Have you looked into Tidewater, VA? (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Chesapeake, Hampton, Suffolk)
Summers are hot and humid but not so much as Florida. Winters are usually cold and wet with a little snow but not much or often. The weather here, however, is rather unpredictable. The weathermen are often wrong. It's not entirely unlikely to have the kind of days when it's 70 at lunchtime then snows that night. It's very breezy here which is wonderful in the summer. I also didn't really know what 'blustery' really meant until I moved here.
Affordable is a hard one. Norfolk houses the largest naval base in the world. We also have an Army base and an Air Force base. The military presence here heavily influences the economy. In some ways, wages are depressed due to the number of vets and military spouses willing to do skilled labor for below average salaries just to be doing something and/or add to pensions or family incomes. This isn't always the case, however.
Because the area encompasses seven separate cities, there's a wide variety of, well, lifestyles, I guess you could say. Suffolk is more rural. Norfolk / VaBch is more urban. Chesapeake is more suburban.
Traffic here sucks. Arts and culture are pretty good. Several universities brings a lot of programs and entertainment to the area. Several arenas and convention centers. We're four hours from DC, less than 2 from Richmond, and under 6hrs from Raleigh; so what's not coming here can probably be found in the other cities.
We have two, count 'em TWO, international airports that host a variety of airlines. I'm signed up with the airlines to get flight specials and often find inexpensive flights when I'm looking to go a'visitin'.
Toddler is demanding my company and I've probably rambled too much. :)
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Summers are hot and humid but not so much as Florida. Winters are usually cold and wet with a little snow but not much or often. The weather here, however, is rather unpredictable. The weathermen are often wrong. It's not entirely unlikely to have the kind of days when it's 70 at lunchtime then snows that night. It's very breezy here which is wonderful in the summer. I also didn't really know what 'blustery' really meant until I moved here.
Affordable is a hard one. Norfolk houses the largest naval base in the world. We also have an Army base and an Air Force base. The military presence here heavily influences the economy. In some ways, wages are depressed due to the number of vets and military spouses willing to do skilled labor for below average salaries just to be doing something and/or add to pensions or family incomes. This isn't always the case, however.
Because the area encompasses seven separate cities, there's a wide variety of, well, lifestyles, I guess you could say. Suffolk is more rural. Norfolk / VaBch is more urban. Chesapeake is more suburban.
Traffic here sucks.
Arts and culture are pretty good. Several universities brings a lot of programs and entertainment to the area. Several arenas and convention centers. We're four hours from DC, less than 2 from Richmond, and under 6hrs from Raleigh; so what's not coming here can probably be found in the other cities.
We have two, count 'em TWO, international airports that host a variety of airlines. I'm signed up with the airlines to get flight specials and often find inexpensive flights when I'm looking to go a'visitin'.
Toddler is demanding my company and I've probably rambled too much. :)