“Wow. So when you come home with many bags of groceries?”
Life in a city, urban area. Plus you can get delivery!
The Philly city tax comes up often in pro sports. When teams from other cities play in Philly, each player gets taxed.
Oh Philly…we call that Airport the “black hole” and avoid it like the plague.
I vote for Columbus.
Never had problems at PHL plus you can get a roast pork sandwich w/rabe and provolone at Tony Luke’s. 
@Nrdsb4 If we do a big shop (Trader Joes, etc.) then there is usually a spot where we can pull over and double park for 5 minutes to unload. More often, we live 2 blocks from the Italian Market and work a block from the Reading Terminal market and there are farmers markets all over. We tend to stop and get a few things every couple of days. I have a butcher, a bakery (bread) a bakery (sweets) and italian store for fresh pasta and cheese. A mexican store for hand made tortilla chips. Not giant Cotsco shopper (I’ve never shopped there and we simply do not have the space in our kitchen;) I think going to the market is just what you get used to. We also belong to a community garden and grow some things in the summer and do a fall veggie box from a local farm. They add in chicken, beef and cheese. We have a lot of reasonable ethnic food for take out. So, I guess a mish-mash of different things. I enjoy it, but it drives my mother in law crazy!
@amom2girls said:
I figured after I posted that you probably do it that way. Actually, I have an attached 3 car garage, and I don’t make the big grocery runs anymore-I do as you do!
That’s how I imagine life in walk-able cities like Paris or New York. You have specialty shops that do one or two things, but do them really REALLY well, and you go from shop to shop for your day’s groceries, all within a short distance from home. And do the same the next day.
You’re in a great neighborhood, @amom2girls, and between the Italian Market and Reading Terminal Market, your bases are covered. I’m envious of all the great options you have. Philly is a great food city. One of the best in the USA, IMO. It really benefits from having great farms, including Amish, really close to the metro area.
@doschicos as I get older and my girls are in sports or dance every night (and oldest off to college on the 30th) I think I do a bit more assembling than I do cooking, lol! But I still do a pot of red sauce every weekend because everyone seems to gather at my house for Eagles games. I really do enjoy how we live but I recognize that it’s not for everyone. My suburban mother is talking about retiring in to Philly. We get a lot of empty nesters moving back to the city for retirement.
We obviously use the Philadelphia airport all of the time but haven’t really had any problems. We don’t tend to travel on holdidays or peak season anymore.
@amom2girls Sounds like you have a great situation there! I’m very jealous!
So, back to the topic of Amazon, I wonder, like @SouthernHope - when will they decide? Word on the street was they were dragging their feed to see which cities would sweeten the deal.
I grew up in the Phila area and have family there now, including my son, so I’m there a lot. The airport is nasty, but it works (most of the time). I don’t think it would be a deal-breaker for Amazon.
On the driving issue, looks like my state of Tennessee just finished 2nd in the worst drivers list. I’m not sure I would agree with that, but maybe we should be proud… We also have some really awful political things and can’t handle snow and ice, but I absolutely love it here and hope Amazon doesn’t come!
Oh, no-no. No one in SF is going back into a closet 
I think they were the first ones out. Thank you, Harvey Milk.
For fun, let’s add a twist. You come home with 5 bags of grocery and have your baby with you alone and no one else at home. You can’t leave the bay in the car or in the house. I wouldn’t want to live in city if I have small kids.
Frankly, same issue anywhere, unloading lots of bags from the minivan, with a baby or young child. Many young folks and those who live in a city are already managing shopping with fewer bags. It becomes natural. And if the young ones are having a party and come back with the case of beer or wine, they’ll figure it out.
So I think commuting and off-time fun are bigger issues. And fun, imo, includes weather.
“You can’t leave the bay in the car or the house”
Again, delivery. 
I know many people who spend 2-3 hours per day commuting from their suburban life to their job. IMO, that is no way to live, especially as a parent.
I love my commute - all of 8 minutes. And my car is right outside my side door. Kids can play in our road and it’s not a cul de sac.
For many of you living rural is boring. For me, it’s perfect - nature at it’s best. I find cities stressful with not much to do (that I like). We avoid them when we can while traveling too preferring beaches or National/State parks.
I’m hopeful that Amazon stays away from anywhere near us. I think only the DC option - if they pick MD - would interfere as we have oodles of commuters who live here and work in MD as it is.
I live in a suburb - my daughter lives in the middle of a city. We shop differently. I load up my car with lots of groceries (although not as many now that we are empty nesters.) She doesn’t have a car and instead does short runs for a few items at the CVS across the street or the supermarket a few blocks away. We both buy on-line and get deliveries for all sorts of stuff (food, electronics, books, etc.)
We commute differently also. My husband takes a combination of trains/subways/ferries (depending upon the time/weather etc.) that takes 90 minutes each way (when there are no delays). My daughter walks 3 blocks to get to her job.
Been there. No way to live.
It’s not as simple as living within ten miles of work, either. It’s specific to the highways, traffic, and public transportation. Not everyone lives by an on-ramp or subway station or where a bus stops every 5 minutes. It took me nearly an hour to get 3.5 miles by bus, in one city. Plus local streets matter, when driving. I’d hope Amazon is looking at where employees would live.
I used to live in city. It was all fun and good until the baby was born. If you work outside of home, you don’t spend much time at home and you don’t need much. 4 rolls of toilet paper used to last and last. Not anymore. We also needed more water since you are home and city water was not trusted. Add juice and milk. It gets heavy fast. We were shopping everyday because we couldn’t carry anymore than a day’s load. That was a major chore when you should be home and spend time with the baby.