For me, there are several major factors to consider as far as places to live go: weather, real estate prices, and "character", By character, I mean places that don't resemble most of the USA with sprawling fast food/mall/car lot/suburbs. San Francisco would win easily except real estate costs make it drop way down the list. Denver or Boulder win my vote. Very sunny weather with lots of outdoor activities. Real estate is somewhat high in Boulder and the nicer parts of Denver, but not compared to the nicer places on either coast. Portland and Seattle are nice, but the weather is horrendous unless you like not seeing the sun for weeks at a time in the winter.

LDB cracks me up. I grew up in Texas (DFW area) and I could never understand what's so great about it. Texans seem a little too proud of their state considering how quickly they are destroying what little character it might have had. Not to mention the scary bible thumping zombie hordes... Yikes!