Amy made me think of this...

I live in a very rural area. It is off the Appalachian trail at the Michaux forest area. The zoning on our road is residential/forestry.

The larger cities are a good 1/2 hour away. I live 1 hour from Baltimore and a little over an hour from D.C.

I really do enjoy where we live because we do have all four seasons.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 07:19 pm:

We live in the armpit......actually it's a small town that's rapidly growing, but the only good thing about it is the public schools. We are in *cancer alley*....there are chemical and fuel plants and grain elevators all around, and we'd like to move. We are about 30 minutes from downtown New Orleans. Seasons--------we have maybe 2 weeks of winter and the rest of the time the AC is going. Our best weather months are October and March...starting in April it goes downhill till the following October.

All my b**ching aside, we do have Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, French Quarter Festival, and for boaters, a LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGG boating season...........and plenty of fresh seafood and fish practically year round.

By Marg on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 07:25 pm:

How warm in the summer Karen and how cold in the winter?

Our highs in the summer mid 80's - 90.

Winter teens and 20's. Although this winter we were extremely lucky;)

By Kate on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 07:26 pm:

I'm in the suburbs, with major shopping being about 15 minutes away on all sides of us. Grocery stores, banks, and Target are two minutes away and so is the library, however, they are minor plazas and not at all 'city like'. I like my trees and green grass, but like having only 1/2 an acre to take care of. I love the suburbs and wouldn't trade it for city or country.

Unlike Marg, however, I would like to move south and AVOID the four seasons!! I only like ONE season and it's summer.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 07:45 pm:

Our highs in the summer are in the 90's......with HIGH humidity.....sometimes temps are over 100. Winter.......we've had a few nights this *winter* where we had freezing temps, but that's it.

I like warm climates, I just don't like where we are.

And there is no shopping where we live, but 15 minutes from here is everything we need.

By Coopaveryben on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 08:29 pm:

I live 20 minutes from the National forest and the ocoee river, we hosted the white water event for the olympics. We are surrounded by rivers and lakes. We live 20 minutes from Red Clay, the start of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. We live in a small town, about 100,000. It is the middle of the bible belt, filled with southern baptist and home to The Church Of God of Prophecy Headquarters. 1 hour from Knoxville, 2 hours from Nashville, 2 hours from Atlanta, and bordoring Chattanooga.

We have all four seasons, I couldn't imagine no fall and spring they are the best. Winter is cold but it rarely goes below 30, we may have a few weeks of below 20 but not long. Summer's are sweltering, usually 90's but the hummidity is what kills you. We usually end our swimming season in September and start it in May. We have been reaching the high 60's low 70's lately.

By Melanie on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 08:58 pm:

I love where we live. We live on a mountain in the middle of the redwoods. At the base of the mountain is the ocean. We are a small, rural community, but Silicon Valley is less than an hour away. I can't imagine living anywhere else.

By Mommyathome on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 09:25 pm:

I also love where we live. We live in rural area right in the middle of Utah. We are surrounded by huge mountains. Beautiful clean air and blue skies.
We have a Walmart and Albertsons within 15 minutes of us. But, the nearest "real" shopping area is about 2 hours away. We just make a day trip out of it.
I love it here because we get all 4 seasons. Usually to the extreme. 100 in the summer and
-20 in the winter. My favorite season is spring.
We see lots of deer/small wildlife which is fun for the kids.
We have beautiful lakes and great skiing. Something for everyone!
This is where we plan to raise our kids and make our permanent home.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 10:12 pm:

I live in WI along Lake Michigan. We are an hour north of Milwaukee and an hour south of Green Bay. I live about a mile or so from Lake Michigan, just a few minutes from Walmart, mere minutes from a grocery store and the library. I love it! I'm not sure I would want to live out in the country and I know i wouldn't want to live in Milwaukee. Everytime I go to the big city, I'm so glad to come back to my community! We have about 51,000 people.

Even though winter seems interminable right now, I really like having 4 seasons, too. Anywhere warm has a chance of hurricanes and I don't think I would want to be in a hurricane. Also, California has fires, mudslides, and earthquakes. I'll stay in WI. I was born and raised in WI.

