Relocation advise PLEASE !

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2006

Just go up to northern California. I grew up in Ohio. I've been back there a couple of times now because sometimes I get to missing the greenery, rain and coolness in the summertime. Then, it turns to winter and it snows. You really don't want to experience ice and snow, do you? It's rotten to drive around in. Have you thought about Alaska? They have all the things you're looking for, but you'd have to put up with the snow and really cold weather in the winter. A lot of people I've known have gone to Colorado for the the outdoor sports, but I keep hearing that job opportunities for nursing are limited there--that's just what I've heard from them.

sddlnscp · Jun 12, 2006

Beware of Colorado - unless you get into the mountains, you are not going to find what you are looking for. I live in southeast Colorado and we have all the things you hate - hot weather (over 100 degrees all week is our forecast), very dry - we are currently in a drought and on water restrictions. The only plus is that out here there is little to no pollution. I think the mountains are in a bit of a drought right now too, so I'm not sure about thunderstorms, but it is greener and cooler. If you don't like hot, you need to steer clear of Pueblo for sure, not so sure about the Springs or Denver. Best of luck in finding your perfect place. :) You might try Washington state, it is very lush and green there. Some of the northeastern states are really beautiful that way too.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jun 12, 2006

Dear nurses and students. I am a new member at this site. It is my first day!
I will be graduating in 10 months-well, hopefully. I live in Central California in a dusty city with a very poor air quiality and summer temperatures so high that you need to wear a space suit just to get from the house to your car without turning into a beef jerky. Rains are so rare here that they are considered a city wide diaster. I desperately want to get out of this oven!

Sounds like Bakersfield. Am I close??

JaneyW · Jun 13, 2006

Or Fresno??

blacksea pebble · Jun 14, 2006

What cities in N Ca would you suggest?

Thank you!

blacksea pebble · Jun 14, 2006

Fresno has some nice towns up in the mountains such as Oakhurst, but are there any jobs ?

blacksea pebble · Jun 14, 2006

Yes, it is Bakersfield ! Are you a victim?

blacksea pebble · Jun 14, 2006

Sarah,

it is very funny because I actually was thinking about going to school in Pueblo and in my imagination it was a beautiful green town in the mountains. What a contrast!

karmyk · Jun 14, 2006

I did my undergrad in Colorado Springs, CO... but my school was on the side of a mountain... and very secluded... and as pretty as it was (deer, bears, coyote, fox, etc. would roam the campus randomly, even when there were a lot of people walking around), I'm happy to not be at that particular school anymore. HOWEVER... the area was great... the people were generally nice, and there was usually something to do when I had free time. =)

There was a lot of rain in the summer... thunderstorms, particularly. Snow season starts early and ends late... but there was always a lot of sunshine in between. In fact, on any given day during that period of time, it could snow a lot in the morning, but by the afternoon, the snow would be melted... only to come back again in the evening. There were times when I was afraid the wind would carry me away because it was so strong (I'm only 5'2" and weigh under 100 lbs)... Once, when I walked out of a building, I walked into a strong gust of wind that blew me into the guys who were walking behind me. They walked with me to my dorm to make sure I wouldn't fly away. >

I did my combat survival (and evasion) training in Saylor Park (not too far away from the springs), and that area was gorgeous (despite being filled with a lot of trees that were knocked down by lightning... I only remember this because it sucked having to climb over them with a 35+ pound bag on my back trying to keep up on 5k hikes with guys much taller than me). I remember one night during evasion when a full moon lit the night sky, and a cloud of fog was passing in one direction while two layers of clouds were passing us overhead, and a lightning storm was dancing between those two clouds. It was absolutely gorgeous. I was hungry, tired, and cold... but my small group took a few minutes to stop, sit down, and admire the view... and it totally recharged me.

You'll find a lot of outdoor activities to do as you move northwards in Colorado... if you can live without a beautiful coastline and are into the outdoors (hiking, canoeing, rock climbing, etc.), then I highly recommend that you take it into consideration. If I had to choose somewhere outside of the West Coast and Hawaii to live, Colorado would be the #1 state on my list of options.

Sheri257 · Jun 14, 2006

In Colorado the pay is a lot lower: $56,000 a year on average versus $70,000 on average for RN's in California. On the other hand, the cost of living is cheaper so maybe you can still come out ahead.

And there's no ratio law. To me, that's why I'll never leave California unless I'm ready to retire. If you go to any other state, they can give you as many patients as they want to. Read the new grad forum where they're getting eight patients or more. Or talk to travelers who've worked other states. They'll tell you they get a lot more patients in other states, which is why they come back to Cali where they can only give you five patients, tops.

Plus ... I can't stand snow. At first it's tolerable but, year after year, it really becomes a major pain. I'll never live in snow again. It tears up your car, you can't get out when you want to, you get power outages and, of course, the shoveling is never ending. I'll never forget a nine hour power outage where I was hauling firewood through ten feet of snow because the power went out and there wasn't any heat in the house.

Even when you have snow tires and four wheel drive, you can skid out on ice. My husband skidded on some black ice and went over a cliff, a tree was the only thing that saved him. That's when we had enough and moved.

After awhile, it doesn't matter how "pretty" an area is if things like snow drive you nuts.

:typing

Sheri257 · Jun 14, 2006

Fresno has some nice towns up in the mountains such as Oakhurst, but are there any jobs ?

This is what you're going to run into no matter where you go. Northern California is gorgeous but, of course, it's going to cost. The more rural you go, the cheaper it will be but the less job opportunities you're going to have.

Whatever you decide, check out the area thoroughly before you move. Don't get into a situation where you find things out after you move there.

We used to live in Lake Arrowhead which is a nice town. But, there were a lot of downsides that people didn't find out about until they moved there. Snow, no home delivered mail, no garbage pickup, no good paying jobs, which meant you had to commute. And commuting up and down a mountain is a lot tougher on your car than just commuting on the interstate. Your car will be in the shop a lot more with mountain driving.

Then the drought hit and a lot of the trees died. Then the fires hit because of the dead trees. A lot of people couldn't get homeowner's insurance and many had to borrow on their houses to cut down the dead trees because of the fire hazard. If you are on well water and the well dries up, homeowner's insurance won't cover it and a new well can cost $20K. If you were on city water, that was no gurantee either. The rates were high, and the water had to be rationed because the lake was drying up. There were all kinds of problems.

Luckily, we were only renting, so all of this didn't hurt us as much but ... things like groceries were a lot more expensive because there wasn't many grocery stores there. If you wanted to shop for anything else, you often had to go down the mountain for it.

These are the kinds of things you have to watch out for. Just because an area is "pretty" doesn't mean you'll actually want to live there.

:typing