Bisbee, Arizona vs. Ithaca, NY

Flippy and I have been contemplating moving.  Las Vegas is getting extremely expensive, and our gas, electric, and property tax bills seem to be constantly on the rise.  While it was an affordable place to live when we first moved here, it’s now become so trendy that we’re almost at the point of being priced out of the market.  There’d be no point selling our house and moving to a smaller house still in Vegas, either, as the smaller house would cost more than the mortgage on the one we live in!  Our favourite next-door neighbours are moving to a new house this weekend, too, so it adds to the feeling of it being time to move on.

As I complained about in my previous entry, my “dream destination” had always been Kanab, but now I feel more wary about it.  Other than Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and some solitude, the town doesn’t have a lot to offer, and we’d really be quite isolated.  That realization has caused us to expand our horizons, and we’re now pondering locations such as Bisbee, Arizona, and Ithaca, New York.  Bisbee is supposed to be a “hip” little town with an artsy flair, and was recently ranked one of the “best small towns in which to live” by Arthur Frommer.  Bisbee would give us a nice climate, inexpensive property, proximity to Tucson, and proximity to Mexico.  Our next-door neighbour’s sister lives there, too, so we’d sort of know one person from the get-go.  My concerns about Bisbee are regarding medical care for us and the pets.  I can only find one vet clinic listed in the town, and they’re closed on weekends.  I assume emergency care would require a trip to Tucson, as would care for the parrots.  I also figure that any medical specialists Nancy might need for her back, or I might need (like an endocrinologist), would also be in Tucson.  We’ve also been looking at areas of New Mexico, south of Albuquerque, like Belen and Socorro.  I’ll admit that I’m very biased towards desert living, as I truly love the sun and the heat.

In complete contrast, we’ve been pondering New York State and Pennsylvania.  Land is still plentiful and fairly inexpensive, which is important to me because if we move, I want to be on at least 20 acres or so.  I want property where little furry creatures can live without fear of being plowed under by a housing development, and I want the freedom to own a couple of chickens, or even a horse if I so desire.  I also don’t ever again want to worry about looking out my back window and seeing my neighbour’s yard full of old cars, and 20 acres should mean I’d at least need to use binoculars to see that far.  Living in that part of the country would also put us close to the Canadian border and my family, as well as my brother in Pennsylvania, not to mention a plethora of NHL hockey teams.  I lived in Pennsylvania briefly and enjoyed it, and have spent a lot of time in Ithaca and love the “college-town” atmosphere.  The most problematic thing is that it would also put us close to icky snow and icky winter and icky humidity and icky mosquitos.  I’ve been spoiled by living in the southwest for 15 years, haven’t I?  Perhaps my inner-Canadian would re-emerge with a vengence, and I’d enjoy cozy nights in front of a fireplace, white Christmas, etc.  Alternately, my inner desert-girl could stubbornly refuse to stop wearing flip-flops in January, which might be problematic.  Since moving to Vegas I rarely ever wear socks, and rarely wear anything warmer than a t-shirt, so there’s an entire mindset regarding clothing choices that I’d need to change.

For now, the search for a new place to live is a work-in-progress.  We definitely want to make sure Flippy’s back surgery is successful first, and the longer we put off moving, the more equity we’ll have in our home.  We still live in a relatively undeveloped part of Vegas, but a hospital is due to be built this year or next just about a mile from us, so we’ll try to hold on and sell our house to a rich doctor.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 04/14 at 10:41 PM

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

  1. I would suggest visiting Arizona in August and Ithaca in February to see how the weather is in the dogs days of summer/winter.

    One bonus of moving to Ithaca, you’ll be near Susan of Wildrun. You two could help each other out.

    Whatever you do, let me know about the housewarming party. =)

    Posted by Nio  on  04/15  at  05:54 AM

  2. Do I get a vote?  If so, I vote for Ithaca!  Then we could come see you and you could come see us. And snow if fun and summers are delightful.  Of course there is more humidity than in the desert, but the temperature is about forty degrees cooler, so it is definitely offset.  And the Cornell veterinary program should take care of all your animal needs.

    Posted by Nurse Ann  on  04/15  at  10:46 AM

  3. A friend of mine moved from So Cal to Boulder City, NV a couple years ago and LOVES it there.  That’s pretty close to Vegas, right? How does that compare to Ithaca and Bisbee?

    Posted by jg  on  04/15  at  02:02 PM

  4. Why not consider beautiful Austin, Texas?  We don’t have any snow, and we do have long summers, albeit with humidity and mosquitoes.  Austin is quite cosmopolitan in its attitude and politics - not like the rest of Texas.  Dooce loved it.  And there’s plenty of good animal health care!

    Posted by vetmommy  on  04/15  at  06:16 PM

  5. vetmommy, isn’t Austin comparable in housing prices to Vegas?  While we know we’d love Austin, except that whole “Texas” thing, we’re looking for much much cheaper than here.  We really do like Vegas, but between our dying internet business and the housing boom, we’re being priced out of the ‘hood.

