GTKY 10/19: Location

nsk489

Borrowed this from March '23 😊

-Where's everyone at? As specific or general as you are comfortable sharing of course.
-What brought you there? 
-What's your favorite thing about where you live?
-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? 

etnyah

Where: Seattle suburbs, WA!

What brought me here: My husband. I’m originally from Norway, we met in Scotland, I moved here and we got married! Lived in the city until we outgrew our apartment, bought a house in the burbs.

Likes: Favorite thing is the breathtaking nature, lack of snow in winter and excellent coffee.

Dislikes: Least favorite is high cost of living, we had to move further out than we wanted to because real estate is insane. Also right now, how climate change is messing up everything. Can’t exactly enjoy the beautiful scenery when it’s on fire.

nsk489

Where's everyone at? As specific or general as you are comfortable sharing of course. Oregon (in the Willamette Valley region)
-What brought you there? My husband's job! I'm from eastern PA (outside of Philly) and he is from the Hudson Valley area of NY....we met in college in Pittsburgh and lived there for 13ish years. A job opportunity came up at the end of 2019 and we moved to Oregon at the start of 2020, leaving all our family and friends behind on the East Coast!
-What's your favorite thing about where you live? The nature!! So many beautiful places to see and hikes. It doesn't snow where we live, but we can be in the mountains (snow) in less than an hour, or at the beach in 1.5 hours
-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? Distance from family. My MIL did move out here earlier this year, but other than that we have no family around which is tough 

nsk489

@etnyah is your husband from WA? What were you doing in Scotland (work, school?)

etnyah

@nsk489 oh yeah, should’ve mentioned why he was here too lol. He’s original from North Dakota, but moved out here in his early 20’s because he hated living there. His family on his mom’s side is originally from WA. When his parents retired, they moved out here as well, so he has no ties to ND anymore.

I went to college in Scotland, I met him at a show when his band was on tour, through a mutual friend. We talked every day on Facebook for months until I finally built up the (liquid) courage to ask if I could come visit, and that was it! 

enw1028

-Where's everyone at? As specific or general as you are comfortable sharing of course.
I’m located in North Carolina 

-What brought you there? 
I was born here and have lived in numerous cities but love the state! 

-What's your favorite thing about where you live?
I love that we are 3 hours from the beach and 3 hours from the mountains. We experience all four seasons (with mild winters!) and the cost of living isn’t too high. 

-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? 

Not much that I don’t like! Wish we were more progressive in certain aspects though! Being from NC and living in the city I went to high school in can sometimes make it feel a bit small!

iiirene

Where: suburbs of Denver
What brought us here: I grew up in Colorado, I met my husband while we lived in Denver, we moved to CT for a few years for his job but then I got pee tree giant and he was approved to work remote full time and I wanted to be closer to my family so we moved back. 

Favorite things: beautiful mountains, close to my family, green chili, 300 days of sunshine, always something fun to do outside, Red Rocks concerts
Downsides: the cost of housing has gotten out of control ever since pot was legalized and everyone realized how great CO is. 

@nsk489 my brother got married in the area you live earlier this year. His in laws have a winery there. It was beautiful. 

@etnyah we used to go to Seattle really often when my brother was in the Army and lived in the area. It was always lots of fun. 

@enw1028 my husband has family in NC-we visit them every once in a while. I’m jealous of your beaches but not the humidity!

etnyah

@iiirene lots of military families out here!

Denver and Seattle are so similar re: demographic and housing cost. Absolutely ridiculous. When we were looking to buy, I kept checking more affordable states just to see what we could get in our budget there. We could have easily doubled the sq ft and paid $100k less. Buuuut we wanted to stay close-ish to the ILs and we weren’t keen on looking for new jobs so here we are, in our overpriced little house!

nsk489

@iiirene it definitely is beautiful here and I had no idea Oregon was such a great wine region until moving here!

@etnyah ugh the housing costs on the west coast in general are awful. Pittsburgh was one of the most "liveable" cities in the US for a few years; I never realized how cheap everything was there until we moved and bought a house here 😵

trubaby411

Where's everyone at? Baltimore, MD

-What brought you there? I grew up in Vegas, hit 30, and was looking for a change. My mom is originally from the area, so most of my extended family is still here.

-What's your favorite thing about where you live? The beautiful colors in the fall.

