Best Places to Retire to for LF

[John Kasaian]

Perhaps somewhere next to a back door at the Ilford sheet film factory?

[bob carnie]

New Zealand

[Jon Shiu]

North Coast of California is pretty nice with lots of sea, sky and land. Mild climate. Affordable places are available here also.

Jon

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Best Places to Retire to for LF?

France, without discussion!

[lecarp]

Anywhere but Florida.
There's nothing here but mosquitoes, snakes, alligators, and divorce lawyers, none of which should be shot with a big camera.

You forgot the worst of it, endless tourists. As the locals say, "If its tourist season why can't I shoot them".

[Mark Sawyer]

The darkroom!

[Vaughn]

North Coast of California is pretty nice with lots of sea, sky and land. Mild climate. Affordable places are available here also. Jon

Sounds good to me, but then I already live there. Recently bought a three bedroom house in the middle of town (Blue Lake, CA) for $151,000. A bit of a fixer-upper -- I just spent several days doing some foundation work and leveling, and have to do the same on the other side of the house. It is a little rough around the edges, but I am putting in a darkroom and it is right next to the bar. So I will be retiring to the darkroom...with an occasional trip over for a beer.

Of course, New Zealand would be a fine place to retire, but it can be difficult to get the permission for non-Kiwis.

[Doug Howk]

As we get older, what we carry literally weighs heavily on ourselves. I use a modified jogging cart which doesn't work too well in rough, non-level terrain. So, unlike some other comments here, I vote for a flat environment like Florida. And there are plenty of canoeing opportunities for getting a different perspective.

[neil poulsen]

I live in Forest Grove near (35 miles) Portland, Or. and love it. It's a small, college town that is it's own area with three National Historic Districts and high public involvement. It's near the City; yet, it's at the root of three different accesses to the Oregon coast.

With that said, I sometimes long for Pollock Pines, Ca., which is about half-way (50 miles each?) between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe on Highway 50. It's nestled in the Sierra pine trees at 4000 feet, and it's probably the most beautiful place that I've lived. There're some excellent restaurants, Apple Hill (lots of apple orchards, roadside markets, etc.), Jenkinson Lake, a scenic pond, and the rustic American River in the vicinity. The summers are great, where given the altitude, the temperatures only occasionally near or exceed 100 deg. F. Within an easy hour's drive are Placerville, a classic larger town, the gold country along Highway 49, and some photogenic smaller towns. San Francisco and the Pacific are about 130 miles away, and within about 4 to 6 hours, one can drive to Yosemite, Mono Lake, or the California wine country.

At 4000 feet, it gets about 4 feet of snow every winter. But during my stay in the area, if Highway 50 closed, it would close at Pollock Pines, where it narrowed from 4 lanes to 2 lanes and made its way on to Lake Tahoe. Our place was relatively close to the highway, so we were never locked in. A wood-stove was our only heat. On the few winter occasions that we lost power, we remained warm and could heat up a pot of chile. Homes in the area were (and are) reasonably priced, considering today's standards.

I've often thought of returning to Pollock Pines for retirement. But given that I was born and raised in Portland, and the ties I have in this area, I doubt that it will happen.

[Greg Y]

Northern Italy :-). You've got the Dolomites. The ocean is not too far away. The coffee is great & if you mess up in the darkroom there's always Barolo to drink.