This should prove to be an
interesting topic leading to some interesting discussion and perspectives. Lets have everyone discuss where they live, and answer the following questions:
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
- How long you lived there?
- What you like about where you live now?
- What you dislike about where you live now?
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
- Where are would you love to move to?
Yes, this is going to be
very subjective questionnaire, but something that I would really enjoy reading the answers on.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? North Dallas, Texas
How long you lived there? Three years now after living most of my life in Sacramento, CA.
What you like about where you live now? Having moved to DFW which is the fourth largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and living near the ninth largest city in the United States certainly has it advantages, such as...
- DFW is a growing metro area which is attracting business. This provides some good opportunities for career growth.
- I was able to locate and own a home that is not only near my workplace, but also the DART light rail station to downtown Dallas as well as the one of the stations for the upcoming "Silver Line" project to the DFW International Airport.
- Multiple museums, theaters, and entertainment options in the DFW area.
- It is also a destination city for major touring entertainment events. Sacramento often served as a "also-ran" for entertainment tours, which meant that some shows meant a drive to the San Francisco Bay Area which is at least a two hour drive in each direction.
- DFW is located in the geographic "middle" of the United States and is the home and major hubs of both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. This means that most destinations within the continental United States are less than a four hour non-stop flight from either DFW International (https://markholtz.info/flightsfromdfw) and Dallas Love Field (https://markholtz.info/flightsfromdal), not to mention some international travel. If only Covid didn't throw a monkey wrench to the best laid travel plans.
- As a bonus, the DFW International Airport is one of the interview centers for the Global Entry which also includes TSA Pre-Check (https://markholtz.info/globalentry). In California, the nearest interview center was in San Francisco.
- I get a kick in that I just live about 30 minutes away from Southfork Ranch (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWh-RJ-D1iWVCiL_bEipSkICBJqvpKFu2). Also nearby is where they filmed Robocop (https://markholtz.info/robocopdallas) and Fort Worth Water Gardens (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth_Water_Gardens).
- I love that I was able to be able to afford a home that is within 20 minutes of my workplace... by foot. It just sucks that for around 720 consecutive days (March 12th, 2020 until February 28th, 2022), I had to work from home.
- The lower cost of living as compared to very expensive California. Gas prices and car registration is much lower here, although it is offset somewhat by the toll roads (which I rarely use). Although there is no personal income tax, that is made up by the higher property taxes.
What you dislike about where you live now? The DFW MSA has grown in population by 19.96% from the 2010 Census to the 2020 Census. This has lead to some of the challenges listed below.
- Due to multiple factors, the housing inventory is at very low levels causing the home prices to dramatically rise. I recognize that this is a nationwide issue, not a DFW issue, but it is still insane to see the value of my home go up 38% to 57% in the three years since I purchased it. I'm not looking forward to the property tax statement.
- Thank goodness I don't have to deal with the commute traffic, but I identify it as a challenge and something that is actively worked on, but it is a multi-year process. The nearby Interstate 635 project (https://635east.com/) is running from spring 2020 to 2024, US-75 in Grayson County (https://www.zachryconstructioncorp.com/Projects/Transportation/US-75-Grayson-County/) is running from January 2020 until March 2024, Interstate 35 in Waco (http://www.my35.org/central-project-4b.htm) is running from April 2019 to 2020, and the Southern Gateway project (https://thesoutherngateway.org/) is running from early 2018 to summer, 2022 are all active projects to improve safety and capacity. At least Texas is better than California on improving traffic flow.
- Some of the drivers here in Texas are nuts, and the higher speeds does not help. I made sure that I have a dashcam installed in both of my vehicles.
- The Texas weather is definitely more interesting than the Sacramento weather, and it doesn't help that DFW is at the intersection of the wet warm air from the Gulf and the cold dry air from the mid-West. Whenever there is thunderstorms in the forecast, I pay attention because of the possibility of high winds, large-sized hail, and maybe tornadoes. While a light dusting of snow is expected once a year, 2021 and 2022 had some significant snowfall which is of a concern because snow is not a expected regular weather condition.
Hows the road trip opportunities? Great not only for the DFW area, but for places north, south and east as well. Want to visit the world's largest casino in terms of gaming floor space? That's in... Thackerville, Oklahoma on Interstate 35 near the Texas border (https://ftnnews.com/tours/40492-top-5-largest-casinos-in-the-world). I have destinations that I want to visit in Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Where are would you love to move to? I'm fine where I'm living now, and have no desire to move again. The job relocation from California to Texas was a stressful experience made worse by the short time window from approval to relocate (day before Thanksgiving, 2018) to the actual move date (mid-January, 2019). I'm lucky to have a small home in a good neighborhood, and have no desire to move again, especially not back to California.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Bellevue, Ky. (near Cincinnati).
How long you lived there?
I've lived in northern Kentucky my whole life.
What you like about where you live now?
I was impressed that the area didn't go too big into the mass hysteria of the past 2 years compared to huge cities. At least this was true in most organizations and places around here (though the usual suspects were of course pretty bad).
What you dislike about where you live now?
It has a bad track record on certain matters of public interest, the economy has been chronically depressed for 40 years, and the weather is usually bad.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Not good right now, since I don't have a car.
Where are would you love to move to?
Someplace more rural.
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
- Fresno, California
- How long you lived there?
- Fresno since December 2017 and before that it nearby Hanford from January 2016. I transferred after a three year stint in multiple places in Florida (Spring Hill, Key West and Orlando).
- What you like about where you live now?
- Access to four National Parks in less than three hours.
- Access to four National Forests within three hours.
- Access to some of the best driving roads in the country within three hours (CA 1 in Big Sur, CA 198 in the Diablo Range, CA 33 Maricopa Highway, CA 180 in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Generals Highway, etc).
- The city and area is easy to get around and has its entire freeway network built.
- A very low cost of living. Very low by California standards and overall favorable to Orlando and Phoenix (where I lived previously). Largely this is driven by lower home prices which we (my wife and I) took advantage of.
- Fresno isn't a miserable traffic slog like Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
- The weather is pleasant 9/12 months out of the year and tolerable the rest of it.
- What you dislike about where you live now?
- Polarizing state politics. All the same Florida and Arizona got equally as bad in another direction by the time I was leaving.
- The locally driven agricultural economy. Agriculture doesn't bother me, but I would likely need to move if I became ambitious with career development over padding my pension.
- High gas prices. The prices aren't as bad as the big cities but compare poorly to other states.
- High income taxes.
- Wild fire season.
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
- Outstanding, see above. I don't think four National Parks in a three hour radius can be replicated anywhere else in the United States.
- Where are would you love to move to?
- The Sierra Nevada Foothills, Northern California coast or southern Oregon. I tried living east of the Rockies this last decade and I was bored out my mind. I wouldn't mind having a second home in Jalisco near my wife's family. That always seems like paradise whenever I'm down in Jalisco, certainly a slower pace of life.
- Really I've come to dislike urban life after living in larger cities. Fresno is tolerable was urban area but I can see it becoming too big for its own good given how affordable it is compared to the other big California cities. The furthest I can get away from people and maintain my recreational opportunities would be ideal.
Great idea for a thread.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
The northern reaches of the Seattle metro area.
How long you lived there?
My entire life.
What you like about where you live now?
Temperate weather, including clear summers and minimal (but not zero) snow
Gorgeous scenery within reasonable range and plenty of recreational activities that aren't overcommercialized
A dynamic city with plenty of activities and interests
Good access to Canada for a change of pace (and to laugh at their silly names)
Agreeable politics, especially in regards to public health crises and acknowledging systematic racism
No income tax
What you dislike about where you live now?
Winter weather can be very hard to deal with, on a spiritual level.
Housing prices are depressingly out of reach, as is cost of living in many respects
The homelessness situation and untenable solutions from both sides
High gas prices, traffic congestion, transit expansion is happening too slowly
No income tax (for Jeff and Bill, among others)
Gentrification has robbed us of some pieces of local culture that can never be recreated
Increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, especially those from people migrating from out of the region
Lack of food/retail options that don't make it to the Northwest until they've already declined in quality
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Plenty of great scenic drives, but they get repetitive after a while. Being stuck in a corner of the country means repeating many drives just to reach new ground, and the other states are hours and hours away. The other option is to drive north into Canada, which has its own issues (high gas costs, limited lodging availability, until recently the extra COVID hassles). The long and dry summer days allow for great conditions, assuming you aren't unlucky enough to run into wildfire smoke, haze, or just a random overcast day.
Where are would you love to move to?
A mid-size city elsewhere in the Northwest or West. Need my mountains at the minimum or else I'll get lost.
QuoteWhereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
In NJ, outside Philly
QuoteHow long you lived there?
In the same county all my life. Closest I lived elsewhere was when I went to college in Delaware, but I was only 40 minutes away & still home every weekend.
QuoteWhat you like about where you live now?
Almost nowhere else in the country can you live within 3 hours of at least 4 major cities and about a dozen more minor cities. If I want to go to a grocery store, or a mall, or a larger retailer, I have several within 15 minutes. Hell, I have 3 Walmarts I can get to within 15 minutes.
QuoteWhat you dislike about where you live now?
Congestion is so commonplace, if there isn't congestion, I have to question if I'm not realizing the day of the week it should be.
QuoteHows the road trip opportunities?
Unlimited. As long as I don't mind staying off the highways, I can get to a road I've never been on relatively easily.
QuoteWhere are would you love to move to?
Some of me has already eyed up The Villages in Florida when I retire. But after a trip to rural Tennessee during the pandemic, my wife really liked that area. So when I retire, which is the most likely time I'll move, I don't really know where I'll go yet. If I had to move *today*, I would stay relatively in the same place - just like a bigger place, bigger yard, and most importantly a 2 to 3 car garage.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, a couple miles north of the casinos (Harrahs, Harveys etc.) at Stateline.
How long you lived there?
Since 2009. I lived in various places in the San Francisco Bay Area for 30 years before then.
What you like about where you live now?
It's scenically gorgeous. Outdoor recreational opportunities are enormous. National Forest is literally right out the front door. Also as California residents can appreciate, no state income tax in Nevada.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Too many tourists. This has always been an issue, but honestly it seemed magnified enormously in 2020 with Covid-19. As soon as the hotels and campgrounds opened up, it seemed like everybody decided Tahoe would be a perfect place to "take a break". AirBNB and VRBO have also spread this beyond the hotels into the neighborhoods.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Nevada, California, Oregon. Tons of fantastic places within a one-day drive.
Where are would you love to move to?
As I get older snow is less appealing. I'm thinking of places on the Gulf Coast of Florida. That has the same tourist drawback though. A lot of thought has gone into this but a decision is quite a ways off. There are some college towns with less snow and fewer tourists that have appeal as well.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I'm in downtown Québec City.
How long you lived there?
Since 2012.
What you like about where you live now?
I can easily access everything I need from either a short walk or a bus ride.
What you dislike about where you live now?
During winter, snow plowing is often insufficient.
How's the road trip opportunities?
They would be endless if I had a car. I occasionally go on bus trips, though.
Where would you love to move to?
I don't know. Probably to another town in the province of Québec.
Outside of Jacksonville.
2017.
The people here are generally friendlier.
Florida Weather.
Not bad.
Don't know yet.
Where abouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I'm in North Reading, Massachusetts just north of Boston.
How long have you lived there?
Since Summer 2003
What do you like about where you live now?
Friendly people and everyone knows each other.
What do you dislike about where you live now?
No public transit and is one of the more expensive towns in the state.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Not directly served by any Interstates or US highways, but not far from I-93 and I-95.
Where would you like to move to?
Probably Salem, New Hampshire because it's less expensive and there's no taxes.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Southside Richmond metro, Virginia
How long you lived there?
My entire life
What you like about where you live now?
Richmond has plenty to do, and within two hours are Hampton Roads, the Blue Ridge, Raleigh, and the DC metro area, and other places such as Williamsburg and Charlottesville in between. Also plenty of back roads. The weather is good year round, if a bit unpredictable outside of summer.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Not much. The continued growth of the area adds more traffic.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Good, as listed above.
Where would you love to move to?
Maybe somewhere in North Carolina, but otherwise I'm fine where I am.
I live in suburban Boston
I like the job opportunities we have here
I don't like the snow
The best road trip opportunity by far is Cape Cod
I'd love to move to Phoenix
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Richmond, VA metro area.
How long you lived there? 20 years; I moved down here when I attended college and stuck around because I liked the area.
What do you like about where you live now? A lot. There's plenty to do, and as Takumi said earlier Richmond is a fairly convenient drive to anywhere - you can get to DC, Hampton Roads, the Outer Banks, or the mountains within two hours. I'm also a history buff and there's a lot of history to be found here. Plenty of back roads in Hanover, eastern Henrico, and Chesterfield Counties, and some of them are quite scenic (SR 655 in Chesterfield, SR 711 in Chesterfield and Powhatan, and VA 36/SR 602 in Chesterfield are among my favorites).
What you dislike about where you live now? Richmond seems to have an abnormally high amount of traffic despite being a smaller metro area. Rush hours tend to be more annoying than they should be.
How's the road trip opportunities? Again, they're good as Richmond is conveniently located and it's easy to get pretty much anywhere.
Where would you love to move to? Meh, I'm happy here.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in the Indiana portion of the Chicago metro area
How long you lived there?
Almost 4 years here. 34 years total in various parts of Indiana
What you like about where you live now?
I like being near Chicago as it's my favorite American city.
I like not paying Illinois taxes
I like not being in the Eastern Time Zone
I like not having long period of oppressive heat in the summer
What you dislike about where you live now?
I dislike the traffic
I dislike how long winter lasts (though not as much as I dislike oppressive heat in the summer)
I dislike that my town has a large percentage of white people aged 45+ who grew up here when the town was almost completely white and are dealing with the increasing diversity by often displaying veiled racism and sometimes displaying open racism.
How are the road trip opportunities?
I'm near five long interstates, so I can get pretty far pretty quickly. Only downside is that the scenery is all flat
Where would you love to move to?
I'd love to live in Colorado for a few years after the kids are through high school. If finances allow, in retirement I'd like to winter in Kingman, AZ, and summer in Berrien County, MI
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?: Kitchener, ON (in the Waterloo Region, pop. approx. 650 000) which is roughly an hour west of Toronto.
How long you lived there?: Since 2009 (13 years). Before that, I grew up in Brampton (only an hour away).
What you like about where you live now?:
- I think the weather here is decent for Canadian standards. We get winters with snow (which I like), but are also not too cold. I think our summers are also nice with most days in the 20's (though it'd be nice if it was a little less humid).
- I think Kitchener-Waterloo has decent downtown areas for the size of our cities and we even have an LRT! The universities and colleges also add excitement (particularly to Waterloo) with lots of restaurants, bars, and dense student housing.
- Our city has a decent trail network and is improving its cycling facilities (pretty good for Canadian standards).
- The Grand River is a nice spot to go canoeing/kayaking.