-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? The humidity in the summer, and the cold temps of the winter.

yelaklu13

Where's everyone at? Chicago burbs 
-What brought you there?  Loved here my whole life, but gradually going south 
-What's your favorite thing about where you live? It’s a golf cart friendly community 
-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? Lack of stores/ lack of diversity 

scaredunprepared

Where's everyone at?  Northeast coast

What brought you there?  Lived in this general area all my life, but moved slightly south for hubby's job (before we were married) about 8 or 9 years ago.  It was about the same distance from my jobs as where I lived before, so it made sense to go with him. 

What's your favorite thing about where you live?  Seasons.  Fall foliage.  Being close-ish to family (2 hours) for weekend trips.  Being close to the beaches, hiking, and lots of major cities.

What's your least favorite thing about where you live?  Humidity in summer.  Being too far from family (about 2 hours) for them to visit often.  Cost of living is INSANE (hence the tiny house on our one salary income).

MsBeachNJ

Where's everyone at? As specific or general as you are comfortable sharing of course. New Jersey Shore - I live a mile from the beach and a block from the bay.  
-What brought you there? I grew up in NJ - as did my husband. We both spent summers enjoying this area and once we got together, both knew we didn't want to leave. I used to live & work in NYC but when we got engaged, found a job more local to this area, and that was it! Now we both work full time from home so we could live anywhere, but all of our family is in NJ and we love the beach life. 
-What's your favorite thing about where you live? Beach life, we live a beach cruiser/golf cart area, super family friendly - its like one of the last small towns left that really has that community feel. It's super cute. 
-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? Cost of living/cost of housing/property taxes. NJ is seriously insane. (But we'll never leave because ALL of our family is in the state- literally no one ever leaves!! They all live within an hour of us) 

v_flowers

Where's everyone at? I live in upstate South Carolina. 

-What brought you there? My husband and I moved here shortly after graduate school. I grew up in SC and knew that I would want to remain close to family (my hometown is 3 hours away). We also both started our careers here. Since moving to the upstate, my FIL, BIL, and SIL have since joined us. It’s nice to have members of my husband’s family close by. Although, I’m not the biggest fan of his Dad.  

-What's your favorite thing about where you live? The restaurant scene here is amazing! Our downtown is very lively and gained a lot of popularity in the past few years. We’re also close to gorgeous hiking in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains. 

-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? The cost of living has gone up. The political climate in SC is also pretty toxic. 

beaniebaking

-Where's everyone at? I am in a NW suburb of Chicago

-What brought you there? I grew up in Chicago, became a consultant and travelled the world (fun but lonely) and when I changed jobs and was actually able to settle down and buy my first house I just wanted to be back where I had family and friends. Eventually got married and decided to have kids so we moved to a larger home in the suburbs. 

-What's your favorite thing about where you live? I am close enough to the city to be able to visit the museums, theaters, restaurants, events, etc. but far enough away to avoid the noise, congestion, and crime. Chicago is a great city with amazing diversity and nightlife, but I got old and boring. 

-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? I love the change of seasons, but man that bone chilling cold is brutal during the dead of winter. 

allykat92

From south TX!
-What brought you there? I moved around a lot as a kid and eventually lived in Australia for a few years. My mom got homesick for family and we moved the texas where a few of her sisters lived. Been here 12 years now!
-What's your favorite thing about where you live? It's a big city but feels like a small town. Lots to do in the area!
-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? The heat. It is suffocating and never ending!

acleverusername

-Where's everyone at? As specific or general as you are comfortable sharing of course. I'm in Monterey, CA
-What brought you there? H and I were living in the Bay Area since 2018 (before that, we're from Canada... moved here because we're both in tech and that's where the awesome jobs are) and we were both just really tired of SF noise, traffic, homelessness crisis, and crime. In Dec 2021, my work gave anyone who'd been with the company 2+ years the option to go remote before we all went back to the office, and I grabbed at it. Easy to do when you're renting! 
-What's your favorite thing about where you live? 7 min to the beach/ocean; great neighbors; space space space
-What's your least favorite thing about where you live? Honestly, there's not much. Access to medical providers can be a challenge. When I first moved here, I booked an appointment with a PCP and the first available was 9 months out. I ended up going to another city, which is a 25 min drive, but holy crap I was able to get an appointment there in 6 weeks. Family is far, but that'd be an issue if we were still in the Bay Area too.