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This question is for people who live in a smaller town that is not part of a major metropolitan area.
How often do you as a resident of a small or midsized town or rural area make the trip to the big city nearest to your home? (Translation of a big city is the largest city in your State or a city within 150 of your home)
I am curious how often for example residents of rural eastern West Virginia get to Washington DC or residents of update New York get to NYC, or people in lets say South Dakota get to Minneapolis.
I used to live about 140 miles outside of Seattle, which was the nearest major city to my location.
I ended up going to Seattle about once per month for some reason. Sometimes for business; sometimes for shopping. I'd go to Vancouver, BC every three months or so and down to Portland, Oregon with about the same frequency.
Shopping (as well as medical services) are probably the most common reasons people from outlying areas drive into the city. Urban areas have much wider varieties of goods along with lower prices. Sometimes people from my town would drive a relatively moderate distance over to the Costco outlets near Olympia, sometimes they'd go into downtown Seattle for clothes and specialty stuff, or sometimes they'd go up north of the city to the some of the large malls.
Now, my town had logging activity going on, and a lot of the industrial machine and supply dealers were actually located in suburban Seattle. Farmers and other people engaged in traditional "rural" livelihoods often need to make more frequent trips to the big city than people might expect, due to that sort of centralization of goods and services.
Probably about once a month, since it is only an hour away, but I live in our state's largest metro area. Also head over to Indiana's largest metro in about 2 hours, as well, which is the amount of time it takes to get across some metro areas.
I've lived 2 hours from Houston for two years, and I haven't been there yet, and I doubt if I'll ever go. I lived in Florida for two years, and never saw a bigger city than Tallahassee.
I've lived 2 hours from Houston for two years, and I haven't been there yet, and I doubt if I'll ever go. I lived in Florida for two years, and never saw a bigger city than Tallahassee.
So you still haven't been to a bigger city than Tallahassee? If so, Houston would be a shock to you!
So you still haven't been to a bigger city than Tallahassee? If so, Houston would be a shock to you!
I meant that during my two year residence in Florida, I never went to a city in Florida that was bigger than Tallahassee. But I've been in all big cities in Florida at other times, before and since I lived there. I've also been in Houston, but not as a resident of Texas.
I probably make it to Detroit about 3-4 times per year, usually to see a Tigers game or go to the airport or something. It's a two hour drive.
Same here. Live in West Michigan and make the trip to Detroit a couple of times a year. I go to Grand Rapids about once a month though, which is our 2nd biggest city.
Mid Michigan...Detroit 3-5 times a year. 2-2 1/2 drive depending on the traffic, and if I'm going downtown or to the metro.
Once every couple years to Grand Rapids for the people above me. Just not too much there that makes it worth going to instead of Detroit area.
GR is 1 1/2 hours away from me, Detroit is 3 1/2 to 4 hours depending on the area I am headed to. GR makes more sense for me. If it were equal distance to both I would pick going to Detroit as well.
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