Oxnard

Oxnard

Oxnard is California's strawberry capital, where the fields literally run up to the beach. Channel Islands Harbor is a quiet alternative to the busier Ventura and Santa Barbara, with great seafood and a chill Mexican food scene. The weather is the perfect 65-and-overcast that locals call 'June gloom' for most of summer. The Channel Islands themselves are a ferry ride away.

Manchester

Manchester is built around the Amoskeag Mills, once the largest cotton mill complex in the world, now converted into apartments, restaurants, and offices along the Merrimack River. The downtown's grown into a real food and brewery scene. It's the largest city in New Hampshire (still relatively small) and a quick drive to the lakes, the mountains, or Boston. Plus there's no state income tax or sales tax.