OK, my research for places to land when I can bail out of California has accelerated. In 1st place right now is the Reno NV area. Boise, Spokane, and Colorado Springs are/were the other contenders. While I could live a mile away from my nearest neighbor, my wife has turned into a city girl and needs to live within an hour of a city of at least 100,000 people, and needs to be able to see neighbors from our house.
Reno scares me as rapidly turning into another California, but then so do most other areas that would work for both my wife and I. And Reno has the hyoooge advantage of being within a pretty easy drive of the bay area, so our kids (and grandkids) could come visit us any long weekend. We went to Reno again last weekend to check it out again, and while in theory I probably like both Boise and Colorado Springs a little better, the grandkid situation tilts things a little in favor of Reno for me, and very much in favor for SWMBO.
So, what advice and knowledge do y'all have for me? Any and all comments about Reno are welcome: What to expect, neighborhoods (currently leaning towards Sparks / Spanish Springs area, with Hidden Valley and the hills of Damonte Ranch also under consideration), what to avoid, restaurants and things to do, good gun stores and ranges, anything. We don't golf and don't really gamble; we love to travel, we like to walk and hike and I like to bike ride but only away from cars, we like ballroom dancing, and we like all kinds of food. I love feeling a part of something but don't make friends easily, my wife can pick up friends just walking through an airport