- Our Oktoberfest is the largest outside of Germany which brings good tourism for a few weeks.
What you dislike about where you live now?:
- The cost of real estate! The average home price here has reached $1 million. How the hell am I supposed to move out and buy something? Southern Ontario and Lower Mainland BC are particularly brutal for housing and those are two places I'd like to live the most :-(. At least Toronto and Vancouver are world class cities (feels more justified to have those prices), but Kitchener? No offense, but it's not worth these kind of prices.
- November and December are particularly cloudy, and since the snow doesn't stay consistently until the end of December, it's also ugly with the bare trees and dead grass. Early spring is also ugly for that, but I find there's a better balance of sunny days. The sunlight's also longer in the spring which helps.
- I still wish the city was denser (i.e. more comparable to Toronto or Vancouver), though I appreciate they're working on those goals, particularly around the LRT stops. Still, it's sad to see the cities continuing to build so many sprawling developments on the edges.
- The lack of good skiing! Our local hill Chicopee is incredibly small with a vertical drop of only 200 ft/61 m. The biggest hill in Ontario, Blue Mountain, is still only 720 ft/220 m, and is almost 2.5 hours away. The snow is also mediocre here since we get plenty of rain days in the winter to screw up the snow and then that also turns into ice when it cools. :pan:. Even driving out east to say Quebec or Vermont is still a good 6+ hours, so you have to do a week-long trip to make it worth it.
- I wish Kitchener was closer to any of the Great Lakes. It's right in the middle between Lake Ontario, Erie, and Huron, meaning it's at least a 1.5 hour drive to any of the Great Lakes beaches. Not bad, but could be better for a province that borders four of them. :-D
How's the road trip opportunities?: I'd say the location is decent for road trips. It's only a few hours from NY state and MI, which are two good access points to the US. Northern and Central Ontario have their fair share of scenic drives. The freeway network (400-series) is good in Southern Ontario to get around quickly (as long as you can afford the 407 to bypass Toronto!)
Where are would you love to move to?: If I had more money, I'd strongly consider Vancouver, BC. It'd be amazing to have multiple great ski resorts so close to the city, and I'd also love to live right in downtown and be able to walk and take transit for regular trips. The views of the mountains and ocean right in the city are also impressive. The weather is a bit of mixed bag, comfortably warm year-round (by Canadian standards), but also quite wet and cloudy in the colder months. Still, I could head to the mountains to escape the rain for snow instead, and I think that's more than a good tradeoff :). Really the two things holding me back are friends and family around Kitchener and the brutal cost of real estate in Vancouver (right now living at home is helping me "save" for a down payment, but when prices went up 30% last year, does that really matter? :meh:).
Where do you live?
Twin Cities metro area
How long?
Except for ages 19-23, my entire life has been spent in the metro.
What do you like?
-Mostly tolerable summers, beautiful fall weather.
-Lots of easy outdoor opportunities.
-Within day trip range of northern MN, my favorite place to visit.
-Two distinct major cities instead of just one with different offerings and opportunities.
What don't you like?
-Like other major cities in the Midwest like Milwaukee and Chicago, the tension and antagonism between rural-minded residents and urban-minded residents is very high, and likely played a large role in the events of spring 2020 and subsequent nationally embarrassing police incidents.
-I feel there is a stronger sense of collective provincialism here than in similarly-sized metro areas.
-Winter generally gives last gasps until the end of April before it finally goes away for good.
-Because of the long winters, stuff is generally crowded in the nice months because we're all trying to get everything in before the next winter cycle.
-Cost of living is higher than you would think for a Midwestern city with an undesirable climate.
Road trip opportunities?
I-94 and I-35 will take you to wherever you want to go. There are a few scenic drives within easy access, but once you've exhausted those, there's not much more.
Where would you move to?
Maine, or up to the rural northern Great Lakes.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Suburban Cincinnati
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- How long you lived there?
8 years. Before that, I lived in Columbus and two St Louis suburbs.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- What you like about where you live now?
- Although I'm not paying for our house, the cost of living here is cheap
- Lots of local brands here. Skyline Chili, Graeter's Ice Cream, UDF, etc.
- Lots of nearby cities to spend a day in. More on that below.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- What you dislike about where you live now?
- Lack of public transport/alternative ways to get around.
- Airport is too small for someone like myself that likes traveling internationally.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
Pretty good location for road trips, with 3 interstates (I-71, I-74, I-75) and a 4 lane expressway (OH 32) that radiate out of the city in various directions). 5 major cities within a 2 hour drive from here, and even more (including Chicago) within a 5 hour drive. Ohio is generally portrayed as a "flat" state, but there's some pretty nice drives once you drive into Appalachian Ohio and continue into nearby states.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Where are would you love to move to?
Preferably a larger metro area in the US or Canada, with a large airport and decent public transit.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in a small town in Southwest Wisconsin. Nearest big-ish city is Dubuque, IA, about 20 minutes down US 151. Madison is about an hour in the other direction on US 151. Milwaukee is about 2 hours away, Chicago about 3 hours.
How long you lived there?
About 22-23 years, since I graduated college.
What you like about where you live now?
Quiet and peaceful, less hectic than big cities, no traffic, little crime, people are friendly, low cost of living, low property taxes, the weather runs the whole gamut, we have everything but hurricanes at some point during the year, the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin is beautiful year round. The hilliness of the region alone makes it better than Illinois :D
What you dislike about where you live now?
The area is pretty ecomically depressed, job opportunities are limited, and wages are lower than bigger cities. It is also a road trip in and of itself if you want to do any kind of activities like shopping, sporting events, concerts, etc outside of going to Walmart or watching the local high school teams.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
US 151 makes for easy trips to the southwest and east. Any other direction is a beautiful drive through the hills on 2 lane highways, though trips do sometimes take longer as a result.
Where are would you love to move to?
If I was to move anywhere again it would be back to the Milwaukee area where I grew up to be back near my family. Otherwise, I hate moving, so my wife and I are probably staying put for as long as possible.
Interesting thread so far! (I had typed my whole reply and it somehow got deleted when posting. I could have cried. But anyways, here goes again... :coffee:)
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Monroe County, NY, just outside Rochester. An hour east of Buffalo, and an hour west of Syracuse, the classic "rose between two thorns" :-P
How long you lived there?
22 years and counting.
What you like about where you live now?
-Four seasons. Winter can be tiring, but the changing seasons are always welcome and all four seasons have their own beauty.
-Spectacular fall foliage! Fall is beautiful in this area, and we have the best foliage around aside from maybe New England.
-No natural disasters - other than snow, which we're adept at handling, there's no hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.
-No traffic! Unless there's an accident, waiting for an extra light cycle at peak times is about as bad as it gets. The freeways are virtually congestion-free outside a few slow ramps/merges.
-Good people. The lifestyle is much slower-paced here than the east coast, and everyone you might meet is usually pretty friendly/neighborly and often with a good sense of humor. Not much aggressive driving, road rage, or encounters with rude people (although still plenty of fast drivers, which is fine by me!)
-Great food. The best pizza and wings of course, and also local specialties like trash plates (better than they sound), donut shops, Italian, some great local burger joints, etc (https://www.visitrochester.com/blog/post/roc-foodie-bucket-list/).
-Wegmans, the best grocery store in the world, which originated right here in Rochester.
-Affordability. Until recently, this area was very affordable. Even now, you can get an extremely nice house for under $500k.
-Proximity to a little of everything: urban, suburban, rural, lakes, rivers, beaches, forests, farms, mountains. This area has something for everyone, the only thing we truly don't have is desert.
-Proximity to the rest of the Northeast and lower Great Lakes region. Rochester's central location will always be underappreciated. We are within a 6-hour drive of the entire Bos-Wash corridor, Toronto and environs, Ottawa, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, and Detroit. How many places can say that? This is also huge for business, as any company that ships product out can reach all of those places with a 1-day transit time. Likewise, ROC airport has early AM flights to almost all those places, so business travelers can reach their destination by 8-9AM and easily be home the same day.
What you dislike about where you live now?
-Winter can be a slog, and we don't get much sunlight from November to April. How many consecutive days can you wake up to new snowfall (even if it's just enough to create a nuisance)? Add a few dozen and you'll be getting close (thanks to the lake effect).
-Winter also takes a beating on the roads, so sometimes they're in pretty bad shape before they're even on the DOT's radar.
-Humidity. Summer is usually beautiful temperature-wise, but the humidity can be almost unbearable at its peak. The humidity also makes the cold feel colder in the winter.
-High property taxes. Exorbitantly high by most standards.
-Lack of pro sports teams (not an issue for me personally). There's none here and only the Bills and Sabres in Buffalo, but what we lack in quantity we try to make up for in quality - the Bills are HUGE here!
-Downtown Rochester isn't very big and is pretty much a ghost town outside normal business hours, but it's being invested in and seems to be getting more lively (slowly).
-Lack of a N/S interstate connection to points south. The CSVT project (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5665.200) will help with the worst of it and can't be completed soon enough!
How's the road trip opportunities?
Top notch in my opinion... for 8 months of the year. It would take forever to exhaust the day trip opportunities just in New York state alone between the Great Lakes, Finger Lakes, Letchworth Park, Niagara Falls, the Alleganies, Adirondacks, Catskills, and so on. There's tons of state parks too, so plenty of places to explore or have a get together. For travel further away, it's basically unlimited within 5-6 hours. The Thruway (I-90 in my part of the state) is an extremely high quality albeit very boring road that serves as our primary connection to the rest of the country, so there's nowhere that's truly hard to reach. The scenery is much better if you head south on I-390, but the tradeoff is a lack of interstate-grade highways once you get into PA.
Where are would you love to move to?
I don't plan to leave this area anytime soon, but if I could move anywhere right now, probably Montana or Idaho.
Addendum to my answer:
Pro
Relative lack of regular natural disasters...in the past
Con
Increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters, now including yearly wildfire seasons, heat waves (in a place without a culture of residential AC use), and ice storms.
Possibility of major earthquakes from offshore or right below the city (https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/a-deadly-earthquake-absolutely-positively-will-ravage-seattle-at-some-point-heres-how-to-survive-it/)
Being rather close to a large nuclear stockpile
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Seattle
How long you lived there?
Since 2000
What you like about where you live now?
It has one of the most beautiful skylines, with the Space Needle as the centerpiece, and Mt. Rainier serves as a perfect backdrop to it
What you dislike about where you live now?
Rainy weather, bad traffic and earthquakes (but then again, I experienced the latter two in my previous home city of L.A. too!)
Hows the road trip opportunities?
I-5 and I-90 are great for long-distance traffic, leading to many other places on the West Coast and the Great Plains/Midwest/Northeast, respectively
Where are would you love to move to?
I'm done with relocating for now, but if I had to do it again, I'd certainly return home to Chicago
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?On the east side of the Denver metro.
How long you lived there?I lived here for 7 years growing up and then moved back 6 years ago.
What you like about where you live now?
- Best climate in the U.S. if you want all 4 seasons. It doesn't rain very much; it doesn't snow very much. The sun shines here as much as San Diego. But we still get the seasons arriving distinctly.
- Lack of humidity and bugs.
- Mountains. Enough said.
- The political atmosphere here caters to my tastes. Since we're not supposed to talk about politics, I'll leave it at that.
- Highly educated populace overall.
- I can be on "vacation" in an hour. When I lived in the Midwest, you had to drive for at least three hours to get to another city that was worth visiting. Here, I can just go up I-70 to Idaho Springs and feel like I'm in a different world.
- Lots of non-stop connections (including internationally) from DIA.
- Lots of great breweries and distilleries to visit.
- Denver is a healthy town. People get out and do things outdoors. We're also an earlier town, where people are more likely to get up at 6:00 on a Saturday, go for a hike, and then hit up a brewery than they are likely to still be at a bar at midnight.
- Five major sports teams. While I'm not a Rockies, Broncos, nor Rapids fan, it's still nice to have them.
- Lots of national parks within a day's drive at most (both in Colorado as well as Wyoming and Utah).
- In Aurora specifically, a lot of great restaurants from world cuisines that you wouldn't find in a smaller town.
- Weed and sports betting are legal.
- People are generally polite and friendly.
- We're a growing area, with the vibrancy that comes along with that.
What you dislike about where you live now?
- Traffic is kinda shitty, although it doesn't affect me as much since I work from home.
- Housing is expensive, although since I already own a house, not as concerning for me. Property taxes aren't too crazy here.
- Summer wildfire smoke either from our own mountains or California's.
- People aren't great drivers. I think it's because so many people are from elsewhere here, everyone drives with their own "driving culture" so you have speed demons as well as people going ten under.
- Online poker is still illegal.
- The homeless problem is growing. Lots of tent camps, although Aurora just passed a ban on urban camping, so we'll see what that does.
- Downtown has had a downturn post-Covid, so it's not as vibrant as it was pre-2020.
- Because we're growing so much, "getting away from the crowds" in the mountains becomes tougher. Campsites are reserved the day they become available.
How are the road trip opportunities?Amazing. Arguably the best in the country since any mountain road is going to be a fun drive. Basically everything west of I-25 isn't going to be terrible.
Where would you love to move to?I love Colorado. If I moved, it would likely be either staying in state and going to Durango or I'd move internationally (South America or Southeast Asia would likely be at the top of my list). If I had to be elsewhere in the U.S., it'd probably be either Northern New Mexico, Northern New England, Minnesota, or Alaska.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Fairfax County, Virginia (DC suburbs).
How long you lived there?
Since 1974. I was born in Texas; at the time, my father was in the Army and he was transferred to the Pentagon when I was one year old. We stayed in the DC area after he was discharged. I did spend four years in Charlottesville attending UVA and three years in Durham, NC, attending Duke, but neither of those qualified as a "permanent address."
What you like about where you live now?
Obviously I'm very familiar with the area after living here for so many years. The sports teams I root for (especially the Capitals) are nearby. As a kid I don't think I appreciated how fortunate we were to have the Smithsonian museums and zoo, various cultural things like the Kennedy Center and National Theatre, lots of historic sites, and the US government all right here. Taking civics classes in school in which you're studying how Congress works and then going on a field trip to the US Capitol to watch them in action is not an opportunity most kids get. We're also close to both the Chesapeake and the mountains within an hour's drive in either direction. For me, high real estate values are a plus because I bought my house in 2001 and thus benefit from having a much lower mortgage balance than people buying now would have, though I recognize why many other people grouse about how real estate values and the resulting long commutes many of them endure to find more affordable properties further out.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Traffic, loads of extremely bad and aggressive drivers, out-of-control pedestrians/cyclists/scooter riders downtown, and generally increasing rudeness on behalf of the population generally. There's a difference between "New York rude" (born of impatience and low tolerance for stupidity) and "DC rude" (which is more the sort you see at, for example, the airport when someone mouths off to the airline personnel along the lines of "don't you know who I am!"). Also, while above I mentioned the proximity of the US government as a plus when I was growing up, it undoubtedly creates its share of headaches too due to security issues, parking restrictions, sudden random roadblocks, motorcades, etc.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Generally terrific. In a single day's drive I can be in Canada or I can be in Florida. The only real mild nuisance is not necessarily having an ideal route west (you either go north to I-68/I-70 or south to I-64, or you deal with the gap in Corridor H between Thomas and Kerens).
