Retire in North Carolina ... poker wasteland? (4 Viewers)

Las Vegas area Possibly? My parents had a place in Henderson, NV which is about 10 minutes from Vegas. Pretty awesome IMO. Close enough to a local casino as their place was across from the Green Valley Ranch and it was far enough from the strip not be touristy. The house prices are good in Henderson. You'll have plenty of good food options in the area and in Vegas itself. One of my ideas was to move to Henderson area and get an IT job at one of the Casinos, but the wife shot that down immediately. She said the Casino's would be to close for me. Where we live in NJ Atlantic City and casinos in PA are far enough where I can't get to them all the time.
I would try that option, but I hear divorces can be very costly.
 
Except that EVERYTHING IN AUSTRALIA IS POISONOUS AND TRYING TO KILL YOU!

usa usa usa!
My friend lives near Phoenix and he is always taking pictures of Scorpions on his Property and has had a poisonous Snake removed from his yard. But in Australia yes they host some of deadliest spiders and snakes and have a lot of them.
 
Good point. It’s not warm, but sun helps a lot, and when it’s cold in winter the low humidity makes it tolerable.
But there's no "there" there -- at least, nothing man-made. No cultural assets to speak of, other than native American, and even there, it doesn't touch New Mexico or Arizona..

As to major cities, put Denver against Austin, for anything other than major league sports, and Austin wins, hands down.

To choose Colorado, you have to place natural features and activities as your highest priority. You'd better be a skier, rather than a tennis player. :cool

(Fwiw, my wife grew up in Colorado Springs, took her degrees at Colorado State, and worked at the highest levels of state politics in Denver, before moving to DC and VA - and she grudgingly agrees. Ymmv, of course...)
 
But there's no "there" there -- at least, nothing man-made. No cultural assets to speak of, other than native American, and even there, it doesn't touch New Mexico or Arizona..

As to major cities, put Denver against Austin, for anything other than major league sports, and Austin wins, hands down.

To choose Colorado, you have to place natural features and activities as your highest priority. You'd better be a skier, rather than a tennis player. :cool

(Fwiw, my wife grew up in Colorado Springs, took her degrees at Colorado State, and worked at the highest levels of state politics in Denver, before moving to DC and VA - and she grudgingly agrees. Ymmv, of course...)
All good points Larry. It does have natural beauty though.

I used to love skiing, but my doc said I needed to give it up.

I’m very confused honestly. I think we’re just going to have to look at a bunch of places.
 
Now that I’ve done some additional research, Colorado is moving up on the list.
Where in CO? I grew up outside of Durango and spent 15 years in the Denver area.

What is it about CO that is moving it up the list for you?

We left in 2003 for a job in DC. We originally said we would live in VA for 3 to 5 years and then move back. We kind of overshot the 5 year mark....LOL.
 
Where in CO? I grew up outside of Durango and spent 15 years in the Denver area.

What is it about CO that is moving it up the list for you?

We left in 2003 for a job in DC. We originally said we would live in VA for 3 to 5 years and then move back. We kind of overshot the 5 year mark....LOL.
Denver seems a little overcrowded, but maybe the outskirts around Golden? Or Fort Collins or Colorado Springs?

We’ve enjoyed visiting the area a few times, but I imagine it’s much different living there.
 
Denver seems a little overcrowded, but maybe the outskirts around Golden? Or Fort Collins or Colorado Springs?

We’ve enjoyed visiting the area a few times, but I imagine it’s much different living there.
Golden would be pretty nice! The weather is very nice in CO. No humidity is AWESOME!!

People think winters are cold, but they're not. The fluctuations in temperature during the winter made it nicer than winters in VA. When it gets cold in VA it stays cold for weeks. In CO, it can be 10 degrees in the morning and 65 by noon.

AND...Golden is a short drive to Black Hawk / Central City!! :)
 
Golden would be pretty nice! The weather is very nice in CO. No humidity is AWESOME!!

People think winters are cold, but they're not. The fluctuations in temperature during the winter made it nicer than winters in VA. When it gets cold in VA it stays cold for weeks. In CO, it can be 10 degrees in the morning and 65 by noon.

AND...Golden is a short drive to Black Hawk / Central City!! :)

That sounds terrible. I thought the 30 degree temp changes we get in FL sucked, you're getting 55 degree changes, fuck that!
 
Another option is to split your time between places. The wife and I are currently looking for a cabin in Tahoe. We figure when we retire, we will probably split our time between Tahoe and somewhere warmer like Austin or maybe in FL somewhere. But we'll probably also spend a fair bit of time OUS since we love to travel.

