Okay, feeling better now
After talking with Dad, I realized what was really freaking me out about moving to Delaware is that it is a place totally foreign to me. Choosing between the two schools is kind of a no-brainer -- Murray State is a great school, but U of Delaware is a bit more research-oriented and prestigious, and additionally has faculty members in the department that do the kinds of things that Dad does. But moving to Murray? Not scary. I lived in Kentucky for 5 years as a wee lass; my little bro was born there. It's within easy driving distance of Isaac's great-grandparents, and more determined driving distance of Isaac's grandparents. I've probably driven near Murray on many trips taken with Dad in our pre-baby days between Indiana and Nashville. To summarize: it is familiar. The banjo-picking that goes on in the woods there doesn't even scare me. Much.
I haven't the slightest clue what Delaware is about. I have never been there, never even to Philly or to Baltimore or to D.C. or to New York. Our family trips when I was a kid were mostly to midwestern amusement parks, which I thoroughly enjoyed and which I now get made fun of for by Dad (your parents never took you to D.C./Yosemite National Park/California/any other normal family vacation destination? HAHAHAHAHAH!). I don't know what the climate is like, whether the land is flat or rolly, what it smells like, or even how you could fit so many states in such a small area. I have no idea if the people are nice, if they are left-leaning, if they are environmentally conscious, if they drive or take the bus, if they exercise, if they eat fried stuff, if they visit organic markets. The problem is that I am comfortable with both my Indiana hick heritage and my acquired Seattlite hippie traits -- would this new place be able to respect both? Lord knows Murray might be a little slanted away from anything labeled "organic" or "environmentally-consicous" -- maybe Delaware might be more along the lines of Claire after all.
Once I realized this, my research on the web became much more focused. The start to my newfound emotional acceptance of this move? The discovery that there are 3 IKEAs within ~1 hour's driving distance of Newark, Delaware (oh, and it's "New Ark". Evidently "New-erk" = New Jersey, and that is baaaad). There is also a Bob Evans there, and at least one organic grocery store. I would be absolutely thrilled if there are visitors of this blog who may be able to contribute more info or advice about that region (even if you are not from Delaware) that may be of interest to the young wife of a young smarty-pants with a super-young smart-pants in tow. Ahem. Ahem, Erin, ahem.
I haven't the slightest clue what Delaware is about. I have never been there, never even to Philly or to Baltimore or to D.C. or to New York. Our family trips when I was a kid were mostly to midwestern amusement parks, which I thoroughly enjoyed and which I now get made fun of for by Dad (your parents never took you to D.C./Yosemite National Park/California/any other normal family vacation destination? HAHAHAHAHAH!). I don't know what the climate is like, whether the land is flat or rolly, what it smells like, or even how you could fit so many states in such a small area. I have no idea if the people are nice, if they are left-leaning, if they are environmentally conscious, if they drive or take the bus, if they exercise, if they eat fried stuff, if they visit organic markets. The problem is that I am comfortable with both my Indiana hick heritage and my acquired Seattlite hippie traits -- would this new place be able to respect both? Lord knows Murray might be a little slanted away from anything labeled "organic" or "environmentally-consicous" -- maybe Delaware might be more along the lines of Claire after all.
Once I realized this, my research on the web became much more focused. The start to my newfound emotional acceptance of this move? The discovery that there are 3 IKEAs within ~1 hour's driving distance of Newark, Delaware (oh, and it's "New Ark". Evidently "New-erk" = New Jersey, and that is baaaad). There is also a Bob Evans there, and at least one organic grocery store. I would be absolutely thrilled if there are visitors of this blog who may be able to contribute more info or advice about that region (even if you are not from Delaware) that may be of interest to the young wife of a young smarty-pants with a super-young smart-pants in tow. Ahem. Ahem, Erin, ahem.
posted by Claire at 10:53 PM
5 Comments:
LOL! Happy to contribute. First off, let me say that one of those Ikeas is 10 minutes from my house! Yay for Ikea! ;)
As far as politics, I don't know much about Delaware specifically, but Maryland is certainly left-leaning. (frustrating as heck during election time for this particular conservative ;))
I have some friends in Oregon and Seattle and the culture is WAY different, from what I can gather. Definitely not the "hippie" culture you might be used to. It's REALLY not easy to get anywhere via public transportation in Baltimore or Delaware. Go to D.C., however, and it's a totally different story. You can get anywhere by Metro!
My husband does a lot of traveling to Delaware for business. He says to tell you that Wilmington in particular, is basically like a suburb of Philly. You are like a half hour from Philly where you can do anything. He also says (he's sitting here with me) that it's pretty evenly split politics-wise, maybe leaning a bit democratic.
Outside the city, other parts of Delaware are very rural... lots of farms and little towns.
You are also about an hour (maybe less) from the gorgeous beaches I was talking about in a comment a while back. Bethany Beach and Rehobeth Beach are the cutest little towns. We have been there during every season and love it. OUTLETS!! Rehobeth has outlets! AWESOME OUTLETS!
Surrounding area... I really only have experience with D.C. and Baltimore. Baltimore is nice for a day trip. The harbor is fun. We have a great aquarium, science center and kids' hands-on museum. Going to an Orioles game at Camden Yards is fun in the summer. Fells Point and Mount Washington are also really neat. They a refunky little artistic areas with cool restaurants. (all of these are easily googled, btw in case you want to see some of it for yourself)
D.C. is, of course, amazing. It's really easy to get to, especially if you take the Metro. (we're about 45 minutes from a station)Pretty much everything is free! We love to go down on a Saturday and explore the Smithsonian (the American history and the Air and Space museums are my favorites). Plus, all the government buildings and historical stuff are really interesting too!
NYC is close, I've been there twice. Personally, I find it really scary! LOL! But it is kinda cool that it's close. Again, short train ride, especially from Wilmington.
I'll post more if I think of anything... did I miss anything? LOL... I'm sure I can ask around and find out anything you want
to know! :)
I wanna come visit! It sounds kinda cool. AND, there are good peoples over there. :-)
The east ain't so bad! We live slightly northwest of Philadelphia and we like the area. I can't really offer a lot of specific info. about Delaware, even though we've been there many times. To me, Delaware is no different from any other area around here - whether it be Phila., Baltimore or the like. All have neat places to see and visit.
Erin -- you are the coolest. Thanks so much for your detailed post. Hope you don't mind if I pick your brain in the future!
Monkeygirl -- I didn't know you guys were from that region, too! Dad says there are faculty members who bought houses out your way, so we could even be neighbors in a few.
Leslie -- the NW is pretty cool, but it will be nice to get AWAY from the insane Seattle housing market. Is it as bad where you are? Anyway, as you put it, they still have the internet in DE ;)
Oh, it's BAAAD here, too. Our whole goal is to move to Seattle in three years. We bought a house so we could have equity.
I don't think we'll get enough equity no matter what we do. Gah. Seattle is INSANELY expensive.
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