Houston vs Seattle (Portland, West, Van: price, malls, move)

[DCNative]

Originally Posted by davidt1

Where I live it's only half-green. You would think that with enormous amount of rain trees and grasses would be green. They are not. Not the green I am used to seeing in Napa Valley, Santa Babara, etc.

I think Houston is quite green, imo

it's winter now, so it won't be as green as it probably will be in the summer.

[bostoner]

It depends on what part of town you live in. The southern half, where davidt1 lives, I think, is not very green... it is closer to the bay and the Gulf so the terrain changes into coastal prairie going down that way.

Keep in mind... this is 600 square miles we're talking here.

[houguy1087]

Originally Posted by houstoner

It depends on what part of town you live in. The southern half, where davidt1 lives, I think, is not very green... it is closer to the bay and the Gulf so the terrain changes into coastal prairie going down that way.

Keep in mind... this is 600 square miles we're talking here.

Yeah, the terrain actually changes here, but overall Houston is quite green. People are always suprised to see that we actually have TREES in Houston.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by davidt1

You would think that with enormous amount of rain trees and grasses would be green. They are not. Not the green I am used to seeing in Napa Valley, Santa Babara, etc.

Well, welcome to SE Texas! Regardless of what ''cheerleading'' you may have read here in other threads before you moved here, you can't expect ANY scenery that remotely compares to picturesque Santa Barabara or the wine country. It's not a fair comparison to even make, really.

The whole area along the coast from Beaumont-Port Arthur to Victoria 30, 40, up to 50ish miles inland is pretty similar. Blah. We have a lot of rain, but if you ever dig out a big chunk of wet soil and play with it you'll understand why things don't grow so well here. But you may be able to take up hand made pottery.

If you're looking at the 10k sq mile metro area, much of the outer west areas from Sugar Land to Katy to Cypress and out 290 aren't too green now, either. Wait month and things will begin to dramatically change, but it won't morph into anything you'd want to whip out your camera for.

If you want ever-greenery to write home about, you should really go at least 100+ miles to the north/northeast of town. But don't go expecting an evergreen Oregon forest, either.

[Topaz]

Originally Posted by tstone

Well, welcome to SE Texas! Regardless of what ''cheerleading'' you may have read here in other threads before you moved here, you can't expect ANY scenery that remotely compares to picturesque Santa Barabara or the wine country. It's not a fair comparison to even make, really.

That's why California and the Pacific Northwest are excellent places to take vacations. Living there is an entirely different matter, as the gorgeous scenery doesn't pay the mortgage or fund the schools or build safe bridges and highways or (in the case of Oregon) generate a booming economy.

[BearBranch]

Kingwood is greener than Napa or Santa Barbara.

[wereinhouston]

One of the nice things about growing up in Seattle and then moving to Houston is that my family can really enjoy Galveston in December and January, when it's not crowded. July and August are another story altogether for us Northern Born.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by tstone

That is very atypical, almost unheard of. You'd be more likely to find something for triple, 10 mins from downtown Houston. The lower-end houses 25 miles from downtown cost that much.

This is a bit off topic, but I have been looking at real estate websites trying to see what housing would cost if we were to move down there (our budget would only be around $110K-$115K) and it looked like there were some nice, big, fairly new places in that price range (though many were in the 'burbs, not sure exactly how far from downtown they were).

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by Premont

No mountains, but some nice views in Houston too.

Stunning shot! I'm impressed. Gorgeous!

Yes, Seattle is nice, I owned my second home there (a T.H.)...yawn...it's great that the person showed Seattle with people outside in swimwear ... yeah, that's about TWO months, at best. Also, those beautiful homes near water...if you have to ask, you can't afford them. Twenty-five years ago, it was "open season" in SEA. Right now, with SEA prices high and steady and CA prices declining, it makes no sense to consider SEA. Those gorgeous shots you are showing are of Bellevue, Enatai Beach in SE Bellevue, Admiral on West Seattle where it's lined with view condos, Mercer Island, the parts of Wallingford that have a view back to SEA..."regular folks" can't afford those places.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by davidt1

Not the green I am used to seeing in Napa Valley, Santa Babara, etc.

That green you refer to only exists between late November and late March. When the Napa Valley and the John Steinbeck coastal range is draped in green because of the rain, there is no lovelier place. The rest of the year, those places are brown.

I remember taking a picture of SF from Twin Peaks looking toward the East Bay. When I had it developed, I couldn't believe how brown everything was!