Poll: Do you prefer the city or country?

dapple · Post by **dapple** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:18 pm

If I had lots of money I would live in New York City or maybe San Francisco or London. I like the diversity, options, and excitement that are available in an urban culture.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:24 pm

DCrom wrote:I grew up on a small farm (actually, a small cattle ranch). If I had my druthers, I'd still be living out in the country a ways.

Since I'm an embedded SW engineer, I don't have that choice without giving up a lot of job flexiblity and/or salary.

Giving up salary can be a very healthy thing.

Teri-K · Post by **Teri-K** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:51 pm

alespa wrote:Teri, I like your thinking!

I will check on the Salmon Creek . . . I confess, I don't know what that is.

Bellingham does have some nice areas, and I had forgotten the bit about Vancouver not being too far away. The only thing is that on our trips north, I have noticed traffic just gets nasty from downtown Seattle, all the way up until you get past Everett, or thereabouts. But that has been on Fridays. Is it like that every day, do you know?

Oh, if that's just the name of the creek then it might not be a problem. I was thinking along the lines of protected salmon habitat. We have a creek on the edge of our property in Lake Forest Park that is salmon habitat, so it curtails certain activities.

Traffic out of downtown heading north is a nightmare from 3 p.m. until around 7 p.m. every working day. I used to do that commute (5th & Denny up to NE 156th) and I'd rather have a daily root canal

Sadly, traffic is awful everywhere, it seems.

Poulsbo is a nice area. Lower taxes and reasonable real estate. Same for Kingston and parts of Bainbridge. You're right, Lynden is just outside of Bellingham. Beautiful little town. We saw some amazing farms and houses with acreage in that area. There's always Blaine too. Possibilities are endless

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:55 pm

alespa wrote:The only thing is that on our trips north, I have noticed traffic just gets nasty from downtown Seattle, all the way up until you get past Everett, or thereabouts. But that has been on Fridays. Is it like that every day, do you know?

Boeing at the south end of Everett, the Navy base at the north end...
Traffic is bad from Seattle north to Smokey Point, Island Crossing.

We are in the process of moving from kinda Snohomish (10 acres) to sorta Arlington (17 acres). Leaving the trees for a salmon stream and a mountain view.

Denny

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:07 pm

I grew up on a farm. Married and spent the next 24 years with neighbors next door,across the road, all around. Euewwwwww. Now they were good neighbors,mind you, but it just didn't seem quiet right somehow.

Ten years ago we moved to my husbands family farm into the old Craftsman bungalow.
It was like coming home.
No road noise. No curtains. You could stand on the back porch and if the cows were grazing nearby, the sounds of them ripping off a mouthful were very clear.
At night in the spring and summer, the window open, the crickets and frogs make great "white noise" for sleeping. Want to play the whistle? GHB? Yell at the dogs,husband,kids-feel free.

Last year we sold all the farm but fifteen acres due to my husbands health, and debated selling it all and moving to town. Just couldn't do it. Now it bothers me that I can see neighbors homes, but they are still far enough away to be out of hollerin range,so I guess it'll do. Yes, it does require us to be more self-sufficient . I'd never really thought about that-when something tears up, we are usually able to fix it. When the power goes off we build fires in the fireplaces and fire up the generator, throw extra blankets on the bed. That's when it helps to have an old house built before reliance on central heating and remember seeing our breath when we peeked out from under the covers in the cold mornings.

Sure, it takes 10 minutes to go to the store, 30 to do any other shopping, 60 to get to a city, BUT, for us, it's a reasonable trade-off.

-You may have to deal with owning a well and a septic tank

.

LOL

(I've always had these, had never consider this a drawback)

If I die because it takes the rescue squad a while to get to me,so be it.
At least I spent my life living where I love-in the country.

The bottom line is everyone should live where they feel most at home.

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:43 pm

Denny wrote:
alespa wrote:The only thing is that on our trips north, I have noticed traffic just gets nasty from downtown Seattle, all the way up until you get past Everett, or thereabouts. But that has been on Fridays. Is it like that every day, do you know?
Boeing at the south end of Everett, the Navy base at the north end...
Traffic is bad from Seattle north to Smokey Point, Island Crossing.

