Anonymous wrote:OP if you lived at my house in southern Fairfax County it would take you about 30 minutes to walk -- through leafy green neighborhoods on 1/2 acre lots -- to the nearest business of any kind ( a 7-11). Its a big county with lots of different types of areas.

That sounds dreadful.

OP if you lived at my house in southern Fairfax County it would take you about 30 minutes to walk -- through leafy green neighborhoods on 1/2 acre lots -- to the nearest business of any kind ( a 7-11). Its a big county with lots of different types of areas.

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Anonymous wrote:OP, I have to agree. Much of Fairfax County is soul sucking strip malls. The only reason people rave about the school system is because it is big - not that it is great or wonderful, or that the admin is caring, but the school system is big.

How can a strip mall suck your soul?

DumbA doesn't know, but I bet he thought it sounded good.

There are nice, even beautiful parts of Fairfax County. Of course, I have some complaints about it, like the lack of sidewalks in some areas (the county is working on it) and some ugly strip malls. But the county is huge and not ALL sidewalk-less strip malls.

As for the trails instead of sidewalks, I'm not really sure why you dislike them? The trails are often wider than a sidewalk would be and don't have squares that are misaligned tripping hazards. Much easier to bike or push a stroller or go jogging on a trail. And certainly trails are better than no pedestrian space at all.

The public schools are excellent and diverse.

Fairfax Parks and Rec maintain great parks and green spaces throughout the county.

Someone else asked what neighborhoods in the region you DO like, so that we might better tailor our responses to your interests. Would you care to share a few neighborhoods in the region that meet your aesthetic standards? Or what kinds of things would make up your ideal place?

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Anonymous wrote:Raised the kids in North Arlington and moved to downtown DC as youngish empty nesters. Bought a second home in the country about 90 minutes from the city when Covid started. None of our places is particularly fancy, and we’re well off but I wouldn’t say wealthy.

Was in Fairfax County today having car work done. Spent a couple hours walking around the area (more or less the between Vienna and Merrifield) while I waited.

I found it horrifying. Strip malls followed by town houses and single family homes hugging congested highways, no real sidewalks (mostly asphalt), and all the same in every direction. Walked into what looked like a quiet leafy ‘hood to get away from it and quickly found myself walking into a sound wall for I-66.

I’m sorry, but why does anyone with any other options choose to live in an area like that? It raised my blood pressure!!

Curious -- where is your 2nd home?

70 miles from the White House - as the crow flies.

Anonymous wrote:Raised the kids in North Arlington and moved to downtown DC as youngish empty nesters. Bought a second home in the country about 90 minutes from the city when Covid started. None of our places is particularly fancy, and we’re well off but I wouldn’t say wealthy.

Was in Fairfax County today having car work done. Spent a couple hours walking around the area (more or less the between Vienna and Merrifield) while I waited.

I found it horrifying. Strip malls followed by town houses and single family homes hugging congested highways, no real sidewalks (mostly asphalt), and all the same in every direction. Walked into what looked like a quiet leafy ‘hood to get away from it and quickly found myself walking into a sound wall for I-66.

I’m sorry, but why does anyone with any other options choose to live in an area like that? It raised my blood pressure!!

Curious -- where is your 2nd home?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Umm, North Arlington also straddles 66, has tons of strip malls (have you driven on 29?), and plenty of neighborhoods have similar houses that are now being torn down and replaced with huge mansions.

If you drive out 29 from DC, you would be hard pressed to know whether you are in North Arlington, the City of Falls Church, or Fairfax County bc they are mostly all the same.

Yeah like 90% of the county is not like that. That's like going to Alaska and seeing a housing project Anchorage and saying Alaska has nothing good to look at.

And 90 percent of Fairfax isn’t like the OP described either

Anonymous wrote:OP, I have to agree. Much of Fairfax County is soul sucking strip malls. The only reason people rave about the school system is because it is big - not that it is great or wonderful, or that the admin is caring, but the school system is big.

How can a strip mall suck your soul?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools. I live in Old Town Alexandria. Come walk around my 'hood. It's lovely. But, the schools. We're trying to move to Fairfax County.

That’s on you. You could make Alexandria schools work. Thousands manage to.

