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Been here 45 years and have seen maybe six scorpions, two tarantulas (last year─didn't even think we had them until then), three or four rattlesnakes in the mountains, none in town, about four coyotes including one in town, no mountain lions or bobcats, and they ain't no tigers or bears, oh my, in these parts. Have seen and/or killed thousands of black widows, but no brown recluse. Have seen bees swarm about six or eight times, but there is no way of knowing if they are harmless honey bees or Africanized, so unfortunately people kill them all, even though they are becoming endangered, and we'll starve without them. Have seen a few mosquitoes but rarely and nothing like the swarms of millions you find in tropical climates in the south, or even in the northeast. Have seen maybe one centipede in Las Vegas and it was outside.
In Florida mosquitoes eat you alive, roaches move the pots and pans in the cupboard at night, and there are snakes and gators in every back yard. Plus there are creatures in black lagoons. I know because I saw the movie where they filmed one in Jacksonville when I was there as a kid.
Wow, Buzz, you gave me something to look forward to seeing!- mountain lions and bobcats. Prefer the zoo for those encounters.
Here's how to tell if bees are Africanized: spray them with a water hose and then run. If they follow they are Africanized! JUST KIDDING! Best to keep your distance. The idiot ex did that with the ones in the back yard. I'm pretty sure they were the Africanized version; very aggressive. I think it was just this past summer that a guy not too far, maybe 5 miles from where I used to live, disturbed a hive. They had to transfer him to AZ for treatment.
Fortunately, TN is too far north for gator's to survive. I read about one as far north as Dallas, TX.
As for the other little critters, I think that was because we were in such a new area in '99. It was quite the adjustment learning to live here. In my first couple of months I had 2 flat tires (new construction), experienced my first earthquake, saw a missile explode in what looked like the western sky (only to find out later it was a military test), moved into the house, saw my first scorpion, heard the coyotes, fought wind scorpions, had little lizards running around outside, saw the sidewinder, roaches that freaked the kids out, 2 centipedes in the house (fortunately found dead) and then the bees. It is like I'm a magnet for weird stuff & people! LOL Thank God things have basically leveled out!
Having spent quite a bit of time over the summer in Orlando, let me offer MY opinion.
I liked Orlando, it's beautiful, with water everywhere, nice homes/condos/apartments/business buildings/shopping centers. People live there and call it home so it must be a nice place to live.
Las Vegas and Orlando are tourist destinations. That's about where the similiarities end. There is less traffic in Las Vegas than in Orlando, we have no toll roads here either, yet in Orlando, seems like everywhere we went, we had to pay a toll to use the highway.
OK, the heat. There is definately a different heat between the humidity and the dryness of the desert. We were in Orlando for a month, between May-June, with temps in the 90's and humidity almost as high. It was suffocating, there was no way to be outside and "dry off" even in the shade.
Give me dry desert baking oven heat anyday, over the humidity and "sticky" feeling of Orlando weather.
I saw more bugs in Orlando than I have in years. We have bugs here too, but man, there seemed (to us) to be even more in Orlando.
The weather. I could never get used to those afternoon downpours. The day would start off just gorgeous, like I'm used to here at home! Deep blue sky, golden sun...and then humidity and by 2:30-3:00 pm a thunder and lightning rain storm to beat the band. And I mean rain, not like what we get here, but torrential wind blowing downpours!! A couple of days there I felt like we were having a $%$#@ hurricane!! And they last for hours or days!
The people in Orlando. Friendly and somewhat diverse, a very definate Hispanic influence, but somewhat more conservative (at least to us) in Orlando. Orlando just seemed like more of a "family" type place to me (my opinion) and a couple of the natives we met had moved there ages ago to work at Disney.
Las Vegas has a strong Hispanic influence as well, but to me (my opinion) it just seemed like the Las Vegas resident population is far more broad in race, ethnicities and religions. Living here for so long, Las Vegas definately has the "live and let live" attitude, where pretty much no one cares what color you are, who or what you worship or what you do when your doors are closed. I can't judge Orlando on those issues, because we weren't there long enough to get a good idea of how it is to live there, but the couple of natives we were with, seemed to think that Orlando was far more conservative and family atmosphere-ish over Las Vegas as well. That might have been just their perception of what they think living in "Sin City' is all about as well.
