Why We Live Where We Do

[DaveZinAz]

I am also an Arizona native but have lived in many other places including Rochester. I have some observations:

She will probably love the Summer. Much cooler than Phoenix, a bit of rain in the afternoons and many very pretty places to visit within a couple of hours drive (Finger Lakes, wineries, farms of all kinds and roadside stands everywhere selling antiques and everything edible). I spent several hours almost every evening water skiing on Long Pond and canoeing on the old canals can be very relaxing.

She will probably hate everything else. Winters are terribly cold and snowy (especially if you go east or west). There isn't much to do during winter unless you like hockey or ice fishing. Phoenix has a world-class variety of restaurants - Rochester.....not so much although the "garbage plate" is reputed to be gastronomically exceptional according to my son's hockey team. Rochester, like the rest of Noo Yawk is expensive. Their native beer is terrible and their roads suck. You have a choice in Noo Yawk: two-lanes or toll roads. Neither are well maintained. There are more railroad tracks in the City of Rochester than anywhere on Earth (think Grand Avenue times 100). Both major employers have collapsed in the past decade (Kodak and Xerox) leaving Rochester financially destitute and with some severe "diversity" issues. Rochester's crime rates an 'F' by several agencies and appears to be worsening.

Just my 2 cents. Your mileage may vary.

My Dad worked for Kodak until we moved to Arizona.

My wife has absolutely zero interest in living anywhere it snows and it sticks for more than a day!
Even a visit is iffy!
I meant to say I was going to take her back there for a visit for all the summer reasons you mentioned. It is spot on.

 

[Lew L]

In the forest above Reno.

Born in San Francisco ( at the time, a most beautiful city ). Parents had recently moved from NYC and 10 months later I popped out. Worked my way down the peninsula to finally hit college in San Jose. Met first wife there and later had our only son. ( BTW--- he now lives near Tucson,Az.) After 20 years of teaching Metal shop and driving 4 to 5 hours to ski----- My second wife ( best decision I ever made ) we moved to the mountains outside Reno ,Nv. Built a couple of houses ( my own included) worked for 4 years in the casino sign industry, then went back to teaching Metal shop in a newish high school for 17 yrs.
Why here:

4 actual seasons, no state income tax, much less traffic, great ryding roads ( Sierra Nevada with all it's passes is my back yard). No tornadoes, hurricanes, ya we will get a small earthquake once in a while. Oh, did I mention skiing------ I skied over 50 days last year. 11 minutes to Mt Rose/ Ski Tahoe *( my fav )and 8 other ski mountains with in an hours drive.

I love it here.nojoke

Lew L

 

[UtahPete]

Fate, not really choice, but it's okay

I've lived all over, including Canada and England, but I'm now in Utah due to life circumstances. I expected it to be temporary because I couldn't imagine not living on the coast, but 14 years later here we are in Utah. For Jane, proximity to her married son and family is the prime motivator. For me, I want to be with Jane so was ready to 'put up' with Utah and all its quirks. Our primary residence is in northern Utah, just outside of Park City, at 6700'. It is snowing as I write this (early October) and I hate winter.

As a compromise, we bought a small house in southern Utah a couple of years ago and now we spend our winters there. This gives us a 12-month riding season and that works for me.

I have since come to really like Utah since we have the best of all its varied scenery for most of the year. And, located where we are in summer and winter, the day trips and longer are spectacular with little to no traffic to ruin it.

 

[ARtraveler]

I've lived all over, including Canada and England, but I'm now in Utah due to life circumstances. I expected it to be temporary because I couldn't imagine not living on the coast, but 14 years later here we are in Utah. For Jane, proximity to her married son and family is the prime motivator. For me, I want to be with Jane so was ready to 'put up' with Utah and all its quirks. Our primary residence is in northern Utah, just outside of Park City, at 6700'. It is snowing as I write this (early October) and I hate winter.

As a compromise, we bought a small house in southern Utah a couple of years ago and now we spend our winters there. This gives us a 12-month riding season and that works for me.

I have since come to really like Utah since we have the best of all its varied scenery for most of the year. And, located where we are in summer and winter, the day trips and longer are spectacular with little to no traffic to ruin it.

One of my favorite places to visit and enjoy the scenery. Every time we hit Vegas we rent a car and head North. I love Zion, Bryce Canyon and similar. Love how the desert transitions from brown (Nevada) to red in Utah.

I am going to do that on two or three wheels in the next couple years.

 

[johnsimion]

I was born and raised in Jefferson City, Missouri, went to Mizzou for college and law school and kept coming back to Missouri over and over until I retired in 2013 (three years in Jefferson City, nine years at Fort Leonard Wood, and seven years in Kansas City, but none of them consecutively). At other times my military career took me to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, Clark Air Base, Philippines, and West Palm Beach, Florida. We loved Florida and would have loved to stay there, but I had to transfer back to Kansas City so I (as an only child) could care for aged parents who refused to move to Florida like every other retiree in the world. Kansas City (Lee's Summit, specifically) was undoubtedly the worst place I ever lived - lots of taxes, expensive cost of living, and horrific weather (in addition to constant tornado scares, we got a foot of snow the last week of April 2013 and another foot the first week of May 2013). It's the only place I've ever lived where NOBODY in the neighborhood knew or spoke to each other. When I was finally able to retire, there was no question that I was getting out of Missouri for good. We knew there were better places. We strongly considered moving back to Florida, but in the end we chose not to because we'd gone through three hurricanes during our time there.

So why Las Vegas? Partly because my wife's brother is here and I have no family I'm close to anywhere else. Like many, we had thought of Vegas only in terms of the Strip and were surprised to learn that there's an entirely normal city once you get outside the Strip. Our house has a beautiful pool and the yard has so many trees and shrubs, it looks like California. Not only do we enjoy "no income tax" but we also enjoy lower property taxes, lower cost of homeowner's insurance, no snow and rare freezes. Sure, it's super hot three months out of the year, but that's why God invented air conditioning. For the other nine months of the year, the weather is superb and during the hot months, we can travel as we please without fear of hurricanes -- and we usually go to Florida a couple of times a year. In Vegas, we have all the shopping and all the entertainment we could ever want and it's only a couple of miles away. And for some weird reason, food is much cheaper here -- a gallon of milk here in the middle of the desert is $2.40 but in Kansas City where there are dairy farms all around it's $4.00. And no, we don't gamble. There are too many shows and national parks around here to bother wasting time and money in the casinos. As far as I'm concerned, the casinos are there so the tourists can pay our income taxes. Personally I don't get the appeal -- I find Vegas a nice place to live but would never come here on vacation.