[dragoness129]

I want to move somewhere in the Northern states or somewhere in Canada. I do not know where exactly I want to move to though. I am wondering what some of the different states and territories are like. What is the average cost of living? What are the cities like? The weather climate? Fun sites of the areas, etc. What the costs of travel would be for plane, bus, etc.

| Background Info |
For visiting, it would just be me. For moving, it would be me and my twin girls (who are currently two and a half) moving. Currently centered in South Carolina.

Please share some great places with me as well as tips for living in a specific area.

More to add:
I prefer cooler temperatures, around 75 degrees normally. 86 and up is getting too hot. Autumn is my favorite season.
I like a city atmosphere, but would not like to be be in the center of one, just outside of the city would be my best preference. Nothing too rural or out in the middle of nowhere. A good distance to lots of fun activities and important facilities, such as hospitals and grocery stores.
Wanting a location where I can have a creative type of career.

.

[Glitch]

Well I'm in Idaho and we've got all four seasons. Great if you like the snow, great if you like the heat. There's natural hot springs which are fun to visit and in northern idaho there are theme parks.

There's more natural wildlife here than in any other state :)

Rent is from 400-600 in an average apartment. If you want to rent a house it goes from 600-1000 depending how big you want. If you live in Nampa or Caldwell or a smaller city it is possible to rent a house for 400 a month.

We are moving on friday into a new apartment and so any time after that if Idaho sounds nice to you - you could come visit sometime. I'm sure that would be fine. ^_^

http://www.boisedailyphoto.com/

This is a wonderful blog of where I live, she takes a photo every day.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It's a nice place here, lots of typical city sights and is on the coast and by the mountains. It's wet and rarely snows in the wintertime. The city website is the best place to find out specific details about the city. On a basic end though, the cost of living is high and real estate is quite expensive, both to buy and rent. It's among the highest in Canada I believe, and jobs aren't the easiest to come by. It's a better place to visit than to live I think, unless you have support in the area or money to begin with. Tourism is a big thing.

Cities towards the interior of the province are cheaper and the seasons tend to be more divided. Areas like Vernon and Kelowna are popular places to live, and there's Vancouver Island across from Vancouver by 2 hour ferry ride.

There is a lot of geographical space between the northern States and Canada. It might actually be preferable to mention what sort of stuff you are looking for, like city size, facilities. Rural Canada for example is stuffed with small towns and cities that may or may not have certain services or features. Things like a government services office for one, or sports arenas, medical facilities, etc.

[Espy]

YOU SHOULD VISIT FUNKIE AND ME IN CALIIIIII~ NorCal, San Francisco-y region to be exact. But I don't think that's very "north"...

[Glitch]

I think that's pretty much just swapping sides of America Espy. xD

[Nefer]

Urg, stupid windows update, my computer is going berserk right now... I'll try to answer before it logs me off again ^^;

Personally I live in Quebec, Canada. It's pretty much a billingual province, aka french and english. Of course the more 'out of the city' you are, the more chance you have to be in a french city... I personally live in Eastern Township, meaning far more trees, mountains and the such than in the big city of Montreal. We actually have 2-3 big mountain stations near here ^^

Though, if you don't speak a world of french, then perhaps Gatineau/Hull/Ottawa is the best place to go since it's even more billingual than here.

The weather, in the East anyway (meaning Quebec/Ontario, mostly South) is average, meaning you have winters with some -30°C but also some random -5°C depending on the month (and also how mother nature feels like, we had days with snow and -30 and the next day it was around -10...). It's pretty much between November and March, but mostly in between December and February for the big 'Winter time' with snow and the such. Summer pretty much start in May weather wise (or end of may), and finish around September. We can have some 'canicule', but it usually stays around 20°C-30°C, and humidity is a key word I guess. Of course, if you go to the North of Quebec and Ontario, then the weather will go down obviously, and you'll have bigger winter.

City-wise, if you like big cities then Montreal (Quebec) and Toronto (Ontario) are the best place to go, but apartments can be around 800$ for a 4 1/2, sometimes more. The best thing I can suggest is to actually go just a bit outside the city, that way you pay less for car insurance and the such and also far less for an apartment, but yet you have the bus and the such to go to the big city quite quickly ^^ (Meaning, for Mtl you can go to Longueil, Laval and the such). Montreal is terrible for trafic though, so taking the subway or buses are the best thing to do. Though something that can help in choosing is that Quebec have more taxes than Ontario, and if you have a car/liscence that's also far more expensive than Ontario...

Fun sites of Quebec province is probably the Imax 3D theaters in Mtl, the planetarium, biodome (lots of animals, great for children!), the Granby Zoo (in, well, Granby, about an hour away from Mtl), Parc Safari (more 'free' type of zoo), or Parc St-Félicien in the North (REALLY wild type of zoo, the kind where you use a car and the such while the animals are free around you). There's also St-Sauveur aquatic parc and Valcartier (farter than Quebec City) that are great for water activities (ValCartier also have activities in Winter with snow slides and the such).

