OT - Tell me where you live and your favorite and least favorite parts about the area

[owltx]

This has been a fun and interesting thread!

I was also born and raised in Indiana (Bloomington) and loved it. Great town, great place to grow up. Beautiful area - fantastic falls. Indiana has incredible state parks.

I have been just outside of Houston, Texas the last 20 or so years. Came down here for grad school and ended up staying - met my husband down here (funnily enough, he is also a fellow Hoosier) and we both have good jobs and so ended up staying.

We love the current town we are in - very walkable, a ton of trees, hike and bike paths that are really pretty and lots of choices right outside or door step, easy distance to trails and several lakes nearby. Great restaurant and grocery store choices, fantastic rec center - pre-covid there were a ton of things to do. DS rides his bike to school and takes tennis lessons down the street.

With all that said, DH and I have talked a lot in recent years about moving. The summers are just sooooo hot and humid. August for me is just really rough - emotionally and physically - I can't get outside like I like to, just sitting on the porch is hot. August for me is equivalent to February in Indiana. Just sick of the weather. The really rough part is that it does not cool down at night - yes, summers in southern IN were hot and humid but it would cool down at night and you could sit outside and enjoy the evening. We would love to be somewhere closer to skiing, but we are not sure how we would adapt to full season snow again. My elderly parents live in Texas, about three hours away, so that is a consideration for us as well - they have needed lots of help in recent years. So lots of things to consider.

[alisoncooks]

Born and raised in coastal NC, though now I live near Chapel Hill.

We like the mountains and beach, so we appreciate the shortish drive to both. Lots of state parks and big (for NC) cities within driving distance. Also plenty of rural areas still around. Big state university system. E-NC BBQ.

Con: humidity. Oh my word, I hate sweating and NC can get humid. Also: pollen season is pretty gross here. I'd love to live somewhere with just a bit more snow (not a lot, but at least the guarantee of 1-2 good snows/yr).

[BigBadBetty]

I now live outside Madison, Wisconsin. However, I lived in downtown Madison for 30 years. I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee. I always imagined that I wanted to live in a bigger city. However, when I moved to Madison, I realized that I found the right place. It is big enough to have a Trader Joe’s, Costco, variety of restaurants and an airport. In non-pandemic times, there are always little festivals and fun inexpensive things to do. And if I need a bigger city, Milwaukee is 1.5 hours away and Chicago is 2.5 hours away.

However, it is small enough that I can be in the country in 30 minutes. Getting from one side of town to the other is no big deal. People are very active here. I wished I enjoyed bicycling more. Bicycling to work is considered totally normal. Our bike paths are plowed in the winter. I used to walk to work.

Cost of living is weird. It is expensive compared to the rest of Wisconsin. However, if you compare to living in major U.S. city, it is not expensive at all. We have easy access to specialists for both ourselves and our pets through the university.

The negatives are the cold winters and short days during the winter. Our property taxes are ridiculous. In the last 10 years, our road conditions have gotten awful. Rural internet can be a joke. Racism is a constant problem. The city is also suffering from growing pains. Traffic is worse than it was (but nothing like a big city). Crime is worse than it was (but still better than many other places). Family farms are mostly gone, and the corporate farms are polluting the water. Not being a big city, the public transport isn't as robust. Only certain neighborhood are good for car free living and they are the most expensive.

I would like to become a snow bird in a few years to make the winters more tolerable.

[wendug]

Originally Posted by owltx

This has been a fun and interesting thread!

I was also born and raised in Indiana (Bloomington) and loved it. Great town, great place to grow up. Beautiful area - fantastic falls. Indiana has incredible state parks.

I have been just outside of Houston, Texas the last 20 or so years. Came down here for grad school and ended up staying - met my husband down here (funnily enough, he is also a fellow Hoosier) and we both have good jobs and so ended up staying.

Most of my family lives in Bloomington now. I went to IU for school and at that time none of my family lived there. My parents retired there and my brothers soon followed them. I visit Bloomington a few times a year and it is a fun and gorgeous area.

I also moved to Texas for grad school (UNT), but only stayed in the Dallas area for 5 years before heading back north. We ended up in Chicago for my husband's job and I never envisioned myself living here. But I like Chicago even though the taxes are horrendous.

