It’s a MSA of about 200,000 people, centered on a college town but sharply sloping off into countryside (that was never as intensely settled as the NE or Ohio River Valley)

The area used to host some industry that left circa 1980 such that its slightly overbuilt and the glut of solid 1920s-1960s buildings keeps rents and thus cost of living down

I have a modernist “farmhouse” 20 minutes out of town and a 1-bedroom pied-a-terre apartment in town. Somehow I have a cat that teleports between them.

The apartment is second story in a 2-story over retail, the downstairs tenant and I never notice each other. There’s a rear fire escape that’s basically a balcony, there’s a pull-out couch, and I can lock a bike up by the dumpster.

On that block there’s a cafe that plays music I like with comfy couches and good bagels, there’s an actual butcher that’s great for readying 1-6 meals on short notice. I can walk to 4 good bars and pedal to 15 more.

The college has ≈ 8,000 undergrads, no one minds if they drink in bars, they rotate through as like half of the 80-person pinball scene.

I date a few of the girls. And their friends.

In the country, my property has a test orchard where I breed locally-adapted strains w/ the local land grant university and an arboretum where I just fuck w/trees.

Another 15 minutes out I built an onsen ryokan on a natural hot spring in the hills. A conservation easement means the views are protected forever but tax expenses are low. It thrives on weekend tourists from the city, small gatherings, and when the exchange rate is right, hunting trips for Japanese nationals. The off-season is filled by promoting cheap retreats for college teams & clubs.

The town’s surprisingly conservative for a liberal area, the countryside is surprisingly liberal for a conservative area, by which I mean they both think things were really going right in 1998.

The town supports one mall, 1-1.5 floors and 4 anchors, 2 of which are just big box category-killers now. There’s a multiplex to cover what the historic theaters in town don’t.

There’s a major city with an international airport about 90 minutes away but you don’t hit the interstate until minute 30 and the sprawl at minute 55.

…

…hm, maybe Eugene?