The truth about the Az from easterners midwesterners and southners (Phoenix: movies, schools)

[jassy2]

Originally Posted by L_A_Woman

Looks like there are more people from all over the nation who dont feel so positive about Az than there are those who do. Im guessing that those who do must have been born and raised here and/or lived out here most of their lives.

My thoughts exactly, the only people that I have found who like this place are the people who have lived here there whole lives or the ones moved in as a child. It's as if they have no idea they could be happier elsewhere.

[DaveV]

One thing I like about New England is that the weather is rarely the same for more than a day or 2 - cool/warm, wet/dry sunny/cloudy/hazy crappy/nice we get it all - compared to my summer out west, where every day was a carbon copy of the last *YAWN*- Oh, and I haven't even bothered throwing the bedroom AC in the window this year, all of 1 night last year - but don't y'all start moving up here! It snows, so stay away!

[Sean_Harrington]

Originally Posted by movin'on

Thank you. Each city is different. I don't know Seattle other than having visited. I know the cost of living is higher but there are probably more and better jobs.

In your opinion, which has better weather? I am reluctant to move to the other side of the country, as I really do like the natural beauty of the West (minus where I live, which is very ugly).

I knew the first time I flew over this, I would never be happy here. There were two downtowns, or two of "whatever" that had taller buildings. Who lives in a place like that? I bought a postcard of a aerial view. Who would sell a postcard like that? One giant, brown, sprawling grid of nothing. A throw away city, is what I called it.

I lived in Northern AZ for three terrible depressing years, fear of FIRE, water worries, REALLY nothing to do, other than wait for the next forest fire, water outage or sit in a bar with a bunch of loudmouth-white-trash-pretend-cowboy-drunks.


I moved to Washington State! First thing, it doesn't "rain all the time". Seattle has 9 inches less average rainfall than NYC. The Summers are COOL! There is real grass, and real trees, and an ocean.

When I see a cowboy hat I CRINGE.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by Sean_Harrington

Seattle has 9 inches less average rainfall than NYC.

NYC's storms are short lived, like most of the countrys storms, dropping decent amounts of rain in short time. Seattle gets non-stop drizzle/mist/light rain for 3/4 of the year, so its accumulation level is much less, due to less downpours. BIG difference. NYC's sunshine % is drastically higher than Seattle's.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

NYC's storms are short lived, like most of the countrys storms, dropping decent amounts of rain in short time. Seattle gets non-stop drizzle/mist/light rain for 3/4 of the year, so its accumulation level is much less, due to less downpours. BIG difference. NYC's sunshine % is drastically higher than Seattle's.

Yup! That's EXACTLY right!

Used to live on Long Island (East Hampton) - among other places, now live in Seattle, and plan to retired outside of Benson AZ.

Just look at the sunshine charts on these two pages:

Seattle -
http://www.city-data.com/city/Seattle-Washington.html

New York -
http://www.city-data.com/city/New-York-New-York.html

Seattle essentially has 3 months of good weather and 9 months of not-so-good weather. It doesn't really get that cold (nor that hot) but it's cool and cloudy a large part of the time.

After the wet winter & spring we had this past year, and the lousy summer weather we're having at the moment, I can hardly wait to leave.

There is no part of the lower 48 that is more beautiful than Washington State (particularly the Puget Sound region - where Seattle lies) - WHEN THE WEATHER IS NICE. Problem is, it's not that nice, that often.

Ken

[azkylady]

Originally Posted by mdawg

i visited Phoenix from Kentucky and the first thing i noticed was the color of everyones house, is there a reason that they have to be earth toned? The person I visited said they only had 3 colors to choose from when they built there house because the Homeowners Association controls that. The second thing i noticed was that every part of Phoenix looked the same and every exit on the highway was just one strip mall after another, which could probably be said about every city that size but it was weird to be one place and it looked exactly the same as another part of town. The last thing i noticed in Phoenix was that yall drive REALLY fast. We were going 80 and pretty much everyone was passing us. Overall thought, i did like Phoenix, although most of the people there were not overly welcoming and kept to their own business.

no doubt! I am from KY to, and I figure if i can make it these roads I can make it anywhere,, lol

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by movin'on

Well, after reading this thread and all the hype about the area in which I live (N. Scottsdale), there must be something seriously wrong with me, because I hate it here. Someone I know recently commented to me he loves Scottsdale. I kept my mouth shut. Of course this pales by comparison to my feelings in general re: Phoenix, so there you go.

I'm originally from Mpls MN and, sorry, a pool doesn't cut it when you grow up with 10,000 REAL lakes. So for anyone considering moving here who needs to be within a short distance from real water, this isn't the place for you.

