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Old 11-14-2006, 03:39 PM
 
185 posts, read 686,783 times
Reputation: 70

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Martell View Post
I moved to Tampa from Cleveland, Ohio 2 years ago with my fiancé. We have loved certain things about this state/city, but we are moving.

Pros: Weather, beaches, weather, beaches., Hyde Park, Berns, you are not hit with hurricanes like South Florida, middle of the state so you have a million weekend trips to take you away from Tampa.
Hi. I moved from Pinellas County to Tampa. Could you please tell me where these beaches are you talk about?
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Old 11-14-2006, 03:49 PM
 
2,539 posts, read 4,085,484 times
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When you've lived in a state with only lakes and rivers any beach is good!
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Old 11-14-2006, 05:48 PM
 
185 posts, read 686,783 times
Reputation: 70
Quote:
Originally Posted by bnepler View Post
When you've lived in a state with only lakes and rivers any beach is good!
A lake can be nice. The lakes up north don't have alligators.

There's plenty of nice beaches but they're not near Tampa. If they're are any I'd seriously like to know

45 minutes to Fort Desoto, but when there's traffic it's more like 145 minutes.
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Old 11-15-2006, 07:41 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
26 posts, read 110,572 times
Reputation: 41
Default Good grief! What are you people talking about?

Sex offenders, traffic, mold, bugs, white trash, no beaches, hot humid summers, the scariest place you have ever driven through????? I know I missed some.... I'm scared to walk out of my house today reading all of these posts, lol. They must have given me a diffrerent batch of Koolaide when I got here.

I have lived in Tampa for the last 10 years. I grew up in the military so I have lived in a lot of places (California, Texas, Lousiana, Alabama, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, South Korea, probably a few others) and I can tell you that in every place I lived I wanted to leave I was always excited to leave.

I am being asked to relocate due to company assignment and I am finding it one of the hardest decisions for my wife and I to make. We absolutely love everything about Tampa.

I will follow that with the following disclaimer. We are a two income/no kid family. We have lived in New Tampa for the whole 10 years. We are home owners. The only reason I say this is because of some of the posts about education here and the cost of living. I can see how salary/schools may change your opinion of a city but, gratefully, I have had no hardships in this area.

Some things I really like about Tampa are being relatively close to the water, the airport (as funny as that sounds), the community I live in, the traffic is not that bad (even though you people complain about it, try spending a day in Atlanta or LA and then get back to me), Raymond James stadium (wish our team was doing better), St. Pete Times Forum, going out on the party boats to go grouper (grunt "no more groupers") fishing, low crime (again I live in New Tampa so maybe I am in a bubble), someone mentioned Berns, I will follow that up with 717, Charlie's, and J'alexanders (J's is more of a chain but always get the best service there, I actually ate there last night). The Dali museum is close by, the small town feeling of the city, Flattwoods park, the sunshine skyway bridge piers), great cigars, I could go on and on really...

To balance it out, some things I don't like about Tampa are everyone asking my wife and I if we are going to have children soon (LOL), lack of restraunts in the new tampa area (we are getting more), all the major roads run north/south (not many that run east/west and we can't realy make loops like some of our inland cities do), lack of options included in sale price of home (in florida you buy the walls/floor/roof. anything else will cost you more money, lol) chinch bugs eating the hell outof my lawn, and the cop that gave my wife a ticket the other day.

I will say that Tampa wasn't what I thought it would be when I first got here. I had the vision of what Florida "should" look like in my head. It took about a year before I really started to love it.

Anyhoo, go to any of these message board forums (which I have because I am contimplating a move) and you will see that if it is a semi-big city everyone complains about traffic so get over it or move to an isolated community where cars are not allowed like Macanaw Island (sp?).

Come down and see for yourself. It's not for everyone and, I do agree, housing costs have goine way up, but it is the best place I have ever lived. Best place for me, maybe not for you. Good luck!
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Old 11-15-2006, 03:37 PM
 
2,539 posts, read 4,085,484 times
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Well said "Goosemark". I've lived in about 5 different places and would rather be here!!
And you can buy cigars here. They haven't banned them here like they've quietly done in many cities...
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Old 11-15-2006, 04:46 PM
 
2,539 posts, read 4,085,484 times
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I've gotten to more beaches here in four hours than I did up north in four days. Most of the beaches up north are standing room only, of course unless you go there in the winter.