Fun sites of Ontario are probably the Toronto Zoo (very BIG zoo, lot of walking too), Wonderland (kinda like a miniature Disney Land), the CN tower (was for a while the tallest tower in the World), and Niagara Falls. Speaking of Niagara Falls (which is next to New York, as in the state of NY, and about 2-3 hours away from Toronto), there's also MarineLand with their aquatic shows and the such, very great place to go with kids ^^ As for Toronto, there's also a LOT of museum in the city than can be great to discover, like Dracula and Frankestein museum ;p

The cost of travel, uh... Bus and subway are around 3$, offenly free for children under 12... The train can be around 120$ to go from Mtl to Toronto and back, around 150$ for plane I think...

[Airu]

I'm just going to butt in and back up Winter. I live in Idaho also. Kinda surprised to read that.

My input I give. The area Winter is talking about mostly is the Treasure Valley. Which.. is indeed in a Valley. We are surrounded by hills and mountains. We are northern state. Just what your looking for. :3

I've been thinking of moving out in a year or so and I've been looking at prices for apartments and stuff. It is averaged about 400-700. Not bad totally. Also Depending if it's in the city or the suburbs.

[Ginger]

WOAH! I live in Idaho too O_O So many Idaho people here on Trisphee! This is a rare sight..

Buut yeah. Sometimes winters can be a little harsh where I'm at in Idaho (the northern part), but the other seasons really make up for it. If you were to move to the northern part of the U.S., I would suggest doing it soon so you can take advantage of the low prices of houses in the area before they shoot up in price again. We've got swimming, fishing, snowboarding/skiing in the winter, biking, hiking, rafting, 4-wheeling, car cruises, Silverwood (a western theme park) which also has a joined outdoor waterpark, family fun centers like Triple Play which has bowling, an arcade, and indoor water park, lazer tag, and mini-golf, and Silver Mountain Resort which also has an indoor water park. There's actually a lot of attractions here now that I think about it lol. Summers don't get mildly hot. The average temperature in summer here is about 91 degrees.

[Glitch]

i'm living in the wrong half of idaho!

xD

[Lucifer]

I would suggest the areas around Portland, Oregon. It's a good city, large but with not too much crime for it's size.
It's a gorgeous town and state, with a great bus system around all of Portland and the outlying cities. It has more forested parks than anywhere else in the US, and the largest new and used bookshop in the world.
The people of Portland are quirky, the Multnomah County Library has everything, and multiple locations.

http://www.unitedpassports.com/image...landOregon.jpg
http://www.columbiariverimages.com/I...butte_2004.jpg
http://www.newyearseve.com/images/ar.../139_image.jpg
http://relocationtoportland.com/file...and-oregon.jpg
It was also considered one of the best places to live, among ohter things.
http://www.portlandalliance.com/abou...and-facts.html Have some random facts :P Oh, and another random blog with more photos and stuff, that talks about Portland as a whole.
http://www.portlandneighborhood.com/

Also, with the North West it doesn't get much snow ever, but it DOES get a lot of rain but it's not usually too cold, even with the rain and it smells amazing and earthy whenever it does. It doesn't usually get too hot in summer and stays at really nice temperatures year round.

[dragoness129]

Thanks everyone for the great input!

I see that I do need to add a bit more background info that I had forgotten.
I prefer cooler temperatures, around 75 degrees normally. 86 and up is getting too hot. Autumn is my favorite season.
I like a city atmosphere, but would not like to be be in the center of one, just outside of the city would be my best preference. Nothing too rural or out in the middle of nowhere. A good distance to lots of fun activities and important facilities, such as hospitals and grocery stores.
Wanting a location where I can have a creative type of career.

It may still be another year before I can save up and move anywhere or start traveling. Looking for lots of information now to get a good plan started and to map ideas.

Those are some really nice picture links, Lucifer. ^_^
Looking at more of the info, I am really taking a liking to Portland, Oregon.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I've been through Oregon a couple of times for dog shows. It's nice :). Hotter than I like but pretty everywhere in the USA is. The seasons get more distinct the further one gets from the coast I think, even if it's not all that far seeming.

Went through on a road trip also when I was young. Camped there at a lovely place not far from the Oregon Caves. Hell of a drive to get their but nice place.

[V. Lisette]

Shaumburg Illinois seems right up your alley then.

[Lucifer]

The Portland area doesn't usually get too hot, it's a rather cool temp place from what I remember (The New England area is WAY worse in summer x_x and then winter gets horribly cold here, too)
Also with the Portland, OR area, there is always the outer limits of the area cities, like Aloha or Beaverton have a bus that goes right into Portland.

[Feythfull]

I heard on the radio today that Toronto is the most expensive city to live in in Canada and that Ottawa is the cheapest which is surprising to me.