Possibly moving to Washington DC....help!

[loendmaestro]

Hello all,
Well, it looks like the wife is getting a promotion at her company & we just may be moving to Washington DC. It would more than likely be in the western suburbs (Arlington/Falls Church/Idylwood....possibly as far out as the Reston/Dulles area).

We currently live in Atlanta & I used to spend a considerable amount of time in the downtown DC area when we were doing the long-distance dating thing, but I'm a little shell shocked at the prospect of a move. We have a 5 year old son, so schools & such are a concern now.

Could any of you guys & gals help shed some light on this topic for me? Good area vs. bad, schools, guitar/record stores....bands who need a bass player?! Etc..etc..etc.
Anything I need to be aware of? Any & all help would be greatly appreciated. Maybe now I can attend a M.A.R.F.!

Thanks in advance.


(P.S. Not sure if there is a better area in the forum to post this, this seemed like the best place...)

[tooloose]

Lived in Chantilly for 10 years, commuted to Bethesda area and Reston area. Where you decide to live is dependent on many variables - how much you can spend on housing; desirable time limit for work commute; there's 1 official RIC dealer in Gainesville, way west off of 66; Fairfax County school system is rated high for academics; there are sports programs all over; can't help with record stores. There was a Guitar Center fairly close to my house. Did not do much "clubbing", although I know there are several good jazz clubs in DC. Wolf Trap is a good concert venue.

Real estate agents are not supposed to steer you to "good" or "bad" areas. There is a great amount of diversity in most areas in the DC/Maryland/Northern Virginia area which some might find good - others might not like it so much. We found Chantilly to be a fine area for what we wanted.

Probably not much help. Good luck with the move.

[bosco64]

Congratulations Chris, I've been living in northern Virginia for almost 25 years...I moved down here right out of college to work with the federal government. There is plenty of diversity out here, but since you live in Atlanta, the traffic out here is just as bad...or worse! JDog has been living in Alexandria for the past year or so, and I think that he enjoys it up here. Action Music is a fantastic music store in Falls Church and Matt Baker (the owner) is a great guy to deal with, and he gets some cool used Ricks from time to time. Once you get moved and settled in, look me up (on here or Facebook) and we can get together at some point. Yes, there is a Rick dealer in Gainesville, and they do have plenty of Ricks on the wall. My wife used to be the store manager there, but since we're not supposed to bash dealers on the forum and out of respect to everyone, I won't say anything else. Best of luck to you and your family with the move!

[jdogric12]

I am up to my eyeballs in DC life, and I love it. PM me and I will spill my goddam guts for you.

[phill1012k]

I moved to Alexandria, VA from Oxford UK seven months ago and i love living here. I'm still figuring the good places to go around here, found plenty of good places to eat. Only managed to make it to one gig since getting here which was awesome.