Best places to live in the Southwestern USA

<sigh>

Yeah, that's what I was talking about, Kicky. The place is now absolutely phony. You can see re-created towns like that all through the Southwest. Abilene, TX has an "old town." So does Tuscon. Both are essentially movie sets and don't pretend to be anything else. The heinous crime of Tomstone is misrepresentation. People go there looking for historicity and find a slick tourist trap instead.

I've mentioned Lincoln, NM as being more or less authentic. A similar venue is Virginia City, NV. If you go there, do have a beer at The Bucket of Blood Saloon.

I've lived in the Las Vegas area for about three years now and I love it. The economy is thriving and has been with few slow-downs for decades so there's plenty of employment opportunities. There's also no lack of entertainment or recreational opportunities (pretty much regardless of what hobbies and entertainment you fancy).

I moved out here from Michigan for a teaching job (Clark County School District is the fastest growing in the nation). I miss the lush green foliage of summer and being within a day's drive of my mother and brother (the sister actually moved out here last year). I don't, however, miss the 80+% humidity in the summer, shoveling or driving through snow in the winter, salted roads, ice on the roads, or the economic downturn that has been affecting most of the state.

There are really only three seasons out here: spring, summer, and fall. Most of July and August are annoyingly hot (that's what airconditioning is for), but most of the rest of the year is quite nice (it gets a bit chilly and rainy in December and January). There are ample venues for fine dining (or good casual dining), many movie theaters, many live shows (not just topless, but I hear they're pretty interesting, too), shopping of all kinds (I favor books--there are plenty of bookstores, both new and used), hiking (Red Rock Canyon and Mt. Charleston have excellent hiking trails), boating/water recreation, and numerous cultural/intellectual attractions (e.g., one of the casinos has an art gallery/museum, another has a King Tut exhibit, there's the Shark Reef, etc.).

Of course, there are some drawbacks. Traffic is a real m-f-er; Vegas is the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country--road construction and expansion can't keep up with growth. There are no worse drivers than those in the Detroit Metropolitan area, but Vegas drivers have to be among the top five worst (this is probably explained by our proximity to California :wink: ). Already high housing prices continue to climb (rent's climbing, too, but not as fast). Dust. There are slot/video poker machines everywhere--gas stations, supermarkets, bars, K Mart, Wal-Mart, etc (though this is only a problem if you have a gambling problem).

But I've got a tan just about all year round, I purchased a house just before the last big upswing (it's appreciated about 100k in the two years I've owned it), and I can be entertained virtually 24 hours a day if I so choose.

For a couple of years we drove from Denver to Tucson at the start of every vacation, and did the reverse drive at the end.

We usually stopped for the night in either Trinidad, Colorado, or Santa Fe, depending on what time we got started. Before I had a positive impression of Santa Fe because an author I read (Donald Hamilton) had several of his books take place there (albeit in the 60s and 70s). After seeing it for myself, Santa Fe is a nice place to stop for the night, but its just too much of a tourist trap to want to live there.

Trinidad, and Las Vegas, New Mexico (where we'd frequently stop for lunch) both seem like really nice small towns, but I can't imagine what a person could do there to earn a living. Its also possible they would get old real fast, being so small.

My only impression of Albuquerque is from driving the Interstate through the town. I'm afraid its way too big for me.

Tombstone used to have an outdoor place where you paid ten bucks and could pan for gold all day long. They obviously salted the dirt, so you'd average one small picker nugget every pan or two. If you kept at it you could pretty much make back your ten bucks in gold after three or four hours of panning. Unfortunately, the place closed down a couple of years ago.

Hi, Kickycan!

I was talking to a lady at work today who told me she went out to Portland, Oregon about a year ago, coz' she was curious to see what it was like -- and if she might want to live there.

"Why Portland, Oregon?," you may ask -- which is what I asked. She told me she'd been getting the desire to move -- and she visited this website called www.findyourspot.com -- and took a free quiz to find out what the perfect town would be for her.

She said that, based on your answers to the quiz, they give you a list of the top 24 places that would be a great place for you to live (they ask questions about all kinds of things -- like what kind of weather you like, how much cultural life you like around you, job opportunity, etc.) They also give you a little report on each of the towns they select for you.

She said she tried taking the quiz several times -- and each time Portland, Oregon was on her list. She went out there and fell in love with it. But unfortunately, she was not able to make the move at that time due to financial reasons.

Anyway, I just tried that quiz and it works great. Once you go to www.findyourspot.com, just click on Best Places To Live and Work, and you can take the quiz.

Good luck!

Tried your link, Stray Cat, and got an error: can't find site message.

use the first link, MA. the second one's got that comma stuck in it.

Ahh, so. Will try immediately. Thx.

apparently, I'm moving to Portland, Oregon.

Me, too, it seems, ehB. I think that whole site is a Portland Chamber of Commerce scam. Everybody should move to Portland. (They said Honolulu was my second choice.)

my top 20



The FOUR Oregon options on that list are the only ones I'd consider IRL.

They must not have taken my "I hate heat" votes seriously.

Actually, I tried it and didn't get Portland at all!

But, yes, Ehbeth. If you hate heat, I can't imagine why they hooked you up with Baton Rouge and Little Rock!! Ha!

