I grew up in Olympia WA and lived most of my life in the Pac NW.

Every time I go back to visit my parents, I think to myself ... You could not pay me enough to move back ...

Northwest Detroit suburbs. I lived in four places by the time I turned 19, 1971. Two still stand today, one site has been redeveloped twice since the early 1960's.

Farmington Hills (Township) or worse, Novi. Try to recognize and remember how it was in the 50's or 60's. For that matter, the 70's. Good luck with that.

Wife and I moved out of there early 2004. Most of my life except for nine years we lived in the Southwest was spent in the area. Our oldest daughter and I went to Plymouth for lunch. She asked me if I missed the area. I replied "I miss it for what it was, not what it is." I think she understood what I meant.

A lot of our fond memories are because we were children, and clueless. We had no idea of the stresses our parents had to put up with.

Excellent point there. You ever notice how the grade school now looks so small?

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:

I grew up in Parker in the 70's and 80's when it was a little town that no one knew about. Now it's just another suburb. Moved back there after college and the wife and I lived there until 2003 when we moved to Phoenix.

Ponderosa class of 95 bet we had a few teachers in common.

JD

quote:

Originally posted by LimaCharlie:
I have lived in twelve states, two countries, and about twenty-five cities. I am not sure which home I would return to again.

Our answer some place new

In grade school, I was given (possibly on Arbor Day) a tiny pine tree. My old man planted it in the corner of our front yard and told me it probably would not survive. It did. Last time I was in Dayton, I drove by the old homestead. The tiny pine is now towering. My entire family is now gone. The tiny pine will probably outlast me too.

quote:

Originally posted by JD2177:
Ponderosa class of 95 bet we had a few teachers in common.

JD

Ponderosa class of 86.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I think most of us would be shocked if we could time-travel back to our childhoods and live in our home as an adult.

Back in 2007 when I was looking for my first home to buy, I saw that the house I grew up in from age 6 to 13 was for sale. We had lots of fond memories of the place so I had my realtor arrange a showing and I brought my Stepmom and Dad and some siblings who still lived in the area.

Mind you this place was UUUGE when I was a kid. It felt dinky! It was also in a lot worse shape than we had left it, my Dad did a ton of work on that old place. He finally said "I'm going to go wait in the car", that's how depressed he got seeing a lot of his work butchered and wrecked.

The neighborhood also changed dramatically over the 21 years since we had lived there. Mostly white when we were there, it may as well be called Mexico City North now. For those from PA here, I'm referring to Norristown, PA

quote:

Originally posted by ugeesta:
We've had the same thought when we retire. I lived in Colorado for 18 years and my wife grew up there. It's not the same.

Though, I am interested in checking out Grand Junction for retirement as it was a great retirement place when I lived there. It was the mid 90's when I left and didn't kiss the base of Mt. Garfield on my way out.

I'm from Rifle, about 60 miles from Jct, and I can tell you Jct has changed. Energy boom/bust/boom/bust. Immigration, etc. It's still hot as hell there in the summers.

There are definitely worse places to live.

I've never moved out of my hometown, so I've gotten to witness the changes over the years. Was a sleepy little rural area when I was in grade school. Now, we've got people moving in from larger cities to the North & West, a migrant labor population in the hundreds, a heroin epidemic that has claimed at least 3 classmates, manufacturing jobs drying up by the year and a large enough to be noticeable homeless population. No way I would raise kids here now. And don't even get me started on the house I grew up in. Current residents have trashed it.

I grew up in a smallish town about 20 minutes outside of Boston. It was the perfect place to grow up with low crime, a true sense of community and lots or wide open space to explore. As a kid I dont ever remember needing a house key because my door was never locked. My childhood dog(s) never new what a leash was and was fat from making the round to all the neighbors homes during the summer when everyone ate outside and always had an extra burger or hot dog to spare.

That was then, this is now....

The town is overrun by greed and new money and they are building on almost every square inch they can find. The traffic is unbearable due to the over crowding and the "new: residents are a bunch of self righteous assholes that think they invite the place. The worst part is the PC army that has succeeded in adding loads of low income housing and attracted a less than habitable element which in turn has created a drug problem and made the town pastime shoplifting. They also somehow successfully changed the schools teams from Redmen to Redhawks because they did want to offend and Native Americans...It didnt matter that the majority go the town vocally opposed it and there were no native American who were actually offended, some asshole had to make a name for herself and did so.

