POSSIBLE FUTURE HOMETOWNS...

Ok, Let's travel away from Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a while and discuss a few places, one or more of which Scott will call home one day...
Thanks to my friend and fellow Cedar Rapidian, Tom, I decided to share with you all, the places I want to live one day. Of course, these are places I've been and love. I'm sure there are many other places out there that I would love just as much and enjoy calling "home". These are a few places I know I would like to live:

Chicago

This is the only place in the Midwest I truly would love to move to. I'm sure many of you are well aware of my love affair with Chicago after reading many of my previous posts. Andrew and I have spent many weekends exploring the "Windy City", taking in the sights, sampling food from favorite local restaurants, shopping the "Magnificent Mile" and frequenting the restaurants and bars of "Boystown".

If and when Chicago becomes my home, I don't think I'd want to live in the suburbs. Right in the city, where we could walk to most things we need would be where I'd want to be. I know, the winters would suck but there is just something about Chicago that I fell in love with many years ago when I made my first trip in the family station wagon with my parents. I believe that was 1979 and I've never stopped going back to get another and another taste of the sights, the architecture, the smells, the food and the all-around Midwest but large city attitude. My love for Chicago is difficult to put into words. It's just a feeling I have when I'm there and the sadness I feel when I leave.

Bar Harbor, Maine

When I say "Bar Harbor" I actually mean the general Mount Desert Island area. It wouldn't have to be Bar Harbor, but any of the surrounding small towns along the coast of Maine. It's the "outdoorsy" part of me that wants to live here. Hiking in Acadia National Park, walking the rocky beaches of the North Atlantic, seeing the quaint, old lighthouses that dot the coastline or just standing on the docks and watching the salty sea captains bring their lobster boats in at the end of the day to unload their catch. One of my favorite times of year is Autumn when the leaves are turning, the air is cool and crisp but the sun is still shining brightly in a blue sky. This is what I think of when I think of Maine. I can't imagine any place more beautiful in the Autumn. I guess it's the nature lover part of me that loves Maine. My time spent in Maine several years ago was a June vacation. A very expensive vacation spent staying in bed and breakfasts and traveling the coast taking in the sights and a 35 mile trip out to sea to see finback whales (up to 80 feet long) surfacing right next to our 45 foot boat. Wow, talk about feeling small! I know daily living is not the same as vacationing, but I did fall in love with the nature that you feel like you're surrounded by even in the middle of town. Living here, I know I'd still need my frequent get-away to a large city at times. As beautiful as Maine is, I do know it has it's share of "backwoods" attitude and culture that can be charming, but I'm sure it would get old. So, maybe just a summer place in Maine...

Seattle

My first trip to Seattle was only about 3 years ago. I've now been there three times and have learned more about Seattle and Washington State each time I've been there. I have been very fortunate that each of my trips to Washington have been during gorgeous weather. Perfect temperatures, little or no rain and clear enough on most occasions to see Mt Ranier. I do know, however that this is not typical of the Seattle area throughout the entire year. While the temperature does, for the most part, stay warm enough to not blanket the area with days upon days of frigid snow, I think, for me, it would be just enough snow that I wouldn't miss it having grown up in Iowa where winter is all about snow and below freezing temps for three to four months. In my opinion, that sucks. The only thing about Seattle that makes me hesitate is the winter months of very little sun and dizzily skies. I'm just not sure how I would endure that. I guess I'll need to spend some winter time there before I make my decision.

Palm springs, CA

I've visited Palm Springs four times and I've loved it every time. Many people don't feel the way I do about this, but I love the heat. (Very low humidity. Seriously, it DOES make a difference) On my first trip to Palm Springs I took one of the jeep tours into the desert where is was about 110 degrees in the shade. That's where I first fell in love with the desert Southwest. I think the desert is beautiful. How awesome to be 4-wheeling through the hot, dry desert and then, out of nowhere, suddenly come upon an oasis of water, green plants and palm trees in a small spot where an underground spring has made it's way to the surface.
Palm springs has been know as "the playground of the stars". Beginning in the 1930's Hollywood stars would spend time in Palm Springs as a get-away from busy Los Angeles. Palm Springs still has many seasonal homes that belong to Hollywood stars young and old.
Surrounded by some of the most scenic mountains, Palm Springs is my idea of shear beauty. The fact that from Palm Springs, you can make a short trip into the mountains to ski one day and then a few hours in the opposite direction is the beach, make this place, in my opinion, the perfect place to live. For a really great blog where you will find lots of stuff about Palm Springs (as well as tons of entertainment) check out Rick Rockhill's blog "Palm Springs Savant".

Ok, now I've chosen three corners of the United States and one place in the Midwest. I refuse to even consider the remaining corner. I've been there, nice place to visit, I have no desire to live there.

Where I'll end up, I still don't really know. Now, off to buy that lottery ticket that surely will afford me a home in each of these places!