Find solution
What are Home School Teaching Requirements in Virginia?

Home is where...?

  • My husband and I will be leaving our current town in about a year and a half, and we’re starting to think about where we might like to go next. We have several requirements (explained inside), and I’ll probably be posting questions about this more than once! We are thinking about taking a couple of weeks to explore some cities in California this spring or summer, and I’m hoping some of you can suggest some California towns that might be a good fit for us so we can start planning the exploratory trip. First of all, we are in our 30s and have no kids. We currently live in a small college town in rural Mississippi, where we are both attending art school. Career-wise, my husband has a background in web development. My professional background is in holistic nutrition, culinary arts, and teaching. However, we are not really looking for a professional situation to dictate where we move. We have some freedom to go where we would like to be (within financial limits) and are fine with cobbling together part-time jobs and freelance work, etc., to make our lives happen the way we want. So in general, don’t worry too much about where we will work when making suggestions. For background: We have previously lived in Washington, D.C., NYC, Austin, and various parts of Maryland. We aren’t really interested in going back to any of those places (maybe NYC, but it’s not ideal for us weather-wise and money-wise). I can explain more about what we didn’t like about our previous homes if needed. We have a few non-negotiable requirements: 1. We hate the cold. Ideally we would prefer a temperature range (year-round) of around 50-80 degrees. However, we can deal with like 40ish-100ish. No snow or ice, please, and preferably lots of sunshine as I get the SAD. 2. We desperately need availability of excellent, high-quality food, including produce and animal foods. (This is something we have really missed in our current food desert situation.) Our first choice would be a really good well-stocked co-op or independent natural market with a good butchery department. 3. We would really like to be within one hour’s driving distance (preferably less) to a major airport. Bonus if the airport has Southwest Airlines. 4. We do NOT enjoy suburbs (at all); we like more of an urban area or a smaller town with an authentic downtown (not a faux “downtown” created by a huge development company that’s full of chain restaurants), older neighborhoods (as opposed to new developments full of townhouses), etc. However, we don’t want to be in a situation where we can’t park at our own house. Available parking is a must! Walkable stuff would be awesomely awesome. Other things we really would like to have (not make or break items, but we would like them if possible): * Friendly artist community * University/learning center of some kind nearby * Beach – we aren’t really swimmers but we enjoy walking on/looking at a beach * Smoke free town/restaurants * Politically progressive (anywhere will be an improvement on where we are in this department, but we would really like readily available like-minded people as we are both very progressive) * High-quality alternative healthcare options (integrative doctors, acupuncture, etc.) * Container Store and/or Ikea I expect as we branch out into other regions, I may ask this question again for those areas… for now we’re thinking about California and trying to investigate options there, but if you read my list and know of some other place we would love, please post or memail me, by all means!! PS - I know it's a big state, but please feel free to suggest towns anywhere in Cali and we can figure out what we want to check out.

  • Answer:

    Santa Cruz or Berkeley hit every bullet point. Santa Cruz is ~45 minutes from San Jose airport, which is mostly domestic and Mexico; if you want a serious international airport then you need to be closer to SFO; Berkeley is ~45 minutes drive from there. Santa Cruz is a beach town; Berkeley is on the bay, but the nearest real beach is in San Francisco across the bridge.

