Thanks to Tony at Saratoga Flag <<<<
Tony sends info places to retire:
Hey Irish,
Great piece!
I think it's all a matter of prospective.
Y'all gonna think I'm crazy but I am "retiring" in UPSTATE New Yawk.
It ain't that bad.
We get 6-8ft snow on average every winter, temps in the teens to 40's and summer is very mild. It rarely tops 90°F and that's only in July. That's why they moved the horse racing up here from Belmont every August.
My bride and I are both from Queens.
Moved 5 hours north of the city in the late 80's.
Considering the high taxes, unaffordable housing, high crime; et alia -- well, we up and left.
We chose Saratoga Springs.
Turns out my dad's cousin worked at the race track & he suggest we check it out.
(Saratoga is "The Summer Place to Be" after Belmont and Lexington).
Best advice he ever gave me. We were able to afford to buy a house!
I know, I know...Toga is sooooo liberal.
Well, that wasn't always the case; back in the 90s.
As all the old, WW2 generation died off or left for FLA, the city turned radically left after 9/11/2001 with the advent of transplants (folks with means; unlike us cash-strapped newlyweds back in the day). These newbees, especially the ones moving in since 2012, are not the humble type; by any means. They sold their homes and bought twice that for half; up here. Not too bad.
The good: that property values are going up.
(For those of us with a good equity base; it's not too shabby.)
The bad: they can't help sticking their noses in other people's business; bringing their leftist agenda with them.
But why would I want to stay here?
Because, once you get your butt 15-20 miles outside the cities and especially outside the interstates, life changes; big time! The rural parts of New York is to die for. People are very right of center; redneck. When you get into the mountain regions; be it the Adirondacks or the Green Mountains of eastern NY & VT; expect to see rebel flags flying!
These so-called rednecks, trace their roots back to the Scotts-Irish hillbillies that founded this great nation. And they are not about to give it up. They love their trucks, their beer, their dogs and their shotguns. They hunt, fish, conceal carry and live within their means. 20-30 acres of inherited land and a trailer. Fine. They drive old Ford Super Duty trucks and the rust on the quarter panels is worn like a badge of honor.
That’s a good descriptive of the the people I know in WNY too..
ReplyDeleteExcept for the temperatures, the horse racing, and the accent sounds a lot like western N.C.
DeleteYeah, I grew up and lived in rural upstate NY and still loved parts of it dearly, but when it came to retiring, I pulled up stakes and moved to the Gunshine State. You know, where we have a governor with more than half a goddam brain and a whole lot less pompous arrogance. Haven’t missed the taxes, winters, or shitty roads even once.
ReplyDeleteHey Alex, Tonawanda here!
ReplyDeleteIts still NY, GTFO!!!!
Trust me.
I can't wait for the unemployment numbers to come out next week. 'Course with the Usurper and his band of re-employed Obozo criminals back in charge, the numbers will be fudged to make the Usurper look good, just like back in the prime Obozo years. It was really heartening to see John Kerry's advice to the newly unemployed Keystone pipeline workers to "go build solar panels".
ReplyDeleteNemo
Build solar panels? That is the "green" equivalent of telling people to go learn code. Sanctimonious bastards.
DeleteThe only problem, that no one seems to be told , is: solar panels do have a finite life span. Roughly twenty years, or so. Then, to top it off, no one wants to be responsible for the material waste of their disposal. Very little of them are recyclable. The output also declines over their lifespan - diminishing return on your investment, as your loan still gets paid monthly.
There is a reason every green energy money pit jug ears threw cash at went bankrupt.
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
I agree it is awesomely beautiful up there.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in NE Mass, and went to grad school at Purdue in NW Ind. I thought I knew what winter was. Then I spent two years in Schenectady. OMG!! The two coldest snowiest winters of my life. Appalling cold, -30F. Appalling snow falls, twice 26 in. Snow stays til April; comes in October. Canadian cold with lake effect from Lake Erie, 200 miles away.
ReplyDeleteThe summer are mild, and Upstate and the Adirondacks are gorgeous in summer.
But I would not go back for love or money.
I'm now in north central rural Ohio, in the foothills of the Appalachians. The worst problem is horse puckies from the Amish wagons in the Kroger lot. A much better choice than NY.
What year did you graduate high school ? I was also in NE. mASS.
