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Old 10-25-2021, 04:09 PM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,588,105 times
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Random thoughts: Going from the mid Atlantic to TX, the #1 thing you're giving is up the natural landscape, and the great amounts of weekend escape opportunities nearby. Giant cities to quaint small towns, historical sites, rural areas, coast & lakes can all be had by simply jumping in the car-- take your pick. Sure... TX has all that but it doesn't compare. Transplants here tend to really miss that aspect-- and I understand 100%. I lived in Pennsylvania for a couple of years and TX just doesn't cut it in that regard.

If you're into fishing, I think it's better in TX. Hunting I think is actually a bigger deal in the mid-Atlantic. Same with firearm ownership....... but they stay silent about it. Believe it or don't!

TX is slightly more affordable for everything, taxes are lower, and it adds up. The middle class is doing better here, and the pace of life is more relaxed. Educational attainment seemed higher up there, making it more competitive and leading to many overqualified people in their jobs.

One big thing I noticed-- being able to get natural Vitamin D 12 months of the year makes people happier!
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Old 10-25-2021, 05:01 PM
 
Location: Denver, CO
2,819 posts, read 2,117,631 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
Random thoughts: Going from the mid Atlantic to TX, the #1 thing you're giving is up the natural landscape, and the great amounts of weekend escape opportunities nearby. Giant cities to quaint small towns, historical sites, rural areas, coast & lakes can all be had by simply jumping in the car-- take your pick. Sure... TX has all that but it doesn't compare. Transplants here tend to really miss that aspect-- and I understand 100%. I lived in Pennsylvania for a couple of years and TX just doesn't cut it in that regard.

If you're into fishing, I think it's better in TX. Hunting I think is actually a bigger deal in the mid-Atlantic. Same with firearm ownership....... but they stay silent about it. Believe it or don't!

TX is slightly more affordable for everything, taxes are lower, and it adds up. The middle class is doing better here, and the pace of life is more relaxed. Educational attainment seemed higher up there, making it more competitive and leading to many overqualified people in their jobs.

One big thing I noticed-- being able to get natural Vitamin D 12 months of the year makes people happier!
Most helpful answer so far. Sums up the good and the bad, and the most noticeable day to day differences.
Things are just more spread out in Texas in general, so it takes more time to get to what you want.
Not quite sure about fishing. I think the East Coast saltwater species are more fun and taste better.
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Old 10-25-2021, 10:11 PM
 
Location: East Texas, with the Clan of the Cave Bear
3,245 posts, read 5,585,533 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
Random thoughts: Going from the mid Atlantic to TX, the #1 thing you're giving is up the natural landscape, and the great amounts of weekend escape opportunities nearby. Giant cities to quaint small towns, historical sites, rural areas, coast & lakes can all be had by simply jumping in the car-- take your pick. Sure... TX has all that but it doesn't compare. Transplants here tend to really miss that aspect-- and I understand 100%. I lived in Pennsylvania for a couple of years and TX just doesn't cut it in that regard.

If you're into fishing, I think it's better in TX. Hunting I think is actually a bigger deal in the mid-Atlantic. Same with firearm ownership....... but they stay silent about it. Believe it or don't!

TX is slightly more affordable for everything, taxes are lower, and it adds up. The middle class is doing better here, and the pace of life is more relaxed. Educational attainment seemed higher up there, making it more competitive and leading to many overqualified people in their jobs.

One big thing I noticed-- being able to get natural Vitamin D 12 months of the year makes people happier!
Interesting takes on things but some corrections needed.

Freshwater fishing is by far better in Texas and the TPWD freshwater programs are the envy of the nation. BASS ranks lakes throughout the US and Texas . 2021 Texas has the #1, Lake Fork, the #6, Sam Rayburn, and the #9, O.H. Ivie. This is consistent as Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Amistad, and Falcon have all been named the top lake in the US in the past 15 years. We don't have snakeheads here either.

Inshore saltwater fishing is good but I think Louisiana has the nation's best by far. No fishable striper populations in saltwater but the redfishing can be great. I would argue Texas is very good saltwater fishing state. One only has to look at the nutrient load in the water to surmise great fish populations are present. Nutrient from the Mississippi River and then westerly Gulf coastal currents.

Don't know about the hunting thing as Texans harvest around 1 million whitetail deer annually. Also firearm ownership is present in 45.7% of households compared to Maryland's 30.2%.

