Fall doesn’t show up until November, with days only slightly less hot, but beautiful skys. Winter is always a surprise, the day can be a high of 80 or a ‘frigid’ 50. Well it’s cold to us ok! Spring is really the best time, when the sky is a heartbreaking blue, the weather cool and the calm ocean resembles a mirror, disrupted only by silver flashes of flying fish.

Montclair, unusual in the US, has an eminently walkable town center. One can perambulate through shops, restaurants, health food stores, specialty stores, cigar parlors, dance studios, shoe repair shop, fur storage places, coffee and tea shops, pharmacies, movie theaters, groceries, delis, camera shops, bank, night clubs and professional offices within a few blocks; the density of possibilities has produced a decent volume of foot traffic, which in turn feeds interest on the part of entrepreneurs and national chains about locating in one of several such business districts in town.

Montclair State University is a couple miles up Valley Road, which leads to Rte 3, at one time the most heavily traveled road in the US, as it leads to New York. The Garden State Parkway is about 3 miles away, and routes 80, 280 and 78 are not that much farther, so for commuters by car, you have a rich nexus of connections. Of course, mass transit is also available, with train and bus service running frequently and pretty conveniently to many stations in the town.

There are a lot of New Yorkers that move to Montclair for the schools and the (relatively) more relaxed lifestyle. It’s a bit pricey, but there are amenities, and the general trend in town is positive, although businesses have of course taken a hit lately.

The Montclair Art Museum is a great place to visit; it has one of the largest collections of Native American art and artifacts in the world. There is an operetta company, and several theatre companies within a five mile radius; frankly they had to move out as rents got a bit much. Several dance studios and art studios help to flesh out a varied offering for folks.

There are about fifty (seriously) restaurants and delis within about a square mile, ranging from predictable like Italian, Chinese, French Thai, Greek, Indian, and Sushi to Cuban, Halal, Argentine, Ethiopian, Syrian, Turkish, Southern Fish Fry, K.C. BBQ, Jamaican, and many more. My wife and I are blessed because we never feel the need to treat ourselves to a fancy meal when we are on vacation; we can get world class food within walking distance.

The newly reopened Wellmont Theatre was restored to its early Twentieth-Century glory, and a spate of musical and comedy talent has paraded across its stage, such as Tony Bennett, Brian Wilson, Rufus Wainwright, Bill Maher, Cyndi Lauper and many more.

The community is famous for its diversity and tolerance, and a genuine sense of neighborliness. We have a great Fourth of July parade every year, and fireworks. There is a First Night celebration kicking off with a parade and unveiling of an ice sculpture, extending through multiple venues and events and culminating with fireworks. We were among first adopters of this alcohol-free family oriented celebration, on the heels of Boston decades ago.

There are great schools, and several private academies as well, in keeping with the upscale nature of at least parts of Montclair.

Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn admittedly is a bit of a drive, but still within 20 minutes. We saw “Death of a Salesman” there—gripping.

Newark, with its NJPAC and Newark Museum, with its consecrated Buddhist altar and riches from all over the world, is about five miles away.

Montclair is worth a look if you are moving to the New York City area.

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Can you believe there is more to this city than politics and lawyers? But I would say thanks to them we have some great restauranteurs here (always miss the privately owned restaurants in DC when I travel)!!!

There are so many things I love about this city. It is very green because we have a big huge park right in the middle of it along with a river running through the city. So you can bike, jog and walk through the park or do activities on the water like kayaking or sailing. We have beautiful architecture here and the city is very approachable because we have a building limit height. No building can be taller than the Washington Monument (about 8 floors).

While we are known for our free museums, we also have one of the top live theater scenes in the nation. And businesses and individuals alike have been tremendous in terms of supporting the arts here. We have a number of newly built state of the art multi purpose use theatre venues/arts incubators.

We also have 4 distinct seasons here which is quite nice (with no season to extreme) and its proximity to everything is fantastic! Drive 2.5 hours west and you will be in the Mountains. Drive 2.5 hours east and you will be at the ocean/beach. Pay $20 and hop on a bus and in 4 hours you will be in the middle of New York City. Hop on a plane in a little over 2 hours you will be in Miami/South Beach, FL.

This is a great place for sports fans; Arlington is the home of the Texas Rangers baseball team and the Dallas Cowboys. The new Cowboys stadium is an attraction in itself and looks something like a UFO. There are also excellent city-owned golf courses, and for the kids, there’s a water park and Six Flags Over Texas.

I live in an older neighborhood (well, older for Texas – built in the mid-1970s), with lots of trees and three parks and a lake within walking distance. One of the local parks is 100 acres, with a hiking trail and an 18-hole disc golf course! River Legacy Park, a little farther away, is 1300 acres with eight miles of trails.

I almost forgot the University of Texas at Arlington – 30,000 students in undergraduate, masters and PhD programs.

You can get anywhere via the highways – but we have no public transportation. That and the summer heat are the only downsides I can think of. I love it here.

We spent almost four years living in Taipei, Taiwan and hope we have another chance to live somewhere in Asia. Great people, great food, wonderful opportunities to explore and learn. We will eventually move back to Conifer, Colorado in the mountains southwest of Denver. Out in the country, but still able to reach Denver in about an hour, beautiful scenery, lots of snow, lots of wildlife to watch, lots of Everything!

Exeter itself is a quiet but cultured town. The former Revolutionary Capitol of the Colonies, it’s a community steeped in history. There was a reading of the Declaration of Independence in a park by the river on July 4.

We’re also the home of the esteemed Philips Exeter Academy prep school, but my tastes are more aligned with Exeter High School, whose football team has competed for the past four state championships.

This is a great walking town. You can walk along the Exeter River in Swazey Park, and that’s where on weekends you’ll find the best hot dog cart you’ve ever met. The downtown shops bost eclectic clothing stores and two wonderful independent bookstores. We’ve also got two great Asian restaurants, and I always buy my fresh coffee and bread at the downtown bakery. If you want to stroll around the neighborhoods, there are historic homes and plaques everywhere. Take your time. Enjoy.

You get all four seasons here, and they each can be dramatic in their own way. We lost power for several days during an ice storm last winter, and we saw 95-degrees and humid every day last week.

But I’m 20 minutes from the beach, an hour from Boston, 90 minutes from the family’s lake home in Maine.

There may be better places to live, but I’ve not experienced them yet.

Thanks so much for asking us to share about our little place on earth.

I live in a little community Southwest of Seattle Airport. A town called Federal Way. No we are not the home of a prison but we do have 28 developed parks and 19 open space parks. We are short 25 miles from Seattle and an even shorter 8 miles to Tacoma. So just a heartbeat from most anything you would like to do in the Pacific Northwest.

Our average temperaturs range from a low in January of 33 to a high in July of 75. Occasionally we see lower and higher temperatures but generally it is quite moderate. We have the Pacific Ocean to our West, Mount Ranier an easy 1/12 hour drive away and if your adventurous Mt Adams a goodly bit longer of a distance. So for those who want to play in the water, ski, hike, climb mountains, see beautiful sunsets you can do all of that and more – you just have to be ok doing it in what we call partly sunny (some rain) and cool temperatures. That’s how we get to be less rainfall than some other places in the world. When there is a chance of rain our forecasters call it partly sunny. When most other places have a chance for some rain – they call it partly rain or chance of showers. Round about here there is always a chance for showers. Don’t bother bringing your umbrella – you won’t need it. It is just a little drizzle – and besides we would know you are a tourist .