Favorite US cities/towns

[kc7jty]

Not necessarily in this order:
Portland, OR
LaFayette, LA
Whitefish, MT
Charleston, SC
Savanna, GA
Key West, FL
Butte, MT and surrounding areas



Charleston & Savanna are choked with tourists most the time but are still cool.
Portland is almost all the younger set, but has class, taste, & style that are sorely lacking in most US cities. Doesn't have a bug up it's ass like most other places.
Whitefish was super cool in the 80s. Completely laid back, kinda hicky but in a cool Montana way. It's all commercialized now with over 50% of the pop being transplants.
LaFayette, if you were ever in the thick of Cajuns with their hair down and the music blastin you know the draw.
Key West is like a non stop carnival, nudes on the beaches, a cop pulled up on me there when I was eating a meal with a qt of beer on the roof of my car behind a business that was closed for the day. He asked what I was doing and I replied, ah...ah, buh...just having my dinner. He said OK and left.
Butte is like going back in time. The people there are 100% friendly and trusting. If you go into a bar in Butte and don't know everyone in there on a personal level in the first 30 minutes there's something wrong with YOU.

[NQ6U]

I love Portland. Trying to convince the XYL that it's the place to retire to--assuming we're ever actually able to retire, of course.

The food in Lafayette, LA is amazing, by the way.

[rot]

Bayonne and Elizabeth, NJ.
Spent a bit of time there.
I always felt like I was welcome..
Nice peeps.
rot

[al2n]

Homer, Alaska
Seward, Alaska

Lincoln City, Oregon
Astoria, Oregon

I like the small coastal towns. Hope to retire to any of them many years from now.

[ki4itv]

I would throw in Natchez, MS. It is beautiful, friendly, and culturally significant.

[n2ize]

New York , NY
Camden, NJ
Chicago, Il.
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Camden NJ

In that order more or less.

[kf0rt]

Outside of Custer, SD at the moment. Love this town; friendly folks.

Had a chat with a local store owner the other day while the wife was shopping for t-shirts. The guy's been working 10-12 hour days 7 days a week since 4/1 and looking forward to some time off as soon as the tourist season dies down a bit. Still pleasant and easy-going. Went into the grocery the other day (wife caught a bad cold) looking for some OTC remedies. In the aisle, right by said remedies, one of the store clerks was yakking on her cell phone. About the time I was starting to get city boi pissed, she struck up a conversation with the wife and told her exactly what she needed. (It worked, too!) People are so nice here! Town has a population of about 1800, and businesses are already starting to close for the winter. They DO make all their money in about 4-5 months - at any given time, about 10% of the businesses appear to be for sale, but the "born here" locals seem to know how to make it work.

I asked the store owner what he'd do with the time off and he said "hopefully draw a deer tag and go hunting." "I pay state, county and local taxes and haven't had one in five years." Never brought politics into the discussion. BONUS POINTS! Damn, I'd love to retire here -- it's so different from what I know.

[kc7jty]

I would throw in Natchez, MS. It is beautiful, friendly, and culturally significant.

Been there, did the tour, saw Jefferson Davis's boyhood home, the Natchez trace...
If I could go back in time it would be antebellum Louisiana/Mississippi. 1830-1855.
Some of the old plantation/mansion tours where you park your car a quarter mile away then walk or animal drawn carriage ride in are most delightful.

[ki4itv]

The food in Lafayette, LA is amazing, by the way.

Don't forget the people... My former roomate kavi is a native.
His family was always of the best demeanor and had more tasty, hot food/cheap beer than you could enjoy without help.
Those were really GREAT TIMES. They certainly know how to party. And party. And party.
(they actually hand carried me out of "The Square" and nursed me back to health...uhm, more than once, K)
I ate shit there I would never admit too, around city folk.
Awesome times. good call.

[ki4itv]

Been there, did the tour, saw Jefferson Davis's boyhood home, the Natchez trace...
If I could go back in time it would be antebellum Louisiana/Mississippi. 1830-1855.
Some of the old plantation/mansion tours where you park your car a quarter mile away then walk or animal drawn carriage ride in are most delightful.

It is a beautiful, meaningful town. What most people don't understand about Natchez, is that it's really a French colony. Blacks and whites commingled within their classes.
Natchez is really a suburb or New Orleans, meaning that many of the wealthy blacks from NOLA also owned property in Natchez.
You probably won't read this type of stuff in the current history, but, it is fact. Natchez is really one of the first truly American cities.
Nuff said, and you may have already known this.
But the town has more to offer than one would see at first glance. It is truly special.
If one has time to go to the clubs, restaurants, and other social gatherings, it becomes apparent rather quickly.
It was mine and my wife's favorite haunt, for years...