Friday, May 23, 2008

In Praise of Charlotte, NC

Recently voted the Best Place to Live in America by Relocate-America.com (Check out the report here), Charlotte really is a nice place to live. It's not just that the weather is good. We have a mild four-season climate. It's a rare year when we see snow and even then it's usually gone fast. We get the occasional ice storm, a few nights when the temperature plummets to the teens, but that pretty rare. Spring arrives early and hangs around for a good long while. My daffodils are out before February ends and still blooming well into April. Summer is humid, admittedly, but not the strength-sapping humidity of Florida or Georgia. Fall is spectacular with the trees (and we have an incredible number of trees still) changing color.

Charlotte has a lovely city skyline. We don't suffer from rectangular, block-sided monstrosities. Each of our high-rises is an architectural delight. The people for the most part are welcoming and open. House prices didn't jump through the roof over the past few years as they did in many other part of the US, which makes it a very affordable place to buy into, and we are still seeing a steady increase in house prices. The market has slowed down somewhat, but it's still active. We have our share of crime, which city doesn't? Traffic can be awful, there's no denying that. But overall, it's hard to beat.

I'm not suggesting that it's better than where you live. It's not my favorite city. Tony Bennett had it right when he sang I Left My Heart in San Francisco. But it's where I live now, and it really is a good place.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Left his heart in San Francisco, huh...maybe Charlotte is a better place to rest your head. I'd rather have that. :)

For some reason I always pictured NC as being very warm. Maybe I'm just confusing it with South Carolina. The way you describe it sounds not too far different from western Oregon where I lived for a while (climate-wise, at least). What's the rainfall and sun vs. cloud scenario like?