Want to relocate to NoVa - where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has dozens of Starbucks, enough Virginia Tech graduates to fill several Orange Line trains a day, and dozens of tacky new homes on tiny lots where your dog quickly runs out of new places to pee.

Where do all the UVA grads live (in NOVA)? (I'm assuming the Hokies have driven the Wahoos out of Arlington).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has dozens of Starbucks, enough Virginia Tech graduates to fill several Orange Line trains a day, and dozens of tacky new homes on tiny lots where your dog quickly runs out of new places to pee.

Where do all the UVA grads live (in NOVA)? (I'm assuming the Hokies have driven the Wahoos out of Arlington).

Once the Wahoos have a few winning football seasons again, they'll reappear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has dozens of Starbucks, enough Virginia Tech graduates to fill several Orange Line trains a day, and dozens of tacky new homes on tiny lots where your dog quickly runs out of new places to pee.

Where do all the UVA grads live (in NOVA)? (I'm assuming the Hokies have driven the Wahoos out of Arlington).

Once the Wahoos have a few winning football seasons again, they'll reappear.

Yeah, yeah. So they do live in Arlington, but in an underground sort of way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Arlington versus Fairfax County (South of Old Town) debate really comes down to the personality of you and your family. If you like a competitive, over the top environment and want to always be keeping up with the Joneses, then North Arlington is your place - try to live as close as possible to Lyon Village or Yorktown High School.

If you want to relax with your family on the weekends, hit the bike trails, go to the pool that is NOT crowded, have your kid in fun preschools and camps that don't have waiting lists, check out Fairfax County. Finally, the metro is not the end all be-all - you can drive to downtown DC from Fairfax County - along the beautiful GW parkway - in about 25 minutes.

Love the stereotyping. We live in N. Arlington (right by Yorktown!) and just aren't like that. DC goes to a diverse countywide school where the parents aren't all Type A crazies and we're not trying to keep up with anybody. It's a nice area, with lots of parks, a great public pool complex nearby (Upton Hill Regional Park) that we belong to (we don't do the private swim club thing...). We relax, we have lots of bike trails, and the camp thing is manageable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Arlington versus Fairfax County (South of Old Town) debate really comes down to the personality of you and your family. If you like a competitive, over the top environment and want to always be keeping up with the Joneses, then North Arlington is your place - try to live as close as possible to Lyon Village or Yorktown High School.

If you want to relax with your family on the weekends, hit the bike trails, go to the pool that is NOT crowded, have your kid in fun preschools and camps that don't have waiting lists, check out Fairfax County. Finally, the metro is not the end all be-all - you can drive to downtown DC from Fairfax County - along the beautiful GW parkway - in about 25 minutes.

I don't know where you live in Fairfax county, but sadly, everywhere I know in Fairfax county fits your description of Arlington to a tee. The pools ARE crowded and my kids have always had waiting lists for camp and preschools.

[Anonymous]

Actually, there are quite a few really nice houses in or near Westover. I couldn't afford any of them at my $550Kish price point, but the OP could. (other areas that are walkable to Westover but not called Westover: Larchmont, Fostoria/Highland, Parkhurst.) I've been a Lost Dog fan since right after college, and it's probably a good thing I didn't buy near there, since I'd be going there weekly. The beer garden is great too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Arlington versus Fairfax County (South of Old Town) debate really comes down to the personality of you and your family. If you like a competitive, over the top environment and want to always be keeping up with the Joneses, then North Arlington is your place - try to live as close as possible to Lyon Village or Yorktown High School.

If you want to relax with your family on the weekends, hit the bike trails, go to the pool that is NOT crowded, have your kid in fun preschools and camps that don't have waiting lists, check out Fairfax County. Finally, the metro is not the end all be-all - you can drive to downtown DC from Fairfax County - along the beautiful GW parkway - in about 25 minutes.

South Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love the stereotyping. We live in N. Arlington (right by Yorktown!) and just aren't like that. DC goes to a diverse countywide school where the parents aren't all Type A crazies and we're not trying to keep up with anybody. It's a nice area, with lots of parks, a great public pool complex nearby (Upton Hill Regional Park) that we belong to (we don't do the private swim club thing...). We relax, we have lots of bike trails, and the camp thing is manageable.