There's nothing better than waking up early morning in February seeing the dark dreary sky with just sticks on the trees and only the crows singings!! How I miss it....
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Old 11-15-2006, 06:18 PM
 
Location: Brooks AFB, San Antonio Texas
68 posts, read 272,848 times
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I'm moving to Florida next month, right before christmas, as my soon to be husband is in the Air Force (we're getting married in January). We have a 2 year old son, and he and I are leaving everything we've ever known behind here in Oklahoma to move out east. My fiance' secured us a really good apartment just this afternoon, the price is really good on it. I was just wondering if anyone could tell me some info about Tampa-is it good for young children? Young couples (I'm 18, he's 23)? Are there lots of parks? Is the water filthy? How bout the beaches? Are there malls? What is there for a 2 year old, and a stay at home mom to do? Please help me...I want to love it...I grew up in the city in Colorado, and was forced to come here to hillbilly hell when I was 11. Now that I get to move back to the city, I want to love it, and I want our son to love it. Please tell me I'm going to love it. I want to hear the negatives as well, but I really need to know if I'm going to be stuck at home all the time. Thank you...
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Old 11-15-2006, 08:23 PM
 
185 posts, read 686,783 times
Reputation: 70
Quote:
Originally Posted by bnepler View Post
I've gotten to more beaches here in four hours than I did up north in four days. Most of the beaches up north are standing room only, of course unless you go there in the winter.

There's nothing better than waking up early morning in February seeing the dark dreary sky with just sticks on the trees and only the crows singings!! How I miss it....
You can certainly get to beaches in four hours. Move to Pinellas county and get to them in 10 minutes.
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Old 11-16-2006, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
26 posts, read 110,572 times
Reputation: 41
oktoflgrl, no worries. There is plenty to do in Tampa, Florida for a young couple. And your son will thank you for moving only 45 minutes from Walt Disney World.

The good malls in Tampa are...

International Mall (upscale shops like Gucci, Neiman Marcus, etc...)
Westshore Mall (smaller than international but also has many upscale shops)
Westfield Mall in Brandon - another nice mall getting bigger and bigger
Citrus Mall - Close to Westchase - Really nice mall.


Beaches - Close to Tampa

Fort De Soto is a favorite of everyone. Ranked very high nationally.
Clearwater beach - more touristy but still nice
St Pete Beach - Big pier, Dali Museum, shopping and restraunts.

Beaches - A littel further down the road
St Armonds Circle (Sarasota) - Worth the dive. Very nice beach with lots of shopping and restraunts.
Naples, FL - Anywhere. Great food, shopping and beaches.

Other things to do...
Florida Aquarium
Lowry Park Zoo
Busch Gardens (Zoo and theme park)
Raymond James (Bucs Games)
St. Pete Times Forum (located in Tampa) - Hockey Lightning games, concerts
We have a baseball team too! I can't remember there name though. Oh yeah, it's the Devil Rays. You probably haven't heard of them since they were second to last in the league last year and there baseball dome is actually located in St. Pete with limited parking even though they are a Tampa team. ) It's actually fun to go watch them if you have a chance.
Or you can watch real baseball and go to a NY Yankees game at Legends Field just across from Raymond James. They do all of their spring training here as do a lot of other baseball teams.

Lots to do. Anyway, have fun. You will like it. Trust me.



What area are you going to be living in? I can tell you more about that area.

I buy bottled water but also drink from the tap. Nothing wrong with the water that I know of but you may want to get a water filter.
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Old 11-16-2006, 09:31 AM
 
9 posts, read 6,803 times
Reputation: 11
Default Tampa Area is not for everyone...

and that's a positive thing ! I, too, have lived all over the United States and I choose to live in 2 very different, but similar areas, one is just north of San Diego, and my favorite is just south of the Sunshine Skyway. Both are highly cultured and very well educated areas with access to a lot of things to do not only with your family, but even as a young, or not so young single person. Some of the posts that I have read seem hell-bent on 'selling' one area, or making unfair comparisons between vastly different areas.

People complain about the terrbile traffic in the state of Florida, which is very true ! (sometimes), but IT'S FLORIDA, it's not Montana for which I am very grateful indeed. Enjoy

SHALOM !
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