I've lived in San Diego, San Francisco, Portland OR and Mpls, of course. The only other place that's ever interested me would be Seattle, but I just don't know if I could handle the weather. I know no place is perfect, but honest to God I have dreams at night about real cities. Then I wake up and realize I'm here.

It's one giant sprawling suburb (the whole metro area and I include Scottsdale in this) with NOTHING TO DO, unless your idea of fun is the mall, movies, a LOT of chain restaurants, hiking brown rocks (with creepy, crawly things), that's about it. Anything else interesting in the metro area is done in less than two hours and then it's back to boredom. Sigh...

So, if anyone out there knows of a place, with a core downtown, shade, real bodies of water, real farmers markets, some ethnicity aside from Mexico (not that there's anything wrong with that!), sunshine mixed in with real thunderstorms (BTW, the monsoons have changed incredibly in ten years - there used to be more rain here), cool places to hang out (not chain related), a lot of single people, a liberal bent and respect for recycling, natural beauty, access to a LOT of water (mountains are nice too), please let me know (oh, and I guess I want to buy a house there too) and jobs (or at least jobs with benefits, I don't have to get paid much), please let me know and I'll move there tomorrow!

P.S. I'd like a temperate climate. I hate cold winters. Thank you

You could try the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. They have: All four seasons, many large lakes, a liberal political bent, a short drive to larger metro areas, a short drive to the Atlantic Ocean, a short drive to the White and Green Mountains, fairly affordable real estate, and many unique smaller towns with active main streets filled with shops. If you lived in Minnesota the landscape in central and northern New Hampshire is quite similar. The winters get cold temperatures occasionally, but not as cold as the past with the increasing influence of climate change. The summer temperatures are spectacular with highs in the 70s and 80s and lows in the 50s. Jobs may be an issue but the larger metro areas further to the south are less than an hour's drive. Small states in the NE do have their advantages

[newglyph312]

Yeah everyone has made great points. And this is not Arizona bashing it is being honest. I love all of the opinions and I agree with most. I also like the info on Seattle I have heard from so many people that it is so nice. Me I like rain and grew up in gloomy conditions. I personally need water around and a little humidity. It's best to have a balance between rain and sun. Now a place I love is San Diego beaches, ocean, sun and women that are in great shape

[newglyph312]

Movin on you hit everything that I think about this place every single second right on the head. Arizona is really for rich people. You need money to travel to the surrounding states CA NV and CO for fun. Because it isn't much fun here nor diversity. Oh yeah did we mention that the food blows especially those fake Chicago joints. If you want Chicago food please go to Chicago they make my home look so bad.

[Boatdrinks]

Originally Posted by Plains10

You could try the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. They have: All four seasons, many large lakes, a liberal political bent, a short drive to larger metro areas, a short drive to the Atlantic Ocean, a short drive to the White and Green Mountains, fairly affordable real estate, and many unique smaller towns with active main streets filled with shops. If you lived in Minnesota the landscape in central and northern New Hampshire is quite similar. The winters get cold temperatures occasionally, but not as cold as the past with the increasing influence of climate change. The summer temperatures are spectacular with highs in the 70s and 80s and lows in the 50s. Jobs may be an issue but the larger metro areas further to the south are less than an hour's drive. Small states in the NE do have their advantages

I've spent a great deal of time in NH, ME and MA and, while I agree that it's beautiful, it's not for everyone, in much the same way that AZ isn't for everyone. New England in general is an entity of it's own, with a different mentality and mindset then other areas of the U.S. - the people aren't terribly outgoing and it can take a while for a newcomer to really intigrate into the community. Course, that applies everywhere but more so in New England (not quite so bad in Boston though), based on my experience. A man in Maine who lived there for 40+ yrs told me that it was only recently that he'd been really accepted as a Mainer by the locals and he was very friendly and involved in civic activities and local business. We also had a hard time with the lack of shopping, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, etc. in NH and ME, but I'll admit I'm a fan of what many refer to as "suburan sprawl" - I like new and lots of it I don't like to have to drive 30 miles to a Costco or mall, but that's nothing to New Englanders.

Also, re: the weather - summers get hot and very humid and the mosquitos, black flies and gnats are terrible. Summer evenings spent outside always result in many, many bug bites unless you're standing on top of Mount Washington

New England is gorgeous though. Those quaint little towns are great, the mountains of NH are beautiful and the coastline of Maine is spectacular. I have many family members who can't imagine living anywhere else. For me, though, it's just a nice place to visit