Where are would you love to move to?
That's tough. I don't know. I liked Vancouver a lot, but obviously immigration would be a hassle and I would be unable to continue in my current job, which is a job I very much like. I can telecommute from anywhere in the United States, although for logistical reasons it works best for me to stay in the Eastern or Central Time Zones. I get a substantial salary bump in the form of locality pay, so even moving to a state with no state income tax would require careful thought because of the substantial pay cut I'd have to take. I'm highly unlikely to move any time soon anyway. In 2019 my brother moved away and then three months later our father died. If I moved away now for anything other than very compelling circumstances I'd feel like I'd be abandoning my mom since we don't have any other relatives in the DC area.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
This should prove to be an interesting topic leading to some interesting discussion and perspectives. Lets have everyone discuss where they live, and answer the following questions:
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
- How long you lived there?
- What you like about where you live now?
- What you dislike about where you live now?
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
- Where are would you love to move to?
Yes, this is going to be very subjective questionnaire, but something that I would really enjoy reading the answers on.
Jackson, MS, halfway between Atlanta and DFW east and west (5-6 hours) and about three hours between Memphis and New Orleans north and south. I like that the cost of living is lower than many places. What I don't like? The murder rate is sky-high. Also not a lot of opportunities for high-paying jobs. As far as road trips, I mentioned being between Memphis and New Orleans. We're also about 2.5-3 hours from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and about four from Alabama and Florida beaches.
If there's somewhere else I wanted to move to, probably Nashville or Charlotte.
Wichita, KS
How long you lived there?
14 years
What you like about where you live now?
It's like living in the suburbs, except without the major city to go along with it. This means there are plenty of stores and restaurants and such, so I rarely have any reason to travel out of town for anything specific. The city is big enough to allow for a level of anonymity, but it's small enough that we still occasionally run into people we know. The cost of living (income vs rent) is well balanced compared to a lot of places in the nation. Residents are decently friendly. Traffic jams only cost you about five or ten minutes of drive time.
What you dislike about where you live now?
There aren't very many evenings when it isn't (1) hot, (2) cold, (3) windy, or (3) full of mosquitoes–so dining outdoors hardly ever happens. Winter weather is just as likely to bring ice as snow, which makes driving horrible. The local bus service, while adequate for most things, doesn't extend far enough out to reach my job, so, if my car's in the shop, I need to figure out a ride; part of that is because I work in a suburb, but part of it is just the nature of the system.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Being in the middle of the country, most destinations are reachable in a two-day drive.
Where are would you love to move to?
I don't know a whole lot about the practical side of living in other regions of the US. But I like Texas pretty well. My heart still belongs to Mexico, and I'd love to live there, but realistically I'd be more likely to actually move somewhere like the Rio Grande Valley instead.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
In between Huntington and Charleston, WV. Nearest "big" city is Cincinnati. Actually Columbus is like 20 miles closer, but I don't consider it a big city.
How long you lived there?
Since I was 22. Grew up in the ultra-depressed coalfields to the south.
What you like about where you live now?
Not a lot. Never envisioned my self living in WV when I was growing up. Fate.
People always say "but its so beautiful" . Once you have seen one tree, you have seen them all. People also always say "everyone is so friendly" . Compared to what? Not so in my experience.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Where to start. The airport is awful. Takes all day and three times the money to get anywhere. The economy is permanently bad. The education system ranges from putrid to mediocre. Higher education is looked down up by the locals.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
One of the things the marketing geniuses at the state's economic development office use is how you can be about anywhere in a few hours. This is true. Flip a coin and head in that direction. It will be better than your starting place.
Where are would you love to move to?
SW Florida or Las Vegas. As soon as I retire. That very day.
Quote from: SP Cook on April 04, 2022, 01:52:03 PM
Nearest "big" city is Cincinnati. Actually Columbus is like 20 miles closer, but I don't consider it a big city.
Columbus proper actually has more than double the population of Cincinnati proper. The metro areas are much closer in population, with Cincinnati being only slightly larger.
Quote from: webny99 on April 04, 2022, 02:51:23 PM
Columbus proper actually has more than double the population of Cincinnati proper. The metro areas are much closer in population, with Cincinnati being only slightly larger.
Yeah, I get that. Columbus metro is just over 2M, city just over 900K; Cincy metro is 2.3M, city is just over 300K. It is just that Cincy feels like a big city, to me. Columbus is a combination state capital/college town/back office for some insurance companies. When I am in Cincy, everything says "city" , when I am in C-Bus, everything says "overgrown" .
Quote from: SP Cook on April 04, 2022, 03:43:52 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 04, 2022, 02:51:23 PM
Columbus proper actually has more than double the population of Cincinnati proper. The metro areas are much closer in population, with Cincinnati being only slightly larger.
Yeah, I get that. Columbus metro is just over 2M, city just over 900K; Cincy metro is 2.3M, city is just over 300K. It is just that Cincy feels like a big city, to me. Columbus is a combination state capital/college town/back office for some insurance companies. When I am in Cincy, everything says "city" , when I am in C-Bus, everything says "overgrown" .
I guess Cincinnati is more of an old city, much of it going to back before modern suburbs. Cincinnati was already one of America's biggest cities by the time of the Civil War.
Where do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in Weld County, Colorado; just east of Fort Collins.
How long have you lived there?
Nine years. I spent my toddler years in southern Arizona.
What do you like about where you live now?
Practically everything. The weather is gorgeous, the western view is gorgeous, and almost everything I need is within driving distance.
What do you dislike about where you live now?
There are no accessible large bodies of water. I have to travel a couple hours for any sizable lakes, rivers, or oceans.
How are the road trip opportunities?
Not great. There are only a couple ways east from here, and they are flat. North is pretty cool if you go along 287. Going South is fun through Taos, but boring along the East Side. The west is absolutely gorgeous. Ski towns and crested mountains as far as the eye can see.
Where would you love to move to?
I would love to stay here for a long time. If I were to move, I would go to the Pacific Northwest. Once you get past the rain, I hear it's beautiful. Especially with all the coffee joints.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Cincinnati, OH
How long you lived there?
Ages 0-18, and 34-now (almost 66)
What you like about where you live now?
- it is a great place to raise kids (hence why I moved back in 1990)
- relatively low cost of living
- lots of history (I am a volunteer tour guide for a local museum)
- lots of hills
- great weather in September-October
- generally, the people here are very friendly
- robust arts scene
- great craft breweries
What you dislike about where you live now?
- hot humid summers; rainy/slushy winters. (During the 16 years I lived away - I lived in both New Hampshire and Michigan and I prefer those winters)
- polarizing politics; my city and neighborhood are fairly liberal but the state is full of Trumpers overall
- none of my grandchildren live here.
- not near a major body of water
- so-so public transportation
- no direct flights to anywhere anymore. When CVG was a Delta hub, you could fly to Europe, California, and Hawaii non-stop; now those destinations require one or even two layovers.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
- pretty good. Most of the country, and a significant portion of Canada, is within a 2-day drive. There are also a lot of day-trip destinations.
Where are would you love to move to?
- as I near retirement, that has been the big question in my mind. I may stay here; I may move to Columbus which is where some of my grandkids are (and where I went to college). I may move to the North Coast of Ohio to be near the water; I have a summer place on Lake Erie, but it is not habitable year-round. I have even explored moving overseas (most likely coastal Spain). The only area I have completely ruled out is any state that borders either the Gulf of Mexico or Florida.
My other grandchild is in California, but I can't afford to live there.
Quote from: jlam on April 04, 2022, 04:33:56 PM
How are the road trip opportunities?
Not great. There are only a couple ways east from here, and they are flat. North is pretty cool if you go along 287. Going South is fun through Taos, but boring along the East Side. The west is absolutely gorgeous. Ski towns and crested mountains as far as the eye can see.
Just depends on your distance of road trip. Aurora doesn't have cool road trips, but 20 miles west does. Severance is the same, right? You can be in Poudre Canyon relatively quickly.
Where do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live on the southern outskirts of the Houston metro area.
How long have you lived there?
Almost 11 years.
What do you like about where you live now?
Lots of things, such as:
- The people here are super friendly and the culture is diverse.
- I live just close enough to Houston that I have close access to world class healthcare, entertainment, and other big city amenities whilst living far enough away that I don't have to regularly deal with big city problems. This is a highly underrated reason to live where I'm at.
- The culinary scene in the area might be one of the best in the country, with Tex-Mex, barbecue, and seafood all in vast numbers in the area.
- I live pretty close to a lot of historic Texan sites, such as San Jacinto, the first capital of Texas, and numerous other significant areas.
- The beach is less than an hour's drive away, and there are numerous nature reserves in the area.
What do you dislike about where you live now?
The weather is gross 75% of the time, so there's that. It's muggy, hot, and mosquito-ridden for over half of the year. Also, hurricanes and flooding are huge problems. There's almost no scenery save for the ocean, and it's flatter than Illinois.
How are the road trip opportunities?
Actually pretty bad by American standards. I'm hemmed in by the Gulf of Mexico on one side, and much of the country is a long distance away. Shorter trips pretty much consist of going to Louisiana or somewhere else in Texas (both of which are pretty boring when it comes to scenery). The closest interesting hills or mountains are either in Arkansas or Oklahoma.
Where would you love to move to?
I would love to move somewhere with better weather and scenery, but part of me would like to stay in a smaller Texas city. Either way, I would like to live in a somewhat big city. So either somewhere like Rapid City, Boise, Tucson, or NWA would appeal to me; or I would like to settle somewhere like Lubbock, Corpus Christi, or Odessa.
Quote from: CoreySamson on April 04, 2022, 05:14:35 PM
How are the road trip opportunities?
Actually pretty bad by American standards. I'm hemmed in by the Gulf of Mexico on one side, and much of the country is a long distance away. Shorter trips pretty much consist of going to Louisiana or somewhere else in Texas (both of which are pretty boring when it comes to scenery).
Not to mention Houston being in the way of a lot of the opportunities. Leave at the wrong time of the morning or get back at the wrong time of the afternoon, and you've got rush hour to deal with. Yuck.
- Where do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Central Appleton, WI (the Fox Valley metro area)
- How long have you lived there?
My entire life.
- What do you like about where you live now?
The weather is generally very nice/ideal year round (summers are incredible!), with oppressively hot and gooey or cold and blustery periods lasting no more than a few days each year. We're also out of the tornado/blizzard belt, so those storms are generally a minor issue. We do get them, but not as often nor severely as areas south or west of there.
.
- The people here are super friendly and the culture very is diverse, and yet the local 'legacy' culture is very interesting and engaging. Cultural celebrations and festivals are frequent and interesting. The area also has a first-rate selection of restaurants, cuisines and night life - many locals have no idea of how good they've got it in this department. The presence of a well-established major professional sports team that is an integral part of the very fiber of the local culture, too - it is a big part of what makes the area so incredibly interesting.
Yet, if you do need a 'big city' fix, one is only a few hours' drive time away.
- What do you dislike about where you live now?
Likely the fractured and highly Balkanized nature of local governance. It is sort of a 'too many leaders and not enough followers' thing with very poorly drawn lines. This is a major problem statewide and will likely not be seriously addressed within any of our lifetimes.
Also, the lack of useful common carrier intercity passenger rail service outside of the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor.
- How are the road trip opportunities?
The NE Wisconsin area is pretty well connected to the rest of the USA. Scenery in the region is also highly varied and not boring at all with lots to do.
- Where would you love to move to?
In state, I've always been strangely attracted to next-door Waupaca County, it is an interesting place to know and explore. out of state, I've always liked the Chicagoland area.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Huntsville, Alabama
How long you lived there?
9 years; lived in few different places in Florida for 30 years.
What you like about where you live now?
- People somewhat friendlier overall, generally easier-going and more patient
- Less traffic, less likely to be honked at or needlessly cut-off in traffic
- More centrally-located for travel compared to before; Central Time Zone is less strain on me after all the bouncing around
- Cost of living is a little less, home prices were far cheaper. Twice the home for half the price.
- Compared to Florida, the peak of summer's intensity lasts about 2-3 months, instead of 8-9 months
- There's an actual autumn and spring (though number of days and participation may vary)
- Mountains, hills, forests, and clear streams/rivers aren't far away
- BBQ exists here
- I can be a little different than the average Bubba and that's thankfully not weird enough
- I'm rarely around due to work travel, so new little things surprise me
- Far less insects around
- No hurricanes
- Can see entire constellations from my backyard
- It's growing a good bit and it's nice to hear from people (from other places) mention that Huntsville's now the biggest city in the state
What you dislike about where you live now?
- I'm not into religion, and less so into politics (is there a one-sided die?)
- I'm rarely around, so I feel a little isolated and have few friends and family here
- The town is loaded with ex-military or military contractors; I'm neither (though a few people comment that is refreshing not talking about those things)
- Alabama has a historical stigma problem (I wonder if I counter-balance it in both good and bad ways?)
- Winters are a little longer than I'd prefer; March-April are annoyingly inconsistent from day to day.
- We've become a 3di for Tornado Alley.
- I didn't use the beaches more than twice a year as I got into my 30s, but I miss being less than 30 minutes away from them (it's an all-day trip down there now).
- No sidewalks outside my little neighborhood; must drive to everything. Not even a few choices for eating/social/shopping to walk to.
It's a push (I added this category)
- Despite the local airport having a dearth of direct choices, I'm usually home sooner than I was out of FLL. It's an expensive airport, though.
- You won't make up time in traffic here. That's been better on my fuel economy and wear-and-tear.
- Why are half my neighbors so strange and clannish and bitter all the time? ...no different than previous places!
How's the road trip opportunities?
- Actual curvy and interesting roads are just 30 minutes away, instead of at least 90-120 minutes
- Being more centrally-located compared to being in the cul-de-sac of the US makes for more opportunities
- Two hours' drive to Nashville, Birmingham, and Chattanooga
- Nice to be one day's drive from several large cities; I guess a span from Orlando, Kansas City, Columbus, and Gulf Shores is doable from home within a day's drive.
- Unfortunately, Alabama has only recently found some spare change for road projects; I-65 is in dire need of improvements, and some major roads are just patently unsafe in some places
- Frankly, I have a lot more fun driving around to isolated places than before, whereas the rural stuff used to be quite distant
- The red mud makes some getting used to
Where are would you love to move to?
- Tough to answer that one; sometimes my heart's still in Florida, but it rarely feels all that relaxing anymore (though I still maintain it doesn't have as many wackos as the media will have you believe). But the older I get, I seem to like the pace of the Midwest...nobody seems entirely upset for long, and I'm in a business where I tend to see people get easily upset. But I don't think I could get used to shoveling snow and dealing with that even 5 out of every 10 winter days.
