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I hate to tell you, but in New York City, Chicago, other big cities, it'll take a lot longer than 25 minutes to find an Olive Garden or an IHOP, whether by car, foot, or public transportation.
Sadly, that's not necessarily true. Here's a picture of Times Square in the heart of NYC...
When living in a metropolitan area (such as Raleigh supposedly is), one shouldn't have to travel a minimum of 25 minutes away just to go to an Olive Garden or an IHOP or a Kohl's or an O'Charley's, etc. etc. etc. etc.
In Southern California, that's pretty normal. You may have one or two nearby, but unless you live near one of the major malls, you're going to have to travel.
For me, right now:
Olive Garden - 20 min.
Bed Bath & Beyond - 20 min.
Cheesecake Factory - 20 min.
Lowes - 20 min.
Best Buy - 20 min.
Kohls - 5 min.
Claim Jumper - 30 min.
Ruth's Chris - 45 min.
Everything is spread apart. Driving 25 miles in LA is a drive through town. You start in LA and end in LA, and there's nothing but city the whole way. Driving 25 miles here is a drive from one downtown, through a tract of wilderness, past another town, through another tract of wilderness, then through more wilderness once you get off the freeway, and then I'm finally in downtown Chapel Hill. It's not contiguous cityscape like in bigger places, so it seems like you're going someplace, not just cruising down the street to get some good Indian food or a decent taco. So in that way, it's a longer mental distance, even if it's not physically any farther.
That makes a lot of sense. I used to live in Alpine - a small bedroom community about 15 minutes outside of Santee (a suburb of San Diego), in the foothills . I now live in a developed area - still 15 minutes from the main parts of town. But it doesn't FEEL as far as it did when I lived in Alpine.
I know this is a bit of a dead thread, but as a past NC resident, I think Carolinians become accustomed to having everything just down the road. I have lived in KC in the midwest for eight years now and everything is 30 minutes away. I work 67 miles away. If you vacation, it is a 4 hour drive minimum to the nearest different scenery in the Ozarks. The Rockies, 12 hours away...
While we don't have horrid traffic, driving is a part of life. When I tell people I have an hour + commute, they are all like "Well that's not too bad". Seriously.
In one job assignment, we had a boss from Texas who wanted us to DRIVE to north of Philly (from Raleigh) for a business meeting -- more than a seven-hour trip! For him, driving was nothing. Hours-long drives were his norm. He enjoyed them and said everyone in Texas drove long distances and thought nothing of it.
Me, I like driving to the beach. That's it. Two hours.
We ended up flying and staying overnight for one Philly meeting and flew up and flew down in one day for another meeting.
There are a lot of relocators from Rochester, NY. There, nothing is more than 20 minutes away. (Such a nice word: Relocators.)
Here in Brentwood in Raleigh, I rarely need to go more than a mile or two for any reason. It's like living in a little town or a village.
The N&O once had a story posing the question, "Are you a citizen of the Triangle?" Some people (such as NRG) certainly are. Some people aren't.
We used to go to Chapel Hill a lot for plays, concerts, and restaurants, so we always felt like "Triangle citizens," but we haven't done that in a while.
I think it makes life a lot more fun when you can see everything each area has to offer.
Hey I ate at that Olive Garden when I visited NY! Forget how long it takes you to get places. Be thankful that once there you don't have to wait one hour 45 minutes (our wait when we ate there)to eat because so many people live there that every place is always crowded. When we were living in CA we rarely if ever had less than an hour wait to eat at resturants. I will take the moving time of a driving inconvenience over a cattle call crowd any day.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryBean
Yes but it will take you 45 mintues to go the 10 blocks to get there while you sit in your cab!!
I plan to move from the DC area to Cary in the next year. We currently have every thing that we need within 3 miles but as soon as we go further than that it takes another 30-60 min. I used to think that 5 cars at a light was traffic - when I lived in the sticks. Different strokes for different folkes and we all love to complain.
Before I moved to Raleigh from NE, someone here told me that people who moved to North Raleigh tended to stay in North Raleigh, and all of their shopping, banking, etc., was within a very small radius. Well, I didn't quite believe that until I moved here. Now I understand.
Rather than saying it's "inconvenient," to drive more than a few minutes, I see it as being convenient that I don't have to drive more than within a three-mile radius to find everything I need for household things, groceries, access to major higways, major malls, etc.
It saves on gas, wear and tear on an automobile, requires less planning, less time spent spinning around town, and basically makes for a more quiet, peaceful lifestyle.
best,
toodie
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