Thinking of moving from Maryland to Texas, pros and cons? (Winters: house, place to live)

[Raider Scott]

Beaches in TX are on the nasty side.


Water looks like YooHoo.


Not a fan of our beaches, but I admit I am not really a beach person to begin with.

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by normantech

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?

There's probably been 100's of posts over the years here detailing Texas beaches here on CD. A quick synopsis for those who are unfamiliar with the search functions. Because of the dominant counter clockwise current in the Gulf of Mexico causing a westerly nearshore currents and the mouth of the Mississippi River being about 200 miles east of the upper Texas coast there is generally a lot of sediment in the water. Water can look like chocolate milk at times. Occasionally (a couple of times a year) natural forces will change the currents and the nearshore water can be clear and blue.

Texas beaches are not a national destination like Daytona or Myrtle or even the Jersey shore and certainly not like Californicate. Being on a gulf and not an ocean also lowers wave action so no good surfing. With all the sediment Texas beaches also are much shallower with a more pronounced shelf. Not a big deal to wave out 100 yards.

Obviously the Mississippi River is one of the great rivers of the world. A view from space of the sediment "cloud" :

[tstone]

Originally Posted by BobTex

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/

Yeah, you are right the states as a whole are... certain counties are a different story altogether: https://bit.ly/3nJzrA4

That's more what I was getting at. W. PA is different animal... perhaps more mountain culture, and maybe parts of socialist Vermont are steeped in this tradition too. BTW that state has had constitutional/open carry since day 1... and the only one for age 16+. Then- NH has no seatbelt laws for 18+. On the other hand, we already know about all the restrictions in coastal mega cities & NJ. Pittsburgh, Erie and Buffalo all operate in their own ways too. The NE region is a complicated political patchwork many people down here will not grasp with a typical "red vs blue" way of thinking.

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".

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.

Yes, the Poconos & Delaware River Gap are beautiful. Just about all of PA except for Philly (city) has a lot of nice natural scenery. MD is similar... And point taken on Maine. My experience was driving in from the west, got a strange feeling we weren't in Kansas anymore. And I've actually visited deep down into Acadiana... and immediately noticed a few Mainers almost had Louisiana swamp accents!

Originally Posted by normantech

which beach do people in Dallas/Austin go to the most? do Texans go to beaches in Florida or New Orleans?

There aren't any beaches in New Orleans... the closest one to there would probably be near Gulfport MS. Seems like most people in Central TX go down to Corpus/Padre. People in Houston tend to go to Galveston because it's close. None of those beaches are anything to write home about, and Corpus beaches are not much better than Galveston's. Personally- my favorite beach area in the US is Orange Beach, AL. And this summer we went to Aruba-- taking advantage of the discounts. Now those beaches are like a painting & makes some "top 10 beaches in the world" lists... However it is full of irritating Bostonians who really know how to kill the island vibe. Love the place, but thought I had flown to PA when I got there!

[TheOverdog]

Texas beaches are not a national destination like Daytona or Myrtle or even the Jersey shore and certainly not like Californicate.

Half the beaches in CA are freezing, so are those in the NE, they still have better beaches than TX because TX beach cities are so terrible. Galveston is kind of trying (but still has a WalMart adjacent to the beach), but Corpus is pretty subpar, and it's the best of the ones to the south. None of the Texas beach cities are quaint, or charming, or anything and the beach is an afterthought. Google around for Corpus' marinas. Random muddy lakes in any of the inland cities have more boats.

[ConnecticutSir]

Pros:

- You won't be in the same state as Baltimore anymore.

Cons:

- You'll be in Texas.

[KathrynAragon]

Texas is only second favorite state - my first favorite state is Virginia and wow, does it have some fantastic Atlantic beaches! But I didn't move to Texas for the beaches.

If I want to go to the beach, I either drive to South Padre (NOT during spring break though!) or drive to Alabama or even the gulf coast of Florida, by way of New Orleans (always) first, then Gulfport and Ship Island, where things start to look more beachy. But remember - those beaches are still on the Gulf coast and not the Atlantic Coast, which does make a big difference.

I went as far north as Rehoboth Beach in Delaware one time (I lived in Maryland at the time) for a beach vacation and I found the water to be a bit too chilly for my taste, and this was in June. Now - Virginia Beach water was already fabulous and I also love that boardwalk there. I also love the inlets and bays and all rivers of the Chesapeake Bay area as well as the Atlantic Ocean.

I've also been up the coast to MA, then CN and finally Maine and I prefer Maine over the others, as long as I don't have to get in the water!

[supfromthesite]

I think you will find the cities in Texas are far more conservative than your big cities in Maryland. San Antonio might be blue but I rarely interact with anybody who is outspokenly liberal and it seems 70-80% of the people I meet on a daily basis, including at bars, etc are conservative and hate Biden. Really makes you think...

I have a feeling a lot of the people suggesting you don't move to the big cities are liberals that don't want Republicans moving in lol. I wouldn't tell you to shy away from the smaller cities or towns but if you like big cities then it will certainly still be an improvement coming from Maryland (which was once a conservative state ).

[RMESMH]

Originally Posted by Ghost Town

That's because of the people like you who escape from California and bring it to Texas.

Texas should impose voting restrictions on those people. 10 years of residency in Texas in order to qualify.

LOL.


Then I would qualify. I've been here longer than 10 years, and I came from California.


Not that Texans already here had to worry.
I've never wanted to make Texas like California.

[supfromthesite]

I think many of the Californians moving to Texas are conservative, but the liberals give them all a bad name.

[Raider Scott]

Originally Posted by RMESMH

LOL.


Then I would qualify. I've been here longer than 10 years, and I came from California.


Not that Texans already here had to worry.
I've never wanted to make Texas like California.

There are PLENTY of people that want Texas to adopt CA-like policies and laws. Why...I do not know.



But to be honest, the CA refugees I meet in my hood are NOT the ones wanting it. They already lived under those policies and that was a huge factor in them moving to Texas.