I Love L.A. - but I want out!

In My Humble Opinion
41

I’ll tell you a Denver story and see what you think.

On July 4th we went to my son’s house for a BBQ and fireworks. It was windy and kind of cold. We ended up eating inside.

Now when I say cold, I mean cold for July. We were dressed for warm weather; otherwise it might have all worked.

However. We also went to his house last year for Thanksgiving dinner. It was November so we were dressed warmly, but it was a sunny, beautiful day.

So, on Thanksgiving, we ate outside, and stayed out on the patio most of the afternoon (until the sun got low, which of course it did pretty early). Some of us even took our sweaters off.

Lots of thunderstorms. Major league baseball, football, soccer, basketball. (Most of our teams suck so tickets are readily available.) Mountains. Many transplanted Californians. For some reason, also a hell of a lot of people transplanted from Michigan.

Twelve-hour drive to the nearest beach.

42

Yup, that’s a lot like Calgary. Do you get Chinooks in Denver, too?

43

I really like it here in Austin. Yes, it’s warm, hot even during the summer, but does not have the sweltering humidity that East Texas (Houston through Dallas) has. No snow. Some rain, but not a lot. It’s fairly green, and in fact, the city keeps sections set aside as “Greenbelt” - natural parkland, usually with hike and bike trails. Austin has many miles of these, they’re a lot of fun.

There are a lot of outdoors activities around town. A couple of lakes, with boating, skiing, what have you. Nearby state parks, with camping. It’s in the hill country of central Texas, which is beautiful country, not flat, but not killer mountainous either.

Socially, Austin is a diverse city, and one of the few liberal-leaning and tolerant spots in Texas. There is lots of night life, including tons of clubs on 6th street (but other places as well). Austin styles itself “The live Music Capital of the World”. I haven’t done enough research to know if that’s definitive, but - one weekday evening I stopped for a hamburger for dinner, and they had a live guitarist playing. There’s enough music and variety here for the title to at least be arguable. Plenty of shopping, too, and the town doesn’t shut down after 8pm (which is what I felt like when I lived in New England).

Most of the industry here is technology - Freescale, AMD, Applied Materials, and a ton of others - leading to another Austin nickname - “The Silicon Hills”.

I don’t know enough to know if it would be a perfect match for you, but you might want to take a look.

(I swear, I should be getting a paycheck from the Tx tourist bureau…)

44

You ruled out Southern Nevada, but there’s Northern Nevada. So many Californians are moving here. I live in the Reno-Sparks area and it’s beautiful. The Sierra Nevadas surround the city. Our winters, with the exception of last winter are mild. If it snows overnight, the snow is almost always gone by noon the next day. We have hot summers, but no where near as hot as Vegas, and like Las Vegas, no humidity.
Lake Tahoe is a “must-see” for this area and is about an hour away.

We are becoming more and more metropolitan with urban sprawl…more shopping opportunities, but less landscape to look at.

45

Three winters in the Midwest and I have yet to shovel any snow. At all. Ha to them! The city takes care of my snow-shoveling needs. (Of course, I live in an apartment.) IMO, the most annoying thing about cold weather is figuring out what to do with all your excess clothing when you go into a heated environment. Where the hell can you put your coat, hat, gloves, and scarf when you go grocery shopping? Takes a little bit of juggling.

46

Asmovian, I’d like to make the case for Chicago again.

Not to slag on other cities, but Chicago is a real “City”. you coudl spend the next 40 years in Chi-town and never run out of things to do. I’ve travelled a lot as part of my job, and the only that remotely comes close (well…exceeds, in many respects) is NYC. We have theatre, sports teams galore (major and minor league), a thriving (and growing) tech sector, symphonies, opera, more 4-star restaurants than anywhere else in the USA (per Mobil), and the people are NICE.

The winters…I don’t know, but they don’t bother me. Yeah, you’ll get some snow, but it’s nothing like some of the lake-effect cities, or even like Denver (from what I’ve been told). Does it get cold? Sure, but nothing like the plains states, as much as we like to gripe. The home prices are modest compared to where you are, and Money magazine rated us as one of the only cities not in a real-estate bubble crash-situation.

Now…about “Chicago”. If you woudl like to live in the “City”, that’s fine. You have a LOT more choices, however. Naperville (40 minutes away) was recently voted the 3rd most liveable city in America. Lots of tech stuff there, too. We have the NW suburbs (where I am), with Motorola and other companies (for tech), too. You can live as far as 60 miles away from Chicago, and still be in Chicagoland (an ‘easy’ commute ).

Come see us again, pick some suburbs (lot sof green spaces, Ms. Asimovia), and look on Remax.com. It’s a real city that you won’t exhaust within 3 months.

-Cem

47

btw…I’m sorry for not providing cites for my two references…I am ashamed to say I don’t know how, and don’t have time to learn (as of this second).

Trust me, I’m Midwestern!

48

Been there, many times. I don’t think that’s the one they’re talking about here, in the same way that my wife will kill me if we finally take that vacation in Paris, KY.

49

Mrs. Asimovian checking in here.

First off, I wanted to thank everyone for their advice. It’s really nice getting an outside perspective and you’ve definitely given Asi and I quite a bit to talk about. Hugs all around!

We had a real estate reality check the other day. We live in the suburbs – in a housing development built in the late 60s – and recently one of our neighbors put their house up for sale. It’s 1700 sqft with 4 beds and 2 baths, and they’re asking $609,000! Yes, Virginia, there is a real estate bubble, and apparently it’s living in our neighborhood. (We rent, and at these prices, there’s absolutely no chance of us being able to buy anything larger than a cardboard box within a 30 mile radius of here.)

