Good town in or near coastal Texas? (Houston, San Antonio: crime, houses)

[cruelkitti]

I have been doing a lot of lurking and reading gobs of threads, and from that I think Austin sounds great, but it's too far from the ocean. I lived in Fort Worth, Keller, and Rhome for four years about 9 years ago, and now I'm moving back. I'd like to live under an hour away from the ocean (preferably NOT a flood zone lol). I have a 9 year old, a 5 year old and a 10 month old. I guess we're considered fairly liberal, we're vegetarian/vegan, my husband is an excellent musician (from jamband, to bluegrass, to metal etc.) so a local music scene is preferred, we LOVE the outdoors, and any diversity in landscape (part of the reason for our choosing Texas), music festivals, camping, hiking, geocaching, swimming, boating, etc. We do enjoy living in a relatively small town, but wouldn't mind at all living in a rural area or a low-crime part of a city. I just don't know where to start! We're not looking to buy a house at the moment, not yet, and I'm not interested in living in Suburbia with cookie cutter houses. Shopping malls don't count for squat to me, but it'd be nice to have a diverse grocery market. Another thing to consider is that I'll be getting my concession trailer up and going as well, and I'd prefer living within an hour or 2 of a college town, or just a fairly liberal area where my vegan wares might have a chance during the off season, when music/art festivals aren't as plentiful.

Thanks in advance for any help you have to offer, I hope to have it narrowed down to a few places when the time comes to visit in person, and this site has been a tremendous help with that so far.

[cruelkitti]

How's Victoria? It has an ideal location being that it's within two-hour drive of Corpus Christi, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. I've been told by several people to steer clear of Houstin and Corpus Christi but was only given reasons like "It's a dump" and that's not enough for me... Any suggestions?

[latetotheparty]

Victoria is where I hope to land when I make my move back to Texas in a few years.... originally from Houston, but that is just TOO DANGED big for me now....

Victoria is close enough to the coast to be close, but far enough inland that I could afford to insure a house... big enough to have enough restaurants and shopping to suit me and close enough to Houston and Corpus if I want to head to a big city....

there are a few older threads in here that discuss Victoria... might be worth your while to search them out....

[CptnRn]

Rockport/Fulton is the prettiest part of the Texas coast in my opinion. If that is too close to the bay for you I'd pick Victoria.

[LilyLady]

Rockport is indeed a pretty city. So is Victoria.

But I don't think Corpus Christi is a "dump". It has some rough areas but it also has some real nice areas. There is a state university there, you've got the beaches, Corpus Christi Bay, boating and more. I'd pretty much bet that geocaching can be done anywhere. You might also check out the Corpus Christi forum right here at City-Data. Lots of good threads in there.

Good luck.

[CptnRn]

Portland, on the NE side of Corpus Christi Bay is often recommended by the people who frequent the Corpus forum. It would be close to the clubs in Corpus, Port Aransas and Rockport for music gigs.

[shootertoo]

Originally Posted by cruelkitti

I have been doing a lot of lurking and reading gobs of threads, and from that I think Austin sounds great, but it's too far from the ocean. I lived in Fort Worth, Keller, and Rhome for four years about 9 years ago, and now I'm moving back. I'd like to live under an hour away from the ocean (preferably NOT a flood zone lol). I have a 9 year old, a 5 year old and a 10 month old. I guess we're considered fairly liberal, we're vegetarian/vegan, my husband is an excellent musician (from jamband, to bluegrass, to metal etc.) so a local music scene is preferred, we LOVE the outdoors, and any diversity in landscape (part of the reason for our choosing Texas), music festivals, camping, hiking, geocaching, swimming, boating, etc. We do enjoy living in a relatively small town, but wouldn't mind at all living in a rural area or a low-crime part of a city. I just don't know where to start! We're not looking to buy a house at the moment, not yet, and I'm not interested in living in Suburbia with cookie cutter houses. Shopping malls don't count for squat to me, but it'd be nice to have a diverse grocery market. Another thing to consider is that I'll be getting my concession trailer up and going as well, and I'd prefer living within an hour or 2 of a college town, or just a fairly liberal area where my vegan wares might have a chance during the off season, when music/art festivals aren't as plentiful.

Thanks in advance for any help you have to offer, I hope to have it narrowed down to a few places when the time comes to visit in person, and this site has been a tremendous help with that so far.

You lived in Rhome? So did I, on Oak Court from 1999 until 2007. I grew up near Saginaw. I also plan to move to the coast within a couple of years and it's the Rockport/Corpus area for me. I lived in Galveston years ago and it was OK but now it's not conducive to much anything good. Too near Houston.

[TxStorm72]

Well looking at your preferences, that would rule out Houston and would definitely rule out the Metroplex for several reasons.

Maybe some sleepy town to the south of Corpus would work, like Kingsville?

[John26]

I like Portland, its quiet and close to the water, but you can go to Downtown Corpus for the nightlife.

[ChristieP]

Everything you want describes Austin, except for the part about being close to the beach. Austin is home of the SXSW Music Festival and has a very active local music scene, with several national artists having gotten their start there. Your vegan and liberal preferences will also be the norm there, and your concession business will do well. Austin itself has several colleges, including the University of Texas, and within a 1.5 hour drive, there are also the ones in San Antonio, too.

Good luck!