Restaurants...better choices (and more of them) here in Las Vegas, with far more convenient hours. In fact, conveniences here in Las Vegas out number those in Orlando greatly, such as restaurant/store hours and the proximity of shopping/dining places to your home.
Orlando is far bigger in geographic size than Las Vegas, so things are more spread out than here in the Las Vegas valley.
Orlando and Las Vegas sister cities? Ummm. no way Davie. There is a different "feel" between the two cities and they are nothing alike. Las Vegas doesn't close up at midnight, with not a soul in sight until morning. It just seems that Orlando pulls in the sidewalks when the resorts close for the night (and earlier)
I remember going to Wal-Mart, it WAS a 24 hour one, it was 9:30 pm on a Thursday with not a soul in the store and no one in the parking lot either. Surprising to me, considering I could go in any one of our Wal-Marts, any night of the week and see folks in there at 1:00 am doing their weekly food shopping. Casino hours and different shifts make this a truly 24 hour town.
So I have to ask you, if you truly like where you live now, why move? No where else is going to compare to where you are
Perhaps you just need to get out in the world a bit more. Orlando seemed like a real "family" type place, with so many resorts and hotels devoted to families with children.
Visit Las Vegas and see it for yourself. Come to play and act crazy and have fun and do all the things you can't do "back home," as a young person should when they come here. You can then return to the place where you love living now feeling refreshed and eagerly anticipating your next "Vegas vacation"
Much good luck to you!
Orlando is a very nice place to live and I love it. I want to give Vegas a try because it seems exciting and new to me, something I've never done before, and I love doing new things.
Tolls here can be a killer if you don't have an "E-Pass" and are low on change. The balance on those passes runs out real fast too, you can easily burn through $20 in tolls for just one weekend! No tolls would be a huge refresher to me
As far as bugs go, I see more dragonflies then anything.
Afternoon thunderstorms can be a killer to a perfect summer afternoon, but they last maybe 30 minutes tops, then the sun comes out and you can go outside again. Though after that the humidity increases THAT much.
Orlando's hispanic influence is relatively new. A lot of neighborhoods I once knew as predominantly white are now predominantly hispanic or are 50/50 with white people.
Orlando is very diverse racially, ethnically, religiously, etc. I dont judge anybody by any of those things, but I know other people do. Orlando is most likely the most progressive city in FL after Miami, though it is very family oriented which is all well and good but Im sick of the conservatism.
I'm sure Vegas has a lot of better restaurant choices then Orlando, we used to havea lot of good ones, and they left the city due to lack of busniess or voters opposed them building here.
I dont like how everything closes up here after 9 or 10 it can really drag down a young man's night like mine. Its funny a friend of mine said if we lived in Vegas we'd have loads of things to do.
I definitely need to get out and see the world more. I have only seen the east coast states (stale to me) and have not left Florida since 2006, I feel trapped.
I love living in Orlando, but like I said I've become bored and am yearning for something new. I want to live in a place like Vegas with it's live and let live attitude, no tolls, non judgemental or gossipy attitudes. It would be perfect for me I think
It wasn't my intention to slur Vegas as sin city, I was just using what I know.
No gossip? Seriously? Thats ALL people in Orlando do in their spare time its actually pretty sad.
I have relatives in Jacksonville and yes it is VERY racist, nice to visit when I want to see family, could never live there
Orlando may not be as progressive as Vegas, but its nowhere near Jacksonville's level. I almost never see racism in Orlando unless I am in the extreme eastern part of the city which is very rural and staunchly conservative
I like the live and let live approach idea to life that Vegas has. I know somebody here who lived in Vegas for 9 years and misses it dearly, he told me all about that approach, and I like that to be honest with you. Orlando isn't the most conservative but people here are pretty uptight and judgmental or at least they can be.
