Considering Knoxville and Chattanooga

[RiverView]

Originally Posted by michael49

I posted this in the Knoxville forum and I got more positive responses for Chattanooga than Knoxville! I'd like to know what Chattanooga residents think, so I'm reposting here.



My wife and I are in our mid 30's. We live in the Northeast, but we are searching for somewhere with milder winters! Plus, the housing prices here are ridiculous for what you get.

No kids yet!

We are very down to earth, unpretentious.

We love the mountains, hiking, camping, kayaing, etc. We are very "outdoorsy" people. We also like to run, although we can only run outdoors for about 7 months of the year here. We lived in FL for a few years, but we really missed the change of seasons, mountains, hiking, etc.

We considered Colorado, but it just too dry out there for us - we like to see things green! Plus, I love lakes - not many in CO, except for way up in the mountains.

We also like some interesting restaurants to go for dinner on weekends (not pricey, just fun and different).

I will be attending a conference in Nashville at the end of October. I think Nashville is much too far from the mountains for us to consider, but I would like to visit Knoxville and Chattanooga, but we may only have time to see one place.

My wife and I both work in health care.

We live near several colleges/universities now and I have often found "college towns" fun places to live; this is one reason we have considered Knoxville.

What do you think? Does Knoxville sound like a good place for us? I know that this is the Knoxville thread and it may be biased, but how would you compare Knoxville and Chattanooga? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!!

Well, back to your post. Chattanooga has what you are looking for. We have a very active outdoor community. There are cycling and running clubs, just about every suv or Subaru you see has a bike and kayak rack on top. As you know there is water everywhere. Tons of hiking and camping. The Cumberland trail runs through Chattanooga as well. Oh and there is an active rock climbing community as well (I'm to fat and old for that madness ).

If you look North Chattanooga you will find a real mix of people and property. Mostly older homes and yes they are priced higher because of location, location, location. Some of these homes are nice some are not some are full of granite, thermador, viking, etc... There are also a freakin ton of condos / townhomes for sale in the downtown and northshore area (all new construction).

North Chattanooga is also 2 to 5 miles from 3 or 4 major hospitals and tons of medical offices.

Restaurants, wow where do I start. Downtown, Bluff View Art District, Northshore, Riverview. Several restaurants / bars. Not very many national chains is those areas. East Brainerd and Hixson have most of the chains. There are also some unique restaurants on the mountains.

Geez.... did I miss anything?

[Jon F Moss]

where's my banjo?