Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing it but only because DS got into a top NE private boarding school and won’t board. Haha! We are keeping our house in DC. We may sell it and buy an apt in Manhattan for when we overdose on rural and there’s always college.

I am looking forward to gardening, getting a large dog, some ducks & chickens, goats and kayaking from my backyard.

We are retired so we need stuff to do

You're living in the Finger Lakes for your DS who got into a NE boarding school but won't board? WTH?

Can't really think of any top boarding schools within commuting distance to NY. Let's see:
Andover
Exeter
Deerfield
Hotchkiss
St Paul

Hmm.

This sounds like a DP to me and I imagine they're moving to a rural area or small town in New England instead.

PP here. *whether a given day. Wow. Funny screw-up given the subject matter though.

I spent a year living in Geneseo and I would never move there. The biggest down side for me was actually the weather. It is cold and miserable for 5-6 months of the year. It's basically a toss up weather a given day is sunny or has rain/snow (by contrast, DC is closer to 2-to-1 ratio-wise). The weather was especially miserable there because all of the fun activities were outdoors. Winter there just sucked.

FWIW it's not really Trump country though, except compared to DC. It's about evenly split. So unless you strongly prefer living in the bubble (which, I sort of do, but 50-50 wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me), I don't think it would be a decisive factor.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1033-Victor-Rd_Macedon_NY_14502_M99193-52657

A whole farm! 450k!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canandaigua hometowner here and agree that the political vibe is probably better in Victor/Fairport than Canandaigua. Also, the prior poster is right that there’s a lot of economic diversity in Canandaigua that impacts the schools (which are still very good). To the posters imagining this rural, isolating town, that’s not at all what Canandaigua is like. There isn’t as much to do for sure, but it’s not a tiny town and the schools are centralized so I had more classmates than my kids do in MoCo.

I'm not sure that's a positive?

Meaning graduating class size... not individual classes. Point being it isn't a tiny, isolating town.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canandaigua hometowner here and agree that the political vibe is probably better in Victor/Fairport than Canandaigua. Also, the prior poster is right that there’s a lot of economic diversity in Canandaigua that impacts the schools (which are still very good). To the posters imagining this rural, isolating town, that’s not at all what Canandaigua is like. There isn’t as much to do for sure, but it’s not a tiny town and the schools are centralized so I had more classmates than my kids do in MoCo.

I'm not sure that's a positive?

Not PP but I think the point is that some posters clearly have no idea what Canandaigua is like at all. It’s not a rural backwater.

Anonymous wrote:Canandaigua hometowner here and agree that the political vibe is probably better in Victor/Fairport than Canandaigua. Also, the prior poster is right that there’s a lot of economic diversity in Canandaigua that impacts the schools (which are still very good). To the posters imagining this rural, isolating town, that’s not at all what Canandaigua is like. There isn’t as much to do for sure, but it’s not a tiny town and the schools are centralized so I had more classmates than my kids do in MoCo.

I'm not sure that's a positive?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you watched the Simpson’s song that was out a while back? My friends and family originally from there were laughing so hard. They nailed it. If you are not from the area you won’t catch all of the details. This is life there. https://youtu.be/VYTg4GY9SA4

Oof, brutal.

Oh wow. But so true. DS was recruited to play hockey at Hamilton. Spent a few weeks there 2 summers in a row, and promptly went elsewhere. Great school but everything around it was (is) really depressing.

Canandaigua hometowner here and agree that the political vibe is probably better in Victor/Fairport than Canandaigua. Also, the prior poster is right that there’s a lot of economic diversity in Canandaigua that impacts the schools (which are still very good). To the posters imagining this rural, isolating town, that’s not at all what Canandaigua is like. There isn’t as much to do for sure, but it’s not a tiny town and the schools are centralized so I had more classmates than my kids do in MoCo.

Anonymous wrote:I posted a couple times and want to give a few positives that we enjoy that are unique.

Beautiful summers and very late sunsets.
Tomato pie
Spiedies
Half moons
Fish fries
Utica greens

It's all food except the first. My ex is from the area, and he always said it had 4 great seasons: June, July, August and winter.

Utica is an awful place, really downtrodden and sad. It always depressed me to go there.

Anonymous wrote:We are doing it but only because DS got into a top NE private boarding school and won’t board. Haha! We are keeping our house in DC. We may sell it and buy an apt in Manhattan for when we overdose on rural and there’s always college.

I am looking forward to gardening, getting a large dog, some ducks & chickens, goats and kayaking from my backyard.

We are retired so we need stuff to do

You're living in the Finger Lakes for your DS who got into a NE boarding school but won't board? WTH?

Can't really think of any top boarding schools within commuting distance to NY. Let's see:
Andover
Exeter
Deerfield
Hotchkiss
St Paul

Hmm.

No, but I am a city person at heart. I'd go out of my mind.

I thought about moving to a small town that I love in Vermont, but realized I could only do it a few months out of the year tops. I need the hustle and bustle, my boutique exercise studios, walking to restaurants, events, etc.

The thought of it was much more attractive than the reality of it for me. Vacation is one thing. Living and raising kids another.

I like that my kids can knock on doors and have a million kids their age to hang out with. They are now teens. They take the Metro (we live close-in NoVA), and can walk to summer jobs, have TONS of sports team options. Both play on competitive teams that just would not happen in a rural area.

OP - you do you. I know people (not farmers) who live on farms and their kids (especially as they get older) get ATVs free roam around the farm. However, it is also very isolating and the kids can't do things like walk to friends (parents drive everywhere). Also, your farming neighbors are not going to be particularly welcoming to you.

If you grew up in the Finger Lakes, you know what you are getting into. Personally, I find it feels economically depressed and that many of the youths move away, so it feels like there are more retirees than families with kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a suburb of Rochester. OP, if you're talking about moving to Canandaigua, that may be okay, as Canandaigua is basically a suburb of Rochester, so you wouldn't be too far from the "big city amenities" (ex. hospital, airport, culture, etc). However, the diversity may not be what you're used to in the DMV.

However, I think that if you're living anywhere else on or around the Finger Lakes (Bath, Elmira, Corning, Watkins Glen) it may not be a good fit, as those areas are pretty conservative, and you're far away from big city amenities, as PP's have mentioned. Depending on your needs, Ithaca may work okay, as it's considerably more liberal than the surrounding areas.

I’m from Canandaigua (not OP) and it was a really wonderful place to grow up. A lot of my high school friends stayed in Canandaigua so it is still a fun place to visit. That said, there is a strong pro-Trump element there that you can’t ignore. I imagine a lot of the Finger Lakes towns are similar.

Op here - yes talking about Canandaigua. The pro trump thing is the biggest factor for us leaning towards no.

If that's a dealbreaker, would you consider living in one of the eastern burbs of Rochester instead? Would you have jobs in Canandaigua that necessitate you living there? Something like Penfield, Fairport would not be that far but a slightly different vibe politically (and good schools). Just a thought.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The summers there. Just think about it. The lakes, the lower humidity, the long days. Summers are magical in the northern latitudes.

I also think you can find your crowd anywhere. There are college towns, wineries, likely organic farms, etc up that way.

Summers are also 60 days up there. July and August.

September and October are pleasant and beautiful. I love how it's not 95 degrees all September in NY.

Spring is brief and frustrating compared to the DMV though. It basically doesn't start until April, and then it just rains for a month or two, with random heat waves and snowstorms, and maybe a couple nice weeks, and then it's summer.

This is true- summer and fall are great up there but DC typically has a better, longer spring.