Those of you who chose between VA and MD, what factors were important to you?

[Anonymous]

... besides commute to work or distance to family. TIA!

[Anonymous]

College. Unless kids get some scholarships, we can afford to send them to state public universities/colleges. Virginia has multiple strong choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College. Unless kids get some scholarships, we can afford to send them to state public universities/colleges. Virginia has multiple strong choices.

+1000. I think this may be why Virginia is so crowded!

[Anonymous]

Gay rights-Virgina is severely lacking and I couldn't, in good conscience, let my family live there.

[Anonymous]

live in VA for political reasons. MD is too solidly blue.

[Anonymous]

We chose MD because DH works in MD (I SAH). We decided on PG/AA County area because of his work location, it's less developed, he has a reverse commute, and traffic is slightly better.

Last week I had to go to the OB/GYN in Silver Spring. I got stuck behind an accident on the Beltway that was in part caused by daytime road work. It took me 1.5 hours to get there and it's less than 15 miles away. The accident happened just after exit 28 and I had to get off at exit 29. It took an hour to go that one mile. Thank God I had my appointment time wrong in my head which bought me an extra 30 minutes and I had added a 30 minute cushion and I was told to try and be there 30 minutes early.

I try and avoid going into MoCo or NOVA because of the traffic and how much of a PITA it is. I couldn't imagine choosing to live there and spending hours and hours in my car. What a waste of time and sanity. Hell, I get claustrophobic thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

We stayed in DC. Can walk to work if need be; otherwise just hop a bus to downtown. No real commute. Can walk to Whole Foods, the hardware store, restaurants. The beltway? What's that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:live in VA for political reasons. MD is too solidly blue.

Same here, but the opposite. VA is too conservative. And too Southern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We stayed in DC. Can walk to work if need be; otherwise just hop a bus to downtown. No real commute. Can walk to Whole Foods, the hardware store, restaurants. The beltway? What's that?

Your opinion was not solicited on this thread. Are you a product of DCPS who graduated without learning to read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We chose MD because DH works in MD (I SAH). We decided on PG/AA County area because of his work location, it's less developed, he has a reverse commute, and traffic is slightly better.

Last week I had to go to the OB/GYN in Silver Spring. I got stuck behind an accident on the Beltway that was in part caused by daytime road work. It took me 1.5 hours to get there and it's less than 15 miles away. The accident happened just after exit 28 and I had to get off at exit 29. It took an hour to go that one mile. Thank God I had my appointment time wrong in my head which bought me an extra 30 minutes and I had added a 30 minute cushion and I was told to try and be there 30 minutes early.

I try and avoid going into MoCo or NOVA because of the traffic and how much of a PITA it is. I couldn't imagine choosing to live there and spending hours and hours in my car. What a waste of time and sanity. Hell, I get claustrophobic thinking about it.

Why do you go to a doctor so far away from where you live?

I live in SSpring and all of my family's healthcare providers are here, within a five-minute drive (really) from our house. No Beltway, no traffic. We spend very little time in our car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We stayed in DC. Can walk to work if need be; otherwise just hop a bus to downtown. No real commute. Can walk to Whole Foods, the hardware store, restaurants. The beltway? What's that?

Your opinion was not solicited on this thread. Are you a product of DCPS who graduated without learning to read?

Why so rude? Oh yeah, I forgot. This is DCUM.

[Anonymous]

My vote counts for nothing in Maryland, so we live in VA - also picked VA for the public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We chose MD because DH works in MD (I SAH). We decided on PG/AA County area because of his work location, it's less developed, he has a reverse commute, and traffic is slightly better.

Last week I had to go to the OB/GYN in Silver Spring. I got stuck behind an accident on the Beltway that was in part caused by daytime road work. It took me 1.5 hours to get there and it's less than 15 miles away. The accident happened just after exit 28 and I had to get off at exit 29. It took an hour to go that one mile. Thank God I had my appointment time wrong in my head which bought me an extra 30 minutes and I had added a 30 minute cushion and I was told to try and be there 30 minutes early.

I try and avoid going into MoCo or NOVA because of the traffic and how much of a PITA it is. I couldn't imagine choosing to live there and spending hours and hours in my car. What a waste of time and sanity. Hell, I get claustrophobic thinking about it.

Why do you go to a doctor so far away from where you live?

I live in SSpring and all of my family's healthcare providers are here, within a five-minute drive (really) from our house. No Beltway, no traffic. We spend very little time in our car.

Normally I wouldn't but I needed to see a specialist (not for pregnancy) and CWC came very highly recommended.

Sure you can avoid the beltway but there is still 2x-3x the traffic and stupid drivers. We are talking about drivers who would fail their driving tests if they were to take them again now.. Ideally the drive would have taken 20-25 minutes to get there since it's almost all highway. My second appointment I was able to get there in 40 and home in 25.

[Anonymous]

We have family in NY and NJ whom we visit often and Maryland is a lot closer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We stayed in DC. Can walk to work if need be; otherwise just hop a bus to downtown. No real commute. Can walk to Whole Foods, the hardware store, restaurants. The beltway? What's that?

ummm... I live in Arlington and we also walk to whole foods, traders, gym, drycleaners, pharmacy, toy stores, etc. Also a very quick commute downtown. DC does not have the corner on that. There are also Capital Bike rental stands on almost every corner. We have more in our neighborhood now than we did in our NW one.

We chose VA because I was conditioned since birth to hate MD and their drivers . Everytime our travel soccer team played out in MD somewhere I had to sit in the car and listen to my dad go on and on and on....

I also agree UVA, William&Mary, VA Tech, JMU, etc. are great if our kids stay in state.