<p>Milkandsugar - re: your question on previous page - I am in Georgia. I recently had the opportunity to visit Thumper1 and VeryHappy in New England - as well as relatives there. Several of those New Englanders mentioned that they could never envision themselves moving south, and I feel equally strongly about not moving that far north! It seems everyone is somewhat willing to compromise toward VA or NC!</p>
<p>The same may be true for east coast / west coast. My kids will probably settle east coast, so I’ll probably stay here, too. Those out west are afraid of our hurricaines or tornadoes, whereas I’m afraid of the whole west coast being shaken off into the Pacific. :o</p>
<p>tunagoddess - there is a CC member who did just that - can’t remember her name off the top of my head.</p>
<p>We are more New Englanders ready to head south. Boy, am I ready! Not sure where the kids will end up, although all left for milder climates and one will probably settle in FL, so it’s hard to pin down a retirement place yet. We do want to be near family and I was definitely meant to live in warm weather. No decision required now as retirement is another 15 or so years off, though I dread another 15 winters here. It’s not so much the severity (I don’t mind 4 seasons), it’s the duration that’s tough for me. We’re from NJ and I was ready to head south then. How we wound up in NH, I’ll never know! LOL If H is presented with any work opportunities elsewhere, we’re out of here.</p>
<p>M&S-If you’re still interested in NH, the Portsmouth area is very nice and fits your requirements.</p>
<p>spent time on visits. were up and down the coast to the different areas. we lived in norfolk/chesapeake area at the time and it was an easy drive to outer banks. i especially liked our visits in the fall. very quiet down there. beautiful area. have not been back though since early 90’s.</p>
<p>I grew up in Northeastern NC. The OBX was the only beach I knew. We were only a little over an hour away so went for day trips all the time and whole weeks when a family friend’s cottage wasn’t rented. I thought all beaches looked like the OBX.
Military Circle in Norfolk was the first Mall I ever saw,lol.</p>
<p>In-laws live at OBX now so we go a good bit. It’s not the same.<br>
Retail development has really boomed on the by-pass. Traffic is bumper to bumper in the summer, Grocery stores, restaurants, the Wal-Mart,etc. are all packed.
You expect that when you go on vacation but when you live it 24/7,it gets old (esp. for older people). </p>
<p>The Duck/Corolla area is really popular now. There are lots of eight bedroom beach mansions up there. The same goes for the southern beaches, Avon, Haterras, Waves. A lot of mansions are being built down that way. There are still smaller houses too. That area is still pretty quiet in comparison to Kitty Hawk,Kill Devil Hills,Nags Head but also pretty isolated. Real Estate is not a bargain.</p>
<p>There is no advanced medical care there. FIL had a stroke first yr. there. Had to be rushed to Norfolk. Now he lives in a nursing home 30 miles away fr. MIL who’s in KH.<br>
It hasn’t turned out like they planned. In retrospect, I think they would not retire there if they had it to do over. Of course hindsight is always 20/20.</p>
<p>We are going to the IBX for retirement, on the water but not a resort area.</p>
<p>Looks like I’m one of the few here who has no desire to move elsewhere for retirement. We have lived in the same city, Toronto, for our entire adult lives, with the exception of a few short stints in a couple of U.S. cities. We have a wide and close circle of good friends whom we’ve known since all of our kids were born. We see each other regularly and I can’t imagine moving away from that. One of our Ds is settled nearby, one is currently living in the UK and with her career is likely to be a distance away always, the other 3 are in college/law school/grad school here and are likely to stay in the area. More reasons to stay!</p>
<p>Honestly, though, we love our city. There’s nothing that can’t be found here - living on the water, boating, theatre, opera, symphony, museums, hospitals, more restaurants than we could ever possibly try, professional sports, every conceivable type of cultural event, skiing within an hour’s drive, hundreds of golf courses, two international airports within a 20 minute drive, an endless list really. </p>
<p>As for winter, it’s no worse than anywhere else north of the mid-Atlantic (and better than many places, in that regard!) and we’d probably spend a couple of months each winter in the south anyway. Many Canadians spend six months through the winter months in the south, but that would be too long for me.</p>
<p>what is ibx? inner banks? do you mean somewhere like Elizabeth City? that’s a pretty area.</p>
<p>we stayed up in duck/corolla one time. it was more quiet than the kitty hawk area. hows the traffic around oregon inlet? h likes to fish.</p>
<p>too bad that the traffic is more of a problem now. is it that way year round?</p>
<p>maybe a person should have a place there for the winter months and then go north for the summer months. we have family in michigan…they love mackinac island. i know of some people who retire from the midwest and move north to michigan and wisconsin. some go to colorado, arizona, and southern texas.</p>
<p>we at one time lived on the river in norfolk…that was nice. took the boat to the waterfront area or out to see the carriers.</p>
<p>the intercoastal waterway is interesting. it’s cool that boats can cruise up and down it. maybe living along there would be nice.</p>
<p>in the midwest, we are so land locked…only lakes and rivers and no fresh seafood :(</p>
<p>we have family in georgia. i’d sometime like to visit their coastal areas.</p>
<p>sorry your inlaws retirement has not been what they’d hope for.</p>
<p>have heard that boise idaho is a popular area now. not sure for what age group…and if it’s retirement age or those still working.</p>
<p>hey - maybe we should just cruise the intercoastal waterway someday…sell the house, buy a boat !</p>
<p>condor, yes IBX= Inner Banks, all the little towns along the waterways separating the OBX from the mainland.</p>
<p>Not going to E. City. My brother-in-law lives there though. </p>
<p>Going a lttle further south to Beaufort County,NC. Our lot is on the Pamlico river which feeds into the Pamlico sound which of course goes to the OBX.</p>
<p>Nearest thing to it that you may have heard of it Greenville NC, home of East Carolina University. </p>
<p>Yes, the OBX is much different in the winter, everything is slower. We are always there at Christmas. It’s fun to see houses along the beach decked out in Christmas lights.
