We have visited Burlington, with stops along the way in Brattleboro, Montpelier, and Waterbury (for ice cream). We hadn't really researched further than Burlington and Brattleboro at the time of the first reconnaissance, so we'll have to try and work in another trip, hopefully this year. We liked Montpelier, though.
I still have a year of school to finish, so this move is happening mid 2015, earliest. (Barring a lottery win.)
Burlington would be my first choice, and there are some mobile homes that we could potentially afford, except that they all seem to be in parks (so there is lot rent additionally) and there are those pesky park rules that say things like, "No Pets," or "One pet under 25 lbs." And our 50 lb. dog and three cats nixed the trailer idea immediately. Additionally, I did research one park far enough to ascertain the lot rent, however, I also turned up a news story about the police going door to door in the park to talk to the residents about turning in information about drug activity, and the problems that that neighborhood had with drugs. My daughter will be biking to work. I don't want her biking through gang turf. I don't want my kid to be a "wrong place, wrong time" statistic because I chose to live in the worst part of the best city. I would rather live someplace that doesn't have everything I want, but is safer.
We expected to love Brattleboro, and didn't. We're still midwesterners. Brattleboro seems more suited for goats. I swear the entire town seems to be clinging to the side of a cliff by it's fingernails. We were walking up the main street (and I do mean UP) when my daughter turned to me with an incredulous look on her face and said, "I'm on a slant. I feel like if I stretched a little bit I could touch the sidewalk in front of me." One of the things we liked about Burlington is it was relatively flattish. And gorgeous, the lake is drop dead gorgeous. I could sit and stare at that all day.
So, to amend my earlier statement, I want the largest city I can get within a reasonable drive (1 1/2 hrs) to Burlington. I want it to have a good public library system. I want a food co-op within 20 minutes of my house. I want an arts community so that I have beautiful things to look at. And I want the nice people to outnumber the assholes.
Barre fits the drive time and coop categories. I don't know about the library and arts scene. And you can't tell about the people until you get there.
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