Where Do You Want To Live?……
Over the years, my job took me to many different cities around the U.S…. I found five locations which are much more desirable than my current location of the Oklahoma City area…. New Orleans was on the top, but I dropped it due to the recent damage…. I don’t think they’ll have it up-to-snuff anytime soon…. It’s a shame, though, because you talk about a 24-hour party place…. If you’re in the French Quarter after about 1 a.m. you’ll notice that all the police seem to disappear…. I guess they figure if you’re there that late, you’re there for something more than sightseeing and short of murder, it’s a wide-open town!…. Another favorite place is hidden in the mountains of Arkansas called Hot Springs…. They have bath houses there that date back to the twenties when the rich and famous used to enjoy the natural hot springs…. There are casinos, horse tracks, a famous wax museum, and a beautifully preserved historic downtown…. Much more to offer than Vegas and a lot less crowded….. Next is in the Rocky Mountains – Colorado Springs….. Lots and lots of natural beauty here: Pikes Peak, Cave of the Winds, even a Will Rogers Memorial (I never figured out why since Will was from Oklahoma)…. Haven’t been there for many years, so it’s probably a lot more crowded these days….. My “out-of-the-country” pick is Priory Bay, Jamaica…. I picked Jamaica because they speak English there (well, a form of English)…. You’ve got “James Bond Beach” just across the bay where they filmed a lot of the stuff for the movies and right in the middle of the bay is one of Columbus’s ships that sank in the bay on one of his first voyages to the new world…. you can still see the tops of the masts in the crystal clear water of the Caribbean….. The temp is a constant ’70’s day or night and they make a helluva rum drink…. But, I decided on my fifth place as my choice…. I just can’t afford to move there at this time – Seattle…. It’s got everything I enjoy – a serious music scene, cool temps, beautiful scenery, and the Space Needle…. All I need is cash (sounds like a good title for a movie)…. So, that’s my pick for a “Home, Sweet, Home”…. Look for “MR’s Big Bargain Basement” coming soon (gotta raise money somehow!)….. So, does anyone else want to live in a different place than they are now?…. I don’t mean a dream island, but a serious intention of moving that they might do in the future…..
April 17th, 2006 at 10:47 am
We were considering a move to Ft. Worth, TX. I have an Great Aunt down there who is leaving me everything when she is gone and it’s all paid for. A nice 2 bd frame house on a quiet st. But we are kinda set where we are now, so when she is gone we are going to have a service manage the property for a while and move down there later on. I like Ft. Worth it has and old west feel still, A pretty good Music scene, C&W and Blues. and plus the important thing, It’s not Oklahoma City.
April 17th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
J.J., I spent 2 months in Fort Worth working on the GSA warehouse complex located there…. This was during the summer and I found it as hot and humid as Oklahoma and it has the flatland layout of OKC…. I’ve found that the older I get the more I can’t tolerate the extreme heat/humidity of Oklahoma and surrounding areas…. I find I enjoy cool and cloudy as opposed to the excepted theory of moving to Florida to retire in the warm sun…… I’m personally sick of all the sunshine we get here….. I have to admit I didn’t check out the music scene or other recreational sites in Fort Worth as we would return to OKC on the weekends…. I guess “To Each His Own”….. Happiness to your and yours if you do make the move…..
April 18th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
I like central OK — the weather in particular. However, I do daydream about California a lot.
San Luis Obispo — Pismo Beach — See Canyon area: Coastal California with less crowds, halfway between LAX and SFO.
San Diego: best climate on the planet.
New Mexico (Socorro?): there’s something about the SW, and NM in particular, that resonates with me. I like the sun, the daily thunderstorms on the plateau, the mix of cultures. And I like chiles with everything. And it’s less commercial/developed/crowded than Colorado. So much of the state is incredibly poor.
Austin: heresy for an OU grad, but it’s an awesome town. Great music scene. Great food. Hip.
I love the Seattle area and cherish the time I spent there, but it’s MUCH too cloudy 9 months of the year. DFW has always seemed to me like a scaled up version of OKC with worse traffic and more humidity. And New Orleans?! Just send me some andouille sausage and their basketball team, thanks. MR, I like your Jamaica suggestion, though methinks the climate is a bit more tropical than you lead on!
April 18th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Oh, and if we’re expanding outside CONUS, I like the area around Florence/Bologna.
April 18th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Musician’s Friend used to be out of San Luis Obispo…. I don’t know if they are still in business, but I used to buy quite a bit of stuff from them because most of it was not locally available at the time….. Pismo Beach?….. Didn’t Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck make a wrong turn at Albuquerque and wind up on Pismo Beach?…… ….That’s All Folks!…….
April 20th, 2006 at 1:17 am
Musician’s Friend is definitely still in business. Did you mean some other outfit? Their website sez they were founded in 1983 in San Diego and then relocated to Medford, OR–a nice place to live too–where I’ve always known them to be.
My picks are in Europe. In particular, I’d like to live in the Berner-Oberland region of Switzerland. Mountains, cows, and on-time trains… love it! Sorry HS, the Italian culture is a little too laid-back for me. I enjoy Germany too and would probably move there, but Tarn isn’t interested.
My Mom used to live in Raton, NM. Nice place, but the pace of life is v e r y s l o w. Would you like green, red, or christmas on your wet enchilada?
April 20th, 2006 at 1:53 am
Mr. has known about my dream ever since we met back in 1974, and I’ve mentioned my adopted home in previous posts, but I feel
compelled to underscore my satisfaction with my current location. After living in central Oklahoma the first 56 years of my life,
I was finally able to realize my dream of building my own home about 9,700 ft. above sea level in the Sangre de Cristo range of
southern Colorado. After living here about seven months, I’m sure I’ll never want to live anywhere else. There’s not much night-
life in these parts unless you’re a coyote, a cougar or a hoot owl. While there is a huge megalopolis forming along the front
range of the Rockies that will soon extend from Cheyenne to Pueblo, my little corner of Colorado is not at all commercial/
developed/crowded, huskysooner, and the prevailing winds blow all of that front range pollution off to Nebraska, Kansas and
Oklahoma. All of that polluted water flows off in the same direction. We’re about 14 miles from the nearest paved road, and over
20 miles from the greater Fort Garland metropolitan area ( population 432 ). The bears outnumber the humans around here, and are,
in turn, greatly outnumbered by the deer and elk. Old Randalf is happier and more content than he’s ever been before.
April 22nd, 2006 at 11:43 am
Sounds wonderful, RtG. That mountain range extends down into NM, too, I believe.
April 22nd, 2006 at 5:04 pm
One-and-one half wandering jews
Wandering wherever they choose
In the Sangre de Cristos, the
Blood Of Christ mountains of New Mexico…
–Rhymin’ Simon
April 22nd, 2006 at 10:10 pm
Jek — Red please.
April 22nd, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Sorry to get off of the beaten path of your orig.post MR, but Randalf, It sounds like almost heaven up there I love CO. But I can’t take the cold anymore and my wife can’t handle the Alitiude. Some day I hope to get a load around your area and get to see it for myself. A place I would like to live but will never Is Jamaica.Ever since MR told me about the time he spent there It sounds like a real cool place, I wonder how much time, and Tourism has changed It?