Have you had to choose a life in the woods or on the saltwater?

[Weldor]

I'll stick to the west side of the Mississippi. Liked fishing the great lakes and inland waters of Michigan when I grew up, great hunting back then. Honestly could never live there now after leaving 45 years ago. The cost of boats are crazy, but the west is expensive also. Do what you think is right for you now, you can always change things later if it does not work out.

 

[TaperPin]

Those who are restless and move in search of happiness, me included, often find scratching an itch doesn’t cure the restlessness. I was fortunate to be able to learn the pitfalls of too much “follow your dreams” happiness from having a restless father that did everything before me, from the mountains of Wyoming to the oceans and hunting in Alaska. I’m still my father’s son and more or less had the same kind of callings, but learned it can be better to have a long term base of operations and source of income, while venturing out in more limited ways. Nothing against traveling types, but young men have a limited view of what happens when you’re 50 or 60 with no assets, you’re going blind, have a bad ticker, and have never been close with family of any kind, other than the wives your hunting obsession burned through.

I’ve always been jealous of high school friends that were happy doing something simple, like working for the city right out of school, now they’ve worked their way up and run the water department, their wife already had a full career teaching 3rd grade, and they still live in the same house they grew up in, and still happily hunt the same mediocre spots we did back then.

 

[JeffRaines]

Those who are restless and move in search of happiness, me included, often find scratching an itch doesn’t cure the restlessness. I was fortunate to be able to learn the pitfalls of too much “follow your dreams” happiness from having a restless father that did everything before me, from the mountains of Wyoming to the oceans and hunting in Alaska. I’m still my father’s son and more or less had the same kind of callings, but learned it can be better to have a long term base of operations and source of income, while venturing out in more limited ways. Nothing against traveling types, but young men have a limited view of what happens when you’re 50 or 60 with no assets, you’re going blind, have a bad ticker, and have never been close with family of any kind, other than the wives your hunting obsession burned through.

I’ve always been jealous of high school friends that were happy doing something simple, like working for the city right out of school, now they’ve worked their way up and run the water department, their wife already had a full career teaching 3rd grade, and they still live in the same house they grew up in, and still happily hunt the same mediocre spots we did back then.

You sound like me. You’ve got a few years on me(I’m only 38) but you and your dad would be my people lol.

If I had the financial ability to just uproot on a whim and go do something, you better believe I would. It’s my wife that keeps me somewhat grounded.

I’d love nothing more than to go live in Wyoming/Montana for a year or more. Then go hit Alaska for a decade.

What I’ve boiled it down to is some people are just wired differently. Where I’m at I’m a transplant, and my friends from back home are doing just what yours are. They’re moving up, going to and from work everyday and just living life happily. I’m just not that guy.

At the end of the day, life is what you make it. I know if I had the ability to go and do the stuff but chose not to, I’d regret it on my deathbed.

 

[TaperPin]

You sound like me. You’ve got a few years on me(I’m only 38) but you and your dad would be my people lol.

If I had the financial ability to just uproot on a whim and go do something, you better believe I would. It’s my wife that keeps me somewhat grounded.

I’d love nothing more than to go live in Wyoming/Montana for a year or more. Then go hit Alaska for a decade.

What I’ve boiled it down to is some people are just wired differently. Where I’m at I’m a transplant, and my friends from back home are doing just what yours are. They’re moving up, going to and from work everyday and just living life happily. I’m just not that guy.

At the end of the day, life is what you make it. I know if I had the ability to go and do the stuff but chose not to, I’d regret it on my deathbed.

My people!

I had actually written about my dad’s reflections on his life choices while in the hospital and deleted it for brevity, but yes I learned a lot about myself listening to what he remembered the most fondly. He traveled places he day dreamed about, hunted the places and animals he always wanted to, had an off shore boat to fish and hunt off of, married a number of good women. He had no regrets. Well, he didn’t say it, but he did have some regrets about his lack of family bonds, but he had his own set of demons and simply made the best choices he knew how.

I had met a group of 4 other guys on a Colorado back country trip who all shared the same drives and interests - it was like meeting my tribe for the first time. We came from all different states and backgrounds and could still relate to everything we’ve ever thought and done from childhood on up. The light bulb went off and it made sense certain personality types are preprogrammed to live certain ways. It helped me feel more content and able to settle down in my own skin.

 

[Johnboy041586]

I ended up with both moving to AK, I can be in the mountains and still see the ocean.

 

[huntingdad]

woods hands down

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Been through this exact process and could not leave the coast (Texas gulf to be precise) because there's just too much 24/7/365 recreation and so much more variety of outdoors. I work 100% remotely and have done so before it became cool in 2020, wife is an RN, so we can pretty much live anywhere without much thought of a salary hit (zero for me, minimal for wife). Two of my sons lived in Cheyenne for 3 years and we ran through all the checks and validation, I spent months at a time up there with them and ran around enjoying everything I could think of doing. Wife applied for jobs at various hospitals to check salaries and we came close to pulling the trigger for some smaller towns in Wyoming and looked at Colorado as well. In the end the list of Pros for Texas gulf coast was twice the size of the list of Pros for moving out West so I pulled the plug even though it felt like a little kick in the gut and we stayed.

 

[JeffRaines]

My people!

I had actually written about my dad’s reflections on his life choices while in the hospital and deleted it for brevity, but yes I learned a lot about myself listening to what he remembered the most fondly. He traveled places he day dreamed about, hunted the places and animals he always wanted to, had an off shore boat to fish and hunt off of, married a number of good women. He had no regrets. Well, he didn’t say it, but he did have some regrets about his lack of family bonds, but he had his own set of demons and simply made the best choices he knew how.

I had met a group of 4 other guys on a Colorado back country trip who all shared the same drives and interests - it was like meeting my tribe for the first time. We came from all different states and backgrounds and could still relate to everything we’ve ever thought and done from childhood on up. The light bulb went off and it made sense certain personality types are preprogrammed to live certain ways. It helped me feel more content and able to settle down in my own skin.

The whole reason I moved out west could be boiled down to moments sitting in my grandparents house at 6 years old reading readers digest books on different animals and fishes, and coming across the trout section. “I wanna catch one of those!” for what reason I have zero idea even to this day. “Sorry kid we’re in south Alabama we don’t have those here”.

Fast forward to high school. Google images just became a thing and I’m searching for pictures of states with mountains, and for some reason looking at Montana I was instantly in love. Don’t know why. This was before Yellowstone obviously. I’d never seen a river runs through it. There was no preconditioning or anything to make me think that was cool, or even something to do.

Living where I live is a compromise because of the financial aspect. My wife is an RN so she’s good almost anywhere but I’m just a mechanic. Yeah I can find work anywhere too, but said work pays pennies compared to what I currently make, and almost certainly will be a worse work environment. I like that I’m at a point where I don’t have to work any overtime(unless I choose to) and no one here is cracking a whip.

I also agree that moving to “scratch the itch” just makes you realize there’s 5 more itches that need scratching. I’m sure if I could move to Montana Alaska would start calling even harder.

Sorry to OP - didn’t mean to derail your thread!

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I couldn't choose...cabin in the mountains, condo at the beach and live on the piedmont. One advantage of the east coast just have to decide which destination I want and it's 3-4 hour drive to either.