[wendug]

Just wanted to add since I mentioned living in Texas a bit- I hope all you VFer's living in Texas right now are doing okay. I keep hearing about the power outages and lack of water and food and I'm horrified! Stay strong and I hope you get warmer temperatures soon!

[Hsim]

Originally Posted by athompson10

Born and raised Buckeye (Cleveland area), living in NYC for the last 35 years.

I love this city so much: it's walkable, the subways get you anywhere you need to go for a relatively cheap fare, so much good food, good museums and library system, racial and ethnic diversity, and New Yorkers are both funny and resilient.

Downsides: hot and humid summers when it seems like everyone is in the street making noise late at night.

Yes, Yes, Yes. I was born in Queens and have lived either in Queens or Long Island for my whole life and worked in NYC for over 30 years. I loved commuting to the city - the walking, food, people, the parks, I met so many people from all over the world. Now that I both work and live in the suburbs I find it boring. There is not that much to do here and it is very hot and humid in the summers. I find the winters tolerable but my husband no longer wants to deal with shoveling. And not to mention taxes are very high.
About 5 years ago my daughter moved to Ca. so we finally decided to move there in retirement. In a month from now we will be moving!

[owltx]

Originally Posted by wendug

Most of my family lives in Bloomington now. I went to IU for school and at that time none of my family lived there. My parents retired there and my brothers soon followed them. I visit Bloomington a few times a year and it is a fun and gorgeous area.

I also moved to Texas for grad school (UNT), but only stayed in the Dallas area for 5 years before heading back north. We ended up in Chicago for my husband's job and I never envisioned myself living here. But I like Chicago even though the taxes are horrendous.

Wendug, I think we must have had some crisscrossing life paths! I actually lived just north of Chicago for undergrad for for years. Loved it! Great city, so pretty lots of fun, convenient el. But the winters really got to me. I have heard from many friends that are still there that the taxes have really gotten out of sight.

How did you like Dallas? We don't actually know the area all that well, but have been a couple of times and enjoyed it.

[Izzy]

Originally Posted by owltx

Wendug, I think we must have had some crisscrossing life paths! I actually lived just north of Chicago for undergrad for for years. Loved it! Great city, so pretty lots of fun, convenient el. But the winters really got to me. I have heard from many friends that are still there that the taxes have really gotten out of sight.

How did you like Dallas? We don't actually know the area all that well, but have been a couple of times and enjoyed it.

I grew up in the north suburbs of Chicago from 6 grade on. My mother grew up there and we moved from California where my dad was from because my mother missed it. I lived in the area until I married and moved to the far west suburbs.

[wendug]

Originally Posted by owltx

Wendug, I think we must have had some crisscrossing life paths! I actually lived just north of Chicago for undergrad for for years. Loved it! Great city, so pretty lots of fun, convenient el. But the winters really got to me. I have heard from many friends that are still there that the taxes have really gotten out of sight.

How did you like Dallas? We don't actually know the area all that well, but have been a couple of times and enjoyed it.

LOL! Yes we have done some criss-crossing of paths! There were a lot of things we liked about Dallas, but others (the heat!, the crazy drivers!) not so much. Denton is a fun college town if you've never been. I miss the food from Dallas- cajun, tex-mex, cuban- and we loved going to all the clubs to see bands. Yes, Chicago is a "foodie" town, but to find good versions of the food we like is quite expensive or far from where we are (SW suburbs). All of our family is in Indiana, so that played a big role in leaving Texas. We only went to Houston once for a quick trip and I really don't remember much about it other than being stuck in traffic for a long time.

[bee]

Originally Posted by Hsim

Yes, Yes, Yes. I was born in Queens and have lived either in Queens or Long Island for my whole life and worked in NYC for over 30 years. I loved commuting to the city - the walking, food, people, the parks, I met so many people from all over the world. Now that I both work and live in the suburbs I find it boring. There is not that much to do here and it is very hot and humid in the summers. I find the winters tolerable but my husband no longer wants to deal with shoveling. And not to mention taxes are very high.
About 5 years ago my daughter moved to Ca. so we finally decided to move there in retirement. In a month from now we will be moving!

That'll be a big change for you -- congratulations! What part of California will you be in?