I have a nephew named David that lives in Orlando area ─ Winter Park I think. He's from Jacksonville where my sister lives.
here is what i have heard about the africanized bees... if you get close to a nest, one will fly out and "bump" you... if you don't leave.. a couple more "bump" you... still there.. the whole friggin hive is coming after you now...
here is what i have heard about the africanized bees... if you get close to a nest, one will fly out and "bump" you... if you don't leave.. a couple more "bump" you... still there.. the whole friggin hive is coming after you now...
are those a real problem out ewst? we have them in florida but it is still a relatively new thing. africanized bees showed up around 2006 in orlando
are those a real problem out ewst? we have them in florida but it is still a relatively new thing. africanized bees showed up around 2006 in orlando
They are a problem anywhere you disturb them. Sometimes it feels like they are more active than not because of news reports. Like all the other critters we've discussed, you just have to be aware that they are here and what to do if you encounter them.
They are a problem anywhere you disturb them. Sometimes it feels like they are more active than not because of news reports. Like all the other critters we've discussed, you just have to be aware that they are here and what to do if you encounter them.
I have a question about desertn animals. What exactly is a sidewinder? I've also been very lucky enough so far not have encountered any africanized bees as of yet. Im actually deathly afraid of bees regardless if they are africanized or not
What industries are there in Vegas other then tourisM Can some one please answer that for me.
I have a question about desertn animals. What exactly is a sidewinder? I've also been very lucky enough so far not have encountered any africanized bees as of yet. Im actually deathly afraid of bees regardless if they are africanized or not
What industries are there in Vegas other then tourisM Can some one please answer that for me.
A sidewinder is a type of rattler here in the desert. Here's a great site to learn about the surrounding desert: Sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes)
I have a question about desert animals. What exactly is a sidewinder? I've also been very lucky enough so far not have encountered any Africanized bees as of yet. I'm actually deathly afraid of bees regardless if they are Africanized or not
What industries are there in Vegas other then tourism Can some one please answer that for me.
There are many species of rattlesnakes, and they exist in every state. Sidewinders are a western species. They are called that because of the way the crawl by moving sideways in the desert sand leaving a 'S' like track as they go. The purpose is heat control because only two parts of their body touches the hot sand at the same time. If they can't find any shade they also burrow their bodies under the sand to avoid the sun, with only their nose and eyes sticking out. It is quite a thrill to be walking barefoot in the sand and suddenly come upon sidewinder tracks. You know he's under the sand somewhere. Makes people seem to fly. They also have the ability to sense fractions of degrees of temperature change, thus the name of the sidewinder missile which is a heat seeking rocket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyXNBAHu32o
Unless you are highly allergic to bees you have no reason to fear them. Bees swarming do not usually sting. Killer bees attack when they think their hive is being attacked. If you see a hive move away asap.
The two next largest employers in Nevada after the service industry are mining and construction. But the crash in housing caused a loss of probably 75% of construction jobs, and related industries so don't know if anyone has a handle on where that stands right now. Banking is a big presence in Las Vegas, as is warehousing and distribution, which is even bigger in Reno. Citibank has a large call center/billing center here. If you have a Citi credit card, your bills probably are printed here with over 2000 employees. They recently added 250 people to their mortgage department here also. There are other large call centers here too. There is probably more retail here than most cities this size. There are a lot of government workers but thanks to the Democrats we have way fewer federal jobs here than we had 20-25 years ago. Between the Nevada Test Site and Nellis AFB we once had over 10,000 workers, and that was when Vegas was a small town. I don't know how many we have now. As far as I know we still have Ocean Spray Cranberry World, there are some plants here like the Titanium plant, etc. Ethel M Chocolates are made here too, as are Fisher Pens. Those a some of the things you'll find here besides gaming and entertainment. It is more diverse than people give us credit for. Oh yeah, all those slot machines that you see in casinos all over the world were invented and manufactured here, as are the fake rocks and other building features that are made of synthetic materials and decorate gigantic hotels and water features. I would probably include the convention workers in the service industry, but there are thousands of people working conventions and trade shows in every occupation you can imagine.
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Prefer the zoo for those encounters.
JUST KIDDING! Best to keep your distance. The idiot ex did that with the ones in the back yard. I'm pretty sure they were the Africanized version; very aggressive. I think it was just this past summer that a guy not too far, maybe 5 miles from where I used to live, disturbed a hive. They had to transfer him to AZ for treatment.
They also have the ability to sense fractions of degrees of temperature change, thus the name of the sidewinder missile which is a heat seeking rocket.
