 years. My immediate family, parents, brother, sister all moved to Naples, FL. I'll move down to the west coast of FL within 5 years. Just not ready yet, waiting for my adult kids to settle, one is 24 and finally on his feet and the other a junior in college. No rush, I have lots of extended family and too many friends up here. to move yet. See me in March after another full winter, I might tell you next year.
 
Sometimes I think of life as a river with a lot of logs in it flowing downstream. You get to pick which log you'll stand on but that's about it.

Having grown up outside of Philadelphia, I began college at Bucks County Community College, transferred to Temple University when I realized the curriculum at BCCC was too easy for me, met my future wife there, and as I finished my undergrad degree, the boyfriend of my wife's roommate told me about a small music school in NYC that I'd never heard of and said he thought it would be perfect for me. We moved to NYC for me to attend the Mannes College of Music, stayed there through that degree and my doctoral degree somewhere else, and through the birth of our first child, and at that point we'd decided we liked being in the NYC area and, since our parents were aging, we decided to cross the Hudson River and look in Northern NJ - still close to NYC but a shorter trip than moving the other way, to Long Island, would have been to see our families. We didn't like the idea of living in NYC with kids, particularly the state of the NYC public schools, and we also didn't like the idea of living somewhere where we felt we had to send our kids to private school.

By the time we left NYC for the suburbs, I was teaching at that small music school and made the trip over the George Washington Bridge every day. We're still in the house we bought then, in 1993, both kids are grown, and we plan to stay here as long as we can. A lot of the good things in my life have happened simply from being in the right place at the right time - better to be lucky than to be good, the saying goes.

-S-
 
Grew up in the Western New York area; left for four years for college but went back for a job opportunity in 2007. I ended up transitioning into a new career which was fully remote (provided you're near an airport) a few years later.

In 2014, my wife and I were on our honeymoon and we couldn't get back home because there was a big snowstorm that dropped about 7' on the area over 3 days so everything was shut down. We were looking at each other asking why in the world we were going back there if we weren't tied to it other than being born/raised there.

I told her I would literally live anywhere in the US as long as there was better weather (more sun) and lower taxes than in NY so left it up to her; we traveled a bunch over the next 6 months on long weekends and ultimately settled on Las Vegas, NV. The tentative plan was to enjoy something new before really figuring out what might be that "forever" place; a week after we moved and closed on our house, we found out she was expecting our first. We've been there in Las Vegas ever since and really enjoy it.

Because of my career, I have been able to travel a lot and there are some places I would consider relocating to but overall, she and our two boys like it there - good weather, good access to outdoor adventures, tons of other things to do if you want, low taxes, etc. There are some things about Western New York that I wish I had where I am now but, without saying never, I will never move back there. It's a great place...to be from.
 
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SpiderLegs said:
I grew up in Toledo Ohio, so it's obvious why I left. Bounced around a bit in my adult years due to grad school for my ex-wife and career opportunities but always seemed to end up in Arizona. Tried moving away from Arizona at least three times and I keep coming back. Last move was in-state from Phoenix to a suburb of Tucson (you couldn't pay me enough to live within Tucson city proper).

Love the year round outdoor opportunities for training outside. Even in the summer, it's cool enough to be outside hiking until 9 AM near my house or all day if I drive an hour to a higher elevation in the mountains. Then come home to a pool to cool off in.
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Howdy neighbor! My journey was Michigan to Phoenix to Mesa to Tucson (southwest side, technically Pima County) and I love it here! Sure I miss the Great Lakes but the winters, not so much. I second the perks you mentioned with the addition of one more: the best Mexican food this side of the border! Seriously, you can throw a rock and hit a great taco joint anywhere in this town.
 
I live in the same town that I was born, Canberra, although I have lived away from time to time. It’s a wonderful town in a beautiful natural setting - development is primarily in the valleys and restricted on the hills so wherever you are you can look up and see the nature parks - with plenty of parkland, lakes, great roads (20 min peak hour), good schools and hospitals etc. The population has the highest education and income levels in Australia and consistently elects left-wing governments such that we have as close to communism as the Australian constitution permits. We spend a fortune in taxpayers dollars on climate projects that everyone quietly admits won’t change the weather and social projects that curiously don’t end homelessness, poverty, DV etc. In other words it’s a town full of suckers for a cause but that creates a nice feel.
 
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