hansbrough at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Hi hansbrough! I live in http://maps.google.com/maps?ix=hca&q=sebastopol&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x808424cd76e3686f:0x2b7bf31174c69208,Sebastopol,+CA&gl=us&ei=UxYqT_-1HIGNigLN5aziCg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ8gEwAA California and given the things your looking for, I suggest you check it out. 1. "We hate the cold." Except for one or two frosts overnight, during the month of december the temperature was 50-60 every day. This afternoon I was walking around in a tee shirt, and the early flowers are just starting to bud. Its february! 2. "We desperately need availability of excellent, high-quality food" During the spring and summer there is a biweekly farmers market that takes over the town square. I personally worked on an organic goat milk creamery operating 5 min out of town. There are several high quality organic farms that offer their produce on a subscription basis. 3. San Francisco international is about an hour and a half depending on traffic. 4. "We do NOT enjoy suburbs (at all)" Although the town is relatively close to Santa Rosa (pop 150k), it still maintains its independent nature. * Friendly artist community -> The town in absolutely infested with older well-to-do artistic hippies. I once had http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_waits in my kitchen. I made him tea. * University/learning center of some kind nearby -> The http://www.santarosa.edu/ is widely regarded as the best community college in the state. * Beach – we aren’t really swimmers but we enjoy walking on/looking at a beach -> 20 min drive to some of http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/ggr346/ft/pacific/ca/Image23.jpg coast line your going to find period. * Smoke free town/restaurants -> Its actually illegal to smoke cigarettes in the down town area. There is a marijuana dispensary a quarter mile from the police station. * Politically progressive -> see above GIANT HIPPY VILLE * High-quality alternative healthcare options -> re hippies. * Container Store and/or Ikea -> Anything you want you can get in Santa Rosa for a 1/2 hour drive.

KeSetAffinityThread

San Francisco. Duh, right? It's got everything except for parking. (I have to say that to folks like me from metropolis areas on the east coast, most of southern CA feels pretty suburban.)

desuetude

I'm really surprised no one's mentioned Long Beach yet! I recently started doing some grad work at CSULB and I find Long Beach (at least the handfull of neighborhoods I've seen) to be very pleasant. It meets all of your requirements, and the rent is laughably low (and this is coming from someone who paid $1400/mo for a one bedroom hellhole in Berkeley). Very artsy, very friendly, some neighborhoods are walkable and/or bike-able communities. At the very least, check it out. A very comfortable spot to live.

Temeraria

nthing san diego, particularly any of the uptown neighborhoods (where I live). hits every single bullet point. uptown's a great place, urban but not overly so, and ultra-progressive. also seconding ventura, which is near where I grew up & my parents still live. less urban, so less to offer, but a fantastic little city.

changeling

Oakland Airport is a hub for Southwest, to the extent that they have hubs. Many more SW flights go through OAK than SFO. The opposite is true for almost every other airline. Also they are more likely to be on time at OAK as fog is not as bad. Berkeley hits most of your requirements, though I don't know the state of the artist community. You should also check out some Oakland neighborhoods, like Temescal, Grand Lake, etc. Some walkable beaches are Ocean Beach in SF (NOT recommended for swimming) and Crown Memorial in Alameda (swimming is OK). If you are used to the temperature of Atlantic or Gulf water, the Pacific will seem freezing to you. San Diego has lots of beaches and is warmer. It's more spread out, but you could look at Hillcrest or neighborhoods like that, they're compact. I don't know about alternative healthcare. The foodie scene is not as pronounced as in the Bay Area, but there's plenty of good stuff available. I would not call San Diego 'progressive,' I'd call it 'not as conservative as Orange County.' I grew up in San Diego and currently live in the Berkeley area. Email or MeMail if you want more info.

expialidocious

You will be perfectly, delightfully content in Santa Cruz. The quality of life there is simply amazing. Food leans pretty veggie, but Shopper's Corner will cover your "independent grocery with excellent butchery dept" need.

apparently

Nthing Santa Cruz. Southwest flies out of both SJC and SFO.

ewiar

Coastal towns all up and down lower half of CA might do you well. Quite a few college towns. However, coastal areas tend to be priciest. And can be surprisingly conservative. Ventura country is nice. L.A. County's coastal towns can be pretty nice and are close to all the amenities, very urban. I've lived in the Venice/Santa Monica area (pretty closely fits your description) for years and love it. San Pedro has lots of charm IMO. San Diego has several older neighborhoods/towns that offer lots of character. Weather along the coast south of Ventura County is extremely mild.

2N2222

I'd suggest you look at the towns in Sonoma County. Don't know which town your budget will allow.

artdrectr

Load more

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.