Anybody moved away from Dallas and wanted to move back? (Austin: fit in, house)

[**NoodLes**]

Moved to Dallas about a year ago and I have to say this is the most overrated, stubborn thinking cities I have ever visited.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by motoman

My girlfriend was looking for things to do in Dallas and she said, "there really isn't anything to do in Dallas is there?"

If you can't find anything to do in a metro of 6 million people, there's something wrong with you.

[motoman]

Originally Posted by aceplace

If you can't find anything to do in a metro of 6 million people, there's something wrong with you.

Sorry, I didn't realize I had to be specific in my explanations for you to understand. Let me restate.

"There isn't anything to do in Dallas that you can't do in LA, and so much more to do in LA that you can't do in Dallas."

There, corrected that for ya.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by motoman

Sorry, I didn't realize I had to be specific in my explanations for you to understand. Let me restate.

"There isn't anything to do in Dallas that you can't do in LA, and so much more to do in LA that you can't do in Dallas."

There, corrected that for ya.

Moderator cut: personal attack


How about attending the state fair of Texas?

or...

Waterskiing on a warmwater lake

or...

swimming on a beach without shivering with cold

or...

walk through a forest

or...

get somewhere on a freeway the same day you left

[autotech4dallas]

You are making me want to move to Texas tonight. I could drive 4 hours late at night if I wanted.

Well maintained car, working lights, food, gas, money, ipod, cruise control, and I am set!

[Mckellyb]

Ldunn1001, your original post sounds almost identical to mine and my wife's.

Both of us born-and-raised Dallasites. Come 1998, after 28 years, I've had it up to here with everything Dallas-related... I am sick and freakin' tired of the flat terrain, summer, allergies, traffic, lack of the job I want, etc.

We moved to the mountains SW of Denver. Literally, we lived on a mountain @ 9K feet of elevation. Sure, it was a 46 mile drive to work every day, but it was a very, very scenic drive.

We both enjoyed the cold, snow, and four seasons. Work was good, too, though the company went all but under in a couple of years. I hated to leave that house...every year, we'd have a family of deer bed down in the yard. Occasionally, a bear would wander through the neighborhood, but that was rare.

We then moved to Portland, OR, so I could pursue a career in IT, moving from the securities industry (finance, the kind people look at on the news today, and shake their head...no worries, I do it, too), and my wife loved it there. I truly disliked it...for many reasons.

After four years in Portland, we moved to Vegas, stayed for three years, typically leaving from June-October. We had property there, so we figured, why not? It was the polar-opposite of Oregon, and not just because of the weather. The entire environment was flipped. I needed the (apparent) near-anarchy of Southern Nevada to counteract what I saw as the socialism of NW Oregon.

However, after three years there, we finally decided, y'know, there's no place like home, and mind you, I vowed to never, EVER move back here.

Sho 'nuff, we're here.

We've been looking at houses south of I-30. I've done the inside LBJ north Dallas thing...I'm not about to go back to it. I want trees and a hill here and there which isn't present because it's part of a freeway entrance ramp.

In the past three years, we went to 10 Canadian provinces and 49 states. The only other state we considered moving to was Alaska, and that would have required a move neither of us wanted to make, I think. We'd have gone back to the Front Range of CO, but the folks there seem so angry since we were there last. Spent a few months there, last year, and everyone seemed flat-out pissed off about something.

After ten years west of here, the traffic, now that we're back, is laughable. At least I can see the strange, seemingly random driving, coming before it happens. You want unpredictable? Go to Vegas, where 70% of the cars are rentals driven maniacally by drunken tourists determined to throw as much money as they can at "free drinks".

[motoman]

Originally Posted by aceplace

Moderator cut: personal attack

How about attending the state fair of Texas?

or...

Waterskiing on a warmwater lake

or...

swimming on a beach without shivering with cold

or...

walk through a forest

or...

get somewhere on a freeway the same day you left

The Angeles National Forest (655,000 acres) is 35 miles from my apartment. Maybe hike up Mt. Baldy, go camping, rafting, fishing, etc.

Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in North America at 4,210 acres is just 23 miles from me. It also includes the Griffith Observatory.

Or I could drive 9 miles up the highway to The Getty Museum.

