Moving to NOVA

paramedic said:

I found out that the city government is as crooked as the roads, the story is to detailed to put on here. Also, running EMS there I had the opportunity to see the worst side f that area. There are ALOT of bad elements that live within the town. I also had multiple problems with the schools. I hope you had a better experience than I did.

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Sounds like Arlington County.

Haha, sorry for the delay, men. Was out visiting family over Christmas. To answer a few of the questions and give some input to those who gave advice, my OC experience comes from Washington state, where I lived rurally in the mountains, and don't associate myself with the left majority of the state. Military service took me to Colorado, then to Missouri, which sadly both those states took those rights away to just CCW as there is no preemption laws. To make matters even worse, I don't know what I was thinking, but had the most wonderful experience to live in Baltimore as well, where living there is like playing Call of Duty, but the only weapon you can use is a rape whistle. But good did come out of that, as I met my fiance there, and her parents are native and cultural Virginians, so we put all my career focus into Virginia due to family proximity, and complete state preemption of all firearms laws.

My fiance and I have found a wonderful church in Winchester that we'd like to settle near when married this year, and what we were told is that while Front Royal was my first pick as an outsider, I'm told it is experiencing some drug related issues in the area, and the schools aren't great. Most locals I've talked to have had high regards to the culture and beauty of Shenandoah county. Loudoun I'm not ruling out, but while I desire to be a land owner and die old and grey where I settle, Loudoun comes across as overly priced horse pastures, and I'm not that big into equestrian.

I'm really interested in learning more about what Peter said however, and that is respecting and adopting the culture and heritage of Virginia. I welcome any suggestions and resources out there to immerse myself in the area. Looking forward I will say to a lot of the living history on display yearly in the area. I'm sure attending some of the OC met ups can help in this regard as well! Thank you also for the info on the VCDL, totally sold on it.

If you want to be near Winchester then Stephens City might be a good place to check out.

Adenosine said:

I'm really interested in learning more about what Peter said however, and that is respecting and adopting the culture and heritage of Virginia.

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That's hard to describe in a short piece in a forum. Get to know the people, the residents whose roots go way back.

The idea isn't to lose where you came from. Virginia doesn't have a copyright on heritage...the idea is to accept what Virginia is, and not try to make it what you left.