Virginia people, learn me Fredricksburg.

Sisters moving there for a teaching job(Stafford, actually). I'm getting the itch to move again, I typically haven't stayed in one spot for more than about 2 years since I was 18. 29 by the time I'll be ready to move again, no degree, some college, will be going back full time ASAP, but would like a change of scenery. Job skills are all over the board. I can share my resume if needed. I like food(BBQ especially), autocross, dogs, quiet/small towns, hilly/woody/mountainy areas(while still being about an hour out of major metro areas), southern belles, and beer. Sounds ideal, right?

Fredericksburg?

I hope you like traffic. LOTS of traffic.

I'd actually be about 10 miles north in Stafford.

In reply to beans:

10 miles north in Stafford?

I hope you like traffic. If you can afford the area then you will be happy. The Northern VA area is very rich in culture and so many things to do and foods to eat that most of your normal hobbies will start taking the back seat to new things.

Fredericksburg and south is great, everything north of Fredericksburg is suburban hell.

Yeah, you want to be south or west of Fredericksburg. All Fredericksburg itself has to offer is traffic and suburbia. Go an hour south to Richmond or go west towards Culpeper, and you're likelier to find what you seek (and for less money than in F-burg itself, if you go south).

Way too close to DC for my liking, but it is a pretty area, at least once you get out of the sprawl.

beans wrote: I'd actually be about 10 miles north in Stafford.

Then I hope you like even MORE traffic than at Fredericksburg.

I go to Stafford on business on a regular basis. My hotel is <5 miles from the office I go to. It takes me over half an hour to drive that distance.

haha, I'll +1000 the traffic. My brother left Richmond at 10pm last night, took him 3 hours to get back to Arlington, Va. Was backed up in Triangle on 95 for about 1/2 of that (at 11:30 pm).

Got an aunt there who's a school nurse, says the schools are pretty solid and such.

If you can get out (big if) on weekends tons of stuff to do around like go into DC, drive down to Richmond/Va beach, head west through Culpeper/Warrenton to the mountains/skyline drive. Other than that it is all suburbs of folks who commute to DC and a big ol mall/ikea and such.

couple decent pick n' pulls nearby though http://www.pickapartva.com/our-vehicles

There are two giant pick-and-pull junkyards in stafford. WDCR autocross is at FedEx field about half an hour around the beltway. CDC autocross runs in Stafford sometimes, IIRC. Otherwise, Fredricksburg/Stafford area have always struck me as pretty dull. Not much there, it's an exurb of DC really.

Also, a LOT depends on where you plan to work. If in DC, you'll be in heavy traffic both ways. That said, the cost of living is a lot less than in the closer suburbs (like where I live).

Yup definitely heavy on traffic & "rich" people. I use the quotation marks because they aren't actually what I would call rich. I guess I'd just have been better off saying privileged.

Probably stay with Lowe's for a job, unless I can make more $ with another opportunity.

Nothing wrong with that. Plenty of opportunities for bbq's in VA that's for sure. I grill every chance I get

Yeah Stafford is kind of a fake small town. As others have said it has become a super far suburb of DC and Richmond. At the same time it isn't a bad place, just not as small town as you would first think.

Big metro area city of DC is close and yes traffic is just stupid at times. Always ranked worst in the country. But that comes with being in the big city.

You can make a happy life anywhere if you have loving family and friends with you. Good Luck.

for stuff to do, along with out the beaches and piedmont areas of culpepper, there's also lake anna, which is quite close and a nice escape. Once parked downtown Fredericksburg is a nice walking town. There's a private rally-x spot in Orange, but it requires a yearly dues

Yeah, WTF is with you N VA people? Where the hell are thousands of you going that you can jam up a 5 lane highway at 1AM on a Tuesday?

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: Yeah, WTF is with you N VA people? Where the hell are thousands of you going that you can jam up a 5 lane highway at 1AM on a Tuesday?

Those are the people still left there from rush hour.

Live on the other side of the mountain, much better. Just not where I live, we're full :)

I lived in F'burg for 15 years, then moved out to Lake Anna for another 5. F'burg and north is just terrible for trafic and it almost doesn't matter when. I95 from F'burg all the way to DC and back is a nightmare. If you don't drive anywhere it is nice. As others say, go west and or south of F'burg and don't set your life up so you have to drive towards DC. Unless of course you don't mind setting in traffic for hours! Parks are beautiful, housing expensive, (but better than Stafford), very historic area, DT F'burg is a beautiful historic town, people have lots of $ (unless you go south and west). Still have good friends in Stafford, they hate the commute into DC, Daughter and her family still live in F'burg their number one gripe is traffic.

As stated and repeated many times, I95 is generally miserable, nearly all the time. Even on weekends, sometimes even in the middle of the night. I have pretty much sworn off using it any time I need/want to head to DC for fun.

If you look to move further west on Route 3 or 17, you can use Route 29 north to Route 66, catch the metro on 66 if you want to head into DC. Longer drive but much less risk of traffic berkeleying you in your hootus.

Capital Driving Club holds autocrosses in Winchester and Woodbridge VA and Bowie MD, each probably a little over an hour away from this general region of VA. About an hour drive to get to the Blue Ridge Mountains and Skyline Drive for hiking and stuff.

We are in Locust Grove which is right in between Fburg and Culpeper on Route 3. Fburg is nice but we really like the Culpeper area.

Let me know if you move out this way, We've been here 4 years but I dont really have any car guy friends in the area to dick around on cars with.

failboat wrote: Let me know if you move out this way, We've been here 4 years but I dont really have any car guy friends in the area to dick around on cars with.

How far away is that from the Hampton Roads area? Most of the car people I seem to find around here have absolutely no desire to actually make their cars something that could be fun on a track. I understand tons of horsepower is neat (I've built my share of useless burnout machines) but as far as actual enthusiasts go, they seem to be fairly rare

I think hampton roads area is 2-1/2 hours from me.

Never gone as far as to track any of my own cars but I like to tinker with my own and/or help friends with their cars. Sometimes its great to have 2+ sets of hands, my wife rarely likes to help me lol. Been a few years since Ive autocrossed too.

I think theres several GRMers around the Richmond area. There was a GRM meet maybe a month or two ago that I missed out on due to a scheduling/family conflict.

If you want to find the car guys who modify their cars to go racing and you are near "the hampton roads" area... GO TO VIR. It's like 20 minutes from Norfolk.

??? VIR is 1/2 way across the state from Norfolk, like 3-3.5 hours (about the same distance from Stafford). They are building a brand new track about 15 min south of Fburg in Thornburg that opens next year though http://www.dominionraceway.com/. Summit point is a bigger hike from the Va beach area. A lot of the "car guys" from that area are in the military and build up big bro-dozzers and such. http://www.tidewatersportscarclub.com/ runs some good autocrossing down that way though.

I'd say check out Culpeper area (I grew up there myself but am in Richmond now), but don't let the word get out that it's such a nice place as it's already starting to look more and more like Manassas/Fauquier.

Yea I was thinking the same thing lol... I wish VIR was 20 minutes away. A day at VIR is an all day thing. And I've been looking at tidewatersportscarclub but so far pretty much every event or meeting has been on a work day for me. Lame. Anyways not trying to thread jack... So when are you looking to move to VA? The winters here are not terrible. Stock wheels w/decent tires & raise the suspension up and you should be fine (at least that's what I'm planning on doing)