My suggestion to your questions is this. The truth is I have travelled more than 3.5 million miles in America and have been in all states mulitiple times except Alaska. Decide one or two things, then make your decision.
1. Affordability? What is your financial status? ie: La Jolla, California is spectacular, but you pretty much have to be a multimillionaire to purchase a home there.
2. Seasons: Personally I love snow and everything winter. How about you? For those that do not like snow, Florida is very affordable if you go to the Panhandle area and the weather is nice year round. Palm trees sway in the gentle ocean breezes and the golf courses are great.
Decide what you like to do. If your gig is snow mobiles and down hilling, then here are some recommendations for beauty and the people that live there.
1. Sheridan, Wyoming is absolutely gorgeous. It sits at the base of a stunning mountain range by the name of the "Big Horns". You can hunt, fly fish, anything snow and cowboy culture is alive and well. DO NOT EXPECT really fresh seafood. You had better like steak! But again, it is a way of life, it is "slooooow" living. It is a place where you can leave the engine running with the heater going in the Walmart parking lot.
2. Panhandle of Idaho is another. There are many small towns to choose from up on the Montana border. Kalispell, Montana is incredible for beauty but very expensive.
If your thing is 4 distinct seasons and you do not want boil or freeze to death.
1. Johnson City, Tennessee get's you there. It is 4 seasons, a little snow in the winter but not enough to where you have to ride a snow mobile to work or school or the drug store. Summer is warm enough to sit in a lake but it won't burn your skin off like "AJO, Arizona will". Spring is truly beautiful watching the Dog Wood Trees bloom. Friendly people, affordable, great food and close to National Treasures such as D.C., Smokey Mountains and you even a NASCAR racetrack up the road an hour and half or so.
If you are watery and need water, I am back to the Panhandle of Florida. If you have won the Powerball and money is no object, I am going to send you Newport Beach, Rhode Island. Drop 10M on a beautiful mansion and call it good. It is pretty, historicala and you can eat breakfast with Paris Hilton on a good day.
Hope it helps a bit. I do have close with this. Anything in Iowa, South Dakota, Western MN, around Fargo. Draw little circle on your map from Omaha to Des Moines, Iowa and up and down a bit. The reason? Those are undoubtly the nicest, friendliest, most honest, least crime and the backbone of America in terms of Christian and decency in America. Yea, I know thousands will scream. I will refer you to crime statistics. They are without debate. These people have no crime. What does that tell you about the citizens of the area? I mean, the town I live in has had one murder in the last 45 years and that was a domestic thing over she was dying and he put her out of her misery. Bottom line is pick a small town in a corn field in Iowa or a wheat field in the middle of South Dakota if your looking for the greatest folks on earth...
