State Expatriots

I always like the name expatriot, has a great rebellious tone to it. I'm not ready to move out of the country...maybe visting another country would be a good start. Though I love my state of MN I'm wondering if there are many here who have stories of moving out of state to pursue a job or just a change of pace. There's a lot holding me here, but there's also a lot pulling me to do something else. Geographically my knowledge and experience is very limited and I'd like to expand it. So maybe over the next few years I'll try and draft a list of candidate states to emerse myself in for a little while. Any suggestions.

I suppose a few conditions might be helpful. I hate heat, not like the summers here don't get to 90 degrees +, but I enjoy my winters and have never found a trip to florida to escape the cold to sit on the beach would be fun. I like a good balance of city and wilderness. Urban life is fun but there needs to be somewhere close by for refuge. Oh, and I should probably just throw the South out altogehter. I lived in New Orleans for two months and spent a fair amount of time in Kentucky and Alabama and didn't really take to it that much...the beer is horrible and, well, I better just watch my mouth and stick with my criticism of their beer.

I suppose that's good enough for now. I'm sure some editing will be necessary as I explore the possibilities.