    Still…off to realtor.com to look up houses in Austin.  Because, at least we’d know a vet right off. :)

    Posted by Flippy  on  04/15  at  09:01 PM

  6. Wow, so this is the topic that really gets the replies :)

    Nio and Anne-formerly-known-as-Nurse, I’m not too concerned about Bisbee, AZ’s summer temperatures, because it’s “high desert”, so should be comparable to living in Albuquerque.  I’d imagine it averages about 20 degrees cooler than Las Vegas throughout the year.  I’m a little concerned about winters in Ithaca because both Cricket and Eli have bad arthritis, and just the slightest bit of damp weather here has Cricket limping quite badly and needing Rimadyl.  I don’t know if she’d adjust to cooler, damper weather, or if she’d need pain medication more often.

    JG, Boulder City is unfortunately just like Vegas but more expensive :)  Their city planners have done a great job of keeping the city’s “rural” atmosphere by not allowing over-crowded subdivisions.  The homes end up being more expensive than similar Vegas homes because they’re on larger lots.  A 2600 sq. ft. home on a half-acre lot is close to one million dollars, which might be a bargain in San Francisco, but isn’t a bargain for us.  I like the idea, though—if the lottery fairy blesses us and we decide to just stay in this neck of the woods, a move to Boulder City would be wonderful.

    VetMommy, we’d happily live in Austin, and checked out real estate prices at Realtor.com.  It’s still a bit more expensive than we’d like, but it’s an option.  We’d probably end up outside the city somewhere, but would definitely be willing to drive for vet care.  Not Derek, though—he howls in the car.  Could you make a housecall for him?!

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  04/15  at  11:58 PM

  7. Being a Jersey girl myself, I think the idea of Pennsylvania would be great.  It’s fairly moderate in either extreme of weather.  The major difference you would feel is in the level of humidity.

    I would have reservations about NY also simply because the winters can be pretty harsh for both people and pets.  Also, the growing season is a little difficult if you have a green thumb.

    Thos are the only regions I can give two cents on though, good luck!

    Posted by prajantr  on  04/16  at  04:47 AM

  8. ahhh, I didn’t realize that about Boulder City. My friend made it out to be cheap, but of course compared to where she was moving from, I guess it was. Everything is relative after all.

    Posted by jg  on  04/16  at  10:47 AM

  9. Well, okay, why do you think we live in the suburbs and I commute?  Housing is a tad pricey in Austin.  However, if it weren’t for the stark variations in qualities of public schools, we’d bite the bullet and be there.  Our suburb has great elementary, jr high, and sr high schools, so we’re remaining here, where we kinda stick out, what with our solar panels on our house, chickens and large veggie garden in the back, and TWO hybrid vehicles.  Still, all our friends are in Austin proper, and we flirt with the idea of moving into city limits daily.  I wouldn’t live anywhere else in TX.

    Posted by vetmommy  on  04/16  at  07:18 PM

  10. PS Yes housecalls can be arranged!

    Posted by vetmommy  on  04/16  at  07:20 PM

  11. Atlanta! Move to Atlanta!  Buy the house next door to mine and I’ll help you clean up the yard. It won’t be quite 20 acres, but you can consider my yard an extension of your yard.  And I already have a wonderful lady who mows it and the bestest vet EVAH only 4 miles away, and if I have any wild, loud parties you’d be invited anyway! C’mon, you’d love The A-T-L! (<—- that’s what all the cool kids like me and Andre 3000 and T.O. call it. T.O. lives about 6 miles from me, but in a better neighborhood.)

    Posted by Helly  on  04/17  at  05:31 AM

  12. I love Ithaca, although your concerns regarding the weather and the pets arthritis is a very valid one.  However, you would be near one of the best veterinary schools in the country.

    The only major issue I foresee…..is that the closest Starbucks is 32 miles away.  Flippy might have a bit of an issue with that.

    Posted by Kate  on  04/19  at  05:28 PM

  13. It’s okay, Kate—someone has anticipated our every need.  A Starbucks opened in Ithaca on April 14th:

    http://www.cornellsun.com/media/paper866/documents/9g1h5lp1.pdf?123

    I love the photos of Hamlet, btw :)

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  04/20  at  12:14 AM

  14. Ah, there’s a Starbucks at Barnes and Noble on Route 13 in Ithaca. Let me know if you come visit. I’m 18 miles away in Spencer.

    Posted by Susan  on  04/20  at  03:18 PM

  15. Susan, I’ll definitely look you up if I make it to the area.  We saw a house for sale in Spencer which came with tons of land, but the house seemed a bit “iffy”.

    And a note to Helly in A.T.L, “T.O.” is what all the cool kids call Toronto (and Terrell Owens, I guess).

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  04/24  at  09:03 PM
    16. Page 1 of 1 pages

Name:

Email (required, but will not be made public):

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my details for future comments?

Let me know about new replies to this topic?

Next entry: Snip, snip

Previous entry: Something rotten in Kanab

<< Back to main