I've been stationed on both coasts, and grew up in CA, and I really like the Tidewater area. It reminds me a lot of the CA coast 20 years ago - reasonable cost of living, Norfolk is a town with big city amenities like San Diego used to be(downtown area with bars, restaurants, art galleries, opera, museum), a touristy beach area (VA beach), the OBX is close and a lot like Capitola and Santa Cruz, mountains are close although not nearly as nice as the Sierras if you're a skier, and there's a reasonably active sailing community (not nearly as pretentious as Annapolis, San Diego or the St Francis Yacht club )