Or perhaps a night out at the Hollywood Bowl.

Or a hike along the beach through the Santa Monica mountains.

Or surfing.

Or skiing at Big Bear, just a few hours from Los Angeles.

Or riding my motorcycle at Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Laguna Seca, or California Speedway, all within easy driving distance of LA.

Or seeing Billy Crystal and Joan Rivers perform live at The Wiltern, just 20 minutes away.

Or seeing Jay Leno test out material on Sunday night at The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, just 20 minutes away.

Or going out to the desert to ride motorcycles or go camping or watch the stars.

Or head up to Yosemite for some more outdoors.

Or walk down to the beach and spend the day being lazy.

Or take a bike ride along the beach from Malibu down to Redondo Beach.

Or take the train down to San Diego to watch a baseball game and spend the weekend.

Or take a behind-the-scenes movie studio tour.

Or be a guest on a talk show or sitcom.

Or go kayaking.

Or spend a day or the weekend on Catalina Island.

Take a short drive to Pasadena and have lunch at the Botanical Gardens of the Huntington Library.

Or drive up the coast a bit to The Getty Villa.

Or ride the canyons on my motorcycle up around Malibu.

Or ride along Angeles Crest Highway.

Or head down to the Long Beach Aquarium.

Or down to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wildlife Park.

I could go on and on and on.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by motoman

The Angeles National Forest (655,000 acres) is 35 miles from my apartment. Maybe hike up Mt. Baldy, go camping, rafting, fishing, etc.

Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in North America at 4,210 acres is just 23 miles from me. It also includes the Griffith Observatory.

Or I could drive 9 miles up the highway to The Getty Museum.

Or perhaps a night out at the Hollywood Bowl.

Or a hike along the beach through the Santa Monica mountains.

Or surfing.

Or skiing at Big Bear, just a few hours from Los Angeles.

Or riding my motorcycle at Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Laguna Seca, or California Speedway, all within easy driving distance of LA.

Or seeing Billy Crystal and Joan Rivers perform live at The Wiltern, just 20 minutes away.

Or seeing Jay Leno test out material on Sunday night at The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, just 20 minutes away.

Or going out to the desert to ride motorcycles or go camping or watch the stars.

Or head up to Yosemite for some more outdoors.

Or walk down to the beach and spend the day being lazy.

Or take a bike ride along the beach from Malibu down to Redondo Beach.

Or take the train down to San Diego to watch a baseball game and spend the weekend.

Or take a behind-the-scenes movie studio tour.

Or be a guest on a talk show or sitcom.

Or go kayaking.

Or spend a day or the weekend on Catalina Island.

Take a short drive to Pasadena and have lunch at the Botanical Gardens of the Huntington Library.

Or drive up the coast a bit to The Getty Villa.

Or ride the canyons on my motorcycle up around Malibu.

Or ride along Angeles Crest Highway.

Or head down to the Long Beach Aquarium.

Or down to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wildlife Park.

I could go on and on and on.

Believe me, there is also a smorgasbord of adventures to be had in the DFW area as well.

BTW, San Diego is not Los Angeles, Yosemite is not Los Angeles, Big Bear is not Los Angeles. LA is a parched semidesert area with little or no natural forest, just semidesert scrub. The terrain around Dallas looks like the Garden of Eden in comparison to Southern California.

Los Angeles has zoos and aquaria, and so does Dallas. Dallas also has botanical gardens, restaurants, fab scenes, etc. It also has activities specific to itself... as does LA.

Basically, the urban attractions of LA proper are comparable, not that dissimilar. from the urban attractions of similar metros such as DFW. The only distinction is that LA is more populous and has more of them, but not neessarily an order of magnitude greater. The things you can do in LA are more or less what you can do in DFW.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by motoman

The Angeles National Forest (655,000 acres) is 35 miles from my apartment. Maybe hike up Mt. Baldy, go camping, rafting, fishing, etc.

Griffith Park, one of the largest urban parks in North America at 4,210 acres is just 23 miles from me. It also includes the Griffith Observatory.

Or I could drive 9 miles up the highway to The Getty Museum.

Or perhaps a night out at the Hollywood Bowl.