- I like a little activity and energy, but I also like it when things are simple and quiet. I'm like that drinking water bird that can't have too much or too little.
- It will probably just wind up being wherever my wife is happy. And that works for me...after all, I'm getting sent to whowknowswhere every week, so I get variety.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Mason City, Iowa, in North Iowa
How long you lived there?
Since October 2016, although technically speaking, I didn't move into my residence until November.
What you like about where you live now?
People are friendly, can get anywhere I have to go in 20 minutes or less, cost of living is low, there's decent architecture here, I don't feel unsafe here (something I get arguments about, BTW)
What you dislike about where you live now?
It's a challenge to socialize with anyone outside work acquaintances and even then, all anyone wants to do is drink. I also get the impression most people here have always lived here and don't want to experience life elsewhere, train noise is terrible and so is car traffic noise
Hows the road trip opportunities?
There's always opportunities, but most of Iowa is flat and so is Minnesota. The Driftless Area east of here is not flat, though.
Where are would you love to move to?
Strictly in terms of my job, over to Clear Lake. But part of the reason I moved here was so I could go to the Twin Cities whenever I wanted.. That was where I lived as a kid and would love to go back.
Near Madison WI
17 years
I like that it's a decent size city, it's pretty, it's got a big university, and it's got nice suburbs.
I dislike that it's a heavily liberal county, has cold winters, and doesn't have all the amenities of a truly big city (such as a large airport).
Road trip opportunities? Same as everywhere else, I guess. Nice that it's along I-90 and in the middle of the country.
I wouldn't mind moving to Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, or Missouri.
30 year old man here.
* Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Just outside of Charleston, SC on James Island. Live 10 minutes from downtown, work 15 minutes. Two hours to Myrtle Beach, Savannah, less to Columbia.
* How long you lived there? My entire life. Family in NJ but never lived there
* What you like about where you live now?
- The cosmopolitan food and drink scene. Charleston is a huge food city, probably only topped by the majors like NY, San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago and LA. Dozens of breweries have popped up over the last 5 years as well
- There are about 6-7 months a year where the weather is just plain nice
- The city becoming more connected to everywhere with the growth thanks to Boeing and everything else
- You can fly to just about every major city in the US relatively easily
- There is no shortage of things to do with the beaches, downtown, 3 well-supported minor league sports teams, and monthly "big" events like Spoleto, Southeastern Wildlife Expo, Food and Wine, Cooper River Bridge Run
- Big enough to feel like a city, but you still see people you know around town all the time
- For young kids, tons of field trip opportunities. Saw Fort Sumter before most of us even knew what it meant
- The scenery from one of the many bridges in the area feels like routine, but it never gets old
* What you dislike about where you live now?
- The traffic for our size area (150K city, 850K metro) is crazy. All it takes is an accident on one of 10 bridges or I-26 to foul up things for a commute
- Housing prices are extremely high. Some places have doubled over the last couple of years. "All-cash" buyers have predominated
- Most people are ill-prepared for bad weather. Rush hour rain fouls entire area up, while a hurricane evacuation or a freak snow (which we do get here) closes things for days
- Downtown area has gentrified and not in a good way. Three universities in the area and few cheap places to live. Large percentage of stores and restaurants cater to high-dollar tourists
- So many transients that move in and out within a couple of years
- The 6 months a year the weather is almost exactly the same (80-100, muggy, chance of afternoon thunderstorms)
- Charleston isn't a "sports town." Only an event city. People arrive extremely late to everything and leave early. Most folks just follow their football team and are very casual about everything else
* Hows the road trip opportunities?
Great. But with 5 beaches within 45 minutes you don't need to do much. Closest major league sports is Charlotte 3 hours away. Mountains are 3.5-4 hours.
* Where are would you love to move to? Nowhere else, hopefully
SM-G998U
That transient population probably is driven a lot by the Navy in Charleston. I was in line to transfer there back in 2015 until my Mom fell out of remission which led to me staying in Florida another year.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
The Far North Side of Chicago
How long you lived there?
Since October 2013
What you like about where you live now?
Great place to raise a family, what with all of the world-class museums and parks. Good schools. Summers are very mild; I can count the number of days where it gets to 90F or higher on two hands, sometimes one. Tons of access to public transit.
What you dislike about where you live now?
The winters will drain your soul from your body.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Getting to the nearest expressway takes some time, but the expressways themselves will take you anywhere you want to go.
Where are would you love to move to?
All other things being equal, San Diego.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Palm Springs, the far, far east end of the Los Angeles/ Southern California metro
How long you lived there? Almost four years
What you like about where you live now? No snow. Relatively liberal city with good volunteer opportunities for retirees. About 25% of the population is gay (as am I). Lots of sunshine. Great hiking trails, some within walking distance of my home. Taking the tram up the 8500' on hot days in summer. Lots of stuff to do even though I'm too old for some of the more popular stuff like Coachella (https://www.coachella.com/).
What you dislike about where you live now? It gets freaking hot from July 4 to Labor Day; it's still hot in June and September, but I don't mind it. There is literally only one way, I-10, to realistically drive west to Riverside, San Bernardino, LA, and Orange County and traffic through the San Gorgonio Pass can be bad to a complete standstill for several hours; don't even try on Monday mornings after Coachella and Stagecoach. It can also be really, really windy here, but that's mostly an issue close to the I-10 corridor and hardly noticed if you live in town. Largest county in the US without an IKEA.
How's the road trip opportunities? Fantastic. Pacific Coast is two hours away if there's no traffic (which never happens). LA and Orange County are about two hours away. San Diego is about three hours. Also lots of interesting destinations nearby through the desert to Joshua Tree (one hour drive), the Salton Sea (1½ hours), and the Mojave (two hours). If I want mountains, I can drive to Idyllwild or Big Bear in less than two hours. Even Santa Barbara is only four hours away.
Where are would you love to move to? San Diego, but I can't afford the housing. (The Coachella Valley is surprisingly inexpensive for California.)
Note: While Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Indio, and Coachella lean liberal, conservatives also find homes here as Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and La Quinta are moderately-to-quite conservative.
I've been living in Madison for 6 years now.
I like that this city is large enough to have plenty of stuff to do, but not so large that it gets in your way. In 15 minutes I can be surrounded by farms or surrounded by reveling yuppies. It has fantastic bicycle infrastructure and lots and lots of parks and open spaces both in the urban area and just a little ways out of town. The lakes are of course beautiful and I utilize them regularly. And as a craft beer enthusiast, I live in one of the best places on Earth.
People complain about the winter, but I like winter. It makes you appreciate summer and it keeps out the riff-raff: the weak who are offended if they have to put on a jacket. That winter is the reason why there aren't venomous critters crawling around everywhere and why the mosquitoes don't carry deadly tropical diseases. Besides, shoveling is great exercise!
As for things I don't like, I happen to live close enough to one of those lakes that I get to experience the various lake fly hatches that occur throughout the warm part of year. The lake flies themselves are harmless; they don't even have mouth parts. But they support a robust population of spiders. None are venomous, outside of some intruding black widows or brown recluse that probably hitched a ride from down south. But it is annoying to have webs over everything by mid June.
Like others have mentioned, housing prices suck. I'm not even attempting to look at buying property because I know it's a madhouse out there. But that's true everywhere that's not some backwater shitburg with nothing going on.
Road trippin' is decent. Roads in all directions and cool places within a day's drive. I spend a fair amount of time in the Baraboo Hills myself. Though mountain driving opportunities are absent, if you're into that.
I feel pretty dug in here for now, but I'd be down for living closer to one of the Great Lakes. I was living in Milwaukee when I first joined this forum and liked it very much. But it did take longer to get from there to cool places I like Up North. I could probably adapt to most places in the Midwest, but I do need access to two important resources. I have to live in a place where the range of the brook trout and the walleye overlap:
(https://cdn.dribbble.com/users/93719/screenshots/15715838/media/a1ffaab96f73b4a98c73ce489b1592f4.jpg)
(https://da9mvpu5fnhic.cloudfront.net/content/Walleye_HeatMap%401600x_789db497a8.png)
Great thread, thanks for posting.
quote author=ZLoth link=topic=31302.msg2723497#msg2723497 date=1648957998]
This should prove to be an
interesting topic leading to some interesting discussion and perspectives. Lets have everyone discuss where they live, and answer the following questions:
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Just west of Boston, Ma, inside 128 (i.e. I-95).
- How long you lived there?
Born and spent most of my life here until mid-20s before moving away for grad school and worked. Moved back in 2008 to be closer to family.
- What you like about where you live now?
Lots of things:
Quality of life
Strong economy/job opportunities
Educational/cultural opportunities
High quality health care
Relatively low crime
Relatively temperate weather
Being able to experience all four seasons.
Variety of landscapes within short distance (lakes, mountains, hills, valleys, ocean, islands)
Highly involved/active citizens
Historic charm
Great food scene/food traditions
Growing racial/ethnic diversity
- What you dislike about where you live now?
Basically, Boston is San Francisco with snow, with all of the opportunities and drawbacks.
Exorbitant cost of living relative to the above (esp. housing)
Crumbling/aging infrastructure of all kinds
Congestion/terrible commuting options (alleviated in part by hybrid work)
Winter, esp. its unpredictability
Climate change (hotter temperatures, more frequent floods, etc.)
Provincial arrogance
Declining socioeconomic diversity/declining opportunities for the working and middle class
The increasing dominance of the meritocracy
Virtue signaling wokeness/progressive bubble
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
Awesome. Plenty of great places to go in Massachusetts and all six New England states. Plus, driving to other Northeastern States, the rest of the US and Canada is easy enough (if long).
- Where are would you love to move to?
Not sure. I've actually lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida and am familiar with those regions. Having done so, I've learned to appreciate Boston more. The former all had their attributes, including lower costs of living, but that was offset by other expenses, less robust job market, weather, and distance from family. It's hard to imagine me living anywhere else, but the cost of living may become unbearable. If I don't move to a smaller city outside of the Greater Boston area, I'm intrigued by the mid-Atlantic (Virginia and the Carolinas) if I were to move again.
[/list]
Yes, this is going to be
very subjective questionnaire, but something that I would really enjoy reading the answers on.
[/quote]
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in San Francisco, within a stone's throw of the end of the Central Freeway.
How long you lived there?
10 years!
What you like about where you live now?
- Most things I need are close; my job and my partner's jobs are both close (I enjoy a walking commute!). I'm a big city person, and it's really easy to get around if you're already there. The center of my industry is here; a top-notch institution of my partner's is here too. We have plenty of local friends and some extended family in the area.
- For the Bay Area in general, you can generally find some of the best of a lot of things I enjoy here: food, coffee, wine, music, art, etc. We don't have a monopoly on this, but there's a lot of high-quality, non-generic things to enjoy.
- Weather is pretty mild year-round. It helps that I live in the sunnier parts of SF.
- Tons of beautiful landscapes around close by (Marin Headlands, Land's End, Santa Cruz Mountains, etc.) and within a day's drive (road trips!).
- You can be a weirdo and people generally don't care and won't bother you about it. That said, people are generally ambitious and intellectual.
What you dislike about where you live now?
- It's very expensive here if you don't have a high-paying job, some luck (like buying a house in the 1970's), or both. Housing is by far the biggest driver. And there are are lot of things that become more convenient if you can pay for it (off-street parking, Ubers, and so on).
- You have to take more general precautions than most areas of the US in terms of petty crime. I've never felt personally threatened, but you can generally assume that visible items (especially inside unattended vehicles and packages on the sidewalk) get taken. So there's some inconvenience.
- It's not a well-appearing city at street level - you see lots of trash, homeless people, etc,
- Whatever is going on in SF gets sent to the national media as "representative of what liberal cities are like" - and depending on what sources you read or watch, positive and especially negative aspects of what it's like here get exaggerated to the point that it's barely recognizable as rooted in truth.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
- Fantastic - there's a lot of amazing roads and scenery in California, Nevada, Oregon. Only downside is getting out of the Bay Area along with everyone else on Friday afternoons....
Where area would you love to move to?
- I love where I live; if I had to move, it would likely be someplace like Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver. I'd probably do okay in Boston or DC - and if I really was looking for a change, perhaps New Zealand or Scandinavia.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Northeast Kansas, Kansas City area.
Quote- How long you lived there?
All my life, minus about four years.
Quote- What you like about where you live now?
It has grass and trees.
It isn't as outrageously expensive to live here as it is on the coasts.
It's less likely to be affected by rising sea levels than the coasts.
Quote- What you dislike about where you live now?
Most of my friends either moved away or never lived in this area to begin with.
The racist football team and its racist fans.
No mountains and no ocean.
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
The vast majority of the malls died years ago, and there's only one that's still doing well at all.
Quote- Hows the road trip opportunities?
Well, it has roads, so you can road trip around here. But frankly, I'd say the most interesting places to road trip to are at least eight hours away.
Quote- Where would you love to move to?
In the U.S.: Pennsylvania or New Jersey.
Outside the U.S.: Ireland.
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 07:30:44 AM
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 08:32:14 AM
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 07:30:44 AM
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.
I disagree also, and my parents both grew up in the Shawnee-Mission area. When I think of dining in the KC area, I think of a healthy number of non-chain choices.
Quote from: kphoger on April 07, 2022, 09:40:55 AM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 08:32:14 AM
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 07:30:44 AM
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.
I disagree also, and my parents both grew up in the Shawnee-Mission area. When I think of dining in the KC area, I think of a healthy number of non-chain choices.
Where are all the mom-and-pop/greasy-spoon diners? Where is there even one that's open all night? There USED to be a good place called Chubby's in Westport, but it ain't there anymore.
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 02:30:54 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 07, 2022, 09:40:55 AM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 08:32:14 AM
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 07:30:44 AM
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.
I disagree also, and my parents both grew up in the Shawnee-Mission area. When I think of dining in the KC area, I think of a healthy number of non-chain choices.
Where are all the mom-and-pop/greasy-spoon diners? Where is there even one that's open all night? There USED to be a good place called Chubby's in Westport, but it ain't there anymore.
Winstead's? Town Topic?
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 02:30:54 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 07, 2022, 09:40:55 AM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 08:32:14 AM
Quote from: Ned Weasel on April 07, 2022, 07:30:44 AM
Few interesting places to eat that aren't chains.
With all due respect, I disagree with this pretty strongly. I almost never eat at chain restaurants and I lived in the Kansas burbs of KC for 15 years and ate very well. Some of the time you have to cross State Line to get there, but I have plenty of good local spots on the KS side too.
I disagree also, and my parents both grew up in the Shawnee-Mission area. When I think of dining in the KC area, I think of a healthy number of non-chain choices.
Where are all the mom-and-pop/greasy-spoon diners? Where is there even one that's open all night? There USED to be a good place called Chubby's in Westport, but it ain't there anymore.
