Riverplace to start charging hiking fees to non-residents starting early March (Houston: apartment complex, house)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by cBach

Well I took my final "free" hike with my girlfriend on a glorious day.

She said "let's not kid ourselves, Texas is ugly and un-interesting compared to California. These trees look like bushes, give me redwoods and sequoias any day."

I said "It's a beautiful day, sunny skies and the trees provide shade. They are not as tall or great as in California but nothing is... I think Texas is pretty in a rugged way."

Why can't Californians just enjoy things, why do they always have to compare to back home?

It appears to be a compulsion. Not sure why, but it doesn't win them friends when they go somewhere, anywhere, else and do that.

[kemahkami]

Originally Posted by cBach

Well I took my final "free" hike with my girlfriend on a glorious day.

She said "let's not kid ourselves, Texas is ugly and un-interesting compared to California. These trees look like bushes, give me redwoods and sequoias any day."

I said "It's a beautiful day, sunny skies and the trees provide shade. They are not as tall or great as in California but nothing is... I think Texas is pretty in a rugged way."

Why can't Californians just enjoy things, why do they always have to compare to back home?

Tell her that the birds and the bees here are just as great

[cBach]

Originally Posted by ScrappyJoe

Tell her that the birds and the bees here are just as great

That part is never a problem!

She did admit at the end of the hike that "today was beautiful, almost as good as the weather in California" and that "BBQ is great in Texas, better than California."

So progress was made! I love me "California Gurls" but they are so hung up on how perfect California is, it sometimes wears on me. Listen, I lived in the Bay Area and I know it's beautiful and nothing compares to a redwood tree but the COL drove me out of there. Here I can have a nice mansion for the price of a shack there.

[jbowman09]

Originally Posted by cBach

Well I took my final "free" hike with my girlfriend on a glorious day.

She said "let's not kid ourselves, Texas is ugly and un-interesting compared to California. These trees look like bushes, give me redwoods and sequoias any day."

I said "It's a beautiful day, sunny skies and the trees provide shade. They are not as tall or great as in California but nothing is... I think Texas is pretty in a rugged way."

Why can't Californians just enjoy things, why do they always have to compare to back home?

Because many Californians are used to living in exceptionally beautiful surroundings in a perfect climate and anything less is an unpleasant surprise to them. However, not all of California is stunning. Redwoods occupy only a small fraction of the state. Many of the farming areas are flat and boring. Most towns are uninteresting and could be located anywhere. Environmental degradation is rife. Infrastructures are worsening. But at its best ... California is absolutely gorgeous.

Except for a few places, such as Big Bend and Palo Duro Canyon, the scenery of Texas is mediocre at best. The much praised Hill Country is pleasant but unremarkable -- it's "hills" are mere bumps to people used to high hills and mountains. The muddy Gulf is not a beautiful ocean to those accustomed to clear blue water.

What is important is that visitors to Texas should be polite and positive -- in other words, mind their manners and be good guests, however unimpressed they are by the state. In turn, Texas braggadocio should be kept to a minimum. If you go along, you'll get along.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by jbowman09

What is important is that visitors to Texas should be polite and positive -- in other words, mind their manners and be good guests, however unimpressed they are by the state. In turn, Texas braggadocio should be kept to a minimum. If you go along, you'll get along.

This was our first hike together and I was saying stuff like "This is so beautiful, I'm so happy to be going on a hike with you on this lovely sunny day!" So maybe I shouldn't have mentioned how beautiful Texas was because that set it up for her to correct me.

That's when she gave me the reality check that Texas scenery isn't all that. Here I thought it was a romantic hike but she was comparing to California and how Texas comes up short.

[jbowman09]

She was probably surprised you considered low hills covered with scrubby trees beautiful. However, her manners should have prevailed over her opinion of the scenery.

[Trainwreck20]

The failure is the ability to recognize beauty in all its forms and variations.

[Austin97]

ill add that much of southern california is not beautiful. Pretty much every square inch is paved over in the cities. Right close to the beach is awesome, but just a mile inland is a concrete desert. The mountains have zero trees and have sparse low bushes. Even san diego is not beautiful except right at the beach. The cities have a fraction of the trees we have in austin. Ill take a live oak over a palm tree any day.

Im talking san diego, orange county, long beach, LA. Once you get north of LA and the sprawl stops, then it is a lot of rolling hills and farms, but it is not better than the hill country.

Redwood forests are a miniscule part of california.

And california has zero clear water. Visibility is generally very low. Long beach, santa barbara etc also have tarballs

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by jbowman09

Because many Californians are used to living in exceptionally beautiful surroundings in a perfect climate and anything less is an unpleasant surprise to them. However, not all of California is stunning. Redwoods occupy only a small fraction of the state. Many of the farming areas are flat and boring. Most towns are uninteresting and could be located anywhere. Environmental degradation is rife. Infrastructures are worsening. But at its best ... California is absolutely gorgeous.

Except for a few places, such as Big Bend and Palo Duro Canyon, the scenery of Texas is mediocre at best. The much praised Hill Country is pleasant but unremarkable -- it's "hills" are mere bumps to people used to high hills and mountains. The muddy Gulf is not a beautiful ocean to those accustomed to clear blue water.

What is important is that visitors to Texas should be polite and positive -- in other words, mind their manners and be good guests, however unimpressed they are by the state. In turn, Texas braggadocio should be kept to a minimum. If you go along, you'll get along.

Well I've been to many places that have clear blue water and yet I still LOVE South Padre. You wanna see muddy water? Check out New York City's "beaches". It's muddy because of poop and sewage. Texas may not be the most scenic place but it is pretty in its own right. I don't have hill country views and all that, but damn do I love just hanging out in my own backyard.

[Trainwreck20]

*sigh*

If you try, almost everywhere that is not despoiled has some beauty, usually, you just don't try to compare it to something else - kind of a variation on Einstein's saying “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Weather, on the other hand, is hard to beat in some of the places in California. You can't really argue about it; however, I do love variations in the weather and while the weather in SD may be 'perfect', I think that makes it imperfect.