Ugh it's the Alexandrian In Denial poster again. How many violent assaults do our kids need to witness for you to hit rock bottom? For us, the bar is a bit higher. Move along and stop taking others' sensible decision to put their kids first so personally.

What? 66 is nowhere near me in Fairfax county. You would be walking for several hours to get to it. Pull out a map OP!

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Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is huge. Inside the beltway is of course very crowded for the most part. But there is also Burke, Clifton, GMU, Fairfax Station, and Old Town Herndon etc. You just can't paint the whole place with one wide brush.

This. What a stupid post.

Troll nonsense... walked into a leafy hood!... friggin' sidewalks. walked into a wall for I66... What empty nester talks like that? And if OP really lived in North Arlington and now lives in DC (though they are getting their car worked on in Merrifield?), they would have to be utterly clueless to not understand why Fairfax County would appeal to many, for a variety of reasons. I call shenanigans!

+1. If not a troll, OP is one of those types who visits France for a week and spends the rest of her life talking about how much higher the quality of life is in Europe than in the US.

OP here. How are empty nesters supposed to talk exactly? I have to say “friggin’” because this site won’t let me say what I really would say. 😊

You could say things that make sense? Like "I couldn't find anything to do while my car was worked on" would make sense (although it would remain unclear why you felt this worth sharing). "I dislike Fairfax County" does not make sense, in that same way that saying "I dislike things whose name contains the letter R" would make no sense.

I felt it “worth sharing” that I found it difficult to get a decent walk in - even on a beautiful day - in the largest suburban county in the region because there were so many missing sidewalks, so much insane traffic, and an incredible amount of ugly and boring monotony. I’ve seen far less important things shared on DCUM.

You’ve seen less important things shared than a story about how you killed time while getting your car repaired? I’m not sure I have.

Yet here you are, on page 5 of my post about nothing.

Were you at Rosslyn Auto? They're my go-to place but so crowded.

Anyway, there are a ton of people like OP on DCUM. They drive down 29 or 50 once a year and decide that's what the suburbs are. OP you were at an auto shop. Of course those are in industrial districts, not near nice housing and parks.

OP, I have to agree. Much of Fairfax County is soul sucking strip malls. The only reason people rave about the school system is because it is big - not that it is great or wonderful, or that the admin is caring, but the school system is big.

Anonymous wrote:Umm, North Arlington also straddles 66, has tons of strip malls (have you driven on 29?), and plenty of neighborhoods have similar houses that are now being torn down and replaced with huge mansions.

If you drive out 29 from DC, you would be hard pressed to know whether you are in North Arlington, the City of Falls Church, or Fairfax County bc they are mostly all the same.

Yeah like 90% of the county is not like that. That's like going to Alaska and seeing a housing project Anchorage and saying Alaska has nothing good to look at.

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Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is huge. Inside the beltway is of course very crowded for the most part. But there is also Burke, Clifton, GMU, Fairfax Station, and Old Town Herndon etc. You just can't paint the whole place with one wide brush.

This. What a stupid post.

Troll nonsense... walked into a leafy hood!... friggin' sidewalks. walked into a wall for I66... What empty nester talks like that? And if OP really lived in North Arlington and now lives in DC (though they are getting their car worked on in Merrifield?), they would have to be utterly clueless to not understand why Fairfax County would appeal to many, for a variety of reasons. I call shenanigans!

+1. If not a troll, OP is one of those types who visits France for a week and spends the rest of her life talking about how much higher the quality of life is in Europe than in the US.

OP here. How are empty nesters supposed to talk exactly? I have to say “friggin’” because this site won’t let me say what I really would say. 😊

You could say things that make sense? Like "I couldn't find anything to do while my car was worked on" would make sense (although it would remain unclear why you felt this worth sharing). "I dislike Fairfax County" does not make sense, in that same way that saying "I dislike things whose name contains the letter R" would make no sense.

I felt it “worth sharing” that I found it difficult to get a decent walk in - even on a beautiful day - in the largest suburban county in the region because there were so many missing sidewalks, so much insane traffic, and an incredible amount of ugly and boring monotony. I’ve seen far less important things shared on DCUM.

Uh, thanks? Speaking of monotony.