As things start to settle down after my coast to coast adventure I find myself comparing to two locations – San Francisco, California and the Northern Virginia – DC area.
Years ago I found myself wanting to living in the Northern Virginia area after each visit to my dad’s or when spending time with my sister. My dad has lived in a couple of different houses in the area after retiring from the Air Force. Between the summer house sitting visits and spending time living with my sister – I still kept wanting to find a way to be able to afford to live in the area. But I really started noticing a change in the area when we spent Christmas 2004 with my dad. This last visit really showed how overcrowded the area had become – way too many people and most of them were rude (expect the nice lady in the cake decorating store). I think I may have found a way to measure the “livability” of an area – go to WalMart. I went to two different WalMarts in the area at different times and both of them had long lines at ALL the open registers. We walked in the first one, took one look, walked back out and went to Target. I just don’t think I could ever afford the cost of living there either – housing prices are outrageous. I would love to take my sister’s house and put it where ours is – it would probably be a third of the cost.
What a contrast San Francisco is – it’s got a lot of people there too plus the tourists. I had a great time there but probably could never afford to live there either. I don’t think I could stomach their politics for very long either. The public transportation is EXCELLENT there. Then dinner in the Castro District (yes, the gay area) where the service was so good that I tipped more than my bill.
I would love to live nearer to my sister but I just don’t see us in the DC area perhaps many years ago but not now. Maybe we could build our own multi/extended family type dwelling somewhere where the people are friendly, the jobs (and pay are good) and there is room to roam.
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