Help me decide where to move!

Austin is the Belt Buckle of the Southwestern Bible Belt.

I wouldn’t even want to be buried there.

Well I always fancied living in one of those dust ball towns population 20 in the middle of nowhere like in Tremors.

I would say come here to South Carolina, but I see you want open-minded people, so the search goes on for you!

@Lightlyseared, funny!

I like big cities tho.

@ Jack, Austin’s motto is ‘keep it wierd’. And they have a great music scene. And it’s a dog friendly city. And weather is good/property affordable.

Lightlyseared: Ah! Perfection, Nevada!

I here Portland, Oregon meets those requirements..

deaddolly: You wouldn’t last one year in that town, before the occupants would take you out and lynch you (and kill your pets) because you are a “non-believer.”

A friend of mine introduced me to this website. It is a questionnaire that gives you some good suggestions. I like that website.

“I here Portland, Oregon meets those requirements..”

I hear that, too, but it rains 369 days/year there, and snows there…

If you want open minded, there’s no place like San Francisco. Yes, it’s expensive, but man, is it worth it.

It’s a college town, Jack. We’ll see anyway, I’m hooking up the wagons in the spring and taking a drive there.

@ Celeste00 What if Cali falls off into the ocean? As much as I love the ocean, I can’t swim. don’t believe in the concept of floating.

If you want to live in Texas I hear San Antonio is fantastic. One of my daughters favorite cities and she’s been all over the world.
Cali may be to expensive, but it sure is great in Orange County!

@dead I can’t swim either. I can tell you for sure most neighborhoods would still float. I think half of SF is built on plastic and balloons anyway.

Portland is perfect for everything but the weather. I’ve lived here all my life and it’s only truly good weather for 3 to 3 1/2 months of the year. It rains the rest of the time. It snows once in a while – we only get big snowstorms every two to three years. But, people here are extremely open-minded – more so than most of the nation (excluding SanFran), we’re very pet friendly and we’re big, but not so big that it’s disgusting. Music is also a huge thing here.

So is Nike

Humm…never thought about Portland.

I took the My Spot quiz…my top location was some place in Arkansas. omg. Don’t think that would ever happen.

My ideal place to live, if money were no option, would be LA (West Hollywood) or anywhere in Hawaii.

@dead I’m curious, what place in Arkansas?

By the way, it doesn’t get much better than Hawaii. Kinda isolated, of course, but amazing. And well, natural disasters…

@ Celeste00 It was Little Rock.

Orange county is full of a bunch of racist, right-wing wack jobs. Do not move anywhere in the O.C. Come to L.A., it’s expensive, but it seems like it’d be a good fit for you. Plus, I’m here. And all the U.S. imports seem to be moving back to where they came from, which is great.

I agree with celeste00 SanFran. I was raised midwest an lived there for 3 years and it touched my soul. I LOVED it.

Yes, the OC may be a little too right wing, but it teaches me tolorence. I am close enough to LA to get my liberal fix. :-)

I really do like LA. But, by the time my daughter finishes college in Chicago, i will be living in a trailer park. My fave area near LA is Venice Beach.

Jamaica is warm and lively without a lot of snow!

I disagree. I have been to Jamaica, plenty of times.

It has plenty of snow.

I heard that Jamaica, while being open-minded on a lot of issues is, at the same time, very close-minded on a lot of other issues, too.

Okay, Jamaica gets canned. How about Arizona?

McCain country?

@ Jack Adams you are on fire today!!!!

I would never leave the US.

Seriously, I hear you on the no snow and ice thing, but I’d reconsider that part of it. You want lively, fun, great music scene, very liberal, open minded, literate, diverse, big horror scene, get out of Milwaukee and come just a bit west to the Twin Cities. I’ve been all over the country and this is the coolest place I can imagine to live…big and lively, but not TOO big (not overcrowded, pushy and dirty like bigger cities). Yeah, it gets cold ocassionally, but w/ global warming, we haven’t really had more than one bad winter in the past decade. And if you live in an apartment, no shovelling.