Oregon Inlet area not as busy as Nags Head. Once you cross through Whalebone junction and cross Oregon Inlet bridge, things get appreciably calmer.</p>
<p>You might try going to the website FindYourSpot.com. You answer a questionnaire which narrows your parameters, and they give you four pages of suggested cities to look at for relocation. You can click on any of the cities listed and get more detailed information about that city including housing costs, hospitals, amenities, etc. Fun website to visit.</p>
<p>We LOVE living just north of Portland, Maine. Very little traffic, beautiful scenery, and lots to do. We’ve lived here almost 23 years and still haven’t scratched the surface of things to see and do. Eventually, I could see spending a couple of months in Texas in the spring every year, when everything is brown up here. That’s the one thing I miss - the wildflowers! Winter on the coast of Maine isn’t as severe as the midwest, because the ocean moderates the cold.</p>
<p>Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is lovely and relatively inexpensive. Amish country. Lots of rolling hills and farmland. Moderate climate. Excellent medical facilities. Closest sizeable airport is Harrisburg. The Susquehanna River is nearby for kayaking, fishing, etc. The Jersey shore is a few hours away, and the Chesapeake Bay is 1 1/2 hours south. Philadelphia is within easy reach for the arts and shopping. One big plus for Pennsylvania: the state does not tax social security or income from pensions, 401(k)s and IRAs.</p>
<p>^I just spent the last 4 days driving around Lancaster, Harrisburg. I don’t think I can get used to all those windy country roads ! Local people are very polite and courteous so I didn’t get people cutting me off or being rude. I was a nervous wreck driving through all those hilly blind curves. </p>
<p>I am used to 6 lane highways, and Hwy 72 is not a hwy at all (to me). I can’t imagine going through those roads in winter with drifting snow from the corn fields.</p>
<p>I am trying to get a retirement home around San Diego, around the golf courses. I love the Pacific and I love mild weather. My second choice would be Vancouver. I guess I am a west coast kind of person.</p>
<p>I love the LOWER Outer Banks in NC (south of Oregon Inlet) for vacationing, but you would have to be a serious risk taker to want to retire there – that’s a serious hurricane zone, you can be stuck when there’s ocean overwash over Highway 12 (which is often) and if you have a medical emergency, you are a long way from a real hospital.</p>
<p>My friend divorced a couple years ago, and got to start over wherever she wanted. She chose Richmond, VA. I have visited her there, and it is a charming town. Only a couple hours from the shore, a couple hours from DC. It’s a little too “old south” for me to be entirely comfortable with, (as is much of VA), but she loves it.</p>
<p>My H received a job offer last year from a company on the Eastern Shore of MD. We went up for a long weekend. I liked it a lot. I grew up in Erie, PA, and much of the area reminded me of that – lots of water, flat country, small towns. Salisbury has a university, a sports team, and enough culture for us for those times we wouldn’t feel like driving to DC or Baltimore. The Eastern Shore has Ocean City, Chincoteague, etc. Housing costs are much lower than other parts of MD (although taxes are high.) We were assured that, because of the location, a lot of the storms bypassed them, and the climate was fairly temperate.</p>
<p>The only thing I didn’t like was access to the area was via a couple long skinny bridges. I was especially concerned by the fact that our elderly relatives and our children would all have to brave those bridges, too, to visit us. The bridge going in wasn’t bad, but the bridge coming back was much worse.</p>
<p>We traveled up the Eastern Shore (been about 10 yrs.ago now) on our way fr. NC to DE.
The VA part had beautiful scenery. All the towns were very small and didn’t appear to have much commercial development. The MD part seemed more developed.
My boys thought the Chesapaeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was awesome.</p>
and no fresh seafood :(</p>
I can’t imagine going through those roads in winter with drifting snow from the corn fields.</p>