DeleteNot to mention that Schenectady is essentially a shithole regardless of the weather
DeleteYes, those areas are gorgeous in the summer, but they are also prone to some wicked-ass thunderstorms. Two summers ago I was visiting my cousins in Old Forge and one Friday night we had a storm come through that not only knocked a few large trees down in the yard, but also ripped the roof clean off the neighbors shed. Winters can be tough, but one of my cousins - who just celebrated his 92nd birthday - told me that he remembers winters when he was young where from around mid December, through early March, the temperature never got above -25. Taxes have gone through the roof though. My other cousins have told me that they had a county executive elected around six years ago who wanted money for capital projects, but was told that the county population wasn't high enough to receive the money. So they relaxed the requirements to receive welfare. Of course, the population went up, that's one thing that remains a constant, the folks looking for more handouts ALWAYS find a way to move where there's more free shit. My cousin Gerry told me that he ran into some folks from Brooklyn who moved up there for the handouts.
DeleteAll things said true. No one said taxes going down though.
ReplyDeleteUpstate NY is a great area, but so are parts of CA, WA, OR, and other leftist states when you get away from the large cities. The problem with both states is that it's the idiots living in the large cities that elect the horrible state government that imposes all of the ridiculous rules and high taxes that kill my desire to live in such areas.
ReplyDeleteThe entire country, and most of the world really, is great when you get away from the large cities, the idiots, and the governments. Sort of kills my desire to live in almost any area.
DeleteWe were stationed at Plattsburgh Air Force Base New York in the early 60's when my parents were still married and my Dad was in Strategic Air Command. It was cold. Very cold. Very very very cold. The nearest big city was Montreal. To readers unfamiliar with the ancient mysteries of geography, Montreal aint in this country. I was back in the vicinity in February a few years ago on business with the Canadian Air Force. I can report that it is still cold.
ReplyDeleteBack in those days the border was mostly a formality. I remember being waved through with barely more than a smile. These days it isn't much easier than crossing the ocean.
DeleteGrew up in the Adirondacks. Moved away. Moved back in 2001. I live in the southern tier in a rural area. You are absolutely right about rural NYers and redneck conservative values. Unfortunately the state is run like Venezuela by Cuomo and is doomed ultimately.
ReplyDeleteI would leave but I have too many personal connections here at present that I do not wish to abandon. I am not a kid anymore and starting over anywhere would be difficult at this time in my life.
Still, if it comes down to an opportunity to live in a state that has seceded from this corrupt union of leftists and commies versus staying here and losing the rest of my rights, I think leaving is about the only choice I would have. Til then I remain behind enemy lines
Tony
ReplyDeleteWe lived in North Creek about an hour north of Saratoga Springs back in the mid to late 80's before moving to Oregon. Loved the people there and the fishing and white water rafting were great. Some of the best walleye fishing I've seen. There was a small local pub called Basil & Wicks that was a great place to eat or just hang out. They wouldn't allow a NY Yankees game to be shown on the TV and had a picture of Mario Cuomo over the bar buried in the dirt up to his neck reading Plant Your Own Dope.
Good down to earth folks but they were trying to change a lot of that even back then. Agenda 21 was pushing to have a lot of the roads closed in the Adirondack Park area and they rezoned many areas to a 40 acre minimum for an individual house lot. Quite a few families there would gift 5 acres to their kids from their own property so they could build a house and they wanted to stop that and push folks into "planned" communities. I imagine that has gotten worse in the past 30+ years. I imagine Basil & Wicks has gone bourgie as Gore Mountain was becoming a ski area for all the city folks to flock to.
Still enjoyed living there and the people were the salt of the earth.Too much snow for my tastes. Here in the mountains of NC we will see snow a couple times a year for a short while and if you want to play in it a drive of less than 30 minutes will bring you into the higher elevations and snow.
I can vouch for my friend. He is one of the few Flatlanders, that actually added to the area. Granted, you get him riled up, and there is no mistaking that accent ain't from the 'Vert. Just a family of good people, from somewhere else. Now if we could only get the good folks moving up here and have the toxic bastards to stay in the city, upstate might remain a nice place to live. At least, for just a little while longer.
ReplyDeleteBTW - The Super Duty comment is in reference to me. ;-)
Leigh
Whitehall, NY
"the Scotts-Irish hillbillies that founded this great nation"-not sure when they came over buy my Dutch ancestors landed in 1660, rented a farm in Kyuct (part of Brooklyn) then bought a farm a mile and a quarter from what was to become the WTC, and stayed there for 8 generations. My long ago travels through parts of rural NY suggested that it would likely have been a decent place to live.
ReplyDelete