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Existential Crisis


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  • 1 month later...

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. I know that PETA rated Atlanta one of the most vegan friendly cities and the south generally tends to be a lot cheaper than the northeast. I'm a big fan of Pittsburgh too. There are plenty of vegan friendly restaurants, it's still in the northeast, and it's WAY cheaper than the northeast coastal cities are.

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Portland, Oregon. No contest. We have so many restaurants, grocery stores, groups, celebrations, and fitness enthusiasts here that extol veganism, it's just crazy-awesome. Just ask Robert. Also, we have an insane amount of fresh produce for most of the year available locally and organically at countless farmer's markets and road side stands. It's a big deal annually when the Pick-Your-Own farms and orchards announce that they are open. And best of all? All the free wild blackberries, huckbleberries, chokecherries and blueberries you can stand! I just froze 14 quarts of two different kinds of blackberries last week and I'm thinking about going back out to get more.

 

Baby Herc, full of blackberries (burp!)

 

PS: No sales tax in Oregon. Woo-HOO!

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I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I am in the same boat. California is very expensive to live in, and I disagree with a lot of laws here. I am almost certainly moving to Colorado to pursue a career in nutrition and physical training directed at sports athletes.

 

I have been researching this for a while and I am looking at moving outside of the Boulder or Colorado Springs areas.

 

Cost of living is very affordable, the laws of the state are great, and there is tons to do! Also, it's relatively arid, so no sticky humidity, and it's not a damp murky oceanic climate, which makes summers feel cooler, and winters warmer, unlike Oregon, which was on my list until the weather made me rule it out. These areas also get a lot of sunshine because of the elevation and climate.

 

If Colorado doesn't work for me, my next choice, not necessarily my 2nd, but my next choice is New Mexico, around the Albuquerque area where the elevation starts to ride. Albuquerque is vegan friendly, and the cost of living is very affordable, plus, another great climate.

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  • 1 month later...

I have heard Portland is a cool city. I have been travelling around, from Australia, for the past 8 months. My fav cities have been (in no particular order)

 

Chicago - some cool vegan places! Loved this place a lot. Not sure if I could handle their winter!

Austin - was there last weekend. Everything was so much cheaper than California!

San Francisco

San Diego

Boston $$$ though

 

Anyone that lives in LA or New York City, I don't know how you do it.

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I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I am in the same boat. California is very expensive to live in, and I disagree with a lot of laws here. I am almost certainly moving to Colorado to pursue a career in nutrition and physical training directed at sports athletes.

 

I have been researching this for a while and I am looking at moving outside of the Boulder or Colorado Springs areas.

 

Cost of living is very affordable, the laws of the state are great, and there is tons to do! Also, it's relatively arid, so no sticky humidity, and it's not a damp murky oceanic climate, which makes summers feel cooler, and winters warmer, unlike Oregon, which was on my list until the weather made me rule it out. These areas also get a lot of sunshine because of the elevation and climate.

 

If Colorado doesn't work for me, my next choice, not necessarily my 2nd, but my next choice is New Mexico, around the Albuquerque area where the elevation starts to ride. Albuquerque is vegan friendly, and the cost of living is very affordable, plus, another great climate.

 

Ha, ha, that's funny! I moved to Portland from Denver to get away from the Colorado climate--the political climate, the environmental climate, the economic climate, the religious climate, etc. Sooooo much nicer up here!

 

Baby Herc

 

It depends a lot on where you live. Politically, Denver is slightly liberal, but Boulder is VERY liberal, but also very rich and elitist. Also vegan-friendly. Weather-wise, Portland is certain to be warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Colorado winters average 30-50 degree days and 10-30 degree nights, but the summers are 90-95 days and 65-70 nights. Economically I don't think there is a large difference between the two states. Religiously? If you live in Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, or even Grand Junction, you probably won't notice the religion. Smaller towns are distinctly Christian, and generally racist, but who wants to live in a small town anyway?

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  • 2 weeks later...
I need to get the hell out of Jersey. I've done NYC and can't deal with it. I need cheap housing, job opportunities, and a vegan roommate, cheap gym, vegan friendly area? Any recommendations? I have my MSW and a license.