My wife and I also do lots of destination weekends. We did Galveston this weekend (which is nothing to you because of where you live) but we do the Hill Country frequently and have 2 more trips planned to Rockport and Gonzales. When I lived in Maine after a year or so I felt we had seen most of the interesting places.
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Old 10-26-2021, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,588,105 times
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Hey-- agreed on fishing being much better in TX. BTW there are 400-500k deer kills in PA annually, a state 1/6th the size of TX. MD's rate is similar to PA. Believe me, the whole Mid-Atlantic is infested! Check this out:

The Urban Deerhunter: You’ll probably never see them, but Pittsburgh’s woods are full of camouflaged bowmen

Right after moving back to TX a father/son in Clear Lake got arrested for killing deer in a field w/ a crossbow. Faces were plastered on the news and the community was outraged! I didn't think it was a big deal because that field would've been shotgun-legal in urbanized (deep blue!) Allegheny county, pop. 1.25 million. I figured this guy was from PA and thought he had found "more freedom" in TX, and the area was less densely populated anyway. We used to hear shotguns firing from our PA townhouse, schoolgrounds, stores, etc. No one batted an eye and nobody got hurt! (Rule of law!) BTW regarding firearms, we were in a region considered most heavily armed in the US per capita. Parts of even crazier-blue, hippie Vermont is like this too, but no county in TX made that list despite the rhetoric. Perception vs reality... people will believe what they want, and a lot of Texans believe a lot of things. Moving away & coming back made that crystal clear!

Quote:
Originally Posted by mkwensky View Post
Things are just more spread out in Texas in general, so it takes more time to get to what you want.
In PA my experience was things were still sprawly... not as wide but because of the steep terrain "you can't get there from here" was typical. For example, two places 1 mile apart, with a 500' elevation difference ate up a lot of travel time on winding roads, switchbacks, spirals. Maniacs making it an autocross race was a fruitless waste of effort. Also throw in snow from Nov-April. In east coast megacities the congestion makes every errand a production. Some romanticize public trans & walking but it takes up a lot of time! Getting around Texas is easy as long as you have a good vehicle!

Quote:
My wife and I also do lots of destination weekends. We did Galveston this weekend (which is nothing to you because of where you live) but we do the Hill Country frequently and have 2 more trips planned to Rockport and Gonzales. When I lived in Maine after a year or so I felt we had seen most of the interesting places.
I think 1 year in isolated Maine would be enough! But PA/MD is central to all kinds of things - Northeast, New England, Appalachia, eastern Midwest, upper eastern South, plus Ontario & Quebec. I'd say 5 years in PA would've knocked out everything to see around there (with wife & kids). You give up a lot of this recreation moving away.

BTW Acadia was one of our favorite road trips... and doing VT, NH & Seneca Lake / Watkins Glen coming back. VT-NH-ME is the most bizarre, not-mainstream part of the US I've ever been to.

And speaking as a native Houstonian-- Galveston is underrated.
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Old 10-26-2021, 02:21 PM
 
Location: Houston TX
2,431 posts, read 2,476,432 times
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I spent many weekends biking in Cecil County and Kent County MD. Also in Southeast PA as well.
Those counties in MD did pretty well in 2020 election, solid red as I remember. Pretty nice places, quite scenic. And close to many jobs. More horses compared to Texas. A lot more deer hanging out around the roads, which is actually somewhat dangerous.
Summer weather is better overall, heat doesn't stay for so long, but more humid. I remember hotter days there, above 100F. In Houston it almost never goes above 100, but here it's constantly hot from early June till late September.
But winters are pretty miserable in Mid Atlantic. Overall climate is definitely better in Texas, especially Central Texas.
Regarding the nature, I always considered PA and MD boring. Pretty scenic, but boring overall. Texas has more diverse nature, but you have to drive a lot. Central Texas would be more interesting in general.
Definite advantage of Mid Atlantic: a lot more places to go within a day drive, both conservative and liberal. Several big cities: DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC for a day trip. But they are all infested by liberals and some of them are quite dangerous. Questionable benefit of those cities: are you going to enjoy places overrun by the enemies?
Maybe there are many firearm owners in MD, but they have ridiculous rules regarding magazine capacity: standard capacity magazines are declared 'high capacity' there. So you have to use small capacity mags for your Glocks and other guns. Delaware never required permits to buy firearms. Now it turned into another New Jersey and requires permits. This could happen soon in PA as well. Those states are all shifting left.
Guns is just only one indicator of the freedom deterioration.
Texas is opposite: now we have constitutional carry.
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Old 10-28-2021, 02:19 PM
 
Location: East Texas, with the Clan of the Cave Bear
3,245 posts, read 5,585,533 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
Hey-- agreed on fishing being much better in TX. BTW there are 400-500k deer kills in PA annually, a state 1/6th the size of TX. MD's rate is similar to PA. Believe me, the whole Mid-Atlantic is infested! Check this out:

