[coloradomama1]

I've been living in CO and loving it for the last 12 years but after recently having my first baby, I'm really starting to miss being close to my family. The problem is, my family is in VA. My partner is from a really beautiful part of MN and we've always thought that someday we'd end up buying land there near his family. My biggest problem with that idea has always been the thought of gray winters which I have a hard time with. Love the snow, hate, hate the gray skies.<br><br>
I have always said that I would never move back to the East Coast but my sister just had her third baby yesterday and I really feel like we're all missing out on each other's lives. I am very close with my brother, sister and mom who all live in the NOVA area (my Dad is not far away in NY). Problem is, I've lived there twice, hate it and wouldn't try it again (I grew up in VA Beach and went to George Mason).<br>
Is there anywhere that you know of that's within a couple of hours of NOVA, small town, relatively progressive/liberal, good economy and reasonably priced? Am I dreaming?<br>
I'm not even positive that I'd really do it but I've tried to start the conversation with my honey and he's not buying it. We bought our first house 2 years ago and are really getting settled in addition to having a ton of great friends here. Plus, we both love CO and it would be very difficult to leave!<br>
Just a note..my parents are 10+ years older than his and his brother has not started a family yet (he's 14) so I feel like it'd be best to be near my family now and his later? My brother has 2 small children as well.<br>
Thanks for any suggestions, I can't reply due to a firewall issue so I'm going to check back to see what you all say but probably can't rejoin the conversation unless I fix my computer problem.<br>
Amy

 

[mbhf]

you could check out the staunton/charlottesville area. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">

 

[mnkygrl79]

Staunton is nice and affordable - I don't know about progressive, but still nice.<br><br>
CHarlottesville is pretty liberal, but pricey - I live in between the two in Waynesboro - it's a small town, but growing, a lot of transplants here. I actually still work in Charlottesville, and DH works in Staunton <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"> I've met a good amount of local AP/CD/babywearing mammas and have become close with them ;-) Are you able to do some touring of VA to get a better feel for things?

 

[Noah's mommy]

I second Charlottesville. I'm a little closer to NOVA in Culpeper, but necessarily the most progressive place to be!

 

[jodib]

Yep, Charlottesville is nice - big farmer's market, AP groups, homeschooling groups, babywearing groups, LLL, etc. I live in the Charlottesville area - though I live south of the city (by about 18 miles) It is really expensive in the city and close to the city - but where I am it's not so expensive, but close enough to do everything.<br>
The traffic is not an issue really , so I can get to work in c-ville quickly in the mornings.<br><br>
We are actually planning on moving out of here though - for the same reasons you want to move to VA (family etc.)..... We had a few realtors look at our house and we figure it will sell for about $220,000 - (1200sq.ft. ranch w/ basement on 5 acres).....The exact same house in C-ville would probably sell for over $300,000 - probably a lot more..... so you get the idea.<br><br>
We don't plan on listing our house till fall though - so I'm not sure what the prices will be then.<br><br>
You can always PM me if you have other questions.<br>
-Jodi

 

[mnkygrl79]

Hi all you C'ville mammas! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/hola.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="hola">: Heck, I'd love to get together!!! What kind of AP groups are there? I'm out of the loop ;-) But with another one on the way, I'd love to get together

 

[pixiepunk]

the eastern panhandle of WVA has some progressive areas - especially Shepherdstown and Harper's Ferry. Loads of mamas here on MDC from that area. we looked into buying there, but wanted way more land than we could afford there, so we moved not too far away in Hampshire County, WV. There are some very progressive people here, but definitely not the majority. but enough to suit my taste <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br>
Winchester, VA has a bunch of AP mamas too - a very active Families for Natural Living group which i belong to (i'm about 35 minutes from Winchester). the group is full of home-birthin', ec'in, bf'in, babywearin' cool mamas. there's a small liberal arts university there. not as progressive a town as Charlottesville, but probably not as expensive either, and a *lot* closer to Northern VA.<br><br>
HTH!

 

[ComfyCozy]

Hah PixiePunk-- I was just thinking of Shepherdstown. When we moved up here we were fresh out of college and I loved the Shepherdstown atmosphere. We had first looked in Harpers Ferry but that didn't work out. We saw a "Winchester" in our friend's phone book and said "What's that like?" and we took a day/overnight trip the next day. (We were up here from Louisiana on spring break at the time.) Needless to say, we loved Winchester.

 

[spedteacher30]

i would recommend charlottesville also. housing is more expensive than i would like, but less than NoVA, for sure.<br><br>
We love it here!