Or a hike along the beach through the Santa Monica mountains.

Or surfing.

Or skiing at Big Bear, just a few hours from Los Angeles.

Or riding my motorcycle at Buttonwillow, Willow Springs, Laguna Seca, or California Speedway, all within easy driving distance of LA.

Or seeing Billy Crystal and Joan Rivers perform live at The Wiltern, just 20 minutes away.

Or seeing Jay Leno test out material on Sunday night at The Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, just 20 minutes away.

Or going out to the desert to ride motorcycles or go camping or watch the stars.

Or head up to Yosemite for some more outdoors.

Or walk down to the beach and spend the day being lazy.

Or take a bike ride along the beach from Malibu down to Redondo Beach.

Or take the train down to San Diego to watch a baseball game and spend the weekend.

Or take a behind-the-scenes movie studio tour.

Or be a guest on a talk show or sitcom.

Or go kayaking.

Or spend a day or the weekend on Catalina Island.

Take a short drive to Pasadena and have lunch at the Botanical Gardens of the Huntington Library.

Or drive up the coast a bit to The Getty Villa.

Or ride the canyons on my motorcycle up around Malibu.

Or ride along Angeles Crest Highway.

Or head down to the Long Beach Aquarium.

Or down to the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wildlife Park.

I could go on and on and on.

The Angeles national forest? What a pathetic joke. The Los Angeles area is a patch of semiarid scrubland with nothing resemblinh natural forest cover. Just brush covering the bare ground. DFW has forests along the creeks and rivers and the great Cross Timbers forest bisecting it as well.

Believe me, there is also a smorgasbord of adventures to be had in the DFW area as well.

BTW, San Diego is not Los Angeles, and many of the things you mention are not in the city of LA, or what visitors usually consider parts of LA. Yosemite is far from LA, as is big bear, hours from LA. Dallas also has a host of geographically and biologically different zones in its outlying areas.

Basically, the urban attractions of LA proper are comparable, not that dissimilar. from the urban attractions of similar metros such as DFW. LA has museums, so does DFW. LA has cultural attractions, so does DFW. LA has clubs and restaurants, so does DFW. The big D also has scenic roads to ride motorcycles on, and places to go to in the surrounding countryside.

The only comparison is that LA is more populous and has more of them... but LA is no London or New York. Fuggetaboutit.

So your statement that DFW has nothing to do... then that means that Los Angeles has nothing to do.

Actually, San Francisco has been making that point for decades... that Los Angeles is a cultural, spiritual and urban wasteland.

But why do masses of people want to leave LA? Because its people are allegedly plastic, artificial, caricatures of real human beings?

No, not just for that reason. It's because they cannot live a basic American lifestyle on the LA economy.

[theS5]

Ace,
Is there anything about Dallas that is not great?

Originally Posted by aceplace

The Angeles national forest? What a pathetic joke. The Los Angeles area is a patch of semiarid scrubland with nothing resemblinh natural forest cover. Just brush covering the bare ground. DFW has forests along the creeks and rivers and the great Cross Timbers forest bisecting it as well.

Believe me, there is also a smorgasbord of adventures to be had in the DFW area as well.

BTW, San Diego is not Los Angeles, and many of the things you mention are not in the city of LA, or what visitors usually consider parts of LA. Yosemite is far from LA, as is big bear, hours from LA. Dallas also has a host of geographically and biologically different zones in its outlying areas.

Basically, the urban attractions of LA proper are comparable, not that dissimilar. from the urban attractions of similar metros such as DFW. LA has museums, so does DFW. LA has cultural attractions, so does DFW. LA has clubs and restaurants, so does DFW. The big D also has scenic roads to ride motorcycles on, and places to go to in the surrounding countryside.

The only comparison is that LA is more populous and has more of them... but LA is no London or New York. Fuggetaboutit.

So your statement that DFW has nothing to do... then that means that Los Angeles has nothing to do.

Actually, San Francisco has been making that point for decades... that Los Angeles is a cultural, spiritual and urban wasteland.

But why do masses of people want to leave LA? Because its people are allegedly plastic, artificial, caricatures of real human beings?

No, not just for that reason. It's because they cannot live a basic American lifestyle on the LA economy.