WANTED: New hometown

I agree with the folks about St. Peter and the lack of "thereness."

It's strange. There are all these people there but no community. Other pockets of Florida are like that, too.

People come from all over and close the gate.

 

Yeah, I figured that. It just seemed like an odd thread for it to come out on.

 

Maybe Jones is a Scientologist. If so, St. Pete/Clearwater is the place to be!

 

One thing Jones mentioned is that he doesn't want to live in a cookie-cutter cul-de-sac. Lawrence, Charlottesville and Durham offer some pretty cool old neighborhoods that are close to downtown shopping and dining. Also walking distance to some of the prettiest colleges in the country.

Durham has a pretty high crime rate, but in my three years there I never really experienced any crime. You'd also be 15 minutes away from a good airport and a Bulls game is a great fun.

Lawrence is awesome. Great little downtown with a ton of bars, eating establishments and quirky shops. There's a really cool art house theater on Mass Street that serves beer and since Mark Mangino took over the football program the sports scene is fun all year round. Weather might be a concern, but it depends on your perspective. A lot of kids from the Twin Cities go to school at KU because they love the "mild winters". My wife wants to live someplace warm and has pretty much told me I'm never moving back to Larryville. You're about an hour from KCI.

Charlottesville is Lawrence with mountains, but much worse basketball. There might be a little snow in the dead of winter, but the weather never gets too bad. A couple of months ago there was a resort outside of town where people were skiing on top of the mountain and playing golf at the bottom. You'd be about an hour from the Richmond airport and two from Dulles. There's also an airport in C-Ville with direct flights to a few cities (I believe pretty regular Continental jumps over to Charlotte). There's quite a bit to do in Charlottesville and D.C. is an easy day trip.

 

As with all places, Tampa has some wonderful places as far as nightlife if you know where they are. To add on to Ybor City, the Aquarium/Channelside/Forum area is pretty cool, as is International Plaza.

You've also got some cool places in the middle of downtown, like the Tampa Theater, the Performing Arts Center, The Tampa Museum of Art and University of Tampa.

Downtown isn't quite there yet, but it is progressing.

 

Troll-like, even.

 

Tampa's a great place to suck down some cold ones, and with extreme prejudice.

Gasparilla Pirate Festival being prime for debaclery. Best bar fight I've ever seen.

 

I lived in western Virginia for a while. On one hand it's an hour from D.C., but on the other hand it's in the sticks. You have to drive for an hour through nothing before you get to civilization.

That's my opinion of Charlottesville, as well. Beautiful town, but there's nothing around it until you get to Richmond. And there's absolutely nothing to the west, which is the way I was accustomed to getting there.

And I'd much rather party in Charlottesville than Richmond. Never cared much for Richmond.

 

A friend who lives in the D.C area told me Richmond is a not just a dump, but a scary dump. I told him you have to know where to go. Shockoe Slip, Shockoe Bottom, the Fan District, parts of Church Hill and the West End are all pretty cool. Last time we were there we ate in a Thai restaurant that makes its own ice cream. Which I'd never seen before, but the ice cream was great. It really isn't that big of a city, but it feels like one. Pretty sophisticated for its size.

 

The traffic seems unbearable the times I have been there. Admittely around spring training time which I assume is busier. Is it better at other times of year?

 

It's going to be hairier from November to April. Just part of it. I slogged through in December and it was some of the worst traffic I saw all year. But I've done a lot of driving in the T-SP area at all times of the year and it's often negotiable.

If you don't want to party with the kids, many great restaurants in Tampa -- Rusty Pelican, Crawdaddy's, Bone Fish, Alfresco's, Bascom's, Julian's at the Heritage, Pappas' Grillmark and so on.

Cuesta Ray for a sweet, tangy, choice cigar afterwards.

 

Why yes, yes it is.