We’ve gotten some different suggestions from friends and family. In addition to the Pacific NW, they suggested Madison, the Twin Cities, or outside of Lansing. I was in Madison for a week while I was 15, and I seemed to like it then, but that was a couple of years ago. (Ahem. Maybe a few more than “a couple.”)

Anyhow, does anyone have any thoughts on these cities? I don’t really think of us as being big city folk, and I think we would be willing to try smaller town life if that means a cheaper cost of living and an easier commute. However, jobs are always a concern. Just for your reference, Asi is a paralegal, and I’m an account manager at a software company.

50

Chicago is indeed a “real” city, and a wonderful place to live if you don’t mind the colder months–but frankly I think there is a reason why it is not in the real estate bubble-crash. I don’t know who you were talking to, Cem, but Denver winters, while they certainly provide cold and snow, and at least one, perhaps two fierce blizzards, are much milder than Chicago ones.
I’ve lived here a long time and spent many a Thanksgiving in Chicago. Brrr.
I’d much rather eat turkey here in Denver. In Chicago, the snow that falls hangs around a lo-ong time. It just seems to stay so cold and grey forever.
Here in Denver it falls but is soon gone, and the sunshine returns.
And yes, featherlou we do get the chinooks. And thunderstorms.
It can be very dry here, though. The sun and the aridity can be hard on the skin, and some people feel the altitude.
I wonder if our real estate bubble is popping. A neighbor down the street put up her house for sale yesterday; it is 1700 sq feet, two/three beds, two baths, and we were shocked that she was only asking $479,000.

We do have a lot of Michigan transplants arriving with the escapees from California. Not sure what that means.

I had friends who went to school in Madison. It was a fun college town, very friendly people, and lots and lots of snow fell.

51

No-no-no!
The altitude makes Chattanooga quite nice, most of the time.
Just live higher up, near the mountains, rather than near the river/lake.

52

Then you definately want to give Chattanooga a look. Real estate prices on quite nice houses are low, low, low. Traffic is not a problem. Museums, parks, live theatre, art house cinema, the City Zoo, & the State Aquarium, combine with other activities to form a rich social life. They have a good University.

http://www.chattanooga.gov/

53

Great…I think I’m going to have Arrested Development’s song stuck in my head all day. :dubious:

Actually, this is very cool. Getting a lot of ideas from you guys that had never occurred to us. And, even though it should be obvious, it really points out just how little of the U.S. – or, rather, North America – we’ve really seen. Chattanooga and Austin are places I NEVER would have considered, but now I’d at least like to see them.

Cemetary Savior, Chicago is probably not realistic for us based on our own preconceived notions and some of the other commentary that’s been posted here. However, there’s no guarantee (and, perhaps, it’s even unlikely) that our first move out of California will be our last. I’d like to make it back for a visit someday, and…who knows?

Gail, we both love Lake Tahoe. I just had the pleasure of being with the Mrs. on her first visit there a couple of months ago (on the same road trip where we hit Denver/Salt Lake City/Vegas/etc.). It’s gorgeous, and one of my favorite breakfast places (The Red Hut Waffle Shop) is there. And Reno, although I find it fairly unintriguing as a city, does have the National Bowling Stadium, which is sort of a Mecca for me. But I’m still feeling that pull to get out of California altogether. And I’m not sure what Reno is like in terms of having jobs for us.

Hilarity N. Suze, I hear you about the professional sports teams. I’m a pretty loyal fan, so I’ll go to games no matter how the team is doing. Unfortunately, here in LA, that doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot in terms of attendance because most people out here don’t pay attention to those things anyway. It’s just a fashionable thing to do (along with showing up in the 3rd inning and leaving in the 7th). I’d actually appreciate a city where I can get cheap, close tickets because there are only 9,000 fans at the game. :smiley:

And finally, Johnny L.A., I concur with featherlou. Give yourself a break – you’re braver than most, you learned something, and you’re coming back with hope and prospect still intact.

Feel free to keep 'em coming, folks. I think we’re going to have to buy another map. :slight_smile:

54

It sounds like Denver is indeed a lot like Calgary. I give it two thumbs up weatherwise, Asimovian, not being a heat-lover myself, either.

(You guys must get the wicked hailstorms, too, then. Like, apocalyptic hailstorms.)

55

Bosda, you don’t understand. 31 years of SoCal weather has afforded me a 5 degree comfort zone. I like it 63-68 degrees, and anything above or below that, I get grumpy about.

So while I’m sure Chattanooga is milder than other places, it still pings my “extreme” meter. Yes, that is my own crazy issue. :eek:

56

Asimovian:

As far as Madison goes, very nice small town. It’s a college town, has very nice scenery, and it’s really nice if you’re into outdoors stuff. And bowling…please…it’s Wisconsin! Bowling’s their state hobby. Lotsa cheese, too. you will get the winters, though.

I want to re-nominate Naperville. Look it up on Google.

Milwaukee isn’t bad, and the Twin Cities are nice. If you’re downtown, all travel between buildings is via big plastic tube…you’ll feel like a lucky hamster. I think you can guess WHY there are tubes connecting everything, though…rhymes with “slow”.

Chicago, Chicago, etc.!

-Cem

57

Asmovian:

In my attempt to be nicely obstinate:

http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalEntityHomeAction.do?entityName=Tourism&entityNameEnumValue=41

Look it up, and reconsider. I’ll even buy you your first shovel! :slight_smile:

-Cem