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I voted for NC, and considering its natural features it was an easy choice. Where else in the southeast can you find as many mountains and beach all in the same state?? North Carolina is a beautiful state, and its blessed with Southern culture. Virginia has all these things too, just in lesser amounts. Their mountains are not quite as tall, they have less beaches and less Southern culture. That is why I chose NC over VA.
Massachusetts??? Pretty state with some serious history but its too cold, too northern, too liberal etc for me to vote for it. Others would see all those things as positive attributes I know. All of this comes down to personal preference. Nice place for a vacation though.
REALLY? Parts of NC are less "Southern" than a lot of Virginia. Asheville is more liberal than any Virginia town i have been in. I have friends in Raleigh/Triangle area and they say Richmond is North and South at the same time to them!
Have you ever been to Amarillo? It's one of the bleakest, most depressing cities I've ever been to.
Yup. Stayed at a hotel there through winter one time because of work. Friendly people, nice weather, affordable housing. It is flat, which I like, mainly because I grew up in a farm town in eastern Colorado a few minutes from the Nebraskan border. I plan to move to Amarillo or Canyon for good eventually. Nothing bleak or depressing about the city for me. People stereotype Amarillo as bleak, boring, and depressing because of the geography. Amarillo isn't Denver, New York City, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, or Seattle, it is Amarillo, and that is what makes the city unique. And I like it that way. And, for a city of 198,000 with no suburbs (other than Canyon, but they are still separated by about 15 miles of farmland), there are plenty of things to do in the city or the surrounding areas. I'll list a few.
Those are the main attractions in the Amarillo/Canyon area. The Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon is amazing. Almost as good as the Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, CO. Here is some info on crime rates in Amarillo and Canyon also.
Amarillo: 439.5
Canyon: 67.2
Sadly, Amarillo has a quite high crime rate. However, the crime mostly happens in east Amarillo or along Amarillo Boulevard. West and south Amarillo are some of the safest areas in the state. Canyon itself, has been ranked in some of America's best small towns to raise a family, mainly because of the low poverty rate, all the jobs being created, and the very low crime rate in the city.
Here is another reason why this area is not bleak and depressing.
That is the Palo Duro Canyon at sunset.
I hope I pretty much summed up why the Amarillo/Canyon area is far from bleak and depressing.
Nothing bleak or depressing about the city for me. People stereotype Amarillo as bleak, boring, and depressing because of the geography.
Well yes, the geography surrounding Amarillo is mind-numbingly ugly (the canyon photo you posted does not reflect what the countryside really looks like around there), but the actual city itself is a backwater. Most of it looked run down and depressed; no one seems to care about their property at all there. The downtown is pretty much a ghost town, too — there were literally tumbleweeds blowing through it on mostly empty streets (on a weekday) when I visited.
"Climate is an important factor to me, and Texas ranks dead last."
And, what about those winters that Boston gets? It snows in northern Texas pretty much every year, but not to the extent of say, Boston or Arlington, VA. North Carolina gets way too much rain. Texas for the most part is pretty mild compared to these states.
I don't remember North Carolina being particularly rainy. I do remember watering the vegetable garden so that it didn't burn to a crisp.
"Climate is an important factor to me, and Texas ranks dead last."
And, what about those winters that Boston gets? It snows in northern Texas pretty much every year, but not to the extent of say, Boston or Arlington, VA. North Carolina gets way too much rain. Texas for the most part is pretty mild compared to these states.
Texas is not even remotely mild based on what I find to be "comfortable." If you find long summer stretches of 100F degree plus weather with humidity to be comfortable with scorching torrid sun than be my guest. What puts Texas climate at the bottom of the barrel in my book is the VERY LOW LATITUDE. That means you can never really get a break from the sun at any time of the year. I generally prefer either cloudier mild climates, or ones that feature more snow with comfortable temperatures across the board during the warmer months.
Not compared with Europe. Massachusetts is at 42N, Leeds, UK is at 53.5N. Leeds has a milder climate but with much more diffused muted sunlight due to higher latitude. The south coast of Massachusetts is surprisingly milder, colder low temperatures <10F are less common, and some winter seasons do not produce as much snowfall as elevated interior portions of the state like the Berkshire mountains or even the Worcester hills.
Leeds, UK:
Boston, MA (USA):
Last edited by GraniteStater; 11-06-2015 at 08:33 PM..
To each his own. Every region has it's up side and down side. Personally it's a trade off for me - I can put up with Texas summers in exchange for the fabulous Texas winters. But I'm from the south and very acclimated to humidity and heat, so it doesn't get to me like it might get to someone who isn't used to it. I'm not even particularly hot till it gets over about 95 degrees and humidity doesn't even faze me.
I LOVE me some Texas winter, fall and spring though! Winters - often sunny and highs in the 50s but cold enough at night for a fire...beautiful falls (today the highs were in the 60s and the lows will be in the high 40s or 50s - and all next week is forecast to be the same and full of crisp breezes and sun and colder temps at night - woohooo!), and fantastic springs with those big, blustery spring storms that I have always loved (the actual odds of experiencing storm damage are very low and meanwhile, things are very exciting!).
I don't like snow and cold and gray weather. We get enough of that each winter - about three days, enough for some pictures and for the schools to close and for everyone to run go stock up, buy all the generators and milk and toilet paper in preparation for our three inches of snow - WOOHOO! The snowmen are pathetic but a good time is had by all.
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