 

Portland.

 

I'm in the same boat and plan on moving to Seattle very soon but Portland is awesome too.. I hear the job market is rough though (I don't have much education)

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  • 1 month later...
I need to get the hell out of Jersey. I've done NYC and can't deal with it. I need cheap housing, job opportunities, and a vegan roommate, cheap gym, vegan friendly area? Any recommendations? I have my MSW and a license.

 

Must have missed this one for a long time!

 

I always stick up for Milwaukee despite the bad rap it occasionally gets.

 

- Reasonable housing costs most everywhere including most of the suburbs (1-2 bdrm. apt. will be about $550-850 in most areas), no shortage of condos that are going for $100k or less as well for some pretty cheap you-own-it costs.

 

- Job opportunities, we're usually a good percentage below the nat'l. unemployment average, and there seems to be no shortage of jobs at any given time. I've got two family members who work in skilled fields who have TERRIBLE work histories (one fired multiple times, the other quits her job every 3 months like clockwork to find something "better"), and both have easily found work every time they've needed to this past few years. But, of course, it depends on what you're looking for.

 

- Vegan roommate, I'm sure they're out there - it's just that unlike most other major cities, Milwaukee sucks for vegan organization, and has for a long time. Seems to be a lot of vegans in the area, they just don't know each other because there's no focal point for everyone to get together!

 

- Cheap gyms, they're plentiful here, but I guess it depends on your definition of "cheap". You can usually find a gym of some sort anywhere you go, everything from $19.95/month stuff like Cardinal Fitness through upscale places that will be $100+/month, and lots in between. And, of course, we have our own facility in Waukesha, so anyone who is in the area can get some free sessions in any time I'm there But, you'll be hard pressed to find so many gyms condensed into the same radius as you find in the Milwaukee area, which is made comical by the fact that our state is known for it's terrible physical shape in general!

 

- Vegan-friendly, it's getting MUCH better here. Not a lot for 100% vegan places, but loads of ethnic dining with plenty of options for Indian, Japanese, Chinese, African, and just about anything else. And, there's a restaurant group in the area who makes sure that they have vegan options on all their menus at a handful of locations, all of it homestyle vegan fare that's not always healthy, but certainly tasty.

 

That aside, it's also VERY easy to escape from it all when you live out here. No matter where you are in the city, you can get out of it in a few minutes to find peace elsewhere. Tons of parks, lots of outdoor recreation year round, and we're the "City of Festivals", so once summer comes around, it's nothing but music, parties and fests of all sorts through the city and suburbs, never a dull moment from May through September.

 

Downsides to Milwaukee -

 

1. Get used to driving unless you do everything in one area OR don't mind spending a lot of time on the bus. Not the greatest public transport system here, but on the plus side, traffic is about 1/20th as bad as it is in cities like Chicago or other bigger spots. Even in rush hour, you can get from the downtown to the furthest suburbs in 40-50 minutes instead of the usual 20-30. But, unlike other bigger cities, we're REALLY spread out, so don't expect that you can necessarily walk out of your apartment and be within a few blocks of all the essentials.

 

2. Weather is all over the freakin' place some years. Summers lately have been scorching in the 90s and 100s for a lot of the time, then you might go into deep-freeze winters where you're packed in snow and walking around at near zero temperatures for 3 months. Got lucky this year so far with mild weather (been in the 30s and 40s so far, no snow yet), but if you like consistency and not a lot of variance in temperatures, this isn't the place. But, if you're used to the crazy weather on the East Coast, it probably wouldn't be a whole lot of adjustment.

 

Other than that, not much more to point out, other than that we're a 1 hour drive from Madison (fun college city that's super vegan-friendly and worth a visit here and there), and Chicago is only about 90 minutes south of us. Plenty of diversions if you get the urge to flee the city!

 

Just throwing it out there, since MKE hadn't been mentioned yet!

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Wow these have been really interesting to read. In all likelihood I'm gonna die in Jersey. all my family is here, as well as friends. Haha but Ryan, Milwaukee is my least favorite response! I think the weather would depress the shit out of me! I like the idea of Austin, Portland, Cali, the most...but its good to hear about some many cities going in the right direction

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