Thinking about moving...
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I was born and raised in the Arizona sun, same as my wife. We both live up a little north and are used to the desert brush, surrounding mountain ranges, and some forest lands.
It's great country, but small towns. The biggest city around would be Phoenix, but neither of us want to touch Phx with a 20 foot burning cactus arm.
My desire would be to live near the woods and stay in a mountain region, but near a big city. Her desire is to be closer to the ocean, and near a big city.
There are so many things to think about when considering moving somewhere you've never been, and have no family there. You have to think about politics and city/country life balance and raising kids and so many other views and stuff to see if it matches our desires.
The entire west coast is out for us, we have no attraction to the lower California big cities, and up north the water is just too cold. Washington and Oregon are not for us either.
Neither of us have ever been to the east states or touched the Atlantic waters. Florida has some perks but we aren't leaning that way with the humidity and hurricanes and stuff. I don't know.Without blabbing on forever, we've essentially landed on Houston as a potential home. It is, of course, one of the largest cities in the US, right near the gulf, and lots of trees and grass (what my wife really wants).
I've done some initial research. On paper it seems to work out pretty good as far as affordability and cost of living and big city amenities and family life, etc etc. Plus as a tech guy there should be plenty of work there, or at least ability to run my freelance biz there no problem.
I would miss my mountains and forests terribly, but it could also be fun having the ocean near by and some different scenery and city life.
So then, does anybody here live in Houston? What's it like? What's the gulf really like? Is it a good city to raise a family? Benefits to running a home business there are far as freedoms and politics? Good stuff to do and adventures to find?
Any other near-coastal cities to think about?
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Lots of us are in Dallas, the city to the north. But @John-Nicholson is in Houston. My wife @dominica's family is on the south side of Houston near the water (not ON the water, just like fifteen minutes away.) So we are in Houston all the time. We will be there in May for a bit for sure. We are there every few months and have lived there a little bit.
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Houston is huge and sprawling, so you can get a lot of variety. The Woodlands are nothing like downtown are nothing like Pasadena is nothing like League City which is nothing like the island. Loads of tech and the cost of living is so low it's like being outside of the US.
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Houston has great airport connections, too.
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I'm most worried about humidity.
I've always lived in nose-bleed dryness. I'm afraid if I lived there I would turn into a walking ball of sweat like that politician from the early X-Men movie. -
@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
I'm most worried about humidity.
I've always lived in nose-bleed dryness. I'm afraid if I lived there I would turn into a walking ball of sweat like that politician from the early X-Men movie.Oh it's humid... SO humid.
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@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
I'm most worried about humidity.
I've always lived in nose-bleed dryness. I'm afraid if I lived there I would turn into a walking ball of sweat like that politician from the early X-Men movie.Don't worry, you'll grow gills by the third or fourth year.
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@RojoLoco said in Thinking about moving...:
@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
I'm most worried about humidity.
I've always lived in nose-bleed dryness. I'm afraid if I lived there I would turn into a walking ball of sweat like that politician from the early X-Men movie.Don't worry, you'll grow gills by the third or fourth year.
If he doesn't grow mushrooms first.
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South side of Houston has loads of water. Both the bay and the gulf. North side has lots of trees.
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Can't recommend Portland Oregon enough - that's where I'd live were I to move south.
You'd freeze to death after years of AZ but $0.02
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What is preventing you from considering moving to the Silicon Slopes?
Salt Lake City has a lot of good paying IT jobs and a lot of mountains, trees, and shrubberies. We don't have Ocean, but we do have A LOT of salt water...
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I was looking at Portland a lot. Not sure the politics are what we're after. Plus ain't the waters just this side of glacier? The point is we want warm sand and fun waters we can actually go in!
For me (not the wife so much), I was definitely looking at some places in Utah and Colorado. Plenty of mountains and decent cities.
If you had a fight between Portland, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Colorado Springs, who would win?
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@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
If you had a fight between Portland, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Colorado Springs, who would win?
I've been to Seattle, never Portland. And never SLC. But definitely not Colorado Springs for me. Was there recently and it definitely does not make my short list in any way. My parents always thought that I would like it there. They are nuts.
Houston is not my choice in Texas. I prefer Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.
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However, I really like Galveston Island.
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@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
I was looking at Portland a lot. Not sure the politics are what we're after. Plus ain't the waters just this side of glacier? The point is we want warm sand and fun waters we can actually go in!
For me (not the wife so much), I was definitely looking at some places in Utah and Colorado. Plenty of mountains and decent cities.
If you had a fight between Portland, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Colorado Springs, who would win?
@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
I was looking at Portland a lot. Not sure the politics are what we're after. Plus ain't the waters just this side of glacier? The point is we want warm sand and fun waters we can actually go in!
For me (not the wife so much), I was definitely looking at some places in Utah and Colorado. Plenty of mountains and decent cities.
If you had a fight between Portland, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Colorado Springs, who would win?
I just moved to SLC last October. I had a decent gig in Southern Indiana as a Linux Admin/SysAdmin making a comparable salary for the region. SLC's market for IT Pros is pretty hot right now. By moving here we basically added the equivalent of a third income from the bump in salary. My salary alone went up about 65%.
And, while it snows here, it is NOTHING like the snow in the Midwest. SLC snow is light, fluffy, and pretty quick to melt. Temperatures haven't been quite as cold either. And you really can't beat the scenery.
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@scottalanmiller said in Thinking about moving...:
Houston is not my choice in Texas. I prefer Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.
It must be asked....why?
I prefer the politics of Houston over the others, which are often labeled as very liberal. Perhaps not as much as, say, LA or Seattle, but I don't prefer the drama of it.
Houston, from what I read anyway, has a lot in terms of food life, parks and rec, big malls and shopping centers, and many of the surrounding towns housing is affordable.
Just haven't looked deeper at Austin or San Antonio yet. Dallas is a little too far north, can't see the ocean from there! -
@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
I prefer the politics of Houston over the others, which are often labeled as very liberal. Perhaps not as much as, say, LA or Seattle, but I don't prefer the drama of it.
I've never, ever heard of Dallas or San Antonio labeled as anything but conservative before. Austin, of course, is liberal. But the other two? Not even close.
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@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
Houston, from what I read anyway, has a lot in terms of food life, parks and rec, big malls and shopping centers, and many of the surrounding towns housing is affordable.
Yes, if you are looking for suburban sprawl and shopping malls, Houston is the place to be. Dallas has some horrific sprawl like that in the north like Plano, too, but it is not as extensive.
Houston does have more of a real downtown than Dallas, which has, um... none.
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@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
Just haven't looked deeper at Austin or San Antonio yet. Dallas is a little too far north, can't see the ocean from there!
Houston proper to the ocean can be two hours in traffic.
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@guyinpv said in Thinking about moving...:
Plus ain't the waters just this side of glacier? The point is we want warm sand and fun waters we can actually go in!
eye rolls