By Mommmie on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 10:30 pm:

I live in one of the top 10 cities in the USA. Within 2 miles of my house I have 6 grocery stores (2 Albertsons, 1 Kroger, 2 Tom Thumbs/Safeway, and a Wal-Mart neighborhood market), 5 Starbucks, 3 Blockbusters and 1 Hollywood Video, 2 Eckerds, 1 Walgreen, a Target store and, of course, every other type establishment you can think of.

Even though I live in the city limits we are actually in a suburban school district. Within 2 miles of my house I have 6 elementary schools, 2 jr highs and 2 high schools.

My son attends a private school for dyslexic/ADD kids which is a half mile from my house. They have 810 students. If that school doesn't work out, there are about 30 other LD schools in the city, about which 7 are nearby - 10 mile radius.

My job is in a highrise building about 15 miles away with a commute of 25-60 minutes. The light rail stops at the building so I could take that if I needed to. I have a train station about 5 miles away.

This is a flat town with no natural scenery to speak of - no mountains, no ocean, no desert. Summers are hot (100+ degrees) and if the kids are lucky we get one snowfall a year.

My son and I just returned from this very cool indoor public pool. It has a huge water slide, water playground, and a lazy river with whirlpool(think flume ride/log ride but no boats, just people getting pushed through it - kids play tag in it). The pool also has a huge hot tub in the middle for adults only where we can watch our kids. The other pool in the building is used by that city's high school swim team. Upstairs is a work out facility that overlooks the pool. There's a climbing wall, too. It's a very cool place and it's in one of the fast growing outer ring suburbs.

By Amy~moderator on Sunday, March 14, 2004 - 11:38 pm:

We live in Fort Polk in Louisiana. The cities surrounding the base are very small towns. There are tall pines EVERYWHERE. It is a very rural area, very quiet...

I would've never thought that I would like to live in a rural area, but I am really liking it here. It's calming.

By Shellyg on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 12:43 am:

Rural, what's that? LOL! I live in the very crowded Los Angeles. We live near the beach which is the nice part. I was born and raised here but it is so quickly becoming way over crowded, that is the bad part. We have every imaginable combination of store within a few miles of us. We do not have winters, and if it rains everyone drives five miles an hour on the freeways and there is a "stormwatch" on the news. Its strange in L.A. You go five blocks south and you hit multi million dollar homes, five blocks north you hit ghetto.

By Shellyg on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 12:46 am:

Laura, I hear you with the Starbucks! Get this there are THREE Starbucks within Three blocks from my house.

By Karen~moderator on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 07:37 am:

OOOhhhh Shelly, I want to come live with you!!!! LOL

By Kaye on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 07:55 am:

Mommmie described my town too. We don't have a cool indoor park though, we are closer to the beach and never get snow. Pluses of my town, lots of culture, we are 30 minutes to an hour of really anything you could want, beach, downtown, country etc. Our area is a bunch of masterplanned communities, each one fenced in, walled off, neighborhood pool, park, courts.

By Trina~moderator on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 08:00 am:

We live in a rural suburb of a big city. I think we have best of both worlds - the joys of country life yet close to shopping and social activities. Good public schools and low crime rate. We have four seasons, although I could very easily do without winter! LOL!

By Colette on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 08:06 am:

I live in a rural/agricultural area. We have one gas station,3 convienence stores, 1 chinese rest, 2 pizza/sub places, 3 anitque stores, one stained glass studio, and that's pretty much it. No grocery stores but I am within a 15 minute drive to several in any direction. I am also 10 minutes from the beach, which I love and our properties border the town forest so that's nice too. We are about 1/2 hour from Boston - depending on traffic.

By Palmbchprincess on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 08:49 am:

I live in a small "city", about 18,000 people. There are giant hills down the street, some of the most expensive houses are up there. We have an HEB grocery, my bank's headquarters, a few gas stations, some fast food, etc, but they are building a Wal-Mart in town. Right now there is one in the next town over (5 min away), as well as Target, the mall, and the "motor mile". They are also building a Starbucks near the current Wal-mart, I can't wait!! It's pretty nice here with Austin about 45 minutes south, and Waco 45 minutes north. I miss the ocean though... We have 2 seasons, cold and HOT!