My Dad is almost 90 and when he passes his property will be sold and my ties to this place will be severed...this used to me make me sad but not so much anymore

Colorado may be different than what you had here forever ago but it's still an extraordinary state with so much to offer. I can hardly imagine living elsewhere.

Different strokes, I suppose.

Frankly, I hope and more people feel the way you do, a long and painful dip in real estate prices would suit me fine. I want a big assed piece of land, and not three hours from town.

I've got no one to visit in the town I grew up in.

 
I lived in Montgomery County MD for 30 years (until 2002), and it was nice early on, then gradually became a liberal retard enclave, so subtly over time that I did not take much notice. After moving to AZ, it is like a breath of fresh air (hot air, but fresh).
 

Grew up in NW PA, my sons still live there, one of my favorite places on earth but it is no longer my home. I have been traveling since I was 19 and finally settled in TX. Funny thing was that until I realized "you can never go home" I could n9t really settle down.

I grew up in rugby N Dakota.30 miles from the Canadian border.It was a windy frozen,cold sob when i grew up.

I left in the 80's for Oregon,when the economy went to hell,and i has about 100,000 dollars owed to me by farmers who were declaring bankruptcy.

I had to do a chapter 7 also.I have lived in Modesto,Cal.Twin Falls Idaho.Idaho Falls,Id.Pendleton, Oregon.I go back in the spring to work for a large corporate farm,great christian family,huge machinery,everything finger tip control.

also go back in the fall for harvest.It is about 5 to 6 months out of the year.I live south of Salem Oregon now.Hour from the coast,Mt Hood,the Willamette Valley is green year around.Beautiful country once out of portland.

But if i was alone,i would go back to rugby for 8 months,and head south for the winter.The lifestyle,people,lack of all the bs of the politics out here on the left coast is very appealing.

I was born and raised (to age 17) in Lewiston, Idaho. Left to join the army.

Since then I have been in multiple countries, states, etc.

Just returned from a trip "home" to visit my brother. Drove by the old "homestead" that dad and I built. Cannot even recognize it now. I used to be on the real outskirts of town. 1000s of acres of wheat land around our place. Now that house is in the middle of a rather large housing complex.

I am not happy here and have considered moving back HOME. However, that would involve a divorce.

I think the town of Lewiston had about 7000 inhabitants when I left. There was a neighborhood just south of the town that was annexed into the town after I left. Now, according to my brother the population is over 40K.

So, after thinking about it, I guess the old adage about never being able to go home is true.

I made that mistake. A few years after I moved back to Oklahoma, and after hearing the stories about what Lawton had turned into, I decided to take a trip down there to have a look around. I walked around downtown, drove out to the home I had grown up in, and basically just observed. It was heartbreaking and I drove back home to the Metro area in re ord time.

When I left Lawton it was still a nice little town and by the time I returned to visit in 2010 it seemed the whole place had gone to hell.

I just experienced the opposite. My wife's grandfather passed away a week ago this past Saturday at the age of 92. He grew up in a small farming community called Harrold South Dakota, about 30 miles outside of Pierre, South Dakota. The grandparents moved from the farm to Pierre in 2002. In 2000 Harrold had a population of just over 200. As of the 2010 census the population had declined to just over 100. Kids grow up and want to leave, most head to Parker, CO from what I've heard.

It is kind of a sad sight to see. The town doesn't even have 1 traffic light. My wife remembers a general store, but that must've shut down years ago. I saw no trace of it. Her uncle still works the farm, but he can't get anyone to work for him. I think the biggest issue is there's no one under age 50 who lives there!

We had the "after burial" reception at the local school (elementary, middle and high school all combined into 1). I think there were well over 100 people who attended the reception. We were looking around the school. They have all of the class pictures from about 1940 - 2017 hanging up in the main lobby. Wife's mom graduated in 1973, with a class of just under 20. I looked at the class of 2017, 7 people...I think 2 boys and 5 girls. Above the main door is a glass transom. Painted on it was, something to the effect of, Harrold has graduated 835 people! Now that's since 1921!

Most places have seen change in 20 years. Most folks comment on how the towns they grew up in have exploded population wise. Harrold has lost half it's population in under 20 years. There are still places left where you can go to get away from everybody. But I think there's a reason no one wants to live there.

On a side note, we spent the nights in Pierre, population 14,000 according to wikipedia. Pierre is a nice town. I could picture myself living there, but it's just so far from everything it wouldn't be practical.

RIP Elmer Mehrer, 9/9/24 - 7/29/17.

Where I grew up is an absolute shithole now.