Wyandotte County?
I feel kind of like we're getting a statement like "we don't have any good non-chain restaurants" that actually means "we don't have any restaurants that serve both lobster thermidor and baked Alaska available at 5:42 AM". :)
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Wichita, Kansas.
How long you lived there? I was born and raised here, and am the fifth or sixth generation (depending on ancestral line) of my family to have lived in Kansas.
What do you like about where you live now? Wichita offers a well-balanced tradeoff among the advantages and disadvantages of rural and big-city living. It has a low cost of living, though it's now beginning to experience the same house price inflation as the rest of the country. The economic base is well-diversified for a city of its size. It also has little traffic congestion, with construction in progress or imminently programmed to address the few hotspots that exist. Cultural facilities, such as the art museum, are quite good given the size of the city. Rivers run through it, and some of the city's most attractive parks (Oak Park), neighborhoods (Riverside), and landmarks (Keeper of the Plains statue) can be found along the banks, though whether the city makes the best possible use of its water frontage is a debate that has raged for decades.
What you dislike about where you live now? Wichita gets torturously humid Cfa summers. Thunderstorms often bring hail: two of my last three cars have had severe hail damage that was not economically repairable, and I live in a house that has had four roofs in 44 years. Days with heavy wind are common through much of the year; in winter it knifes right through you, and in spring it cakes your skin with dust. I don't find Kansas' deep-red orientation congenial, but am under few illusions that I will be happier in a blue state. Though I have little direct experience of this as a native, newcomers to Wichita often complain that longtime residents are insular and slow to make friends, while employers tend to be more suspicious of candidates with apparent histories of job-hopping than is the case elsewhere. Passenger air transport connections are fairly tenuous (the budget airlines open and close routes all the time) and most trips to major destinations involve connecting through a hub like Chicago O'Hare or Dallas/Fort Worth.
How are the road trip opportunities? Wichita is built on an alluvial plain in a state with low topographic relief. In terms of surface condition, however, the Kansas state highway system is second to none, while the scenic Flint Hills are just to the northeast of town. Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa, all of which make good daytrip destinations, are no more than 200 miles away. Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Little Rock, Memphis, St. Louis, Des Moines, Omaha, and (in a pinch) Chicago are reachable by up to a day's drive.
Where are would you love to move to? Every time I've worked with this particular Rubik's cube, I have not been able to find a better answer than Wichita. Places with good year-round weather, such as Northern California, tend to be congested and expensive; places with mountains get forest fires in the summer; and places that are cold in winter but pleasantly warm in summer often have bad mosquitoes. Several more affluent members of my extended family have cycled north for the summer and south for the winter, but I would hesitate to follow their example even if I had the resources, because I feel that weakens ties to the community. However, I value the cultural facilities that are available in much larger cities, and would like to stay in places like Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, Vienna, Berlin, and Buenos Aires for a month at a time, in a self-catering environment (e.g., as a house-sitter).
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
Wichita is built on an alluvial plain in a state with low topographic relief.
That's a lot of words to say "Kansas is flat" :D
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Richmond, VA
How long you lived there?
Off and on since the mid 1980's
What you like about where you live now?
The architecture!
Genuinely real city vibes. Also I like the fact that you can find Northeastern, Midwestern, and Southern looking neighborhoods all in one city
Becoming more and more walkable every year
The improved bus system (I don't always drive here when I don't have to). It used to be terrible.
The cuisine
The fact that there's plenty of alternate routes to get around backups (well in most cases anyway)
What you dislike about where you live now?
The fact that backups even exist around here in the first place (outdated roads)
Potholes on many city streets
The weather. Outside of summer (which is generally humid AS FUCK) the temperatures can be pretty unpredictable. It's literally not uncommon to experience all four seasons in one week... Pop-up storms can be real annoying also.
The cost of living is getting up there (though still better than NOVA and Hampton Roads)
Many of the natives (especially those living deep in the suburbs) love to inject politics into EVERYTHING.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Perfect!!!
Where are would you love to move to?
Absolutely nowhere. I'm good.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 02:44:10 PM
Winstead's? Town Topic?
Winstead's is a chain, but it used to be a much larger chain than it is now. I need to try Town Topic. It's not close to where I actually live, but I still should try it.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 07, 2022, 03:47:51 PM
Wyandotte County?
Oh yeah, they have Fritz's there! I like that place!
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 03:51:28 PM
I feel kind of like we're getting a statement like "we don't have any good non-chain restaurants" that actually means "we don't have any restaurants that serve both lobster thermidor and baked Alaska available at 5:42 AM". :)
That's not what I intended, and I don't even know what lobster thermidor is, but point taken. Maybe I was wrong on this one. I just feel like, when I go back east, there seem to be a ton more independent restaurants around than there are close to home. But "few" was probably the wrong word.
I have a lot of good recommendations if you're interested.
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
... most trips to major destinations involve connecting through a hub like Chicago O'Hare or Dallas/Fort Worth.
Are there any mid-size cities that this is
not true of? None immediately come to mind.
As pertains to Rochester and the other upstate NY metro areas, the hub actually
is the destination at least as often as not because there's so many within range: New York (JFK/LGA), Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington (BWI/DCA/IAD), Detroit, Chicago, etc. (ROC does have a few direct connections to more distant hubs, too: Atlanta, Charlotte, Minneapolis-St. Paul (suspended in 2020 but restarting this year AFAIK), and even Denver starting this May.)
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
... places that are cold in winter but pleasantly warm in summer often have bad mosquitoes.
The Northeast isn't mosquito-free by any means, but there's certainly a lot less here than there is in the Midwest. I (and some of my family even more so) get eaten alive by mosquitos when spending evening time outdoors in MN and especially ND. I've heard that mosquitoes are more attracted to the "new blood" of visitors to the area, but I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, if any.
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
The Northeast isn't mosquito-free by any means, but there's certainly a lot less here than there is in the Midwest. I (and some of my family even more so) get eaten alive by mosquitos when spending evening time outdoors in MN and especially ND. I've heard that mosquitoes are more attracted to the "new blood" of visitors to the area, but I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, if any.
Pfft. I have found the opposite to be true, having lived in MA and WI/MN. Mosquitoes aren't as bad in NY as they are in southern New England and WI/MN certainly weren't as much of a nuisance as in MA.
The South may be the King of Bugs, but saying there are more mosquitoes in the northern Midwest than the entire Northeast doesn't ring true.
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
... most trips to major destinations involve connecting through a hub like Chicago O'Hare or Dallas/Fort Worth.
Are there any mid-size cities that this is not true of? None immediately come to mind.
As pertains to Rochester and the other upstate NY metro areas, the hub actually is the destination at least as often as not because there's so many within range: New York (JFK/LGA), Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore/Washington (BWI/DCA/IAD), Detroit, Chicago, etc. (ROC does have a few direct connections to more distant hubs, too: Atlanta, Charlotte, Minneapolis-St. Paul (suspended in 2020 but restarting this year AFAIK), and even Denver starting this May.)
CVG's a good example. Despite being much smaller than the Delta hub's peak in 2005, Delta still flies to a bunch of non-hub destinations from CVG, including a transatlantic flight to Paris.
Quote from: Rothman on April 07, 2022, 11:18:46 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
The Northeast isn't mosquito-free by any means, but there's certainly a lot less here than there is in the Midwest. I (and some of my family even more so) get eaten alive by mosquitos when spending evening time outdoors in MN and especially ND. I've heard that mosquitoes are more attracted to the "new blood" of visitors to the area, but I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, if any.
Pfft. I have found the opposite to be true, having lived in MA and WI/MN. Mosquitoes aren't as bad in NY as they are in southern New England and WI/MN certainly weren't as much of a nuisance as in MA.
The South may be the King of Bugs, but saying there are more mosquitoes in the northern Midwest than the entire Northeast doesn't ring true.
I'd say Great Lakes, but MN is a Great Lakes state too. Maybe interior Northeast would be more apt.
One thing I know for sure is that ND is much worse than the Northeast. Interestingly, both MT and SD are on
this top 10 list (https://www.pestcontrolreviews.com/the-10-worst-states-for-mosquitoes/). I suspect ND"s shorter mosquito season is the main reason why it's not on the list.
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:36:17 PM
Quote from: Rothman on April 07, 2022, 11:18:46 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
The Northeast isn't mosquito-free by any means, but there's certainly a lot less here than there is in the Midwest. I (and some of my family even more so) get eaten alive by mosquitos when spending evening time outdoors in MN and especially ND. I've heard that mosquitoes are more attracted to the "new blood" of visitors to the area, but I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, if any.
Pfft. I have found the opposite to be true, having lived in MA and WI/MN. Mosquitoes aren't as bad in NY as they are in southern New England and WI/MN certainly weren't as much of a nuisance as in MA.
The South may be the King of Bugs, but saying there are more mosquitoes in the northern Midwest than the entire Northeast doesn't ring true.
I'd say Great Lakes, but MN is a Great Lakes state too. Maybe interior Northeast would be more apt.
One thing I know for sure is that ND is much worse than the Northeast. Interestingly, both MT and SD are on this top 10 list (https://www.pestcontrolreviews.com/the-10-worst-states-for-mosquitoes/). I suspect ND"s shorter mosquito season is the main reason why it's not on the list.
How the heck are they quantifying it? I'm curious what their metrics are... in my area we don't have a major mosquito problem (though they can be annoying) but the problem bugs are deerflies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_fly). I hate those.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
North Myrtle Beach, SC
How long you lived there?
I have lived here (permanently) since Summer of 2021. Before then, I had spent my summers here growing up, visiting my much older brothers that lived in the Myrtle Beach area.
What you like about where you live now?
The weather. Originally being from Long Island, New York, I was used to four seasons of distinct weather. The weather of the Myrtle Beach area is generally much warmer than that of Long Island, although we still do have seasonality with temperatures, with the average being around 55-60 in the wintertime. We also do occasionally get threats of snow and ice, but only sometimes will it actually happen.
What you dislike about where you live now?
One thing I dislike would have to be the truck culture - with the infamous "Carolina Squat" and trucks with obnoxiously large rims/wheels and also antennas that are 5+ feet tall for no reason.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
I would say they are good. However, one annoying thing about Myrtle Beach is that there is no direct freeway connection to the rest of the country's interstate system. If you're looking to road trip with speed, you'll be mad that you have to stop at traffic lights at any way into or out of the Myrtle Beach area. If you want the scenic route, its fine. Location wise, its nice to be 2 hours from Charleston and 3 to 3.5 hours from Charlotte.
Where are would you love to move to?
To be honest, I'm not sure. As much as I love New York, its just financially impossible to afford rent there, even after I graduate college and get a big boy job.
Suppose I should do mine since I've entered the thread...
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Rural Lawrence County, SD. For you Easterners that's an hour north of Mt. Rushmore. Closest airport is KRAP (or KGCC, if you don't mind no options).
How long you lived there?
Almost 25 years.
What do you like about where you live now?
The climate's not terrible for where it is, the winters only occasionally get miserably cold and the summers only occasionally get miserably hot. Despite our northerly latitude, the Hills make us on the same climate band as Kansas City, only without the horrible death humidity they have there. There's a good county road network for running, and Spearfish itself has good rec paths. As a tourist town, we have a larger number of amenities than one would expect for a town of 12,000 ish, while still maintaining somewhat of a small town feel.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Not much, the town is starting to fill up with Californians (wish we could ban them) and housing prices are through the roof. It seems like it's on the road to becoming the next Bozeman/Jackson type of place, and I really wouldn't like that. Also, the Rally is annoying, but it's only 1 week during August so it can be ignored.
How are the road trip opportunities?
Great, we're right off I-90 so going anywhere west is fairly easy. I've been to the Pacific multiple times. The one downside of this is going east is pretty hard, and I've only occasionally been to the Atlantic (haven't even been to NYC).
Where are would you love to move to?
Nowhere
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
Seattle, Ravenna neighborhood.
How long you lived there?
Since 1982, with about a year break once
What you like about where you live now?
good theatre, restaurants, libraries, bookstores, farmers' markets, good park nearby for walks. Great national parks. Mt Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic. Great hiking in smaller parks too, closer to the city.
Mild weather year-round
Ships and ferryboats on the harbor, sailboats
Views of snow-capped mountains in the distance
What you dislike about where you live now?
Traffic is pretty annoying. Thinking about driving anywhere, must think about how to schedule it.
There's no state income tax, which means very high property tax and sales tax, uneven state revenues which means a rollercoaster for some important state services
Housing prices are very high. I hope I never have to move again, because I probably couldn't afford it.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
There's some pretty nice roads through mountains but it's often a couple of hours slog to get out of the city before the fun starts.
Where are would you love to move to?
I kinda liked Tucson for the scenery, as long as I could come back to Seattle for the summer.
I grew up the S.F. Bay Area, and there's some things I miss, but overall the years have not been kind to it.
Vancouver BC maybe. Beautiful city, with mountains right there next to the city.
Oh, and Seattle is pretty good for air connections. It's a hub for Alaska Air which is pretty good as airlines go, so good flights to most of the western cities as well as Alaska (duh) and Hawaii. British Airways has a great nonstop to Heathrow.
Quote from: kkt on April 08, 2022, 02:05:52 AM
Oh, and Seattle is pretty good for air connections. It's a hub for Alaska Air which is pretty good as airlines go, so good flights to most of the western cities as well as Alaska (duh) and Hawaii. British Airways has a great nonstop to Heathrow.
All of the new airlines being announced now that the International Arrivals Facility is opening is really exciting. Non-stop to Tahiti and Turkey were announced recently, and we might finally get the Australian and Indian connections that were promised before the pandemic.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
near fort collins, co
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- How long you lived there?
essentially my whole life, with a few short stays in a few other places. no matter where I go, my life seems to emanate from this place.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- What you like about where you live now?
River in my backyard. Legal weed. I work in the city, and live in the mountains. lack of humidity.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- What you dislike about where you live now?
gas prices make the commute a little painful.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
Colorado is great. You can drive up into the mountains for a mountain experience, or you can drive out on the plains for a plains experience.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
- Where are would you love to move to?
walden, co. it's high enough up to where it doesn't get too hot. It's in a valley, but surrounded by the mountains. only downside, is that there's few jobs that don't involve cows.
[/list]
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 10:11:04 PM
I have a lot of good recommendations if you're interested.
That could probably be a whole other thread.
Quote from: SkyPesos on April 07, 2022, 11:21:09 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
... most trips to major destinations involve connecting through a hub like Chicago O'Hare or Dallas/Fort Worth.
Are there any mid-size cities that this is not true of? None immediately come to mind.
...
CVG's a good example. Despite being much smaller than the Delta hub's peak in 2005, Delta still flies to a bunch of non-hub destinations from CVG, including a transatlantic flight to Paris.
That's an interesting one, although Cincinnati is right on the border of "large city" IMO, at least in terms of the metro area size. It's a larger metro area than Jacksonville and comparable to Columbus and Indianapolis, all of which are top-20 cities in the US.