But then, it looks like the majority of the towns the gave you wouldn't be hot in summer (the towns in Conneticut and Massachusetts, as well as San Francisco, Milwaukee, Chicago).

I said I hate the cold -- and I got several places in the south. Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee and several towns in Fla. (Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando to name a few). Also, Palm Springs, California (God only knows how expensive that would be!).

Anyway, that quiz is fun.

I hate hate hate heat and humidity and they had the nerve to suggest Washington, D.C.

Don't they ever check wunderground? Sheesh!

Still an interesting site. Maybe I'll take the test again and change my preferences just a skosh bit. See what turns up if I say I really have strong religious feelings and need the best schools for my kids.

This is true, ehBeth! You wouldn't want D.C. or Baltimore, for that matter.

But the weather is just one factor they're using. I said I hate cold weather but I still got a few places where it snows.

BBB
I also think it is a promotion for the Oregon area. My list included parts of the country I specifically didn't list as desireable.

BBB's list:

Portland, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
Baton Rouge, Louisiana* area I didn't choose
New Orleans, Louisiana* area I didn't choose
Corvallis, Oregon
Little Rock, Arkansas* area I didn't choose
Eugene, Oregon
Henderson, Nevada* area I didn't choose
Natchitoches, Louisiana* area I didn't choose
Monroe, Louisiana* area I didn't choose
Lafayette (Cajun Country), Louisiana* Area I didn't choose
Alexandria, Louisiana* area I didn't choose
Medford, Oregon

Albuquerque, New Mexico * Where I currently live The Pulse of New Mexico. This city's International Balloon Fiesta features 850 hot air balloons each October…Population: 450,000 | Average Home Price: $163,000 | Precipitation: 8" | Snow: 15"

Hartford, Connecticut* area I didn't choose
Providence, Rhode Island* area I didn't choose
Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana* area I didn't choose
Reno, Nevada* Area I didn't choose
Charleston, West Virginia* area I didn't choose
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois* area I didn't choose
Sacramento, California
Santa Fe, New Mexico

BBB
This is what the company claims for itself.

Our Company

Our mission is simple: build the most accurate, useful and fun relocation recommendation site on the Internet. That means more accurate recommendations, more creative presentations and better community resources and information. And we do all this while providing the best customer response and service of any relocation site.

Our company has been around since 1997 - a veritable eon in Internet years. We're a privately held company based in Colorado and led by Brent Eskew, an attorney and real estate broker. Benjamin Yarbro, our CTO, is the top technological genius responsible in one way or another for almost everything on the site. Since our inception we've built a vast interactive database with photos, facts and figures about America's best places to live, work and retire. Of course we would be lost without our hardworking editors who make sure that our community reports are accurate and up-to-date. (We're not beyond admitting our fallibility. If you think you've found an error, by all means let us know and we'll look into it!)

Our best-places-to-live quiz is fun (this is not a science project after all!) yet substantive. We believe it's the best quiz to match movers with the places that fit their unique style, interests and needs. This year over 1.1 million people will finish our quiz and find their Spot!

FindYourSpot.com has received numerous kudos as one of the best sites on the Internet. It has earned recognition by online services such as InfoBeat, Kim Commando and WebShots to name a few. The site has been recommended on numerous popular "drive time" radio shows and by television features throughout the country. The site has been profiled in publications such as Realtor Magazine, Homes & Lifestyles, and countless local newspapers. FindYourSpot.com even earned recognition as the best Website in the state of Colorado. We believe that FindYourSpot.com does a better job of helping users who are considering relocation than any other such resource. Unquestionably it is among the very best.

You may be like millions of other Americans who are choosing where to live based on quality-of-life factors that really matter to them. Thanks to technology and "portable" skills, those movers can often plug their skills into a meaningful career in the place they really want to live. Just take our quiz and in the blink of an eye you'll receive a list of 24 Top Spot communities that match your unique interests and lifestyle, complete with facts, figures, photos and even some interesting trivia. Dig even deeper with access to detailed, colorful four-page reports about each recommended Top Spot. You can search our ultimate job search services, view sensational homes for sale or confidentially connect with local real estate pros. Searching for the best place to live can be challenging, but we've done the research for you and put in all in one central location. You'll save a time and money, but most of all, you'll learn lots and have fun.

So take the quiz. It's fun, quick and easy, and you just might be surprised by what you learn.

The FindYourSpot.com Team

BBB
The quiz answers I gave didn't fit with many of the cities on my list.

BBB

The quiz considers all parts of the country, BBB. You can say which part of the country you'd prefer. I don't think there is any part of the quiz where you can eliminate parts of the country you don't like. It says you can choose the area you'd like best, but it will still list places from all over the country.

Anyway, Kickycan, I still suggest you try it.

Don't listen to these losers who can't understand how to take a simple quiz!!! Or that there are several variables involved!!! Or that, just because you state a preference for one part of the country, they're not going to eliminate all other areas!!!

Damn! What a bunch of rocket scientists we have here!

I'm back. I just want to say that I'm gonna go lie down. I'm exhausted from trying to explain a simple quiz to you people!!!

Oh, and btw, I now have a bald spot from where I pulled my hair out. I hope you're all happy!!

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!!!!