So. Cal native thinking about moving to Austin. Advice please.

[xMxer341x]

Originally Posted by Phisch

I never ran across Albertos or Los Primos. We got spoiled by eating at El Campeon in San Juan Capistrano. Very good barbacoa.


I do...but it's pretty cobwebby on purpose. I am not trying to find more work, to be honest, since I'm a SAHM now and on top of that, enjoying homeschooling my kids. If you do want to freelance and get it to work, you'll want to look into groups like graphic arts guilds and I've not looked into what/who is around here in Austin. It used to be that you could get freelance work now and then from a bigger firm since they often get too busy and need to farm work out now and then.



Honestly? Packing up was the hard part. Saying goodbye to family was harder. Driving to Austin and moving in to an apartment was easy, living in the apartment was kinda hard (3rd floor, 2 boys plus people downstairs with no kids = not fun) but once we had our house it was great. We love it here and I can honestly say there's not been a single day where I wished I were back in CA. We can always visit if we want though our first vacation will be to Washington, so go figure.

BUT...I don't surf (CA water is too cold), I don't snowboard/ski (snow is too cold ) so I don't really miss either of those. Hubby and I love the outdoors and walking around and trees. Surprising, since my hubby never wanted to move more than a few miles from the ocean (he used to do the beach thing). It's nice to live with real people and know our neighbors and have a great church family. My kids are young so it was hard on them but they're seeing how cool it is to have kids next door to play with.

What's an SAHM? & thanks I appreciate the freelance advice! Ya I figured saying goodbye is the hardest part but there just a 2.5 hour plane ride away & I really gotta think about my future.

As for Surfing I'm not really worried about that. Motocross is my main sport. But snowboarding I am going to miss but it won't be so bad cause I can just take trips to Colorado & get even better conditions then So. Cal. gets. We get good snow fall but not for long periods of time. Which is a bummer! Ya I really want a house with land so I can build my own tracks & be away from everyone. As for you kids I could see how that is because I moved a lot as a kid even though it was within the same region, it's still hard. But thanks again for the advice. I appreciate you taking your time to give me some feedback!

[texastea]

SAHM--stay-at-home-mom ;0

My daughter goes wake boarding, which I think is becoming a big-deal around here.

[Phisch]

Texastea brings up a great point and that water sports are big around here. With warmer weather for longer stretches than So. Calif., and lots of places to swim, there's something to keep you busy.

I'm not sure where any tracks are out here but that forum I posted for you should have info. I'm not sure how much room you need for a motocross track but there seems to be acreage enough outside of Austin. Maybe even inside? I don't know for sure.

[xMxer341x]

Originally Posted by texastea

SAHM--stay-at-home-mom ;0

My daughter goes wake boarding, which I think is becoming a big-deal around here.

Right on! I haven't wakeboarded in almost 2 years. But ya I hear Lake Travis is like the The Lake Havasu in Texas. I hear theres some more beautiful lakes as well...I will have to check that out.

[xMxer341x]

Originally Posted by Phisch

Texastea brings up a great point and that water sports are big around here. With warmer weather for longer stretches than So. Calif., and lots of places to swim, there's something to keep you busy.

I'm not sure where any tracks are out here but that forum I posted for you should have info. I'm not sure how much room you need for a motocross track but there seems to be acreage enough outside of Austin. Maybe even inside? I don't know for sure.

Ok cool. I will check more into that! Ya I've seen a lot of places in Austin with plenty of land for a Mx track. For like 250-400k depending on how much land & how big of a house. In So Cal that would be atleast 100000 for a house with as much land as most of these do!

[michele_krall]

I moved from irvine last year
Austin is full of potheads
pennies on the dollar jobs
cold or hot
high propery taxes etc...
catalina or the keys is the way to go

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by michele_krall

I moved from irvine last year
Austin is full of potheads
pennies on the dollar jobs
cold or hot
high propery taxes etc...
catalina or the keys is the way to go

We moved from Irvine last year to Keller just outside Fort Worth.

No potheads that I have seen, maybe a few ex-potheads. My friends from Austin who are a little more left that I suggested DFW area, a little more conservative.

Jobs seem to be okay although I am having a hard time cracking the job market.

Love the variety of weather, not looking forward to the constant heat but that is why we have air-conditioning and a pool.

Property taxes are irrelevant when you have a mortgage free house (thank you CA real estate).

Would not have changed a thing with the exception of maybe having a job before we moved, but then again we had to get out while we still had a chance to sell.

[groovamos]

Maybe it would help if I told you that there are beautiful beaches south of Corpus, about 3 1/2 hours away from Austin. And you can get further and further from people on these beaches (e.g. South Beach) which are a part of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, by just driving further south on the beach. About 10 miles down, they want you to have 4WD to go further, but you can camp. I love the dunes down there, some really big ones too. So far as snowboarding goes, it's a cheap flight on Southwest to Albuquerque, then a short drive to Taos or Los Alamos. Los Alamos has a ski mountain co-op open to everyone, but not much in the way of accommodations right there.