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
I (and some of my family even more so) get eaten alive by mosquitos when spending evening time outdoors in MN and especially ND.
The mosquito is the state bird of North Dakota. Or so I've heard.
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 09:49:56 AM
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
I (and some of my family even more so) get eaten alive by mosquitos when spending evening time outdoors in MN and especially ND.
The mosquito is the state bird of North Dakota. Or so I've heard.
And I didn't even know that was a thing, but
apparently it is (https://www.zazzle.com/north_dakota_state_bird_the_mosquito_t_shirt-235068657689775165?design.areas=%5Bzazzle_shirt_10x12_front%5D&view=113083320596537832). Now I know what to wear if I ever attend a meet. :sombrero:
Quote from: Bruce on April 08, 2022, 02:29:07 AM
Quote from: kkt on April 08, 2022, 02:05:52 AM
Oh, and Seattle is pretty good for air connections. It's a hub for Alaska Air which is pretty good as airlines go, so good flights to most of the western cities as well as Alaska (duh) and Hawaii. British Airways has a great nonstop to Heathrow.
All of the new airlines being announced now that the International Arrivals Facility is opening is really exciting. Non-stop to Tahiti and Turkey were announced recently, and we might finally get the Australian and Indian connections that were promised before the pandemic.
Oh, cool! I've been hoping to visit Turkey since before the pandemic. Maybe when we get around to it it'll be an easier trip.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
New York's Capital District, specifically near Latham, a few minutes north of Albany.
How long you lived there?
About eight years, since May 2014.
What you like about where you live now?
The area is a medium-sized metro area, a good compromise between large cities and small towns/rural areas. It's large enough to have all the services I'm used to but small enough to not be too unaffordable or congested. Housing, though more expensive than it used to be, and more expensive than the other similarly-sized metro areas of upstate NY, is still cheaper than what one would expect around the NYC area or another large city. Moreover, the land use patters of the area are a little weird - instead of one central city with suburbs around it, the Capital District is multiple smaller cities with suburbs in between. This means that I'm fairly centrally located despite being in a 70s-era suburb. Outside of the evening rush during 4-5 months, my commute isn't bad - just 15-20 minutes on roads that move around the speed limit (the traffic around here is arguably light even by the standards of Rochester or Buffalo, at least outside of tourist season). The Capital District itself is also very centrally located with excellent roadtrip opportunities, and closer to most of the places I'm interested in roadgeeking than Rochester, but that's another question. I also have better job prospects here than I would elsewhere in the state, both within the state or if I wanted to try working for a consultant (though I might need to get a master's in Planning if I wanted to go that route). I also like the local media market, with News10 ABC in particular being one of my favorite local news stations in the country. The local area is fairly scenic too; this view (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.7280868,-73.796715,3a,19.9y,239.86h,87.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saXvx23IaccUntJyC7vDOHA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192) is right along my morning commute (here it is up close (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6544945,-73.967493,3a,65.6y,242.79h,93.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sywHWGMS7MEvsY-o9lcD19A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DywHWGMS7MEvsY-o9lcD19A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D343.56464%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192)), and Cohoes Falls is just a ten minute drive from my apartment.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Traffic can be annoying if you live/work in the wrong area and during tourist season (both the summer and leaf peepers), especially the month and a half when the Saratoga Racetrack is open and approaching the summer holidays (Travers weekend is nearly as bad as Labor Day). I'm south enough on the Northway to not deal with the morning rush unless there's a crash (thankfully, this hasn't happened much since COVID hit), but I do get the evening traffic in tourist season. I-787 can be bad too, along with the NY 7 freeway approaching the Northway, I-90, and the Thruway between exits 25-24 (the latter was even shut down earlier this week due to a truck fire). We're also the only metro area of this size or larger in the state to not have a Wegmans, though I mainly miss the bakery from there - Hannaford and Market Bistro (the flagship Price Chopper/Market32 location) serve my needs, and I think there are a couple things I regularly buy that Wegmans doesn't sell anyways (like my bread). Housing has also been historically more expensive than Rochester/Buffalo/Syracuse, and prices have been going up like they have been in the rest of the country, especially as telecommuting has resulted in us beginning to be subsumed into the NYC sphere of influence (although we always were compared to the rest of upstate). It's also a three and a half hour drive each way whenever I want to visit my parents and extended family (which can get annoying, especially since it's nearly all Thruway, with eight charges on my E-ZPass statement each direction now that everything is AET), which I do to attend family gatherings at least seven times each year. Also, though I'm not personally affected since I don't fly, Albany International is a smaller airport with more limited opportunities for direct flights; on the other hand, if one is willing to drive a couple hours, the NYC airports have many such opportunities (and many Capital District people fly out of NYC for exactly this reason). Regarding local driving habits, it's annoying how people always cut across too early when making a left turn (like this (https://www.reddit.com/r/Albany/comments/ttdr6l/how_people_like_to_turn_left_in_albany_area/)), and how people insist on merging onto the freeway at 40 and only once they've forced everyone to slow down for them do they bother to accelerate up to speed. Often this is accompanied by moving into the middle lane just because. They behave as if acceleration lanes (and also auxiliary lanes) don't exist.
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Excellent - probably my favorite thing about living here, in fact. The Capital District is very much a hub area in the road system, and places like Montréal, Boston, the NYC area, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Vermont are all within a couple hours of driving. The Adirondacks, Catskills, Berkshires, Green Mountains, Lake George, etc. are all a short drive away. The area is very well connected to the interstate system too, with the only major areas of the country where I'd have to go out of my way to stay on the interstate (or equivalent roads like the New Jersey Turnpike) being Vermont and Rhode Island (honestly, this mostly holds true for Canada too, depending on whether you consider taking I-95/NB 95 to NB 2 rather than ME 9 and NB 1 to be out of the way; time time is equivalent, even if the mileage is longer). The Capital District's position also means that I'm usually driving the non-peak direction of the Thruway on trips.
Where are would you love to move to?
I'm fairly happy here and love the location, so I'm not really interested in moving. If I were to move, it would most likely be to Rochester to be around family again. Maybe Syracuse or even Buffalo if the stars aligned that way, though I'm not looking to move outside of the Capital District or Rochester in the foreseeable future, and I don't feel like moving further from Rochester than I already am.
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in Boone, NC for college.
- How long you lived there?
Since May 31, 2021. I would have lived here full time, but due to developing a disability in August, my living arrangement didn't work out. I had to move from unincorporated Watauga County into the dorms that month.
- What you like about where you live now?
The scenery is good. I don't have to rely on my car and I can walk or take the bus most places. You can usually find something to do most days, primarily recreation-wise. Beech Mountain is nice. You have access to the Tri-Cities in a short drive if you run out of things to do and you want to look somewhere else, or you're just bored. The springs and summers aren't nearly as hot and humid as they are in lower elevations.
- What you dislike about where you live now?
Sometimes it just gets boring, being a small town. You can run out of people to meet pretty fast. The traffic is pretty horrendous for a town this size. Sometimes the winters can drag on. Snow is cool and all for a few days, but I get sick of it after there's been a foot on the ground for three weeks, you're trudging through snow-covered sidewalks, you're bundling up in tons of layers for 15 degree weather, only to have to take them all off so you don't sweat profusely indoors, and your pantlegs are always wet. The parking situation is terrible, and if the buses aren't running I have to walk up a massive hill just to get to my car. Sometimes I have to drive to Lenoir or Morganton to do something I can't get done here.
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
We have plenty of scenic routes. The famous Blue Ridge Parkway, and plenty of backroads to look around. I like to drive around aimlessly, and Boone is an excellent starting point for excursions deeper into the mountains and into Tennessee. I've found myself in Kentucky twice. You're only 1.5-2.5 hours from places like Asheville.
- Where are would you love to move to?
I want to settle down in the Tri-Cities when I finish college. The cost of living is cheap compared to other places and there's plenty of job opportunities for what I'll have finished studying. I'm honestly not a fan of cities that are too big (I never liked the sprawl, size, and lack of things to do in Charlotte), so they seem like the right size for me. You still have a lot of the advantages of Boone. Access to the mountains, scenic areas, ski areas, etc.
One thing I've learned from this thread is that most people consider road trip opportunities to be fairly abundant, no matter where they live. Some consider being able to get to a lot of places within one or two days to be "good", whereas others consider being able to see a variety of locations within a few hours to be "good". I guess it's all in one's perspective, and people on here seem to have a perspective that appreciates what they have.
The exception is (1) people who live in some corner of the country, such that a large amount of the country is far away, or (2) people who have to deal with bad city traffic whenever they start out on a road trip.
Quote from: vdeane on April 08, 2022, 12:52:59 PM
We're also the only metro area of this size or larger to not have a Wegmans ...
In New York, at least - not nationwide yet! :)
But unlike many grocery chains, they are actively expanding (mostly southward into VA/NC) and I'm hoping they will start expanding west someday as well.
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 01:25:51 PM
One thing I've learned from this thread is that most people consider road trip opportunities to be fairly abundant, no matter where they live. Some consider being able to get to a lot of places within one or two days to be "good", whereas others consider being able to see a variety of locations within a few hours to be "good". I guess it's all in one's perspective, and people on here seem to have a perspective that appreciates what they have.
The exception is (1) people who live in some corner of the country, such that a large amount of the country is far away, or (2) people who have to deal with bad city traffic whenever they start out on a road trip.
We are kind of a self-selecting sample of people who identify as road geeks. If where we live didn't offer road trip opportunities that we considered good, we'd either move or give up "road geek" as part of our identity.
Quote from: webny99 on April 08, 2022, 07:53:01 AM
Quote from: SkyPesos on April 07, 2022, 11:21:09 PM
Quote from: webny99 on April 07, 2022, 11:05:40 PM
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
... most trips to major destinations involve connecting through a hub like Chicago O'Hare or Dallas/Fort Worth.
Are there any mid-size cities that this is not true of? None immediately come to mind.
...
CVG's a good example. Despite being much smaller than the Delta hub's peak in 2005, Delta still flies to a bunch of non-hub destinations from CVG, including a transatlantic flight to Paris.
That's an interesting one, although Cincinnati is right on the border of "large city" IMO, at least in terms of the metro area size. It's a larger metro area than Jacksonville and comparable to Columbus and Indianapolis, all of which are top-20 cities in the US.
Personally, I go with 3 million metro area population to be considered large. This does leave out some other cities I would normally consider large, like Charlotte, which is one of the largest financial centers in the US despite having a metro population of "only" 2.7 million.
But I thought of a much better example than CVG for the mid-sized city with a large airport: SLC. Still a Delta hub, and have the number of destinations (including 3(!) transatlantic routes) that a lot of much larger cities can only dream of, all for a metro area of 1.25 million.
Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 07, 2022, 10:11:04 PM
I have a lot of good recommendations if you're interested.
I would be. I'm in Kansas City at least once a year, so it'd be nice to have suggestions of places to eat that aren't the chain places at the Legends my family tends to gravitate toward. (Bonus points if you know any around that part of Wyandotte County, since that's usually where we stay.)
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PM
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Wichita, Kansas.
Just out of idle curiosity, do you still have a connection to Oxford?
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 01:25:51 PMOne thing I've learned from this thread is that most people consider road trip opportunities to be fairly abundant, no matter where they live. Some consider being able to get to a lot of places within one or two days to be "good", whereas others consider being able to see a variety of locations within a few hours to be "good". I guess it's all in one's perspective, and people on here seem to have a perspective that appreciates what they have.
The exception is (1) people who live in some corner of the country, such that a large amount of the country is far away, or (2) people who have to deal with bad city traffic whenever they start out on a road trip.
I've noticed the same thing too--I was among the people who cited driving distance to daytrip/citybreak destinations, recognizing that this plays up dimensions of the travel experience that may not be as relevant to those living in parts of the country with denser networks of primary state highways.
Holiday congestion also varies greatly from region to region. Taking Thanksgiving as an example, in Kansas the Turnpike is busy but flows well, while I've heard stories of having to drive in the middle of the night to avoid gridlock if a trip involves travel in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Quote from: kkt on April 08, 2022, 05:53:10 PMWe are kind of a self-selecting sample of people who identify as road geeks. If where we live didn't offer road trip opportunities that we considered good, we'd either move or give up "road geek" as part of our identity.
I think the hobby also has a way of finding its own level--there are ways to engage with roads as a cultural fixture that come into play even in large cities where driving brings more trouble to the typical leisure traveler than it is worth (Manhattan comes to mind).
Quote from: CtrlAltDel on April 08, 2022, 06:28:51 PMQuote from: J N Winkler on April 07, 2022, 05:41:10 PMWhereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Wichita, Kansas.
Just out of idle curiosity, do you still have a connection to Oxford?
It's actually been ten years since I was last there! I need to update the location in my profile . . .
Quote from: webny99 on April 08, 2022, 01:30:13 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 08, 2022, 12:52:59 PM
We're also the only metro area of this size or larger to not have a Wegmans ...
In New York, at least - not nationwide yet! :)
But unlike many grocery chains, they are actively expanding (mostly southward into VA/NC) and I'm hoping they will start expanding west someday as well.
Ah, yes, I was thinking specifically of New York when I wrote that sentence. Evidently I forgot to specify that.
Also forgotten: I was going to mention a couple of annoying Capital District driving habits in my "things I dislike" part. Specifically, the way people always cut across too early when making a left turn (like this (https://www.reddit.com/r/Albany/comments/ttdr6l/how_people_like_to_turn_left_in_albany_area/)), and how people insist on merging onto the freeway at 40 and only once they've forced everyone to slow down for them do they bother to accelerate up to speed. Often this is accompanied by moving into the middle lane just because. They behave as if acceleration lanes (and also auxiliary lanes) don't exist.
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 01:25:51 PM
One thing I've learned from this thread is that most people consider road trip opportunities to be fairly abundant, no matter where they live. Some consider being able to get to a lot of places within one or two days to be "good", whereas others consider being able to see a variety of locations within a few hours to be "good". I guess it's all in one's perspective, and people on here seem to have a perspective that appreciates what they have.
The exception is (1) people who live in some corner of the country, such that a large amount of the country is far away, or (2) people who have to deal with bad city traffic whenever they start out on a road trip.
Come to think of it, the northeast is arguably a corner, but it doesn't feel like one (outside of Maine) because there's so much here, especially in terms of number of cities and population density.
Quote from: ZLoth on April 02, 2022, 11:53:18 PM
This should prove to be an interesting topic leading to some interesting discussion and perspectives. Lets have everyone discuss where they live, and answer the following questions:
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
- How long you lived there?
- What you like about where you live now?
- What you dislike about where you live now?
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
- Where are would you love to move to?
Yes, this is going to be very subjective questionnaire, but something that I would really enjoy reading the answers on.
Wilmington, DE, near Philadelphia and Baltimore, and not to far from New York and Washington.
