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It has been a long time but I do still lurk around here for a chuckle from you guys now and again, I just rarely ever have the time to post (and be courteous enough to keep up with the responses required). Sorry if this one has been gone over - I'm sure it has more than once back in the day but it may be time for a fresh look - I have a serious question and I think this might be one of the best places to ask it because a lot of you have already worked this problem thru and there are a lot of us getting ready to - so, where in this great country are the best places to retire?
The last 50 or so years have been in Illinois where a few generations ago my broke ancestors found work and we've been here ever since. I used to say this is where the 'fly-over' part of the country starts up again after Chicago but that was back when it was mostly farms. Nowadays it is so developed I joke that if you can get to high ground all you get are asphalt roof shingles as far as the eye can see, and that we are just close enough to Chicago to smell it, ... (apologies). Growing up we had a horse (retired barrel racer - wow) and chickens (smarter than the horse but still dumb) and most of an acre that we gardened and put up for winter (I'd love to take that up again), and we spent endless hours between chores riding and shooting pellet guns, hunting rabbits in the evening as we walked the old railroad bed out of town (I still get the urge to go walk the woods with a rifle when there are two inches of snow). I learned how to drive on a Model A Ford pickup when I was 10 (because we had already taken it completely apart and put it back together), and when Dad wasn't looking we would dash around the block in it. By 12 or 13 he had given up and let us drive in the parades all summer, and much of my youth was spent riding around in the bed of it. Basically we grew up working hard but doing a lot of fun stuff that would be on the 9 o'clock news today. It was a great place to grow up and even though that town only exists in my memory now, we stayed on and with the Lord's help we have been really fortunate and have raised some great kids here. But now we are looking at being empty-nesters in the next few years and trying to see if the next phase of our lives might not be somewhere else (though maybe we'll keep a small place here as well for a while).
I have traveled a pretty fair amount of this country and really enjoyed all of my trips, but pulling up stakes and moving (even if only part of the year) is another thing. I always wanted some space to get away from 'civilization', and for years had the idea of building or rehabbing a remote cabin in the woods somewhere with some views so I can take advantage of some more outdoors time - someplace I can put an old candlestick phone on a table by the door, a place I can set out a 200 yard range or throw some clays, maybe a space to put in a nice garden again - but especially, someplace that I can really see the stars at night. Frisco south to Southern Cali was a bit too weird for this midwestern boy (and pricey, though mostly I think a lot of folks out there that are pretty much drunk on sunshine, apologies again but at least they don't have to shovel it, ...
). I would probably melt in Florida or much of Texas (though I do like the way you folks think!). I love fishing my part of the upper Mississippi and hunting the Driftless region of southern Wisconsin looks to be a good place to be lost in (always loved it but never knew it had its own name!). The southwest and the Durango/Mesa Verde area have so much unspoken history that I could really enjoy being lost anywhere around there. But also loved the gorgeous country as you head west out of DC into Virginia. I still laugh about an old poster here on CSP, Dave in Nebraska (I think) that posted a pic from his living room window looking north with the caption 'nothing between me and the North Pole' - pretty awesome. And there have been many to speak of how amazing the Northwest is for anyone who loves the outdoors. I thought about RVing for a while just to check things out better (like that Pacific Northwest), but my better half is not a fan of the RV idea. Maybe I'll just saddle up a horse grab a nice lever action and try to retrace the old Oregon Trail that starts right here, or better yet, just grab the Model A and do it at 35 miles an hour (RV looks pretty nice now, don't it, ... ) though I am unsure what firearm goes with a Model A.
The kids are starting to spread out, too, so it may take more of its own course eventually. But I think many of you have already worked this calculus and will have some pretty good insights and opinions, and I would love to hear them. So, seriously, east coast, west coast, Gulf coast, South eastern, high desert, Northwest, New England, Panhandle - where are the great places to retire that you guys have found? Or, where is it that you folks about to retire are looking?
Many thanks in advance and as always, best regards all.
The last 50 or so years have been in Illinois where a few generations ago my broke ancestors found work and we've been here ever since. I used to say this is where the 'fly-over' part of the country starts up again after Chicago but that was back when it was mostly farms. Nowadays it is so developed I joke that if you can get to high ground all you get are asphalt roof shingles as far as the eye can see, and that we are just close enough to Chicago to smell it, ... (apologies). Growing up we had a horse (retired barrel racer - wow) and chickens (smarter than the horse but still dumb) and most of an acre that we gardened and put up for winter (I'd love to take that up again), and we spent endless hours between chores riding and shooting pellet guns, hunting rabbits in the evening as we walked the old railroad bed out of town (I still get the urge to go walk the woods with a rifle when there are two inches of snow). I learned how to drive on a Model A Ford pickup when I was 10 (because we had already taken it completely apart and put it back together), and when Dad wasn't looking we would dash around the block in it. By 12 or 13 he had given up and let us drive in the parades all summer, and much of my youth was spent riding around in the bed of it. Basically we grew up working hard but doing a lot of fun stuff that would be on the 9 o'clock news today. It was a great place to grow up and even though that town only exists in my memory now, we stayed on and with the Lord's help we have been really fortunate and have raised some great kids here. But now we are looking at being empty-nesters in the next few years and trying to see if the next phase of our lives might not be somewhere else (though maybe we'll keep a small place here as well for a while).
I have traveled a pretty fair amount of this country and really enjoyed all of my trips, but pulling up stakes and moving (even if only part of the year) is another thing. I always wanted some space to get away from 'civilization', and for years had the idea of building or rehabbing a remote cabin in the woods somewhere with some views so I can take advantage of some more outdoors time - someplace I can put an old candlestick phone on a table by the door, a place I can set out a 200 yard range or throw some clays, maybe a space to put in a nice garden again - but especially, someplace that I can really see the stars at night. Frisco south to Southern Cali was a bit too weird for this midwestern boy (and pricey, though mostly I think a lot of folks out there that are pretty much drunk on sunshine, apologies again but at least they don't have to shovel it, ...
). I would probably melt in Florida or much of Texas (though I do like the way you folks think!). I love fishing my part of the upper Mississippi and hunting the Driftless region of southern Wisconsin looks to be a good place to be lost in (always loved it but never knew it had its own name!). The southwest and the Durango/Mesa Verde area have so much unspoken history that I could really enjoy being lost anywhere around there. But also loved the gorgeous country as you head west out of DC into Virginia. I still laugh about an old poster here on CSP, Dave in Nebraska (I think) that posted a pic from his living room window looking north with the caption 'nothing between me and the North Pole' - pretty awesome. And there have been many to speak of how amazing the Northwest is for anyone who loves the outdoors. I thought about RVing for a while just to check things out better (like that Pacific Northwest), but my better half is not a fan of the RV idea. Maybe I'll just saddle up a horse grab a nice lever action and try to retrace the old Oregon Trail that starts right here, or better yet, just grab the Model A and do it at 35 miles an hour (RV looks pretty nice now, don't it, ... ) though I am unsure what firearm goes with a Model A. The kids are starting to spread out, too, so it may take more of its own course eventually. But I think many of you have already worked this calculus and will have some pretty good insights and opinions, and I would love to hear them. So, seriously, east coast, west coast, Gulf coast, South eastern, high desert, Northwest, New England, Panhandle - where are the great places to retire that you guys have found? Or, where is it that you folks about to retire are looking?
Many thanks in advance and as always, best regards all.
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