Where should we move to?

Somewhere in California?

HAWAII!!! (We have Honolulu, it’s an awsome city)

kenya

Ithaca, NY. Just one visit will convince you.

Pacific Northwest, Seattle area or Portland area. Meets all your your criteria, at least it did when I lived there.

I was going to say Portland, too.

@worriedguy Excellent answer. One of the gems of upstate NY. Rochester NY would also be a possibility. Great music scene if you like Jazz.

Doesn’t the saying go – “Portland is where young people go to retire”?

I’m from Washington and Oregon and I didn’t even know we were liked like that. I’m going back home lol.

I also lived half-way between Denver and Boulder for four years and was stunned and pleased by the similarities in attitude to the Pacific Northwest. It’s not as racially or culturally diverse, but Denver has all of the big-city advantages and boulder is, well, Boulder. or, as we used to call it, “25 square miles surrounded by reality”.

@Blackberry: It would be my first choice to go back to, for sure!

Eugene or Portland Oregon.

Great help everyone. Thanks.

College towns seem to have much of what we’re looking for, but often lack a real economy (a place for an IT guy to get a job).

Another real problem I have found is that there areas which are good, but specific towns which are not great. For example, Amherst and Northampton MA are great towns. However, some of the nearby towns are quite the opposite. So, I’m a bit stumped as to how to approach this. If I visit and fall in love with Ithaca or Portland or Seattle, etc. getting into a nearby town might mean getting into the antithesis.

I think the McAffee people are in Eugene.

@tom_g : I lived in towns all around Seattle I moved a lot and never was unhappy.

Anywhere in the Northwest probably outside Seattle or Portland.

@tom_g Don’t worry. The area all around Ithaca is loaded with Birkenstocks, Bianchis and Priuses. And you are in the middle of Finger Lakes Wine Country.
Take three day vacation and see for yourself. Be sure to stay at a B&B to get a good idea of the area.

Bucktown or Wrigleyville in Chicago both fit your description to a T.

Sounds like South Austin to me. (Much as I hate to make the recommendation as we already have more than our share of flaming liberals here in Bubbaland…not to worry though, we rednecks and those flaming liberals get along surprisingly well around here.)

Neverland
extremely-progressive/liberal- and never grow old
less concerned with superficial concerns such as absurd lawns, fancy cars, fancy clothes, etc.- as well, not a care in the world, you’ll be forever young.
intellectual – This one maybe hard but there’s pirates around for this mental stimulation.
considerate and compassionate – Tree fairys are kind and very loving.
creative – they build from their surroundings, which takes alot of imagination.
honest – It’s a guarantee :)
sounds like Portland

Another vote for Portland (we are moving there in three months!)

Most of the IT in the area is actually a bit west, in Washington County, in the Hillsboro/Beaverton area. Intel is there, for one. Those two towns are progressive, but a bit dull/suburbia. Portland itself, especially inner Portland, is extremely liberal and progressive. There aren’t many conservative neighborhoods in Portland, and most of them are in extremely rich neighborhoods in the Southwest Hills.

Just about any university town in the country (including Amherst).

Just about any major central city in the Northeast has an enclave where you will find such people, again, usually around universities.

You might research communes. I don’t know where they are and whether they are close to cities or not. I would think you would want a 20 minute commute at most, not 1 hour.

Oh, almost forgot… Ithaca has snow but no earthquakes. You can handle snow with the 8HP electric start Toro in the garage. Earthquakes? You takes what you gets.

So you already know the answer: a college town.

You’ve listed two criteria which normally conflict: your desire to be around progressively-minded intellectuals who don’t generally emphasize material and aesthetic wealth. The only place in America where this can be easily met is a large college town like Lincoln, Bloomington, Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, and the like. (I can’t help but notice how other jellies replies with Ithaca and Eugene—both college towns!)

But you’ve also already figured out one of the ways in which a college town will likely fail your (admittedly idealized) criteria: the communities surrounding these college towns are often small and rural, which means they’re generally more conservative. So unless you isolate yourselves within the immediate town, you’re likely going to feel out of place when you leave town to head to the city or to other counties/areas.

I somewhat disagree with your expressed idea that a college town won’t have good IT jobs. Universities are a great place to work in my opinion—low pay, but low stress and good job security, plus you sometimes get to work with cutting edge access technologies.

Good luck on your search!

@JilltheTooth Ever been to the Village Coffee Shop in Boulder? Their shirts say “900 sq ft of reality, surrounded by Boulder” haha! I dig it.

So with that said….consider Boulder or Denver!

@Neurotic_David – makes sense. I lived in 2 college towns when I was young – and loved them. Part of me also thinks that going back to that scene with a big family and a lot less hair might be pretty alienating. I am assuming that there must be cool people with kids who live there, but I am just not all that certain how that works. Are they people who have escaped like we are trying to do? Are they professors? Or would I just develop an old-man “get off my lawn” attitude about all of the youngins.

@deni Boulder is excellent! Do they still have that cool chair carved out of a tree stump in the coffee shop? I spent one of the most relaxing hours I can remember in that coffee shop.

Well, when you (and I) lived in college towns, we were college kids, right? There was probably a whole world we didn’t have a stake in: the families and professionals living there. It’s gotta be its own ecosystem, because you wouldn’t be the only greying, balding dad living in town :) Sure, you could develop a, “and STAY OFF my lawn!” attitude with all the frat boys and youngin’s running around, but if you choose your neighborhood wisely, and if you find your inner “I’m tom_g and I’m not a curmudgeony adult!”, why can’t you enjoy the college town life just as much as the naive 20 year-old? :)

@tom_g Nah! You’ll look at them and see yourself in a previous life.
Grow a beard and you’ll fit in everywhere.

Petaluma, California. Portland, Maine (But I’d choose Portland, Oregon too.)

I’m late to this one, but Boulder Colorado popped into my mind immediately. If you could afford it, I would suggest Santa Cruz, California also.

Zambia, Iceland, Italy or Monaco ;)

Hoboken, NJ.

@YoBob I haven’t seen it….do you remember where it was???

The coffee shop I remember was on the walking “mall”. I remember thinking how great it was to see all of the stuff you would want in a shopping center like a nice book store and a coffee shop, but they were local shops rather than giant mega chains. I can only assume that the coffee shop is the one that was mentioned. Of course, this was almost a decade ago.

Anyway, inside I remember that in one corner was a very artsy chair that was carved out of a single log. I remember sitting there in no particular hurry enjoying a Chi Latte and admiring (as well as trying out) that particular throne like seat.

As others said Boulder is beautiful but housing is outrageously expensive. If you like that area, you might like Manitou Springs or Nederland Colorado even better. Missoula, Montana might fit the bill too.

@Blueroses

I don’t think that a true liberal would be very happy in Montana, though. That’s truly an example of small pockets of urban liberalism in a huge sea of rural conservatism.

That’s not really a drawback for me @crisw. I like the mixture of people. It makes life a lot more real and a lot more affordable. There are a lot more liberals than you might think. I grew up in and lived in CO and MT and I far prefer the Big Sky Country. :)