When I graduated college, I wanted to move somewhere warm, it was my biggest concern. I grew up in way northern Minnesota which had NOTHING to do, and where it got to be 40 below for a solid 2 week span every winter, sometimes w/ 100 below windchills and 2 feet of snow. I moved to the Cities, and literally, I could be doing something fun and interesting every night of the week, I like the people, I like the way the city is set up, I’ve even taken vacations where I didn’t leave town there’s so much to see and do here. The winters are generally just really bad a day or two here and there, and for the most part there’s plenty to do inside so you barely have to leave your house. Heck, the best thing would be to get a townhome w/ an attached garage and a homeowner’s association that does the shoveling and grass cutting for you, then you don’t even have to go outside in the winter. You can even get your groceries delivered if you want and there’s covered parking just about anywhere you’d want to go. The cities have skyways, and besides, it’s nice to have a “little” snow around the holidays, just to kind of break up the scenery. Plus we’d be neighbors!

What I’ve heard about Austin is pretty fricken awesome. I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve heard that it’s not really much like the rest of Texas, which—from my way of seeing things—is a very good thing.

move to England UK its better there

Tempe and Scottsdale Arizona are fun, progressive cities. Gets really hot here, but you are a few hours drive to higher elevations where it gets cool. Housing is easy to find now with the real estate bust.

@penny yes but it’s wet here, and the summer was two weeks at the start of May and one in Spetember and even then I still felt like putting a coat on.

I wouldn’t mind moving to Austin and I am agnostic. Just because a region is in the bible belt doesn’t mean that everybody’s a bible toting christian (though there are a great deal of them). I am actually thinking about going there for grad school. So yeah, I would suggest Austin.

Keep in mnd that Madalyn Murray O’Hair was from Austin, and lived there, much of her adult life.

The Bay Area is beautiful and would be a great place to live, but I would be more concerned about the economic earthquakes than the San Andreas fault. It is ridiculously expensive to live there and unless you are a millionaire, odds are good you will move to this place, struggle and probably be house poor. Not my idea of an ideal living situation. So Cal is nice and is less expensive, but I would stay north of Los Angeles, Ventura County or further up the coast, but again, once you hit Santa Barbara County you are looking at a sky high cost of living. Whatever you do stay out of the Inland Empire. (Apologies to any San Bernardino County Flutherers out there.)

Personally, I’m thinking Colorado would be nice. But snow is still a novelty to me so it isn’t an issue.

@dalepetrie MN is one place, I’ve never been. I’ll put it on the list. Do you talk like a
‘Fargo’ person? I might have to make fun of you then.

Thanks, everyone. I plan to check out Austin.

If you all sent donations, I could go to LA….just a thought.

Naw…we don’t talk like dat, dontcha know?

There are plenty who do however, funny thing is they don’t realize their doing it.

You would LOVE the Twin Cities. Every October they turn our theme park (Valleyfair) into Valleyscare and have costumed creepies jump out at you from every corner. Or you could come over next month and visit the Trail of Terror. Any band you want to see comes here, any movie you want to see we get it on opening day…we have an international indie film festival every June, we have annual horror conventions as well. Tons of museums of every type…lots of nightlife. We have everything from world class libraries to world class adult supermarkets and everything in between. Tons of shopping, great dining options. Tons of outdoor activities and great parks and nature, and plenty of indoor activity…everything from bowling to casinos to waterparks…you can’t get bored here. And it’s way cheaper and cleaner than most metro areas that have this much to offer.

ok, helen…calm down. I’ll make it a place to visit.
What are summers like…how many inches of snow…will you shovel for me?

Helen? OK, that’s a new one on me.

Summers can get pretty hot….and humid. We get maybe 5 or 6 days in the 90s, the rest of the summer is usually in the 80s. The humidity is the only downside, but if you go out by a lake you get a nice breeze, usually makes it feel just about right.