By Happynerdmom on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 08:50 am:

We live in a quiet neighbood in a suburb of Cincinnati. I have everything I need within minutes, plus three major malls within 15 min. Having only lived in big cities and suburbs, I'm not sure how I would do in a rural area! I am definitely spoiled with convenience. One thing I love about our area is the county park system. We have some gorgeous areas of woods, lakes, gorges, all great for hiking! We live right across from one of them. It has a 28-acre fishing lake. Another thing that I think many people take for granted is access to good hospitals. We have so many to choose from, plus one of the best Children's Hospitals in the country. (Which, unfortunately, we are very familiar with!) When my son had his surgery, it was amazing how many families had to come from so very far away to get the level of care they needed. Also, as mentioned before, what would I do without several Starbucks to choose from?!?!

By Eve on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 08:50 am:

We live in a suburb about 15 miles outside of Hartford,CT. We are about 100 miles from NYC. And less than a 100 miles from Boston. The shore is a pretty short drive too.

It's a nice area, with lots of trees, parks, and activities for families. (We have lots and lots of deer that walk through the woods in the back and front of our home!!)We also have a more historical section of town with smaller stores for shopping, but we also have another part of town with larger chain stores and other shopping.

Our small city is rated #1 in the state for Education. (Top test scores!) It's rated #2 in the top 10 places to live in CT. We didn't make #1 because it's the most expensive area to buy in. There is high demand because of the education rating and low crime rate.

It's a very nice area to live in! Always something to see and do.

By Debbie on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 09:17 am:

Well, we are living in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago right now. Just moved here in December. Since, I am a Texas girl at heart, this is not my ideal place to live. We now have the 4 seasons, but since I have just experienced winter, I am not too thrilled with the seasons. Come spring, summer, and fall, I might change my mind. The area we moved into is growing like crazy, so there is lots of shopping being built about 5 minutes from our house. We also have the 3rd biggest mall in the United States just 20 minutes away. I am really looking forward to the warmer weather and taking the train into Chicago. We have tried really hard to get the house the way we want it while it has been cold, so we will have time to do this when the weather is nice. The suburb we live in has about 25,000 people, big change from 250,000 where we moved from. The people here are having a hard time with the growth and seem to really have a rural attitude, which I am not used too. Not saying it is bad, just different for me.

Dh and I have decided that we are going to get back to Texas when his 18 month commitment here is up. We really want to move back to Arlington or San Antonio. We have decided that we have had enough of moving. We want to move somewhere we really like and stay awhile. Definitley brings a smile to my face 4 moves in 7 years is just too much for me.

By Insaneusmcwife on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 09:27 am:

We are in the Desert. The nearest Walmart is 30 min away. So is Starbucks ! It gets 115+ here in the Summertime, as for winter, I don't think we really have one. I can probably count on both hands how many times it rained (sprinkled) in January and February.

By Janet on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 09:40 am:

I live in the middle of corn and soybean country, in Central Illinois, in a small town of 1100. Third Street is the edge of town LOL! We are known for having two Itallian restaurants in town (one across the street from the other), so that on any given day, you can eat Italian. We also have a pasta factory, a clothing factory, and a glass factory. Our history is coal mining, and we have two large slag piles outside of town that confuse travellers who see them from the interstate (mountains in Illinois? HUH?) and are a lot of fun to climb and sled down. As for entertainment, we have the annual Labor Day celebration that lasts four days, and a huge bocci ball tournament (I don't play). To get to the nearest Wal-Mart, we drive 25 miles. To the nearest "real" mall is 45 miles. We have tornadoes in the spring, which makes me feel right at home (I'm a Kansas transplant), snow in the winter. It's not a bad place, once you get used to the sidewalks rolling up at 8, and planning accordingly (make sure you have gas, cold medicine and milk before then!).

By Bellajoe on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 10:11 am:

We live in a suburb of Cleveland. We are about 20 minutes from downtown. Lake erie is 5 minutes down the road from us. we are about 5 minutes from the mall, 2 starbucks, target, lowes, Hollywood video, the bank, movie theatre, Bj's, officemax and Giant Eagle among a ton of other stores and stuff. Abnout 15 minutes from the beach. We would like to move to "the country" to have a bit more land. The house on my street seem so squashed together and so close to each other. Our winter gets to below zero and summer gets up to the 90s. I would love to live somewhere where it doesn't snow!! My dh is talking about moving to Florida, we'll see about that.

