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You are in for a quite a weather difference. I'm just guessing that you don't have a snow shovel.

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What years?

For relatives in southern VT,

Brattleboro was one of those towns people would drive an hour to go to to shop, see a movie, go to a McDonald’s, etc.
Or a Dunkin’ Donuts -back when they were baking the donuts fresh in the back.
The movies were old theatre used to do plays kind of set up that converted to one screen/show movie theatres.  
There was a huge sporting goods store people would go to also.
It was a big deal.

When I was real little I remember being with some cousins one summer and seeing a Disney movie at one of them,
When I was in HS I was at some other cousins and we went and saw The Terminator at the other one.


This was 70s/80s.  
Bennington would have been another one.
Not sure if that had an old downtown or not.

I have been up and down I91 many a time.  
As well as 87, 89,93, 95.
And the smaller routes.
Still many a town with lots of dirt roads and no cell service up there.

I haven’t been to  upstate NY, VT/NH /ME , Quebec, etc. in about a decade.

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I will leave it up to the Eskimos on here to explain to the OP from TX, what winter is like up there in the frozen tundra.

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"snow shovels"
https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/196498/20230123_152333_jpg-3325103.JPG

https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/196498/20230123_152649_jpg-3325104.JPG

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Sounds like Florida for you

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IMHO, too damn warm. I prefer cold. It is rare to have it in the teens.

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To be quite honest, this thread has been such an eye opener for me, I'm not so sure the NE is for my family. Sounds like I should visit, but not live there. Just too expensive, cold and liberal. I've lived in TX for 42 years, and not sure I'd wanna spend the later years in life with 6-7 months of harsh winter. This has been a valuable thread of information.

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One of the best things in the world is sitting out in your garage listening to the snow fall while smoking a cigar and drinking a fine rum. The sound of snow falling is one of the most peaceful sounds in the world. Then, when you're all cold, you go inside and stand next to your wood burning stove to warm up. Then, when you get too hot because your wife likes the house to be 80+ degrees, you put on a t-shirt, shorts, and your boots, and then go outside and stand in the wind and falling snow to cool off. The sound of snowflakes hissing as they land on your 200 degree arms is also peaceful.

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I am visiting my brother in Northern VT in a month, we are taking my boys to Jays Peak ski resort for the water park. I also want to hit Burger Barn in Jeffersonville while there, any other suggestions?

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Nice. I've always thought NC would be the best of both worlds. Not too cold winters, not too hot summers, have mountains in the west and beach to the east.

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A "Once Great" state, unfortunately. So where do I start?

Born and raised. Lived all over the state, but mostly grew up in Burlington area, as that is where my mom is from. My dad was from Norwich. I have family in Essex and St Albans. My dad is buried in the veteran's cemetery in Rutland. So I grew up mostly in Burlington, I was a member of the VT National Guard, and I attended UVM for a year before I went on active duty.

In the 80s it was an awesome, sort of a live and let live place. Hell, I used to hike Camels Hump as a 15 year old kid with my Marlin .22 rifle. My buddy carried an M1 carbine. We'd go off the trail as set up "live fire" lanes practicing "react to contact drills" that we read in the Ranger Handbook. Super 2A friendly place. My high school experience was like an 80s movie. Good kids out to have a good time, little to no hard drugs. Kids would keep deer rifles in their cars to hunt after school.

Traditionally VT has been Republican believe it or not. Probably now what we would recognize more as "Independents" or even Libertarians. But starting in 70 and 80s the "progressive" AKA socialist commies from NYC came in and fucking ruined the place. This would be the Ben and Jerry's crowd led by the commie pied piper Bernie Sanders - and people loved him because he was "independent" and frankly their plan worked, strongly supported by the uber lib voting base associated with UVM. Then came the high taxes, socially liberal laws and the entitlement programs which hooked old people and the poor - galvanizing their support base. Also, about that time came organized efforts by the progressive left to make the state less entitled and more diverse (less white) and also religious groups (some even well intended/humanitarian) that brought in central Americans and Africans in by the thousands. That went sideways. Now there are "no go" enclaves of immigrants in Burlington and other places. Defund the police was huge up there too. Now they want to hire cops but nobody will work there as it's such a shitty environment. At one point Burlington had a BLM outfit providing "security" in city park. I don't think I've ever been anywhere more anti-police except maybe Seattle. Of course, the liberal enforcement policies towards enforcement of drugs has been a complete disaster. Heroin has sadly destroyed many small VT towns.

