I live in the middle of suburbia. The puget sound coastline branching out from Seattle is pretty much a suburban sprawl. Actually... I guess i'd technically be on the edge of a break in the suburbia. There's a tiny break between Everett and Marysville. But then it's all back to suburbia again. hehe. The further north you go though, the less suburban it becomes... and eventually the towns border on the term "rural" until you reach bellingham anyway. And of course there are lots of rural towns out along the edge of the mountains and through them.
Hmm.. and i guess you might wonder why'd i'd choose to live in such a place? Well... because it's close to the base. It's actually much closer than the base provided "off base" housing is. lol. It's also more affordable. We save money living where we do. hehe.
I would much prefer to live in a smaller city not attached to suburbia though.