By Pandamamaoo4 on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 01:22 pm:

We live in sunny Fl...live in a small town but it is growing fast..We have 2 elem school in town but no HS or middle school. It is nice we are not that far from Daytona Bch. Beach is less than 5 min. away. We like it most of the time.

By Renee on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 02:16 pm:

I live in a rural area and our land used to be farmland.

We live 3.5 miles from a very small town which has the kid's school and gas station/PO/Small grocery. We live 12 miles from the town that has a Walmart SuperCenter and some fast food places. IF we need to go to the mall, go to Home Depot, movies, then we head to Erie which is 20 miles from us.

By Newbabysarah on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 02:54 pm:

Rural here. Marg, I live 45 minutes away from Baltimore in northern maryland just below the md/pa line. When I look out my windows, I am surrounded by trees. I love it here where I live.

By Lauram on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 03:06 pm:

Suburban/Ruralish CT. About 90 min from NYC.

By Fraggle on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 03:58 pm:

Our house is in an area zoned rural residential/farming. All houses must be built on 2 acres or more. Almost everthing we need is within 15 minutes (including the beach). Zoning is actually a big controversy around here right now because they blame the people who live in developments like ours on causing urban sprawl. I love having my own space and don't know how I would handle being able to see into my neighbors house from mine (right now I can't even see my neighbors houses since they are hidden from view by trees.)

By Bea on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 05:03 pm:

We live on the banks of the James River, in the Historic North End/Huntington Heights of Newport News, Virginia. In the early 1900s this area was called the Gold Coast, because of the many wealthy and influential residents who built homes here. It is situated on a bluff overlooking the James River. Residents built boat and bathing houses on the river bank where a sandy beach made swimming easy. They also built piers that extended well into the tidal river. Back then, the ferry between Norfolk, Jamestown and Richmond stopped at the municipal pier, in downtown Newport News. Residents of Huntington Avenue, who had the longer piers, would fly a special flag from the pier's end. The ferry would then stop and picked up passengers at their homes, for a leisurely trip to Richmond.

Newport News lies in southeastern Virginia, in an area called Tidewater or Hampton Roads. It's a treasure trove of historic homes, earthworks and artifacts. We have the extensive exhibits and exciting tales of America's premiere maritime museum, the Mariner's Museum, The Virginia War Museum, Lee Hall Plantation and Endview Plantation. History lovers will love the reenacters portrayals of famous Revolutionary and Civil War battles. Christopher Newport University offers both students and residents cultural opportunities. Whether it's golf, saltwater fishing in the mighty James River, or just enjoying nature in the 8,000 acre park, Newport News has plenty of outdoor recreation available also.

Our climate features hot humid summers, and mild winters, with beautiful autumns and springs. Golf and gardening are year round diversions here. There are so many things to see and do here on the Peninsula. Within an hour's drive are Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens The Old Country/Water Country, Jamestown, Yorktown, Surry Smithfield, Richmond, the capital of Virginia and of the Confederate States, The James River Plantation Houses, NASA, many great golf courses, fantastic museums, the beach, boating and fishing,

By Kernkate on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 08:50 pm:

I live in NEPA...they consider it the Pocono Mountains, but we are about 45 minutes from the actual pocono resorts. Our town is small population is about 2000. Its seems to be growing very quickly tho.
We enjoy Nascar racing and Pocono Raceway is only about 50 minutes away.
Alot of our area here is cosidered coal mining regions.
I really love this area, and love the 4 seasons.

By Gammiejoan on Monday, March 15, 2004 - 10:39 pm:

I live in a very small town in a region called the Foothills of North Carolina. We have a larger town within fifteen minutes of our home, and a medium sized city within thirty minutes of here. Charlotte, North Carolina is approximately an hour and fifteen minutes away. The Blue Ridge Mountains are within an hour of here, and the beach is less than six hours away. I love the area where I live and have no desire to ever move anywhere else. I prefer the mountains to the beach. It often gets up into the nineties in the summer, but we can go up the mountain a short distance and find cooler weather anytime we like. We usually get some snow during the winter, but usually not that much. Some very nice ski slopes are less than an hour away. Our spring and fall months are absolutely fantastic! Now don't I sound like a spokesperson for the Chamber of Commerce? LOL!

