Which state?

Montana and Alaska would be my extreme choices. For more reasonable moves I'd say NH, VT, ME or PA. Beautiful country, jobs are still available enough, and I'm within a distance to comfortable travel to a more urban area should I need to. I'd consider a southern move as well but I'd be very picky about it.
 
My list leads me to Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma with job opportunities being the deciding factor.

I'm very conflicted on this. First, my job (software developer in biotech) pretty much limits me to a few major city centers, though I would rather live in a more rural location. I'm getting pretty sick of winter, but I'm not a fan of hot and humid. I like being near the ocean. I've spent time in the south and I just don't care for the culture down there. So that pretty much rules out Tennessee.

I've spent about a year in Texas and I didn't much are for it. I'd consider Austin, but Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth are right out.

Oklahoma? No thank you very much.

I think Utah is colder than I'm looking for at the moment.

Arizona has some things to offer, but I'm not sure I want to live in the desert.

Right now, I think the most likely place for me is southern NH, but I'm just getting sick of winter.

I actually have a good opportunity to move to San Diego right now, but 1) Mrs. M1911's job is tied to MA, and 2) CA gun laws are even worse than MA's gun laws and I'd have to divest myself of a good portion of my collection. On the other hand, right now San Diego's climate is looking awfully appealing.
 
Grew up in NC and spent 5 years in Texas. I'd pick either of those over MA any day. But now that I've moved from MA to NH I'm pretty happy. I have an awesome neighbor and I get the backwoods life I loved down south. Pending the snow in pretty content in NH.


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M1911 - Utah appears to be much shorter winters. The growing season there is DOUBLE the growing season in the northeast.

I would want to go warm. not too warm where there are a bunch of Hurricanes or Tornadoes. Maybe Kentucky. Your body will get used to heat. Cold long winters lead to many health issues, especially if you dont do winter sports.
 
M1911 - Utah appears to be much shorter winters. The growing season there is DOUBLE the growing season in the northeast. I would want to go warm. not too warm where there are a bunch of Hurricanes or Tornadoes. Maybe Kentucky. Your body will get used to heat. Cold long winters lead to many health issues, especially if you dont do winter sports.

One thing to consider especially if you live in a smaller community outside of Salt Lake is the all pervasive influence of the LDS Church which permeates every aspect of life. If you are Mormon, no problem.

I have no issues with folks of that persuasion. There probably aren't 5000 Mormons on any state sponsored welfare in the country and the espouse many of the conservative family values that many of you believe in, but they are definitely not of a libertarian bent either small l or capital L and they do like to proselytize. If you can deal with the culture and Joseph Smith's version of Jesus, Utah is a pretty nice place, not for me though.
 
M1911 - Utah appears to be much shorter winters. The growing season there is DOUBLE the growing season in the northeast.

I would want to go warm. not too warm where there are a bunch of Hurricanes or Tornadoes. Maybe Kentucky. Your body will get used to heat. Cold long winters lead to many health issues, especially if you dont do winter sports.

Utah climate depends a lot on where you are. Salt Lake City and Park City are only 45 minutes from each other but the climate is very different.

I spent a year in Dallas, a year in Atlanta, a year in South Carolina, and a summer in western VA. I just don't like hot and humid. I do agree about the health issues with hibernating during the winter.
 
I'm very conflicted on this. First, my job (software developer in biotech) pretty much limits me to a few major city centers, though I would rather live in a more rural location. I'm getting pretty sick of winter, but I'm not a fan of hot and humid. I like being near the ocean. I've spent time in the south and I just don't care for the culture down there. So that pretty much rules out Tennessee.

I've spent about a year in Texas and I didn't much are for it. I'd consider Austin, but Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth are right out.

Oklahoma? No thank you very much.

I think Utah is colder than I'm looking for at the moment.

Arizona has some things to offer, but I'm not sure I want to live in the desert.

Right now, I think the most likely place for me is southern NH, but I'm just getting sick of winter.

I actually have a good opportunity to move to San Diego right now, but 1) Mrs. M1911's job is tied to MA, and 2) CA gun laws are even worse than MA's gun laws and I'd have to divest myself of a good portion of my collection. On the other hand, right now San Diego's climate is looking awfully appealing.

If you take a map of the country and remove every place more than 100 miles from the ocean, then remove every place having cold winters or hot summers (I don't remember the exact temp criteria I used) you are left with Gold Beach, Oregon.
 
If you take a map of the country and remove every place more than 100 miles from the ocean, then remove every place having cold winters or hot summers (I don't remember the exact temp criteria I used) you are left with Gold Beach, Oregon.

My concern about Oregon is the overcast skies. Just how gray and depressing does it get there during the rainy season?
 
My concern about Oregon is the overcast skies. Just how gray and depressing does it get there during the rainy season?
I'd worry more about social/political differences, although honestly, could it really be any worse than here?

Winter can get gray in that region. SAD can be an issue but is a bigger problem north and inland. Their winter storms are supposed to be intense. Of course it is west coast and you could catch a quake.

When i was contemplating it, I planned to vacation there for a week or so at a couple of different times of the year to get a better sense.
 
I've lived in Mass my whole life and most of my family and friends are here. I'm tied to my work, so NH it is, and I'm okay with that. If I wasn't tied here and money was no object, Montana/Wyoming/Idaho region is where I'd like to be. Maine is beautiful but they're not heading in a good direction, my plan is to be in NH by the end of the decade.
 