The Urban Deerhunter: You’ll probably never see them, but Pittsburgh’s woods are full of camouflaged bowmen

Right after moving back to TX a father/son in Clear Lake got arrested for killing deer in a field w/ a crossbow. Faces were plastered on the news and the community was outraged! I didn't think it was a big deal because that field would've been shotgun-legal in urbanized (deep blue!) Allegheny county, pop. 1.25 million. I figured this guy was from PA and thought he had found "more freedom" in TX, and the area was less densely populated anyway. We used to hear shotguns firing from our PA townhouse, schoolgrounds, stores, etc. No one batted an eye and nobody got hurt! (Rule of law!) BTW regarding firearms, we were in a region considered most heavily armed in the US per capita. Parts of even crazier-blue, hippie Vermont is like this too, but no county in TX made that list despite the rhetoric. Perception vs reality... people will believe what they want, and a lot of Texans believe a lot of things. Moving away & coming back made that crystal clear!
Might want to check the numbers on Maryland (and Pa. and Tex too) All you'd ever want to know about deer killin in the US . When considering deer harvests here in Texas the desert areas toward El Paso and the high plains of the Panhandle are not very suitable deer country for different reasons. But, I know what you mean about hunting "in town" . . . them city folks want to see them deer as pets. Spoken as someone who has shot a deer out of the kitchen window with a high powered rifle. Had a friend arrested in Austin for shooting a deer in his yard with a bow.



NE is heavily represented in the low percentage of households with firearms. Pennsyvania comes in at #37 and Maryland at #42. In Maryland's case that means there are 41 other states with a higher percentage of households with firearms in them. Texas BTW was only #27 so you are correct that Texas is not over run with gun nuts. The link: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/gun...s-by-state/24/

Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
I think 1 year in isolated Maine would be enough! But PA/MD is central to all kinds of things - Northeast, New England, Appalachia, eastern Midwest, upper eastern South, plus Ontario & Quebec. I'd say 5 years in PA would've knocked out everything to see around there (with wife & kids). You give up a lot of this recreation moving away.
Ha . . . Maine is not too isolated. It has the 2nd most visited National Park in the US (Acadia). And we went on quite a few sojourns to the Maritimes Canada (especially since the wife is from New Brunswick, Can). The state moto for Maine is "Vacationland".

Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
BTW Acadia was one of our favorite road trips... and doing VT, NH & Seneca Lake / Watkins Glen coming back. VT-NH-ME is the most bizarre, not-mainstream part of the US I've ever been to.
I thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the NE and was especially drawn to eastern Penn (Poconos ?). I love hardwood forests. I hated Mass and Conn as they were boring and crowded. Speaking of Acadia (Acadiana) have you visited Acadiana Louisiana? Just a heavy dose of Cajun Culture.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
And speaking as a native Houstonian-- Galveston is underrated.
We had a great time. Spent an afternoon on the beach at San Luis and thoroughly enjoyed the lack of crowds, and warm sunny day. This was on Friday before Saturday night's storms and rain. Blue water had moved in close to shore and the surf was very clean. Wifey wants to go back soon. We enjoyed a very nice port I had brought back from a recent visit with my sister in East Tenn. (Dad's side of the family is from there . . . nice wineries.).
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Old 10-28-2021, 08:48 PM
 
Location: East Texas, with the Clan of the Cave Bear
3,245 posts, read 5,585,533 times
Reputation: 4709
I failed to post my deer killin' link above. Here:

https://www.deerassociation.com/wp-c.../02/WR2020.pdf
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Old 10-28-2021, 10:00 PM
 
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which beach do people in Dallas/Austin go to the most? do Texans go to beaches in Florida or New Orleans?

how do Texas beaches compared to Atlantic ones like Myrtle beach and Daytona beach?
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Old 10-29-2021, 09:49 AM
 
5,252 posts, read 6,342,259 times
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Quote:
which beach do people in Dallas/Austin go to the most?
Austin is much closer to Padre Island and Corpus Christi than Dallas is, so going to the beach there can be a daytrip.



I'd guess the most common beach for Dallas people is either go to Houston/Galveston if their budget is driving or to Florida if the budget includes flying because Dallas is much farther away from any beach. Airlines like Spirit regularly have cheaper tickets to Florida than it costs to drive to Corpus.
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Old 10-31-2021, 11:39 PM
 
223 posts, read 138,151 times
Reputation: 293
Quote:
Originally Posted by normantech View Post
which beach do people in Dallas/Austin go to the most? do Texans go to beaches in Florida or New Orleans?

how do Texas beaches compared to Atlantic ones like Myrtle beach and Daytona beach?
Mexico.
Cancun, Acapulco...etc.
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