By Cat on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 12:36 pm:

We live in a relatively new (about 3 years old) suburban development. We have a small shopping center with a grocery store, a Subway, Pizza Hut, Papa Murphey's, chiropractor, Fantastic Sams, Block Buster, Chinese restaurant, flower shop, dry cleaner, Sonic, KFC/A&W, a couple banks, a jewlery shop and a feed and seed (and a few more little shops I'm forgeting!) all about a mile from us. It is growing like crazy! They're putting in a lot more shops (strip mall style). If we want major shopping (malls, Wal-Mart, restaurants galore!) we drive 15 minutes to Colorado Springs. The schools are getting crowded, but they're good schools. Hopefully they'll build some new ones in the next couple years.

It's a far cry from the area I grew up in. My mom still lives in the house I grew up in (that she and my dad built a couple years before I was born). We lived one mile outside of "town". Popluation--500 (including us and everyone else up to 5 miles outside "city limits"). We did have two major cities within about 25 minutes either way. It was very quiet and everyone knew everyone else (and their business!). It was great though, and I love visiting there with my kids now. It's so peacefull and they can play on my mom's 2 acres and my brother's 2 (right next door) and not have to worry about much of anything (except misquetos in the fall!). I much prefer rural to city. Now if I could just talk dh into that! (he grew up in Raleigh, NC )

By Vbw1978 on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 01:27 pm:

I live in a pretty big city maybe not one of the top ten. I live in Indianapolis -- we live in the northern part of Indy, which is mainly old neighborhoods, which is nice & quite, but I can get to 3 malls in 15 minutes a Target or Walmart grocery store in about 5 there is a gas station/walgreens on evrey street corner.
I like it, but during race season & basketball season things get soo hectic that i really hate it here we live far enough north that you would think it would not affect us but the city gets so packed that they have to stay up here.
There is alot of nice public schools around this area just cause of the class of people , I send my children to St. Michaels still though -- too many kids with one teacher. Most of the classes in the public schools have soo many spanish speaking only kids that the teachers spend more time one on one with them that the rest of the class suffers !
iI grew up in Tampa, FL & I still like here better though. We have all 4 seasons even though the cold still gets to me sometimes.

By Hol on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 03:46 am:

Rural, on the edge of Nature Conservancy land. Our nearest stores are 8 miles in one direction, and 10 miles in the other. We live up a long, winding country road. We are 2.2 miles in from the main road, and it's uphill all the way. The weather will always be doing something different up here, than down in the valley, and we are always the last to have our snow melt.
There are lots of hiking trails and wildlife around us. The Boy Scout camp borders the nature preserve. Our youngest DS is working there this summer.
We are ten miles from the ocean, tho can't get near the beach in the summer, due to tourists. We enjoy the beach in the early Fall when the tourists are gone, and the water is warm.
Our town is small..5,000 plus people. We all know each other, and are there for each other for the good times and bad.
My DD lives in Westerly (10 miles away), and our church is there, too.
Our nearest malls are 35 miles to the North, or 25 miles to the South, in Connecticut.
I have lived other places, and THIS is where I want to finish my days. I LOVE it here, and have the best of all worlds. God is very good to me.

By Hol on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 03:52 am:

We are surrounded by forest, and our road turns into a dirt trail a half mile past our house.

We are just far enough away from the ocean, that we don't get the ocean breeze. In the summer, it's always 10 degrees hotter here than it is in Westerly.

By Deek on Thursday, March 18, 2004 - 01:32 pm:

We live in the Poconos ( hi Kernkate)...on a dirt road about 35 minutes from the "big city" of Scranton Pa..and about 10 minutes from the heart shaped bathtubs! it is very rural..very wintery in the winter and cooler than the valley in the summer..we are building a house right now on the edge of a cliff looking over the valley..very pretty and we love it...but I miss the Jersey shore where I grew up!