First Week in Maine (Portland, Bangor: 2015, luxury, school)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by highway to maine

We are currently stationed in California. My husband is from nor cal, I'm from Illinois. Neither of us care about burritos, or Starbucks, however we do love booze.. Anyway, he is a dentist and we are wanting to escape military life and we think Maine will be a good fit.

'escaping military life', am I to assume this means he is getting out mid-career? Rather than retiring?

... We have 4 very young kids now (family complete) and Maine seems to be similar weather to one of our all time favorite bases....Misawa, Japan. We were stationed there during the massive 9.0 earthquake. It was a 7 where I stood, lost power for a week and our base turned into a search and rescue base. I have no interest in experiencing another earthquake and want to get as far as I can from Fukushima. Fukushima is still spilling into the pacific by tons every day with no end in sight. You couldn't pay me enough to eat that tuna! Anyway, This thread has been awesomely informative for us.

There are many good reasons why people migrate to Maine. Fleeing: droughts, high COL, earthquakes, tornadoes, urban cities, ... Many of the bad things found in other places are missing in most of Maine. Instead we have winter. If you do not mind winter, then Maine is great.

... If anyone has suggestions on locations in need of a dentist around areas of Bangor to Portland, please let us know!

Portland is Maine's biggest city, among it's immediate suburbs are the highest population-densities that Maine has. So much so that within a small radius around Portland live over 50% of the entire population of Maine. All in a fairly remote distant Southern corner of Maine. As such Portland seems to have a high density of service providers; doctors, surgeons, etc.

Bangor is still in the Southern half of Maine [geometrically] and since most of Maine is rural and North of Bangor, Bangor provides services to a huge portion of Maine. The Northern half of Maine, has a few scattered doctors and dentists, but for most needs they look to Bangor for services.

My Dw works in a grocery store in Bangor, every day she sees people making their monthly shopping trips. Once every 4 to 6 weeks, sometimes 2 or 3 families car-pool into Bangor to load-up on groceries.

If you relocated to Portland, you would experience more competition among professionals. If you relocated to Bangor, you would have less competition, and you would draw customers from a much larger area.

Every one needs a good dentist, regardless of where in Maine they live. I do not have any idea why there is such a trend in having teeth pulled, but I have noticed it among people that we know.

... I'm just looking forward to living the way America should be....mom and pop shops and friendly people living in a natural environment. I want my kids to know how exciting it is to see tulips in the spring, and how FUN it is to wake up to a big fluffy white blanket outside the changing seasons bring so much joy!!!

Welcome

[highway to maine]

Yes, we would be getting out next year, at 8 years in. It's still a HUGE decision we have yet to nail down. What drew me to this particular thread is that it is about California vs. Maine. We also have one extra player in our decision game, and that it's that his dad is also a dentist about to retire in Northern California. We need to decide what the best fit would be....staying in to service the military working toward the pension (dealing with military family life), moving into his dad's practice in Northern California (blah), or helping Maine with this giant dental shortage y'all have going on. We would be more interested in servicing the places in need of a dentist, so moving to areas with good schools around Bangor would be ideal.

My mom is not thrilled about the idea of us moving to Maine, she has been a sour puss ever since we told her about it. She now lives in nor cal, working at his dad's practice as a hygienist..she thinks moving to Maine is crazy, but we are excited about the idea. So stressful being an adult with kids and trying to make huge life decisions.

[highway to maine]

Also, these winters in Maine....how do they compare to Illinois winters? I was born raised and went to college in central Illinois where I swear it would rain ice cubes with wind pelting them at your face. Is it a wet cold or a dry cold?! There is a huge difference between the two.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by highway to maine

Also, these winters in Maine....how do they compare to Illinois winters? I was born raised and went to college in central Illinois where I swear it would rain ice cubes with wind pelting them at your face. Is it a wet cold or a dry cold?! There is a huge difference between the two.

There are times when it does get humid. However once it gets cold then things are very dry. I have not seen wet cold here.

The HUGE snow dumps typical of the snow-belt do not happen here. 3 foot of snow over-night only happens down in the snow-belt. We may accumulate 3 foot of snow, but it is done over the course of the entire winter. 6 inches that settles to 2, a week later another 4 inches that settles, a week after that 5 inches, ...

