What do you love most about ABQ? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: living in, restaurants)

[jrod2828]

Perhaps your top 5 things you love about living in ABQ.

Pretend your are trying to talk a friend or family member into moving to ABQ.

Thanks.

[NadiaP]

Outdoor Living (weather)
Gorgeous scenery
Nice people
Culture/ History
Cost of Living

[ABQConvict]

Great local culture both traditional and imported.

Restaurants, Restaurants, Restaurants.

Doesn't get absurdly hot like other cities at this latitude (though summer seems to last about 6 months).

Fashionless, style-unconscious people without plastic surgery.

Albuquerque is still, for the most part, REAL! (Which is really unbelievable for a city this large and this far west).

ABQConvict

[gs2offroad]

1. 300 days of sunshine.
2. Being able to enjoy Santa Fe regularly without living there.
3. Lots of elevation change within a short distance.
4. Housing is relatively cheap.
5. The unique blend of native-spanish-anglo culture.

[yukon]

Dang. ONLY five? I didn't use all my five on the dislike thread, can I add the unused dislikes to the five likes?

Hmnnnn......here goes......in no particular order.....


The weather. Enough variety to be interesting, yet tame enough to be enjoyable. Finally, I won't have to set my homepage to the National Hurricane Center this summer!

The friendly people. When I smile at someone here, they smile back and often say hi. In other cities I've been in, you smile at someone they think you're about to rob them.

The variety of restaurants. From the big chains to the mom & pop places, you can find almost anything here.

The pace of life. Fast enough to get things done but not so fast you can't stop and smell the cactus (I'd say roses but I haven't seen any yet).

And my favorite....the mountains and wide open spaces. The city is beautiful at night, from any high point. And the stars are so bright you think you can reach up and touch them. A friend said she never understood the phrase "big sky country" until she moved here.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by yukon

The pace of life. Fast enough to get things done but not so fast you can't stop and smell the cactus (I'd say roses but I haven't seen any yet).

Well, since you mentioned it...

Chap

[AndyJ]

Great food
Proximity to great outdoor recreation
Spanish and Native American culture
Centralized location in a state where you can make any number of awesome day trips
Relatively relaxed attitudes

[Merlander]

Originally Posted by Chaparral

Well, since you mentioned it... Chap

This is a great place to visit. It's the first time I saw southern live oaks in Albuq.

[penelopelp]

Southern live oaks, really????? We'll have to check that place out.

[Merlander]

Originally Posted by penelopelp

Southern live oaks, really????? We'll have to check that place out.

Don't expect the grand, Georgia version of the tree...

Also, these are not that old yet so we're only talking about 12-15 ft. trees. Nevertheless, they do grow here...