Virginia Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Possible move to VA...info needed
Hi Girls. DH is in the military and we are transferring next year. Some of the places place to choose from are Chesapeake, Yorktown, Dulles, or Portsmouth. I have
never been to any of these places and know nothing about the area. Can you help me out
by giving me some information? What is the city like? Any pros or cons? Where do you
live? What is the weather like? Is it have a big city feel or more
suburbs? Do you get bored or run out of things to do? Are there lots of restaurants, movies, shopping, etc?? Is it outdoorsy?? I have so many questions since I know nothing about Virginia. Any information you can give would be great. Thanks in
advance for your help.
Re: Possible move to VA...info needed
I can only speak about Dulles because I used to live there....
CONS: There is traffic, a whole WHOLE lot of traffic.
PROS: However, it is right near DC and you never ever run out of things to do! The weather is seasonal, depending on where you live you can get a city feel or a suburban feel. There is tons of shopping and entertainment and you don't have to go far to get the best of the outdoors either. I really miss it there - if housing wasn't so very expensive I would come back in a heartbeat!
Chesapeake and Portsmouth are all in South Hampton Roads, which is normally referred to as the Southside. I'm not familiar with them more than shopping, but I know Portsmouth, depending upon where he is, has some less desirable parts.
I currently live in Yorktown and it's a very nice place. Up near the Coast Guard area isn't as nice, but they're working on it. It has great schools and the property taxes are less than Newport News and Hampton (neighboring cities). It's also part of Hampton Roads, but located on the Peninsula.
Yorktown isn't really a city. It's very suburban. You have to go to Newport News for a lot of things. The weather is great in all of Hampton Roads. We have 4 seasons and thankfully rarely have snow. There's a lot of do within the whole area, so you can stay in the Yorktown area and see historical sites like Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg or head south to the beach, museums, etc. There's always an outdoor fair or something going on.
Wives Unscripted
I think I've become this board's resident defender of Portsmouth.
It definitely has its good and bad areas but if you move to one of the better areas (Western Branch, Port Norfolk, Highland Biltmore, Westhaven) it's really nice. Older homes, more suburban than urban, low housing prices and lower taxes than Chesapeake or Norfolk but close to Norfolk and Chesapeake. The schools aren't great but if you don't have kids yet (like H and I) it can be a really nice area.
On the other hand, I work in Norfolk and I honestly wouldn't want to live there. Ghent and a few other areas are nice but in my opinion there are a lot more "ghetto" type areas than you'll find in Portsmouth, Chesapeake, etc.
We're in Hampton Roads as well. If your DH is going to be stationed in Portsmouth, you can also live in Suffolk. It is a growing area, which means home prices aren't that bad, close to the highway, and you can be at ISC Portsmouth in 10 minutes from our house. There's also a brand new elementary school in our area that is supposed to be great.
I highly suggest checking out CoastieChicks.net for relocation info. Their area and district boards are a lifesaver and the women are fantastic. We have regular GTG's, too. Between them and my mom's group, moving to Hampton Roads has been a breeze.
Good luck!
Bloggin' It
Another Coastie Wife here
I noticed on your location it says Key West. We were actually stationed there before we moved up here, so I can totally understand the change you'll be going through. DH is stationed at TRACEN Yorktown. It's a nice base and it's pretty central to a lot of the things here in Hampton Roads. We live in Gloucester, which is kind of "country" but it's definitely growing (a huge plus, because like Suffolk, housing is affordable). If you end up getting stationed over this way, I'm sure DH and I can show you around
What's your DH's rate?? Do you know what billet he would be filling if he got stationed here??