[Cuffler]

Not to beat up on the ex-californians out there but my son was married there. At the wedding, attended by many educated people, we were pretty much ignored even though we were the grooms parents. When we finally were included in a conversation eventually, one of the locals asked us where we were from.

I'm not exaggerating what comes next.

We told them that we lived in Connecticut. The response of this 40+ year old person? "Oh.....where 'bouts is that? " Honest to God. We reminded them of New England and the building of America through the revolution, etc. They tend to be extremely narcissistic there; everything good comes out of California and eventually spreads through the US.......like an infection, I said quietly to my wife. I have no use for California except for the fine wines they do produce. Pretty much everything can be found elsewhere.

Just thought I'd share that anecdotal story with you.

Rome

[znlwovuhrjw]

There is NOTHING good about California lol. If people think that Mainers are the only standoff-ish types, they have NEVER met 95% of California.

Initially Californians pretend to be friendly then you can't get any of them to do a conversation unless you have a monetary relation or comparison for a Californian to talk about. Normally, even if you can get to that point they will answer their iPhone or check the new smartwatch for texts.

[UpTheCreek]

I moved to San Diego in 1980. It was a pretty wonderful place back then, almost a sleepy town. I can't stand it now and that's why I left more than 12 years ago. When it comes to bashing Kalifornia, I'm usually at the head of the line. It's true that most folks who live there, especially the natives, don't realize there is actually more country to the east of them. Basically, they're idiots!

However, and it might surprise a lot of people, but California used to be a pretty conservative state! Not true for the last 30 years, certainly. But I pasted some interesting agriculture facts below, most I knew and some I didn't. I think it's pretty staggering and consider these things the next time you go grocery shopping. California is a huge and diverse state and I think most of it's reputation, unfortunately, is based on either the nuts in San Fran or the fruits in So. Cal! I guess what I'm trying to say is that, like it or not, California is an important state to the rest of us!

California is the world’s 5th largest supplier of food, cotton fiber and other agricultural commodities.

California is the largest producer of food in the U.S. yet has less than 4% of the farms in the U.S.

The unique Mediterranean climate allows us to grow over 450+ different crops.

Some of these crops are exclusive to California: almonds, artichokes, dates, figs, kiwifruit, olives, persimmons, pomegranates, pistachios, prunes, raisins, clovers, and walnuts

California is the largest exporter of almonds in the world

California is the number 1 dairy state in the U.S.

California produces over 86% of all the lemons consumed in the United States.

California is the 4th largest wine producer in the world and produces over 90% of the wine in the U.S.

70 to 80% of all ripe olives are grown in California

California accounts for 94% of the processed tomatoes in the U.S.

California is the nation’s leading producer of strawberries, averaging 1.4 billion pounds of strawberries or 83% of the country’s total fresh and frozen strawberry production.

The value of the California strawberry crop is approximately $700 million with related employment of more than 48,000 people.

California produces 25% of the nation’s onions and 43% of the nation’s green onions.


That's a huge share of stuff. Sad to think they have to fight for every drop of water they can get now. California chose their representatives and now they're reaping what they've sown.

[TheKezarWoodsman]

wait, raisins are California exclusive, then my neighbor defies science by making her own raisins from her grape vines

[znlwovuhrjw]

^ The "California Exclusive" crops are a marketing gimmick to make people believe we NEED California to continue to be the agriculture king.

[Brodels]

Originally Posted by highway to maine

Also, these winters in Maine....how do they compare to Illinois winters? I was born raised and went to college in central Illinois where I swear it would rain ice cubes with wind pelting them at your face. Is it a wet cold or a dry cold?! There is a huge difference between the two.

I went to college in Galesburg, IL and also lived in Chicago for a time. Winters in Maine are less wet feeling for sure. There isn't as much of that cold, dreary winter rain. The flip side of that is you will find it to be colder and snowier, which can be hard to take if you aren't looking for that sort of thing. It differs quite a bit from north to south though. Winters in the north are more brutal, while winter in southern Maine are a little bit closer to what you experienced in Illinois.