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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Because I *don't* live here, I don't have the data you have.  I am trying to understand what makes it worthwhile.

So, I'm asking people who *do* live here and love it what makes it worthwhile for them.  In response, people keep describing what I already have, and in some cases, less than what I already have, as though it's a mindblowing urban wonderland.

So I'm pointing that out so that they will stop assuming that everything in flyover country is McMansions and Applebee's, and describe more specifically what they find attractive about DC.  I don't have trouble understanding why Paris is worth living rough.  I do have trouble understanding what's special about DC.  And I've spent a lot of time here trying to figure out what people see in it, and coming up short.

I am hoping to see some genuine distinction that will clue me in.

Is this a difficult concept?  [/quote]

If you don't see any distinction between a world class power city like DC and Kansas you are smoking something.  If the only things that impress you are skyscrapers or most prominent world tourist destinations like Paris, it just shows your small town mentality.  You won't enjoy it here, you are right.  Stay where you are.  Your lifestyle is not going to be different here and this is because of who you are and what you are looking for, not because of what this city can and cannot offer. [/quote]

You're so funny.  I'm from the East Coast and lived/worked/ate/drank/dated/consumed culture in DC for years.  It was good.  I liked many things about it, including the LOC.  It was still a reasonably affordable place.

Then I moved to the Midwest for what was supposed to be a short sojourn on an interesting project, expecting to gut out my exile and come home as soon as possible.  This city turned out to be much, much more fun than I imagined.  It had everything I need to be happy - great bars, brilliant food (yes, including ethnic), music/theater/museums, parks and gorgeous natural areas and educated, talented, diverse, mostly down to earth people, at least one of them alarmingly hot.  So, two years stretched into a decade.  The schools were decent and we could afford a great house in a great neighborhood.  And while I was working elsewhere, DC got crazy expensive and so much changed and was built and I thought the city would be even better.  I figured if people were willing and able to pay $400K for little houses with big problems, there had to be a really good reason.  And for personal reasons unrelated to where we live, we thought it might be good to be in the mid Atlantic. So we've been reading the paper every day and vacationing and going to the restaurants and theaters that are supposed to be better than ours and... we have this.  I don't need to be completely bowled over, but I do need to feel as though we get something for what we give up.  What we don't have is the Smithsonian/monuments/Mall, government and a *very* few cultural events we want and won't see here.  But $1800/mo less in mortgage buys a lot of airfare and hotel.  I hop on transit and am at DCA in a little over 2 hours door to door.   Some of you have commutes almost that long.

I'm not trying to be snarky.  I'm puzzled.  And because those personal reasons still hold, we're thinking we may still end up crapping out our QOL in myriad ways to live in the region.  I keep hoping I am going see something that makes me not sad to be considering this option.  [/quote]

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