[sbrooke]

Vinita,Ok is sooo disappointing! There is absolutely nothing to do and the younger generations are suffering because of it.The people themselves are rude and STARE.The town is small and reletively safe(if you don't think about the two girls who have been missing for over seven years) but it is sooo closeminded and outdated. Vinita is not one of those quaint little towns- it is a dump. The food is basically Sonic or McDonald's.There is a Super Wal-Mart that is fairly decent and the Mexican Resturant El Cabrito offers really good service and food.Vinita has about 6,ooo people and is an hour away from a city that has anything(those cities being Joplin,Mo and Tulsa,OK).The public school system is a joke. There are really no good places to rent and the houses for sale were all built in the 70's and 80's. This is a very Cowboy town, so if you like that..., Vinita has its own Rodeo in August.April-June can be very tornadic and there are really no good churches either.

[nmnita]

Maybe you are being a little harsh, are you living there now? If not, were you thinking of moving there, did you have realtor show you around?

I am asking these questions because my aunt was born there and I am named after the town, so was my aunt. I do agree with part of what you have said. We stopped by a fews years ago when we were trying to decide on a place to retire. Yes, the people were not very friendly and I actually considered it again this time, but our realtor didn't have very many positive things to say about the town, The population has gone down in the past 5 or so years I beleive. Even with all this, everyplace has poisitives and I think you might try to find something good about the place.

We live outside of a small town here in NM. yes, we only have Super Walmart and a small grocery store for shopping, no we don't have many things for teens to do, but when we were teens we made our own fun, yes, we do have some racial problems and the county we live in is very poor. All that being, said there are nice sections of town, the downtown area is being refurbished to a degree, the weather here (other than spring winds) is woderful and we see the mountains. We have lots of friends, good churches, and nice neighbors. You talk about having to drive in Joplin, well we have to drive to Albuquerque which is about 45 minutes away, as I remember Vinita is about 45 minutes from Joplin. If you are living in Vinita, which I assume you are, look on the bright side. It really helps a lot. NMnita

[Cali BassMan]

Most places are what you make of them, Heck I grew up in the S.F. Bay Area, I rememeber complaining as a kid " There is nothing to do".. Yet the Bay Area has 6 pro Sports teams, An awesome Bay ( back then) several lakes and tons of open spaces (again Back Then).
The best times were just messing around down at the creek, catching toads and riding bikes.....
Todays kids just seem to need somekind of artificial imagination.. Heck even here where it won't rain from April to November, most kids just sit in the house and play video games.....
Again, try to have some fun and you just might suprise yourself and be succsessful..

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

Most places are what you make of them, Heck I grew up in the S.F. Bay Area, I rememeber complaining as a kid " There is nothing to do".. Yet the Bay Area has 6 pro Sports teams, An awesome Bay ( back then) several lakes and tons of open spaces (again Back Then).
The best times were just messing around down at the creek, catching toads and riding bikes.....
Todays kids just seem to need somekind of artificial imagination.. Heck even here where it won't rain from April to November, most kids just sit in the house and play video games.....
Again, try to have some fun and you just might suprise yourself and be succsessful..

you are right and kids think they have to be entertained. As a travel agent, I often gets asked "what curise ship will have the best activities for my kids?" Yes, I know things have changed, but I often wish I could say, 1-why are you taking your kids in the frist place (I am talking about very young kids) and 2-why can't your kids stay busy just using the pool, going on shore excursions, playing ping pong (every cruise line has ping pong) and doing kid stuff or stull with mom and dad. We took our 2 older grandkids on cruises when they got a little older. Only one time did either of them even use the kids program and both are very social. They found plenty to keep themselves busy. Of well, off my high horse for today.

[StillwaterTownie]

So many kids these days choose to stay indoors to play video games and watch cable TV that it shouldn't matter as much as it used to over there not being much for young kids and teens to do in a small town.

[Mattie Jo]

sbrooke,

i am sorry you are having a hard time with where you are living. if you meet any of these people please don't complain to them about their town, though.

when they stare, just wave and smile. they are curious as i said in my last post to you.

perhaps you need to move to a city that has more.

i grew up in a small town like vinita and loved it. it was a cow town with almond orchards, now it is a cow town with grape orchards.

having lived in NY it may be hard for you to adjust to any place in Oklahoma, but in order to do so you have to start finding positive things about it or you will always find yourself unhappy. But then there were places that I lived in CA that I hated, like Fresno, CA and Richmond, CA. I am so glad that I moved.

Why do you still live in Vinita?

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jessaka

sbrooke,

i am sorry you are having a hard time with where you are living. if you meet any of these people please don't complain to them about their town, though.

when they stare, just wave and smile. they are curious as i said in my last post to you.

perhaps you need to move to a city that has more.

i grew up in a small town like vinita and loved it. it was a cow town with almond orchards, now it is a cow town with grape orchards.

having lived in NY it may be hard for you to adjust to any place in Oklahoma, but in order to do so you have to start finding positive things about it or you will always find yourself unhappy. But then there were places that I lived in CA that I hated, like Fresno, CA and Richmond, CA. I am so glad that I moved.

Why do you still live in Vinita?

Jessaka, I really don't expect her to come back on these boards to answer any of our questions. I think she just wanted to vent and rant and rave....BTW, the one area we didn't like in Calif was Eureka, today I would feel differently but it was in the 70s, kids were still in school, swimming competitively, every swim meet meant traveling and spending nights in motels. The weather truely was depressing, my husband did not like his job and he traveled constantly. We did have good friends but not many. Did I ***** all the time or tell the natives how much I hated living there? NOpe and we survived about a year. Hubby got a better job, we moved away, didn't miss it, but I still like to remember the few good things about the town; yes, there were many good things. Nita

[Mattie Jo]

I remember driving up to Eureka in my little VW bug. I loved the shopping there, and I remember liking the town, but I also remember that it was too cold, way too cold. The only real thing that I remember about it is buying a handmade rug from a woman there. I loved that rug so much but it withered away. I knew I wouldn't want to live there due to the cold.

I thought that Juno, Alaska was cold when I went there one July, but that was the most beautiful town, or so I thought back then. People's gardens were wild with natural plants. Maybe because it rained all the time they could grow nothing else, and I am beginning to feel bad for my herb garden here. I moved my lamb's ear to dryer ground and may have to move other herbs as the rain stops. I go out for a half hour and have to come back in due to rain starting again. And stuff grows so fast I can't keep up with it. My vines are taking over. How wonderful though.

[Cali BassMan]

Jessaka,
I too lived in Richmond, and right next door in San Pablo, it's where I grew up.. You think it was bad then, it's Dodge City now, without a Matt Dillon to tame it!!!!!!!!

[Mattie Jo]

CaliBassMan,

I forgot, I lived in San Pablo, but went to Richmond often. I can imagine what it is like now. Probably the police don't like to even go there. Fresno is probably worse than ever, and that would be hard to imagine. People there would kill others just because. I remember the story of a woman with a baby in a stroller that told some guys to slow down their car. They stopped, drove backwards and killed her. Every week there would be two killings, not all gang related. The night before we moved there was a drive by in our neighborhood. No one was killed, but I saw the bullets in the street along with the neighbors that were out there talking about it.

Drugs are destroying America. And I hate thinking of all of the meth that is made and used here in Tahlequah and other areas, but the police are arresting people constantly for such use. You don't see much crime here though, and for that I am glad. I read about a few burglaries and about those getting caught, and I think of how on top of things the Tahlequah police and others sheriffs are. And I am glad. One of the sheriffs here was voted as the favorite among those in Tahlequah. Who would even vote for one in some other States?