I going for Maine. Not big on the south-- fire ants, bugs, snakes, heat, ehh. It is oppressive without A/C. Do you ever think of a cozy cabin in the southern heat? Snow brings to mind a warm cozy fire and a snug cabin.

Vermont is nice as well but lots of moonbats over there. Maine has cheap property inland. New Hampshire has higher property prices and way more touristy.
 
I grew up in the Catskill Mountains and loved it until I got old enough to work, pay taxes and all those Demorats. I moved around to different parts of the world and finally settled in North Central Georgia. Low taxes, most of us are Conservative and the weather is pretty good if you don't mind the heat in the summer. Plenty of hunting ( 12 deer / year ) can hunt with silencers, AR15s with 100 round drums and lights at night and good fishing too.

PS: I also got my C/C permit in 3 days. [smile]
 
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My Wife and I grew up here - central Mass, and emigrated to NH 12 years ago...
BUT

this Winter has been the deciding factor, along with our getting elderly, her osteoporosis and fibromyalgia and in pain when it's cold..

SO

I'm retiring and we're selling the house and heading to the very western part of South Carolina this year....hope we like it...

( anyone want to buy a nice 4 BR house in southern NH, just west of Nashua, about 1 1/2 miles across the border.. ? ) [smile]
 
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For us, after doing our initial due diligence, South Carolina.

We're making our first long weekend trip at the end of the month to start looking. Looking at the Greenville (south of) area first, next will be Rock Hill area (mid-north just south of Charlotte, NC).

1. Lower taxes
2. Lower energy costs
3. Lower cost of living, you get a lot of house for your money
4. Very little snow
5. Liberals are in the minority
6. Pro-2A, very.

But it all depends on how things go. We will see.

I have a daughter in Texas. TX is my first choice, but Mrs. Mannydog isn't real happy with TX. That could change, tho.
 
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There can be problems with Texas if you are not real religious as in Southern Baptist or Evangelical Christian. Also too, there is a strong undercurrent of Hispanic Nativism and a clamor for the creation of a Tejas that existed prior to 1836. Austin is a lot like Cambridge. The gun laws in Vermont are better than Texas.

For the record, I've lived in Texas.

In general it's the religious climate of the south that turns me off. Great place for blue nose conservatives, less so for small "L" libertarians who don't want people pushing their moral and religious values on them. Blue nose Evangelicals are just as bad as Cambridge Moonbats IMO regardless of their stance on the 2A.
 
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I'd want a state on the east coast with good biotech job options so NC or GA are very viable. My wife's family lives in NC, but she's good with either choice.

Biotech in GA? I didn't realize there is much going on there. Certainly Research Triangle in NC has some biotech. What biotech companies are in GA?
 
If I had complete flexibility then I would do May through New Years in Maine and the do Jan through May in NC or SC.

If I can only choose one then it's my camp in Western Maine.
 
Biotech in GA? I didn't realize there is much going on there. Certainly Research Triangle in NC has some biotech. What biotech companies are in GA?

One that I know of, Merial, and I can get in rather easily through connections. Only reason why I'd consider it a viable place to move for biotech, personally. Unless I wanted to make a move to the CDC, which is always an option as well. I'm not sure what else there is in GA, but the big pharma and biotechs are definitely centralized in MA, CA, and NC.
 
One that I know of, Merial, and I can get in rather easily through connections. Only reason why I'd consider it a viable place to move for biotech, personally. Unless I wanted to make a move to the CDC, which is always an option as well. I'm not sure what else there is in GA, but the big pharma and biotechs are definitely centralized in MA, CA, and NC.

Massachusetts, particularly Kendall Square and the Longwood Medical area, is the big dog. San Francisco and San Diego to a lesser extent.
 
Massachusetts, particularly Kendall Square and the Longwood Medical area, is the big dog. San Francisco and San Diego to a lesser extent.

Yeah... I have to walk by this "Genetown" poster of Eastern MA every day at work.

smallRegion16.jpg


There's a lot of big biotech drug development companies outside of Boston.

But still NC and GA are where I'm looking to move. Back on topic [smile]
 
Let me preface this by saying I'm no expert in biotech. Undoubtedly MA, NC, and CA are the big hubs for biotech, but just based on areas I've been to and seen, biotech is alive in many other places.

Collegeville PA, 30 miles NW Philadelphia - Glaxo Smith Kline research facility, Pfizer / Dow Chemical facility (very large).
Princeton, NJ - Bristol Myers (big campus), Novo Nordisk, Ranbaxy
Orange, CT - Bayer Pharmaceuticals
Franklin Lakes, NJ - Becton Dickinson world headquarters
New London, CT - not sure if the Pfizer facility is still there.

And there's even a good size phama plant that manufactures Enbrel near me in rural RI.
 
Most of big pharma are cutting back jobs at their older research facilities and either staffing up in the Boston area or partnering with Boston area biotechs or acquiring Boston area biotechs. As for manufacturing facilities, they don't have same types of jobs as a research facility. I'm a software developer in bioinformatics. There wouldn't be a job for me at a drug factory.

One of the disadvantages of working at a big pharma company in one of their traditional locations is that they tend to be the only game on town. If you lose your job or decide to leave, you may have to move to find work. If you leave your biotech job in Cambridge, there are a dozen other biotechs within a couple blocks of your former office
 
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