Why do so many people move to Austin? (Houston, San Antonio: live, transportation)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by AK123

Have you been anywhere in east Texas? Hardly treeless, and not completely flat either.

I'll give you that on west Texas, but that part of the state is sparsely populated in comparison to the major metros.

I was born and bred and spent my childhood in East Texas, and I'll second this. Absolutely not treeless (quite the opposite, in fact), and hilly enough in places that, with the iron in the soil, radio reception was a real problem when I was growing up - you'd get between the hills and not be able to listen to the radio.

Parts of West Texas, too, are positively mountainous.

DANG that reality, anyway!

[eepstein]

I said MOST of the state is treeless. Yes, east texas does have some areas of forested land, and the far western part of the state has mountains, but that is about it. There are VERY few hills in east texas. I guess I don't know what you consider a hill?? Are we talking about overpasses here??

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I was born and bred and spent my childhood in East Texas, and I'll second this. Absolutely not treeless (quite the opposite, in fact), and hilly enough in places that, with the iron in the soil, radio reception was a real problem when I was growing up - you'd get between the hills and not be able to listen to the radio.

Parts of West Texas, too, are positively mountainous.

DANG that reality, anyway!

[TexasHorseLady]

Hey, eeyore, how much time have you actually spent in East Texas and which part of East Texas was it? I lived there for 13 years and still own part of the family farm that is there. Is it hilly like the Hill Country? No. Does it have hills? Yes. Is it nothing BUT hills? No, it varies from undulating to flat. See, it's possible to not paint with a broad brush (though probably not as much fun).

[cBach]

It depends when you talk about East Texas. Southeast Texas along the coast (Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange, "Golden Triangle" area is extremely flat with no hills whatsoever), however it is forested. Immediately along the coast thought it is flat and treeless because of the saltwater intrusion. Only marsh grass grows immediately along the coast.

If you head inland, to say Nacogdoches or so, that is where it is quite hilly and extremely forested, more forested than the hill country in fact, with taller trees than the stunted ones here (the trees are stunted in the Hill country because of rocky soil and less rain, just compare an oak tree in East Texas with one in the Hill Country and the Hill country one is about half the size).

That being said, I like the Hill Country scenery a lot better and the weather in Central Texas is way better than East Texas. The humidity there just is out of control, as are the mosquitoes. But it does have its own beauty though.

[sliverbox]

As someone who came and visited Austin and spent a day in the so-called fabulous hill country, to me it depends on what you're comparing the area too. Somehow after reading up on it it seemed that the area was breathlessly described as a sort of Napa Valley of Texas- full of beautiful rolling hills. Trust me- as a Tennessee native who now lives in Cali I would barely call those hills hills. It was actually a little disappointing. Not exactly crazy. That said I did like the oak trees there. Very pretty trees.

[TexasHorseLady]

You might have been happier with either the Big Bend area (or spending more than a day exploring the Hill Country down further south and west), or even more likely, the part of North Texas that's sometimes called "Little Colorado". Might have been more to your taste.

[cBach]

silverbox,

This time of year, all the grass is brown (dormant) and many trees have lost their leaves. It is the least attractive time to visit the Hill Country. Come back in April when the bluebonnets are blooming and your opinion will be drastically different.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by cBach

This time of year, all the grass is brown (dormant) and many trees have lost their leaves. It is the least attractive time to visit the Hill Country. Come back in April when the bluebonnets are blooming and your opinion will be drastically different.

OR

Live in Dallas or Houston for a couple of years. Same effect.

[jhall13]

If all the people who think Austin is so horrible sould move to Detroit, we wouldn't need to provide transportation for you. I'm a Texan having grown up in Houston and one of the great things about this state is its diversity, pride and topography. There's nothing better than to drive out to East Texas and see NOTHING....have you done that? Try it. As for the heat....move to San Fran and stop complaining.

I lived in the East for many years and know full well about traffic.....do we have it? Yes, but we have a better attitude about it. Just turn you blinker on to change lanes and see how long it takes you to do that!

Have you heard of the New England Patriots? They represent all of the New England states. I've never heard anyone from CT, RI, ME or NH say they don't have a professional sports team...and they live in a different state! I'm with the guy who questions your brain activity.

Originally Posted by migol84

If the thread was about what makes Austin not "that great" then some of the points you've listed would be useful. Keyword: some.

This is not about what makes Austin that... it's about the opposite and why many people move here. Your types of posts get very annoying, biased and misleading as well.

Every city has bad things.... as well as good things. Even Detroit has good things being spoken of and why people love the city. I can see good things for every city. This thread is about that. Please stop being annoying and just be a regular person.

Austin is a liberal mecca? Where did you ever hear that? Sure, Austin is more liberal than conservative but not a mecca. Austin is the gateway to hillbilly country? What does that even mean? I doubt anybody moves here for that reason. Austin has more gas guzzling vehicles than any other metro in the nation? Where did you even get that information? For a city its size, yes, it does have a lot of congestion but the most in any metro of the nation? More than New York? More than LA? Possibly less than Houston? More than Dallas? More than any of those metros that have 3+ million in population?

My God! What is going through your brain?

[imaterry78259]

SA is the hidden gem in Texas