I'm surprised you didn't settle in North Carolina then. The weather is great, we have too many golf courses to count, the majority of the cities are small, and lots of bridge clubs. :o) Greensboro, for example, is a very liberal area, not too large, with golf courses and bridge clubs and absolutely beautiful. Close to the mountains (well, what Easterners consider mountains anyway), and the beach. The small towns near many cities are too numerous to list.



>>And your first favorite is?
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>Very hard to put into words exactly why. Having grown up in NYC (far eastern Queens) I find I don't really like large cities. I very rarely took advantage of what they have to offer and the negatives (traffic, cost, etc.) are too much to overcome.
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>I've really enjoyed small town living. Fairfield had a great library, a golf course with reasonable membership fees where I could walk on at 5:15 any day of the week, and typical small towm community spirit. It even had a synagogue. I like a slow pace of life and the city suited me very well - I could even handle the Iowa winter. What it lacked was a bridge club and I was there before online sites could fulfill that need.
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>I found essentially the same things in Tallahassee (except for the golf course). It was small enough to retain Southern charm and large enough to be somewhat urbane (especially with university and state government). Slow enough pace of life for me but if I wanted something extra it was usually available. Plus, there's a pretty good bridge club.
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>>>>>I just want to know how come the university has the 'Hawkeyes', but it was Radar who was from Iowa.
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>>>>He was not only from Iowa, but also my hometown of Ottumwa.
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>>>Of all the cities I've lived in (9 cities in 6 six states over the past 30 years or so), my second favorite was Fairfield IA (96-97). Of course, you can make a good case that it isn't really in Iowa.