I had to drive my husband to Sea-Tac airport once during rush hour. We were coming from Ft. Lewis (he obviously was in the military at the time), and from Tacoma to the airport, I-5 was pretty much a parking lot. It always amazed me how backed up I-5 gets during those times. I had inquired at one point if there were other ways to Seattle from Tacoma, but I was told the ONLY way was I-5.

alespa · Post by **alespa** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:58 pm

I heard a new super fast foot ferry is going in at Kingston (to Seattle). Someone in Seattle didn't plan the highway system very well. I-5 is a huge problem in areas, and I am starting to think that there might be places across the Sound that are close enough to certain ferries that it could be quicker even with waiting in ferry lines and getting across. Maybe not. But even if the time were about the same, I'd have more fun boating it, I think. But then there's the money. But then . . . the pro's and con's

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:39 pm

For me the ideal would be a small apartment in the city and a home in the mountains a couple hours away. I hope to find a home in the mountains about an hour or so from a large town or small city when and if I retire. I've lived in the city, suburbs, and small towns. City life is okay, and I enjoy the richness of the culture and music to be found in it's pub; but, urban life tends to be too expensive and too intrusive.

I've always found mountain folk more neighborly and having a 20 acre wood to wander through would find me content. Better yet, if I could find a lakeside place in the mountains with a couple of acres I'd be in heaven.

I treasure times of solitude to reflect and enjoy the out-of-doors, the sound of the woodland creek, wind running through the leaves in the canope over head, the soft fresh smells of the nearby meadow with its wild flowers, the smell of leaves and humis rising underfoot, the soft light that dapples the ground. To hear the neighbors fiddle down the road, knowing its the open invitation to come and sit a spell and drink in a few back porch tunes. Such things fill my dreams, asleep or awake.

Alas, life has sat me between DC and Baltimore, but even here I've tried to turn my back yard into that woodland retreat with ferns and pines, gurgling water and bayberry bush. A place where you can sit casual and ...

alespa · Post by **alespa** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:47 pm

Lee, you got my mind reeling on that description

LeeMarsh · Post by **LeeMarsh** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 12:28 am

Alespa,

Since your looking in the country, you might want to walk the road you're thinking of living on and meet a couple of neighbors. The value of having a fiddler 2 doors down might be an value the current owner doesn't appreciate. Also many country folks would be honored if you take the time to meet them befor you become their neighbors.

Where ever you find your rest, here's hoping you can ...

alespa · Post by **alespa** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:03 am

Thanks Lee!

jkrazy52 · Post by **jkrazy52** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:39 am

Country living is great. Everyone has given great pros & cons. It's really up to how & where you want your family to live. You're not really giving up 'immediate access' to all the city has to offer. And how "immediate" is it, when you're in a gridlock pattern during rush hour anyway?

~Judy

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:39 am

I like living in the country but would like to be a little closer to a big city. I could tolerate the 'burbs but it wouldn't be as free as it is now. I would miss all the trees we currently have. There's nothing like seeing every twig on every tree covered with fresh snow in the cold morning sun.

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 4:55 am

I like my sleepy little market town. Too small for the rush but big enough for two sessions.

StewySmoot · Post by **StewySmoot** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 5:07 am

Ah, country life!

Finding a nice peaceful place in the woods, peacful until Saturday night when Jack Miller gets likkered up. You find yourself using words like "mean drunk".
Or getting to meet your neighbors, like Dogman who never takes a bath and has a pot farm,
Or how about Sonny Montgomery, the biggest liar in the county? He's pretty quiet exceptin' when he and Junior Bass are working on their cars,
Ah country life where sound travels for miles, especially during hunting season or whenever the good ole boys feel like shooting off their weapons,
It is so tranquil to stroll through the woods and see how many deer stands hunters have put up near your property,
It can get pretty quiet up in the hills, 'specially when an ice storm, flood, or a drunk driver takes out the power line for a week. You kinda get used to the gas generator humming 24/7 after a while.

And what could be more tranquil than a stroll down the South Branch of the Potomac? Assuming of course that all of the garbage is cleaned up from the 100-year flood that happened in 1985....and 87...93.. 94 and the back to back 100-year floods in 97. How did they get that double wide mobile home out of the trees?

You learn what Osage Orange is and why it is good for absolutely nothing.

And the sense of adventure? What could be more fun than to drive 45 minutes into town to find a PVC elbow for that froze water line and finding out the store closes at noon on Saturdays so you have to drive another hour to find a hardware store so you can cobble together a few adapters into a joint so's you can take a bath, only to find that your PVC cement has hardened into stone?

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Poll: Do you prefer the city or country?

OT: Where do you like living?