I'd like to say it's only Burlington and Montpelier - but it's not, it's all trickled out to smaller towns too. Progressive communism spreads like a cancer. There are a few rural hold outs no doubt, but the state and local gov't is lost. Case in point they went full retard during covid with population control measures. The state's "republican" governor signed a high-capacity magazine ban, and an AWB will probably get passed in the near future. I remember the old fudds insisting for years how pro-2A Berrie was, well that turned out to be bullshit didn't it? Go figure, you can't trust a commie. It's only a matter of time before they come for your AR. The "you don't need an AR to hunt deer with" crowd is a thing there.

St Albans, once a great solid blue-collar town refuses to have SROs in the schools because they will intimidate students of color (what - all 2 of them!?). Insanity.  Also, the trans agenda shit is huge up there too with boys on the girls sports teams. It's a shitshow.

I joined the Army in 1991 and never looked back. I've been a Tennessee resident since 1996. There is no scenario I could ever see moving back there. It's sad, but the place as seriously lost its way and won't ever be the same. I hate it as all my people are from there and I still have family there, but it's gone far, far from the place I grew up.

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I’ve lived in VT by choice off and on for years.

Buy a house in a rural area, gain the trust of locals, And half of the negative points above won’t apply to you.

It’s exactly what I did.

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This is the most accurate assessment thus far.

I shoot at a small range in northern Vt. Right along the Canadian border.

I haven’t seen a single person use a 10 round rifle mag.

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I've always thought NC would be a great middle ground, weather-wise.   Nice state, nice people.    OTOH, a NH friend moved down there, lived a couple years, moved to Maine.  He said the summers were like our winters in reverse - so damn hot he had to stay huddled in A/C surroundings half the year.   I guess part of it is whether cold or hot is harder for you to take.   For me, hot is worse - you can only take off so many clothes, then you're still stifling hot even if you're nude.   Cold, OTOH, just put on more clothes or work harder.   Working out in the woods in the winter is exhilarating.   When it's cold out, you may not feel like leaving the heater behind, but once you get outside and start doing physical work, you don't even notice the cold.

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IMHO, too damn warm. I prefer cold. It is rare to have it in the teens.

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Southern flatlander wuss.

You likely have ancestors that wore the skins of animals they killed with rocks and wood.

Those ancestors are puking in their graves right now.

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I received a good job offer doing interesting work in Vermont two years ago.

I could not afford housing and ultimately declined.

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Who is making you move to VT from TX ????

Don't do it.

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The point was how far from the equator and what elevations/terrain our ancestors survived in.
It’s a joke.

Yes I have frozen my ass off.

Yes I will mock you for complaining about an uncomfortable bed as well.  And how I have sleep sitting up in water in a flooding swamp/jungle or on rocks,

Before going to bed on my 12K mattress with infintagle adjustable 3 point position adjustments on my 870 thread count sheets .

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I don’t think we are after this thread. Probably stay much more south in Tennessee.

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Vermont is a beautiful state with a rich history, outdoor activities that'd fill a lifetime, genuinely kind helpful neighbors and low crime.

However, the politics are left of the left and that isn't going to change. It's the state that had gay marriage before it was cool and there isn't an office they wouldn't elect Bernie Sanders to.

If you have fuck you money or a remote job you can buy a nice house in the absolute middle of no where and never interact with anyone outside of the occasional run to a general store while enjoying some of the most beautiful country Earth and never hearing or seeing another soul.

Otherwise, just go with NH. It's basically the same but with lower taxes, more freedom and cheaper booze. You can open carry without a seat belt on as you drive through a liquor store helpfully placed at an interstate rest stop.

It's like the other 49 states aren't even trying to keep up.

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I don’t think we are after this thread. Probably stay much more south in Tennessee.

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What is the best hospital in the NH area? We would need to be close to a decent one.

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What is the best hospital in the NH area? We would need to be close to a decent one.

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What is the best hospital in the NH area? We would need to be close to a decent one.

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I am visiting my brother in Northern VT in a month, we are taking my boys to Jays Peak ski resort for the water park. I also want to hit Burger Barn in Jeffersonville while there, any other suggestions?