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DH and I moved to Amarillo (from Port Hueneme, CA) in 2003 because he got offered a job with the FAA. (he is an air traffic controller) He grew up as AirForce brat, so he gets pretty itchy to move every few years. I grew up in DFW and didn't move away till I was 23, but his wanderlust has rubbed off on my over the years.
We lived in Amarillo for almost 6 years, but we missed the "big city", so we sold house and moved to Charlotte, NC. After almost 2 years in Charlotte, we realized big city isn't what we wanted (traffic, taxes on silly things, HOAs...etc) so we moved back to Amarillo in 2011.
Well... the itchy feet syndrome has started again.
Neither of us have been to Corpus in over 10 years. We recently took a roadtrip to the Gulfcoast and spent a little time in Pensacola, and what we saw- we liked.
We are both trying to decide if he should put in his paperwork to Corpus or hold out for Pensacola.
We like that both places offer fishing (not too many places near Amarillo for that) and while the humidity will be higher than Amarillo (dry as a bone), both cities have breezes from water to help with heat/humidity and both cities appear to be larger, but not overwhelmingly huge.
What are pros/cons for these cities. (Yes, we both know that hurricanes are possibilities for either city.)
given the options of El Paso, Roswell, Albuquerque or Amarillo... with 20 minutes to decide and not having to been to any of the cities-- you make the best decision that you can with what little info you have.
I grew up in Texas but currently reside in Pensacola. I have never lived in Corpus Christi but visited and traveled to the area several times for business. I would investigate the crime rate in Corpus Christi if I were you. The restaurants are few and not great IMO. I previously worked for a law firm and the attorney's cringed each time we had a trial in Corpus Christi as it tends to operate with a border town mentality in the civil trial courts. I feel like if you are from Dallas you would be accustomed to a higher level of professionalism and it has been my experience that this is lacking in Corpus. I have known wonderful families that live in this area but I would not personally want to live there. I feel English is truly a second language in this city, not a problem for me - I speak Spanish.
On the other hand, I currently live in Pensacola and love aspects of it and have learned to live with other aspects.
You have to be careful about finding reputable vendors, i.e. repair people, as there are many "migrants" in this area. When I say migrants, I mean workers with a cell phone who decided to work this week. If they get a down payment from you, it is safe to assume that most of these indivduals will not be seen by you again. Finally after five years of owning property in Pensacola I have found trusted vendors! I think this is a problem in the entire state.
There are some great restaurants in Pensacola/Perdido Key area. Mind you it is nothing like Dallas or Houston Texas but definitely more than Corpus could offer you.
People here are very laid back which took a while for me to get accustomed to coming from Houston, Texas it is polar opposite for getting responses and getting anything done.
You have to plan your driving around what festival or if spring break is going on - depending on where you reside. We also tend not to eat out much in the summer at restaurants due to the summer vacation folks and long wait times.
It is very hot here if you are not near the water (the breeze is essential) but that should be similar to what you experienced in Dallas, Texas during the summer.
There are two main types of drivers here, the elderly who drive very slow and sometimes drive in the wrong lane etc and everyone else who IMO drive too slow too. I don't think of myself as an aggressive driver. The problem is many of the streets one uses to get from point A to B are only one lane for each direction. If you drive from West Pensacola and get behind a slow driver or school bus you just have to be patient. It takes me 45 mins to drive from West Pensacola to downtown Pensacola area
Freeways - There is only 110 that extends south of I-10; basically there are no loops here so it takes time to drive anywhere IMO. If you reside in Gulf Breeze the traffic is usually congested in the summer, as well as, at Pensacola Beach area.
Southwest now flies into P'cola so you can get round trip airfare for a decent price if you plan ahead to go to Texas (about $300 and change round trip)
There is always something to do in this town!
The people are very friendly. Whether you are 20 or 80 everyone is accepting and gets along it seems. You probably won't see much of the snooty attitudes here like you would in Dallas or Houston; people are just nicer here.
Oh and how could I forget the beach! Gorgeous! I recommend Perdido Key for families (it is quieter). Pensacola Beach seems to be a good place for partying.
The Naval Museum is a great place too. There is an IMAX theatre, a lighthouse and flight simulator. The museum aspect is free. If you go to the museum donations are accepted. I would recommend one of the docent tours as you learn so much about the different aircraft. My fav part of this museum is upstairs where they have the recreated ship areas with videos about what our men endured and did to survive. Highly recommend. This could be done over several days as it is too much to see in one day.
Okay here is the last thing that really bothered me when we purchased here, there are A LOT of sex offenders in the area and there is a problem with human trafficking. So watch your kids around some of these old and young men. I may worry to much about these issues but where I lived in Houston there was one sex offender registered in the ten years i lived in my home. When I look at the registered data base here in Florida they are EVERYWHERE.
I think we put moving (at least for now) on the backburner, but we plan on making a quick (as quick as a 10 hour drive can be) to check out Corpus before officially ruling it out- just to have a look around.
Although I grew up in D/FW area (Arlington specifically), we like the size of Amarillo which has a population of about 200,000. And I think we are looking for a city that is a little larger, has more amentities than Amarillo but has more of the small city feel.
Amarillo's humidity hovers around 20% and since it has been a number of years since I lived in high humidity areas, I really don't want to make that jump unless we can be near the water.
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