I first came to Newark, DE in 1982. I left for college in 1990 but was back some summers, and for a year and a half in 1997-98. I came back to Newark in 2002, moved near New Castle later that year, to Elsmere in 2006, and Wilmington in 2018.
I like being close to everything, with plenty of trees and the ease of getting off the beaten path.
I dislike the one-way streets and having to make sure my car is locked because it will get ransacked if I don't.
Plenty of road trip opportunities - when I was single I'd often just jump in the car and go.
I'd love to move back to Raleigh-Cary, NC. I came to see it as a neutral corner between here and Nashville, TN, where I'd lived before. My homesick wife, from rural south-central Washington, has other ideas. We've settled on retiring either in Yakima Valley or someplace like Moses Lake, WA, depending on where she can get a job.
- Harford County, Maryland, in the Baltimore metro area. Currently I live in Aberdeen.
- My entire life, going on 27 years, excepting six months in Provo, Utah in 2018 and another six months in Baltimore itself from December 2019 to June 2020.
- Plenty of bedroom communties to the south, and farmland to the north. I-95 passes through on its way between DC/Baltimore and Wilmington/Philly/NYC. In Aberdeen, I can walk onto APG, or to our Amtrak/MARC station. Havre de Grace, a touristy area, is a few minutes' drive up 40.
- Nothing. Aberdeen is one of Harford's more convenient and walkable areas.
- Once again, 95 and 40 provide road trip opportunities. You can also follow MD 22 toward Bel Air and make your way to US 1 to see a different corridor.
- Would not want to live anywhere else as of right now.
Quote from: elsmere241 on April 08, 2022, 09:44:07 PM
I dislike the one-way streets and having to make sure my car is locked because it will get ransacked if I don't.
At one time, I lived with the flip situation that was even worse: I
had to leave my car unlocked, because if I didn't it would get a window broken
and ransacked.
Quote from: kkt on April 10, 2022, 12:00:00 PM
Quote from: elsmere241 on April 08, 2022, 09:44:07 PM
I dislike the one-way streets and having to make sure my car is locked because it will get ransacked if I don't.
At one time, I lived with the flip situation that was even worse: I had to leave my car unlocked, because if I didn't it would get a window broken and ransacked.
When my sister lived on Maui, she had this rule.
Quote from: kkt on April 08, 2022, 05:53:10 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 08, 2022, 01:25:51 PM
One thing I've learned from this thread is that most people consider road trip opportunities to be fairly abundant, no matter where they live. Some consider being able to get to a lot of places within one or two days to be "good", whereas others consider being able to see a variety of locations within a few hours to be "good". I guess it's all in one's perspective, and people on here seem to have a perspective that appreciates what they have.
The exception is (1) people who live in some corner of the country, such that a large amount of the country is far away, or (2) people who have to deal with bad city traffic whenever they start out on a road trip.
We are kind of a self-selecting sample of people who identify as road geeks. If where we live didn't offer road trip opportunities that we considered good, we'd either move or give up "road geek" as part of our identity.
I've been around much of the country and believe most places in the US offer decent road trip possibilities. I think anyone's personal viewpoint depends on what they're looking for in a road trip. I enjoy cities because there are always interesting places to visit from parks to museums to shopping centers. I also look for interesting geology and plant life everywhere along with weird destinations like Salvation Mountain (https://www.salvationmountain.us/).
Southern California is great for all of this. But I had no problems finding road trip destinations when I lived in St Louis (MO wine country, Hannibal, Lincoln sites) or Tidewater (Williamsburg, Outer Banks, Civil War battlefields), or when I was growing up in Green Bay (Door Co, Northwoods, Milwaukee). There are so many interesting places to check out in the US that there are few places in the US I wouldn't enjoy for the local destinations. The most boring for me would be the area just west of the 100th meridian but even there you can find interesting places like the Sand Hills and Carhenge; I hope to check this out (http://www.kansastravel.org/monumentrocks.htm) the next time I head through Kansas. Then again, I really enjoy driving through empty spaces like the old US 66 through the Mojave, the bottom land roads along the Mississippi south of St Louis to the Gulf, and the coastal swamps along the Mid-Atlantic Coast.
Quote from: kkt on April 10, 2022, 12:00:00 PM
Quote from: elsmere241 on April 08, 2022, 09:44:07 PM
I dislike the one-way streets and having to make sure my car is locked because it will get ransacked if I don't.
At one time, I lived with the flip situation that was even worse: I had to leave my car unlocked, because if I didn't it would get a window broken and ransacked.
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
Quote from: skluth on April 10, 2022, 04:43:04 PMThe most boring for me would be the area just west of the 100th meridian but even there you can find interesting places like the Sand Hills and Carhenge; I hope to check this out (http://www.kansastravel.org/monumentrocks.htm) the next time I head through Kansas.
I liked Fort Robinson, the Chadron fur museum, and the Bowring ranch. Supposedly there is a memorial to Mari Sandoz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Sandoz) along Nebraska SR 27--I would like to check that out too.
The Chalk Pyramids are definitely worth a visit, as is Castle Rock (the former is west of K-23; the latter is east of that highway and about 12 miles south of Quinter).
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PMStealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
It's been quite a while since I've been able to log in to Nextdoor without seeing a veritable flood of posts reporting catalytic converter thefts. Recently there was a report of someone shooting a person he had caught under his vehicle with a Sawzall, and there was rejoicing in the venues that still allow anonymous commenting.
I struggle to understand parking a car outside while dedicating a perfectly good garage to the storage of household junk that, in the aggregate, comes to less than the resale value of even a ten-year-old car.
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 10, 2022, 05:35:17 PM
Quote from: skluth on April 10, 2022, 04:43:04 PMThe most boring for me would be the area just west of the 100th meridian but even there you can find interesting places like the Sand Hills and Carhenge; I hope to check this out (http://www.kansastravel.org/monumentrocks.htm) the next time I head through Kansas.
I liked Fort Robinson, the Chadron fur museum, and the Bowring ranch. Supposedly there is a memorial to Mari Sandoz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Sandoz) along Nebraska SR 27--I would like to check that out too.
The Chalk Pyramids are definitely worth a visit, as is Castle Rock (the former is west of K-23; the latter is east of that highway and about 12 miles south of Quinter).
Thanks for the suggestions. I admit I was surprised to find US 385 going north into Chadron a surprisingly green and hilly oasis hidden in western Nebraska.
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PM
Quote from: kkt on April 10, 2022, 12:00:00 PM
At one time, I lived with the flip situation that was even worse: I had to leave my car unlocked, because if I didn't it would get a window broken and ransacked.
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
When I moved to Dallas three years ago, I had to remind my 80yo mother that the garage is
not a storage space, it is where the cars go. Part of this is for the times of the year when the Texas weather appears to be on a random number generator and there is the possibility of damaging hail. Also, garaging your vehicle helps with the insurance rates.
I also replaced the garage door opener with one that has a battery backup, can be operated remotely, and can automatically close after 5 minutes.
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PM
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
Our friends in Mexico (Kansas-plated vehicle) had at least three of their four catalytic converters stolen a couple of years ago. While it was at the mechanic's. He suspects it was even one of the workers there.
Everyone recommended that he not replace them because, if he does, they'll just get stolen again.
Quote from: Bruce on April 03, 2022, 12:30:01 AM
Great idea for a thread.
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
The northern reaches of the Seattle metro area.
How long you lived there?
My entire life.
What you like about where you live now?
Temperate weather, including clear summers and minimal (but not zero) snow
Gorgeous scenery within reasonable range and plenty of recreational activities that aren't overcommercialized
A dynamic city with plenty of activities and interests
Good access to Canada for a change of pace (and to laugh at their silly names)
Agreeable politics, especially in regards to public health crises and acknowledging systematic racism
No income tax
What you dislike about where you live now?
Winter weather can be very hard to deal with, on a spiritual level.
Housing prices are depressingly out of reach, as is cost of living in many respects
The homelessness situation and untenable solutions from both sides
High gas prices, traffic congestion, transit expansion is happening too slowly
No income tax (for Jeff and Bill, among others)
Gentrification has robbed us of some pieces of local culture that can never be recreated
Increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, especially those from people migrating from out of the region
Lack of food/retail options that don't make it to the Northwest until they've already declined in quality
Hows the road trip opportunities?
Plenty of great scenic drives, but they get repetitive after a while. Being stuck in a corner of the country means repeating many drives just to reach new ground, and the other states are hours and hours away. The other option is to drive north into Canada, which has its own issues (high gas costs, limited lodging availability, until recently the extra COVID hassles). The long and dry summer days allow for great conditions, assuming you aren't unlucky enough to run into wildfire smoke, haze, or just a random overcast day.
Where are would you love to move to?
A mid-size city elsewhere in the Northwest or West. Need my mountains at the minimum or else I'll get lost.
Another Asian, cool. Honestly though, isn't the hate crime thing a nationwide thing? Cf. NY and Atlanta, likely others. Is it bigger in blue or red states?
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PM
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
There was a report on the news here the other night about thieves stealing Toyota Prius catalytic converters. The news report discussed a $500 device that looks sort of like a plate that fastens to the underside of the car to foil thieves; it struck me as conceptually similar to the steering wheel cover manufactured by the maker of the Club to guard against airbag theft. It looks like the device is available for a limited number of other vehicles besides certain Prius models. (https://catshield.com/)
Looks like a glorified skid plate. Couldn't thieves simply unbolt it, steal the cat, and then bolt the plate back on?
Quote from: kphoger on April 11, 2022, 11:34:18 AM
Looks like a glorified skid plate. Couldn't thieves simply unbolt it, steal the cat, and then bolt the plate back on?
I assume so, although I also assume the intention is to make it more time-consuming such that they won't bother with that car and will look for easier pickings. One thing we always hear about car thieves is that they tend to opt for the past of least resistance so that they can get in and out quickly. I frankly didn't pay a ton of attention to how it attaches because the TV report was focused on the Prius, which we don't have, and my glance at the website indicated they don't have one for any of the cars we do have, so there wasn't much reason for me to pay further attention.
Yes--the thinking behind the plate is to make the car a harder target, not to prevent theft in any absolute sense. Thieves usually look to get the converter out in less than 30 seconds with a Sawzall. A plate requires at minimum additional tools and time for the bolts.
This said, I have grave reservations about this particular anti-theft measure because it sounds like an excellent way to create new rust initiation points. Garages über alles.
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 11, 2022, 02:10:28 PM
Yes--the thinking behind the plate is to make the car a harder target, not to prevent theft in any absolute sense.
There's plenty of product packaging like this as well - even items as small as a toothbrush often have packaging that doesn't outright prevent someone from stealing it, but make it particularly annoying and time-consuming to open.
Quote from: J N Winkler on April 11, 2022, 02:10:28 PM
.... Garages über alles.
I agree with that, although it's not necessarily that easy if you have more cars than the space available in your garage. We have a one-car garage, for example, so even if we only had two cars, one would be parked outside, and that one would be my wife's because for whatever reason, she has extreme difficulty simply backing straight out of the garage (an issue that was the subject of its own thread (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=15286.msg2059072#msg2059072) in 2015) or, really, even just from the driveway.
Quote from: kphoger on April 11, 2022, 10:15:30 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PM
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
Our friends in Mexico (Kansas-plated vehicle) had at least three of their four catalytic converters stolen a couple of years ago. While it was at the mechanic's. He suspects it was even one of the workers there.
Everyone recommended that he not replace them because, if he does, they'll just get stolen again.
Isn't driving without a catalytic converter fairly dangerous with a risk for the exhaust chemicals getting in the car? I remember reading something like that somewhere.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 11, 2022, 04:47:35 PMQuote from: J N Winkler on April 11, 2022, 02:10:28 PM
.... Garages über alles.
I agree with that, although it's not necessarily that easy if you have more cars than the space available in your garage. We have a one-car garage, for example, so even if we only had two cars, one would be parked outside, and that one would be my wife's because for whatever reason, she has extreme difficulty simply backing straight out of the garage (an issue that was the subject of its own thread (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=15286.msg2059072#msg2059072) in 2015) or, really, even just from the driveway.
Yup--we've had our own spells of not being able to garage 100% of the family fleet, and in cases where a house has stood for decades without any covered car parking, I've found $20,000 just to build a detached garage to be a tough sell.
Carports help with hail, but not catalytic converter thefts, and don't really make it possible to use a battery maintainer with the hood left open. I've also heard of people pulling ballistic nylon netting on frames over cars parked in the driveway whenever heavy thunderstorms are in the forecast.
Quote from: vdeane on April 11, 2022, 08:34:06 PMIsn't driving without a catalytic converter fairly dangerous with a risk for the exhaust chemicals getting in the car? I remember reading something like that somewhere.
It is unhealthy, unsafe, and illegal, since it is against federal law to disable an emissions control device. But the most pressing disadvantage is the noise. When a converter is deliberately removed by the vehicle owner (often because it is plugged by residue from years and years of oil burning and is registered in a state with no vehicle inspection except in connection with re-titling), it is typically replaced with a straight pipe.
Quote from: vdeane on April 11, 2022, 08:34:06 PM
Isn't driving without a catalytic converter fairly dangerous with a risk for the exhaust chemicals getting in the car? I remember reading something like that somewhere.
In our old 2004 Grand Caravan, a shade-tree mechanic replaced the cat (it only had one) but welded it on completely backwards by mistake. We drove with it like that for 100k miles, and we didn't die.
Quote from: index on April 08, 2022, 01:16:20 PM
- Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas?
I live in Boone, NC for college.
- How long you lived there?
Since May 31, 2021. I would have lived here full time, but due to developing a disability in August, my living arrangement didn't work out. I had to move from unincorporated Watauga County into the dorms that month.
- What you like about where you live now?
The scenery is good. I don't have to rely on my car and I can walk or take the bus most places. You can usually find something to do most days, primarily recreation-wise. Beech Mountain is nice. You have access to the Tri-Cities in a short drive if you run out of things to do and you want to look somewhere else, or you're just bored. The springs and summers aren't nearly as hot and humid as they are in lower elevations.
- What you dislike about where you live now?
Sometimes it just gets boring, being a small town. You can run out of people to meet pretty fast. The traffic is pretty horrendous for a town this size. Sometimes the winters can drag on. Snow is cool and all for a few days, but I get sick of it after there's been a foot on the ground for three weeks, you're trudging through snow-covered sidewalks, you're bundling up in tons of layers for 15 degree weather, only to have to take them all off so you don't sweat profusely indoors, and your pantlegs are always wet. The parking situation is terrible, and if the buses aren't running I have to walk up a massive hill just to get to my car. Sometimes I have to drive to Lenoir or Morganton to do something I can't get done here.
- Hows the road trip opportunities?
We have plenty of scenic routes. The famous Blue Ridge Parkway, and plenty of backroads to look around. I like to drive around aimlessly, and Boone is an excellent starting point for excursions deeper into the mountains and into Tennessee. I've found myself in Kentucky twice. You're only 1.5-2.5 hours from places like Asheville.
