Reply to Did you move from a dense, urban part of DC to a quieter part?

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[quote=Anonymous]My wife and I did a gradual slide into suburban-style DC.  We started out in Columbia Heights, moved to Glover Park, then to the Palisades, and last year moved to Deanwood.

I definitely miss being able to walk to restaurants, but finally being able to break the chain of 1BR apartments/condos and move up to a house was totally worth it.

We went from going out 3-4 times a week to maybe once or twice, mostly because of the (in)convenience factor of having to take an Uber or the Metro to be able to go to a sit-down restaurant, but that's really the only thing that got significantly less convenient.  I do have to drive to the supermarket now, but the 1 mile drive takes about the same amount of time as the quarter mile walk to the Giant when we were in Columbia Heights, plus we can stock up more and make less trips in total because we're not limited to what we can carry in a small rolling cart. Having a car is so much easier here too, there's plenty of on street parking (hell, I even have a frickin driveway!) and getting to places outside of the city is a short hop on 295 instead of an awful slog through the whole damn city.

Also, having more space means spending a lot more time taking care of it, so a not insignificant amount of time we used to spend going out is now spent doing yard work and home maintenance, which honestly is probably better for our wallets and waistlines anyway.

In terms of community, Deanwood actually has the greatest sense of community of anywhere I've ever lived.  From the moment we moved in we started being invited to neighbor's houses, whether it was for a BBQ or to watch a game, or just to hang out on someone's porch on a Friday night. When we went on vacation we got an unsolicited call from one of our neighbors who wanted to let us know he saw an unfamiliar person going into our house (it was the cat sitter) and wanted to make sure everything was OK. I know probably 50% or more of the people on my block by name and a good portion of the surrounding blocks as well. I don't think I knew any of my neighbors in Columbia Heights or Glover Park, and only a handful in the Palisades, and any that I did were certainly not because they reached out to me.

I love the peace and quiet (most of the year at least. July is like Chinese New Year at night) as well as the general greenness and the huge parks nearby (real parks too, with woods and trails, not just squares of grass!)

I'm definitely very happy with my move, but of course everyone's situation is different.  You'd definitely want to take your daily commute into account, and your personal lifestyle as well.  If you're the kind of person who never cooks at home or just has to be out at a bar several times a week, a move to somewhere like Brightwood is going to be way more inconvenient than to someone like me who is perfectly happy staying home most nights.  [/quote]

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