Suggestions on where to move in Texas next year? (Houston: spring break, renting)

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by C24L

ya your rite...Midland is pancake flat.

You are not kidding. NOTHING and I do mean nothing to see other than oil and gas equipment and wind turbines! OH. MY. GOSH. It's like the moon out there.

But lots of sweet moolah so there's that.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by Alyhaynes3590

So we're getting married and moving to Texas. I've never been except for airports, we're going to rent for 6 months to a year before buying. Right now were mostly looking at Dallas and Austin (probably outside of the main city). Also if theres a specific apartment place you recommend let me know. We have 2 cats, a gecko, and a dog. We're considering leaving the cat's with my parents until we're sure it's where we want to be so we don't stress them out too much. Hes been a lot and loves it, lived in el Paso. I've lived in Southern California and Rhode Island. This is what we're looking for...

1. He's a great performer and I'd like him to move somewhere he can still persue singing.
2. Has job opportunities. I'm a gymnastics coach, I don't know how big it is out there. But I am considering going back to school to be an rn, or become an emt. (Although I have my English degree so I guess I could become a substitute too.
3. Hiking and outdoor activities. I love kayaking and nature walks. I really want a little water nearby.
4. He doesn't want to be in a place that's really humid. I wouldn't mind considering Houston but I don't know if he would.

We both have chronic pain and the cold makes it worse. I'd like most of the year to be 70 to 90 degrees, I wouldn't mind random snow, and I know there's hotter days.

Thank you!

As others have said, your budget's pretty low. It may well be a non-starter.

Regarding the things I've bolded:
I'm a pretty avid hiker, and I lived in Dallas for a number of years. I hiked around Dallas a few times, but was never really impressed. There's some ok hiking, but nothing that's really worthy of a "ZOMFG I have to come out here more often!" type reaction. The few times I hiked I went in March/April and October/November. I could not imagine hiking around DFW in June, July, or August. With the heat and humidity the weather's just too damn lousy.

On a 10-scale, I'd put DFW's hiking offerings at a 2 or a 3.

Austin's hiking is good (by Texas standards), but it's still tier or two lower than places like Denver, Colorado Springs, Boise, Salt Lake City, etc. I would swag Austin at a 6.

The best hiking in Texas is out west, several hours from the Texas Triangle - Big Bend, Palo Duro, Guadalupe Mountains. For those places, El Paso or Las Cruces is a better place to set up shop.

Texas just doesn't have a lot of public land - roughly 7-7.5 million acres. Over 90% of the state is privately owned. That may sound like a lot, but Colorado is 2.5 times smaller than Texas and has 4x more public land.

El Paso and/or Las Cruces also dovetail nicely into your request for low humidity as well.

[BobTex]

Couple of things.

If you decide on Texas and he "can" tolerate Houston humidity that would be best if you get your registered nursing (BSN) license. Houston Medical Center is THE premier healthcare in Texas and offers the (#1) best salaries in the state and (#2) best professional opportunities . . . by far ! Highly recommend this consideration for extreme job security and opportunities nationwide.

Also believe Houston offers possibly the best chances for performing. Also the Eastern portion of the state has the water, so much that it's not crowded. El Paso water???? Even the Austin water sports scene can be very crowded. Hiking though is pretty flat. There are 4 national forests , 3 giant freshwater lakes , the Galveston Bay system, the Gulf of Mexico (I have friends who ocean kayak), thousands of miles of rivers and streams. Let's not forget the Big Thicket National Preserve.

The drawback ... Houston's humidity will make other parts of the state seem like the Sahara when it comes to atmospheric water vapors. Prevailing winds are off the Gulf of Mexico (keeps H-town 5-10 degrees color than your other interests) bringing in tropical moisture. Oppressive humidity. But winters are more tolerable with rare freezing temps.

My wife moved here in 1994 from Canada and she loves the heat. Her home province has very low humidities.

One last argument to "learn" to tolerate humidity ... the female skin ages substantially slower. No cold, dry, extreme winters but instead the skins stays naturally more moist. Check out the classic pics of Southern belles throughout the South as my evidence. My wife's skin looks so much better than all her Canadian friends. Caution, of course, should always be exercised with our direct sunlight and its effects on the skin.