- Where are would you love to move to?
I want to settle down in the Tri-Cities when I finish college. The cost of living is cheap compared to other places and there's plenty of job opportunities for what I'll have finished studying. I'm honestly not a fan of cities that are too big (I never liked the sprawl, size, and lack of things to do in Charlotte), so they seem like the right size for me. You still have a lot of the advantages of Boone. Access to the mountains, scenic areas, ski areas, etc.
It looks like I'll be in the Tri-Cities earlier than I expected. After a staff member here apparently started spreading rumors about my disabilty, which led to a series of events that can only be described as extremely distressing, I no longer feel comfortable nor welcome at my school, which led me to apply to transfer to ETSU. I think this would be better for me anyway regardless of whether that happened or not. I spend a lot of time in Johnson City and I have three friends in the area who are honestly better people than those I know here.
Just for clarification, by "a staff member here" you mean at your college, and not a staff member at AARoads, right?
Quote from: vdeane on April 11, 2022, 08:34:06 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 11, 2022, 10:15:30 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PM
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
Our friends in Mexico (Kansas-plated vehicle) had at least three of their four catalytic converters stolen a couple of years ago. While it was at the mechanic's. He suspects it was even one of the workers there.
Everyone recommended that he not replace them because, if he does, they'll just get stolen again.
Isn't driving without a catalytic converter fairly dangerous with a risk for the exhaust chemicals getting in the car? I remember reading something like that somewhere.
If you just leave the exhaust ending where it does under the car yes, not a good idea.
If you put in straight pipes to take it to the back and do a proper job it should be fine. Of course at that point you could put in actual converters, at least junkyard ones if nothing else.
Quote from: HighwayStar on April 14, 2022, 07:21:08 PM
Quote from: vdeane on April 11, 2022, 08:34:06 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 11, 2022, 10:15:30 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 10, 2022, 04:48:17 PM
Stealing catalytic converters is a big thing around here. When we were looking to buy our current house, the other option was one that was bigger and a little bit nicer inside but had no garage. We opted for this house with its two car garage and it's paid off as three cars on our block have had cat converters stolen in the past year.
Our friends in Mexico (Kansas-plated vehicle) had at least three of their four catalytic converters stolen a couple of years ago. While it was at the mechanic's. He suspects it was even one of the workers there.
Everyone recommended that he not replace them because, if he does, they'll just get stolen again.
Isn't driving without a catalytic converter fairly dangerous with a risk for the exhaust chemicals getting in the car? I remember reading something like that somewhere.
If you just leave the exhaust ending where it does under the car yes, not a good idea.
If you put in straight pipes to take it to the back and do a proper job it should be fine. Of course at that point you could put in actual converters, at least junkyard ones if nothing else.
Which brings me back to the reason he didn't replace them to begin with. Are we just going to keep going round in circles?
Quote from: index on April 14, 2022, 10:49:06 AM
It looks like I'll be in the Tri-Cities earlier than I expected. After a staff member here apparently started spreading rumors about my disabilty, which led to a series of events that can only be described as extremely distressing, I no longer feel comfortable nor welcome at my school, which led me to apply to transfer to ETSU. I think this would be better for me anyway regardless of whether that happened or not. I spend a lot of time in Johnson City and I have three friends in the area who are honestly better people than those I know here.
I'm sorry for your situation!
Which Tri-Cities? The ones I'm most familiar with are in Washington State, Kennewick, Pasco, Richland.
Quote from: kkt on April 14, 2022, 08:37:28 PM
Quote from: index on April 14, 2022, 10:49:06 AM
It looks like I'll be in the Tri-Cities earlier than I expected. After a staff member here apparently started spreading rumors about my disabilty, which led to a series of events that can only be described as extremely distressing, I no longer feel comfortable nor welcome at my school, which led me to apply to transfer to ETSU. I think this would be better for me anyway regardless of whether that happened or not. I spend a lot of time in Johnson City and I have three friends in the area who are honestly better people than those I know here.
I'm sorry for your situation!
Which Tri-Cities? The ones I'm most familiar with are in Washington State, Kennewick, Pasco, Richland.
The Tri-Cities region in Tennessee, and a little bit Virginia.
Quote from: kphoger on April 14, 2022, 08:22:24 PM
Are we just going to keep going round in circles?
It's HighwayStar, so history has shown that the answer is probably yes.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 14, 2022, 06:34:21 PM
Just for clarification, by "a staff member here" you mean at your college, and not a staff member at AARoads, right?
Yeah. I apologize, I probably should've been more specific.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 15, 2022, 02:47:13 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 14, 2022, 08:22:24 PM
Are we just going to keep going round in circles?
It's HighwayStar, so history has shown that the answer is probably yes.
Highway stars going in circles? Now all I can think about is the stars on the "Eisenhower Interstate System" signs.
Quote from: webny99 on April 16, 2022, 07:43:25 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 15, 2022, 02:47:13 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 14, 2022, 08:22:24 PM
Are we just going to keep going round in circles?
It's HighwayStar, so history has shown that the answer is probably yes.
Highway stars going in circles? Now all I can think about is the stars on the "Eisenhower Interstate System" signs.
I wonder what percentage of motorists actually know why those are there. My guess, somewhere below 5%.
What I like about South Texas is that we have the most attractive climate anywhere in the world! Temperatures averaging around 50 low/ 70 high throughout the winter, and around 80 low/100 high throughout the summer. And we are too far south that things like tornadoes and frozen precipitation are extremely rare to happen. We can enjoy golfing and beach activities practically any day of the year, even on Christmas.
It is also the most affordable region in the country; I do not know of any place else where a paycheck can go farther than here. And the people are very much laid-back and easy-going (just like me).
Where we could improve on is adding more things to do. It's sort of a depressing feeling that South Texas can't match the tourism activity that South Florida constantly enjoys. Forget about Miami, I'm just wishing that Corpus Christi could rival other places like Ft. Myers, Daytona Beach, Ft. Walton/Destin, Melbourne/Cocoa Beach areas in attracting visitors/tourists. We are known for a good boating, fishing, and bird-watching city, but we seem to be lagging in the charm that several places in South Florida seem to have.
I dunno, I found Port A very charming whenever I went there in 2019. But I was only there for three days, and I was there to go to the beach, so it's possible I wouldn't have the same opinion after a longer stay. But I did like it enough to want to go back.
I think most people aren't as tolerant of highs in the 100s as people like you and me who experience that every summer, though. Corpus also gets really humid, so I'm willing to bet it's pretty uncomfortable that time of year.
Quote from: jgb191 on April 17, 2022, 04:39:38 AM
What I like about South Texas is that we have the most attractive climate anywhere in the world! Temperatures averaging around 50 low/ 70 high throughout the winter, and around 80 low/100 high throughout the summer.
That sounds terrible to me. I like places with a high diurnal shift as well as seasons.
I like beaches and warm, dry weather.
Unfortunately, my area is the exact opposite of all that.
I will post two: one for my college town and the other for where I've always lived: I feel like I am a resident of both at the same time as I go between the two fairly often.
First: College town
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Kingston, Ontario
How long you lived there? Since September 2021, although was absent for a 2-month gap due to lockdown from Jan-Feb 2022.
What do you like about where you live now? I live in one of the oldest parts of the city, in a limestone building built in the 1800s. It certainly is very different from the car-dependent, cookie-cutter suburb I grew up in. The neighbourhood has a bunch of variety of buildings, and is very walkable - I can do everything without a car. And for slightly longer distances, I get on my bike. There is no bike infrastructure, however, the roads in this area do not have too much car traffic to be scared. I live car-free and when I do need a car (to go home for example), I just use Communauto, a car-sharing service. I have calculated the costs and it is cheaper to use that than it is to pay for a car, parking, gas, insurance, and have it sit there parked for the majority of the time.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Unfortunately, because I live in a walkable area, big box stores that I have grown accustomed to, such as Walmart, are inaccessible. I could technically take the bus out to the burbs to the only Walmart here, but is it really worth the time to save $3? Same goes for fast food. I am also not accustomed to stores closing as early as 6 PM on Sundays - that just doesn't really happen in Toronto. As for the city itself, there isn't too much to do, but of course, I came from a bigger city, so that should be expected. Not many 100k population cities have rock concerts, I guess, so perhaps it really isn't bad for its size.
How are the road trip opportunities? Ehhhh, within a 3-hour drive, the largest cities are just Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, which I've been to countless times. I could go down to the States as well, which the nearest town would be Watertown NY, with Syracuse being another 2-hour drive. However, due to the border restriction, I haven't gotten the chance to go south yet.
Second: Home
Whereabouts do you live (in general terms) including nearby major metro areas? Vaughan, Ontario (suburb north of Toronto)
How long you lived there? Since I was 3 years old.
What do you like about where you live now?
Vaughan is one of the better-positioned suburbs, as it is almost directly north of downtown Toronto in longitude. Thus, compared to Markham, ON, for example, getting downtown is a lot better, with better transit options (subway, or frequent commuter rail) and freeway options. In addition, Vaughan has been selected as the municipality in the region to get all the investment, as it recently got the new subway extension, a lot of improvements to its GO line (commuter train), and it also gets significant funding for new road projects (Major Mackenzie Drive, Highway 427 recently). It is also building a brand new downtown core with high-density housing adjacent to the new subway line.
York Region is also more forward-thinking with regards to transportation. For example, while Peel Region (which contains Mississauga and Brampton) and Halton Region (which contains Oakville) continued to widen roads to 6-lane boulevards with medians, York Region does not permit that, only allowing 6 lane roads if one of them is HOV. In addition, with every new road reconstruction, there is better bike infrastructure.
What you dislike about where you live now?
Despite what I said about being more forward-thinking with roads, York Region Transit would be the worst transit system in the area with regard to its population. Unlike Mississauga and Brampton, which have understood that good transit induces more ridership (if the bus comes every 10 minutes, more people would be enticed to ride compared to if the bus comes every hour). YRT doesn't understand that and continues to be reactive to ridership instead of proactive. In addition, Vaughan at its core is still a car-dependent, bedroom community, with low-density housing for most of its land area. Finally, with all of Toronto, the housing prices are insane. There is no way I will be able to own a home in the future. $1 million houses is smh.
How are the road trip opportunities?
The largest cities are a bit far (5 hours for Montreal, Ottawa, 4 hours to Detroit). So not that much for a day trip.
Where are would you love to move to? I really like Montreal. I also really like Los Angeles. Montreal for its culture, walkability, relatively good transit, entertainment, and uniqueness, while LA for its weather, diversity entertainment, and terrain.
In addition, I'd like to spend a year or two in the future in Asia (perhaps Bangkok or Taipei) teaching English, to know what it's like to live in Asia.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 17, 2022, 05:04:13 AM
I dunno, I found Port A very charming whenever I went there in 2019. But I was only there for three days, and I was there to go to the beach, so it's possible I wouldn't have the same opinion after a longer stay. But I did like it enough to want to go back.
I think most people aren't as tolerant of highs in the 100s as people like you and me who experience that every summer, though. Corpus also gets really humid, so I'm willing to bet it's pretty uncomfortable that time of year.
When you say 'Port A', I'm pretty sure you mean Port Aransas right? Because there is Port Arthur, which is also commonly referred to as Port A in their local area. Yeah Port Aransas and Rockport/Fulton each have a bit of a charm. And Port Aransas is quite popular especially among Spring Breakers, but the small area gets way too crowded during peak season and the traffic lines for the ferry can be almost hour-long even with running full capacity. There also used to be a casino night cruise called Texas Treasure that would take passengers eleven miles away from the coast and then back again.
There are plans in the future to upgrade the North Beach section of Corpus Christi by adding a theme park, cruise port docks, concert amphitheater, and a canal for water taxis (similar to the Riverwalk in San Antonio).
https://www.cctexas.com/sites/default/files/North%20Beach%20Development%20Plan.pdf
https://www.corpuschristi-mpo.org/01_mtp/2020-2045/publicmeeting_1/CorpusChristi-North-Beach-Development-Plan.pdf
https://www.northbeach.cc/
Quote from: jgb191 on April 17, 2022, 04:38:23 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 17, 2022, 05:04:13 AM
I dunno, I found Port A very charming whenever I went there in 2019. But I was only there for three days, and I was there to go to the beach, so it's possible I wouldn't have the same opinion after a longer stay. But I did like it enough to want to go back.
I think most people aren't as tolerant of highs in the 100s as people like you and me who experience that every summer, though. Corpus also gets really humid, so I'm willing to bet it's pretty uncomfortable that time of year.
When you say 'Port A', I'm pretty sure you mean Port Aransas right? Because there is Port Arthur, which is also commonly referred to as Port A in their local area. Yeah Port Aransas and Rockport/Fulton each have a bit of a charm. And Port Aransas is quite popular especially among Spring Breakers, but the small area gets way too crowded during peak season and the traffic lines for the ferry can be almost hour-long even with running full capacity. There also used to be a casino night cruise called Texas Treasure that would take passengers eleven miles away from the coast and then back again.
Yeah, Port Aransas. I went during the middle of the week right after Memorial Day, so it wasn't too crowded. I also avoided the ferry by taking the PR 22 bridge over.
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 17, 2022, 05:04:13 AMI think most people aren't as tolerant of highs in the 100s as people like you and me who experience that every summer, though. Corpus also gets really humid, so I'm willing to bet it's pretty uncomfortable that time of year.
As far as our climate goes, yes the city does see dew points average close to 80 degrees (and several days each year past that mark) during the summer season, so it averages the highest Heat Index in the country. But during the summer afternoons, the strong sea breezes help temper the humidity; I've seen several sources indicate that Corpus Christi is one of the windiest cities in North America. However it's during the summer nights that you really feel uncomfortable due to the lack of the sea breeze.
And judging by others' opinions about their comfort levels, I would guess that my heat tolerance probably is higher than the average person.
Quote from: jgb191 on April 18, 2022, 01:11:54 AM
As far as our climate goes, yes the city does see dew points average close to 80 degrees (and several days each year past that mark) during the summer season, so it averages the highest Heat Index in the country. But during the summer afternoons, the strong sea breezes help temper the humidity; I've seen several sources indicate that Corpus Christi is one of the windiest cities in North America. However it's during the summer nights that you really feel uncomfortable due to the lack of the sea breeze.
And judging by others' opinions about their comfort levels, I would guess that my heat tolerance probably is higher than the average person.
When our family and my parents vacationed on Galveston Island this past July, it just seemed a bit wrong that clothes hung outside dried
less quickly than clothes hung inside.
Contrast that to my more common destination of northern Mexico, where you can hang your clothes on the line to dry and, by the time you're done hanging them all up, you can already snap the first item in half like a cracker.
[/hyperbole]
Bumping this to ask if there's anyone that's lived in Las Vegas that might want to share what they like and dislike about it. My "dislike" list for Oklahoma is getting to be too long, so I'm interested in a change of scenery.