Snow, depends year to year. Best bet is to get a snowblower, or just an electric snow shovel if you don’t live in an apartment or townhome. I however have only had to use mine once in the last 6 years, so snow isn’t generally that big of a problem….you CAN get a foot or two every few winters, but a small price to pay. I won’t shovel for you, but there are plenty of enterprising kids around who don’t charge too much.

YOU WON’T FUCKING SHOVEL FOR ME? what the hell???

Hey, I won’t shovel for myself or my wife. I figure the shit’ll melt soon enough.

Fine. I’m moving south. I hate, hate, HATE snow. I hate it’s appearance, it’s temperature,
it’s color.

I would be ok with black snow. Maybe.

Hope you like the heat. This year alone we had about 3–4 weeks of triple digit weather (I live about 3 hours from Austin).

i stay in air-conditioning….

Austin is a great town. Having spent 6 years at Baylor, I think that Waco, which also serves as the taint of Texas, is the belt buckle for the Bible Belt. Austin kept me sane.

With Austin, you’ve got a town where you can hear live music in great venues pretty much every night of the week. You can catch some great movies in a number of really good theaters. There are some great restaurants in that town… Kirby Lane at 2:15 AM (get yourself some blueberry pancakes) is a great way to wind down the night. Or get it started. There’s a great greenbelt that has a number of hiking/biking trails. It’s a very dog-friendly town. Oh, and the biggest urban concentration of bats in the world—check out the Congress Ave. bridge one evening during the summer. Awesome bat flight. Even better if viewed while sipping on a margarita from one of the nearby bars overlooking the lake and bridge.

Now, those rare times we end up with so much as a sixteenth of an inch of snow, watch yourself. We don’t know how to drive in snow, much less rain. All hell breaks loose.

Austin is a good place.

“you can hear live music in great venues pretty much every night of the week.”

one of my favorite shows here in WI on PBS is Austin City Limits. I have learned about more new bands that way.

I’ve been in Texas during a snowstorm….twice in fact. You ain’t kiddin’ they don’t know how to drive. Semi’s jacknifed EVERYWHERE…it looks like armageddon!

What do you expect? We all freak out because it is not supposed to snow in the desert.

i just took that quiz, and Little Rock, Arkansas was my #1 city listed too. Now I am suspicious. Maybe Little Rock Tourism Board pays for that site ;). Honolulu was my 2nd and Portland was my 3rd on the list.

@pnl Yes, the quiz was a little strange.

No offense to anyone in the south, but I would be tarred and feathered before the end of the first week.

People forget how to drive in Wisconsin when the first snow comes…

@sacaver Thank you very much. I’m very anxious to visit this summer. The bats would be an added plus! How is real estate there?

Geez, I got Little Rock Arkansas too. And I said I didn’t like the heat or humidity, I’m pretty sure they have plenty of both. There’s definitely tourism money involved on this site.

I know people in Wisconsin forget how to drive in the first snow…it happens in Minnesota too. But, there’s a differeing degree. We get a few accidents, roads are jacked during rush hour, etc. But in Texas and Oklahoma, you’d think chickens had fallen from the sky…the feeling of abject terror is palpable. EVERYTHING shuts down, and I’m talking with a DUSTING. It’s positively ludicrous.

when I was in Davis they had a little ice on the road it caused a 65 car pile up.

when your not used to conditions.

I am from wisconsin and after not spinning out driving through arizona I almost flipped my car.

well…i live in Dallas and i visited Austin this summer…

It’s a pretty descent city with some history and a lot of different colleges
Of course knowing Texas…It’s going to be HOTT!!
uhm Texas weather is never what it seems like…

I would say one thing for sure, Austin is a safer city than Dallas so GO FOR IT!!!

@Naz Thanks! With winter just around the corner here in Milwaukee, I’ll take hot anyday. I’m definately doing a road trip to Austin come spring.

Have you considered the possibility of living in another country, other than the US?

After next month, you might want to.

Yes, I have. I do love the US though. I don’t know if I could do it.

The Nightlife should also be lively in Austin…so get out there
:] and no probs!!

We’re doing a road trip in the spring for sure.