Good luck.

[Alyhaynes3590]

Sorry ive been MIA, busy week. We are looking into other states as well. I'm not sure what his deal is with humidity, but he just cares we're going somewhere warm.

As for budget, we have about 90k for a downpayment after selling our condo (which I don't want to touch for rent). We may rent first, but if we do I want it to be low but I think that's mostly due to me being nervous about employment. If our jobs pay what they do now we could afford 2k to 2.5k and be comfortable.

We're looking into other states as well (CO, AZ) but hes lived in Texas and really liked it. I'm pretty flexible but I want to be able to hike with my dog. He thinks Colorado is too cold and expensive. I think hes just more invested in Texas.

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by Alyhaynes3590

Sorry ive been MIA, busy week. We are looking into other states as well. I'm not sure what his deal is with humidity, but he just cares we're going somewhere warm.

As for budget, we have about 90k for a downpayment after selling our condo (which I don't want to touch for rent). We may rent first, but if we do I want it to be low but I think that's mostly due to me being nervous about employment. If our jobs pay what they do now we could afford 2k to 2.5k and be comfortable.

We're looking into other states as well (CO, AZ) but hes lived in Texas and really liked it. I'm pretty flexible but I want to be able to hike with my dog. He thinks Colorado is too cold and expensive. I think hes just more invested in Texas.

Colorado is cold. It was snowing in Boulder 2 weeks ago.

[C24L]

Originally Posted by Alyhaynes3590

Sorry ive been MIA, busy week. We are looking into other states as well. I'm not sure what his deal is with humidity, but he just cares we're going somewhere warm.

As for budget, we have about 90k for a downpayment after selling our condo (which I don't want to touch for rent). We may rent first, but if we do I want it to be low but I think that's mostly due to me being nervous about employment. If our jobs pay what they do now we could afford 2k to 2.5k and be comfortable.

We're looking into other states as well (CO, AZ) but hes lived in Texas and really liked it. I'm pretty flexible but I want to be able to hike with my dog. He thinks Colorado is too cold and expensive. I think hes just more invested in Texas.

I would not go to Colorado if you want a warm place.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by C24L

I would not go to Colorado if you want a warm place.

And I would not go to Houston, DFW, Austin, or San Antonio if you want quality hiking and a dry climate.

[C24L]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

And I would not go to Houston, DFW, Austin, or San Antonio if you want quality hiking and a dry climate.

Ya those cities sure aint dry.

[dnvrsoul]

Originally Posted by Alyhaynes3590

Sorry ive been MIA, busy week. We are looking into other states as well. I'm not sure what his deal is with humidity, but he just cares we're going somewhere warm.

As for budget, we have about 90k for a downpayment after selling our condo (which I don't want to touch for rent). We may rent first, but if we do I want it to be low but I think that's mostly due to me being nervous about employment. If our jobs pay what they do now we could afford 2k to 2.5k and be comfortable.

We're looking into other states as well (CO, AZ) but hes lived in Texas and really liked it. I'm pretty flexible but I want to be able to hike with my dog. He thinks Colorado is too cold and expensive. I think hes just more invested in Texas.

This native from Colorado is going to butt in..

You will never afford Colorado..the Denver metro area is more expensive than Austin now plus it is cold.
It snowed this past Monday and it was in the 40s all week.

I would try Nevada or Arizona.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Alyhaynes3590

Sorry ive been MIA, busy week. We are looking into other states as well. I'm not sure what his deal is with humidity, but he just cares we're going somewhere warm.

As for budget, we have about 90k for a downpayment after selling our condo (which I don't want to touch for rent). We may rent first, but if we do I want it to be low but I think that's mostly due to me being nervous about employment. If our jobs pay what they do now we could afford 2k to 2.5k and be comfortable.

We're looking into other states as well (CO, AZ) but hes lived in Texas and really liked it. I'm pretty flexible but I want to be able to hike with my dog. He thinks Colorado is too cold and expensive. I think hes just more invested in Texas.

You are looking for champagne life style on a beer budget in any of the larger cities in TX. Not to mention that weather and outdoor activities as you are looking for is not likely to happen.