Nice post. It probably reflects how most people who live in either Arlington or Fairfax feel.

I suspect the prior poster was simply reacting to some of the "we couldn't imagine living anywhere else" posts from some of those who over-hype nice, but perhaps not totally extraordinary, communities like Lyon Village and Westover. Whenever I read these posts, I think someone either has a stunning lack of imagination or is trying to unload their own property.

[Anonymous]

Town of Vienna (22180)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McLean is highly walkable and will get even more so. More parks and playgrounds per area than any place around, and about a long golf drive from the best in shopping and restaurants - and Metro too, pretty darn soon. Oh, but also the schools (in sports and academics both) are just the best. Langley boys' lacrosse - #1 in Virginia. McLean girls' soccer - #1 in Virginia. Top scores on all academic tests - all from McLean, or TJ, where McLean residents can go. Pretty much a no-brainer if you care about your kids' education or sports.

Grew up in McLean, bought in Vienna, much more kid friendly and way less cutthroat (except for football).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:McLean is highly walkable and will get even more so. More parks and playgrounds per area than any place around, and about a long golf drive from the best in shopping and restaurants - and Metro too, pretty darn soon. Oh, but also the schools (in sports and academics both) are just the best. Langley boys' lacrosse - #1 in Virginia. McLean girls' soccer - #1 in Virginia. Top scores on all academic tests - all from McLean, or TJ, where McLean residents can go. Pretty much a no-brainer if you care about your kids' education or sports.

Vienna is much more family friendly than McLean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know much about the schools in this area, but I Westover/Overlee is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the DC area. So convenient and so lovely with so many nice houses with great character.

Meh. We looked there. Would love to be near the Lebanese Taverna and Old Dog Cafe, but homes are mostly either huge, new cookie-cutter "Craftsmans" crammed on a small lot, or ugly brick piles from the 1950s. No amount of Arlington Kool-Aid could convince us it was worth it.

Out of curiosity, where did you decide to buy?

[Anonymous]

Vienna is much more family friendly than McLean.

Not necessarily. It's not particularly "family friendly" to spend extra time commuting to Vienna, when a commute to McLean from DC, Arlington or even parts of Tysons can be considerably shorter and less stressful.

Most of what presumably makes Vienna "family friendly" - such as parks, community centers, libraries, community pools, sports leagues, good schools, can be found in McLean as well. Families, not singles, are who generally move to McLean, and the enrollment in some of the McLean schools is grower faster than that in many of the Vienna schools.

The main difference is that there are more fast-food joints, inexpensive restaurants, and ice cream parlors in Vienna. That's not intended as a put-down. McLean probably would seem somewhat more hospitable to kids if it had a place like a Cold Stone Creamery or a Dairy Queen on Chain Bridge Road or Old Dominion.

[Anonymous]

PP: There are different definitions of family friendly.

For example, by living in Vienna vs Mclean, I can be a single income family, which is friendly. Also, not everyone goes into the city. Within 20 minutes of Vienna (at rush hour, assuming you know the back roads), you can get to Tysons, Reston, Herdon, Fairfax/Fairlakes/Fair Oaks, Chantilly, Merrifield. There are a lot of jobs there. (I commute from Vienna to Herndon).

Vienna has very well organized sports leagues (soccer, softball, baseball, lacrosse).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP: There are different definitions of family friendly.

For example, by living in Vienna vs Mclean, I can be a single income family, which is friendly. Also, not everyone goes into the city. Within 20 minutes of Vienna (at rush hour, assuming you know the back roads), you can get to Tysons, Reston, Herdon, Fairfax/Fairlakes/Fair Oaks, Chantilly, Merrifield. There are a lot of jobs there. (I commute from Vienna to Herndon).

Vienna has very well organized sports leagues (soccer, softball, baseball, lacrosse).

I agree with you. There are different definitions, which is why a blanket statement that Vienna is more family-friendly than McLean or, for that matter, Arlington is silly. And people commute in every which direction around here.