This Cape expat happy in S.C. (Cape Cod Times)
Published on Monday, January 11, 2010
From the Cape Cod Times - Read more here: This Cape expat happy in S.C.
By Aaron Gouveia
agouveia@capecodonline.com
January 10, 2010
ROCK HILL, S.C. — Erica Fish loves snow during the winter on Cape Cod — just as long as she's looking at friends' snowy Facebook pictures while enjoying mild temperatures at her South Carolina home.
Fish, 30, her husband, Dave, and their young son Matt moved to Rock Hill in 2008 after spending their entire lives living on the Upper Cape. They were featured in a Times series that year that focused on young people moving off-Cape because of a lack of jobs and affordable housing.
Although some native Cape Codders move away only to get homesick and return to the peninsula, Fish said she doesn't fall into that category.
"I totally don't see the 'magical pull' part of the Cape," Fish said in a telephone interview last week.
The family traded in their small Falmouth apartment for a 2,800-square-foot home in Rock Hill, and Fish said she pays $100 less a month for their mortgage than their Cape rental.
Although she misses friends and family members, Fish said she visited the Cape once last year and felt little nostalgia.
Fish said she doesn't enjoy going to the beach, can't tolerate tourists, and was also stuck for hours at the Sagamore Bridge as a result of the construction, nearly missing her flight back home.
Although Fish wishes she could meet more people her age in Rock Hill, she said the warm weather, block parties and manageable cost of living will keep the family down South for the foreseeable future.
"I think I was just so frustrated with the lack of opportunity on the Cape," Fish said. "I just wanted more for myself and my family than what the Cape had to offer."