I'd also love to have one of those Sprinter van conversion RVs (not a motorhome, but the smaller vans that get converted) and just tour the country, national park hopping. That would be a blast!
 
And 300 sunny days/year. That’s a bonus.

Definitely don't move to Seattle if you want 300 sunny days/year. People say Seattle has a lot of rain, but they only get about 35" per year. It's more the clouds and overcast days and lack of sun that makes it so dreary. Seattle has about 300 days of no sunshine per year lol.
 
Denver seems a little overcrowded, but maybe the outskirts around Golden? Or Fort Collins or Colorado Springs?
Big social distinctions there! Cities with major universities tend to be politically liberal, while Colorado Springs is an extremely conservative city, dominated by the military (Fort Carson, AF Academy, Schriever AFB).

But Colorado Springs does have the Pikes Peak Hillclimb! It's not unusual to have 80+ degrees headed there, and be frozen in a hail storm half-way up the mountain... :cool
 
That sounds terrible. I thought the 30 degree temp changes we get in FL sucked, you're getting 55 degree changes, fuck that!
Not really -- it's pretty nice to have snow on the ground and be out skiing in 60 degree air.

We found the 50+ degree daily temperature swings in central California (around Salinas, e.g.) to be much, much more miserable...
 
Maybe we start a poker community in NC, GB?
North Carolina Poker is open for anyone on the forum - solid home poker scene here in the RTP area - we call it home and love it. The set ups around town are quite nice

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North Carolina Poker is open for anyone on the forum - solid home poker scene here in the RTP area - we call it home and love it. The set ups around town are quite nice

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As one of the fishiest fish in the Triangle (have yet to play actual poker, found the forum for chips for blackjack), you have my attention. Would love a NC meetup.

/Sorry for almost thread jack. To make it relevant again, NC is a great place to live. The Triangle is awesome (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill). If you want to go further out you can find rural areas with easy drive to big city amenities. Lots of great healthcare options. Easy drive to mountains or coast (I know people will argue if Smokies are "actual mountains").
 
As one of the fishiest fish in the Triangle (have yet to play actual poker, found the forum for chips for blackjack), you have my attention. Would love a NC meetup.

/Sorry for almost thread jack. To make it relevant again, NC is a great place to live. The Triangle is awesome (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill). If you want to go further out you can find rural areas with easy drive to big city amenities. Lots of great healthcare options. Easy drive to mountains or coast (I know people will argue if Smokies are "actual mountains").
DM me if you care to partake. Happy to intro you into games in town including mine !
 
Take a gander at north eastern New Mexico. Same as colorado but without the fucking nutcases and property is like 100x cheaper. Nobody cares what you are doing here either.
When we took our roundabout "retirement tour" drive from Denver to San Diego, we were snowed in for four days in Taos. It was not unpleasant, but once was enough. :cool

And we know several Coloradans who have retired to Santa Fe, specifically for the arts community. Really nice place.

Albuquerque is a pretty nice bigger city, IMO. I used to spend a lot of time there at Sandia Labs, and really enjoyed Old Town, the university area, and the city in general. I could probably live there.

Dunno what prices are like in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas these days. I know they're reasonable a few miles further south, below the Isleta Casino (Los Lunas, where a cousin lives, and commutes to Sandia).

We also have friends in Las Cruces, but on our tour, we didn't see much in that area to appreciate.

My final working years, I took a bunch of "Where should you retire?" quizzes, and several of them told me El Paso, TX. I never have figured out why, apart from there being a lot of retired military there... :unsure:
 
prices are like in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas these days. I know they're reasonable a few miles further south

well there are only 2 million people in the whole state and about half of them live in those two cities. So prices there are higher for sure.
 
Update … we visited Lake Norman outside of Charlotte and loved the area. Home prices are pretty crazy though. Our next trip is scheduled in a couple of weeks and will include RTP, and SC beach cities/towns (Seabrook Island area along with Bluffton). Home prices there also seem very high.

Denver area, Nashville area, and Sarasota/Bradenton are also at the top of the list and we’ll have to visit them soon. Not sure those areas are any more reasonable in terms of home prices. I think the real estate market is just overheated in general right now.
 
Update … we visited Lake Norman outside of Charlotte and loved the area. Home prices are pretty crazy though. Our next trip is scheduled in a couple of weeks and will include RTP, and SC beach cities/towns (Seabrook Island area along with Bluffton). Home prices there also seem very high.

Denver area, Nashville area, and Sarasota/Bradenton are also at the top of the list and we’ll have to visit them soon. Not sure those areas are any more reasonable in terms of home prices. I think the real estate market is just overheated in general right now.
I can schedule you for some home tours in Dallas when you are here for DiD. Huge plus - established home game.
 

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