Why I Left Texas? (Houston, Dallas: bill, activity, gay-friendly)

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by JanetA970

I forgot to ask you where are your parents? I know where Alamogordo is. It is hot there too.. but yes, the mtns are close. How is the elevation? I'm betting the property prices are better there than in CO. I might look @ Alpine, or Ft Davis.. (love FD) but to be true to myself, Co. is better for the summer temps! I just HATE the heat.[SIZE=3][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][/SIZE]

My parents are in West Texas.

The elevation at Alamogordo is about 44-4500 ft, with some of the surrounding canyons being much higher up to around 6-6500 ft. The summers are hot, but they are shorter than those in WT..and the nights cool off a lot more.

We have a family friend who lives in Estes Park, and splits her time between there and West Texas.

I am having a war with myself right now, because I may want to be closer to my Texas roots than I am willing to admit. Not only do I really like Alamogordo (despite hating the hot summers), it's easy to get home to family and friends.

So I will continue to look in Alpine/FD/Marfa.......as well as northern NM (Farmington, SF) and southwestern CO (Durango, Cortez, Bayfield)....I'm headed to Ruidoso this week sometime to see a property that just came on the market.

What bothers me about Ruidoso, Cloudcroft and Durango is the tourist-trappy aspect of all three places. I keep wondering if that would not wear very thin over time.

[LinaJo76]

I left Texas, because I was going into the Army (I was shipped off to other locales to serve my country).

And my husband really didn't want to live in Texas, after I got out of the Army. Maybe I should have divorced him back then. If I did, I wouldn't be here, that's for sure. I'd be back in Texas, for good!

[orbius]

Pride comes before the fall. I hope to leave Texas and sell my property before that fall. Hopefully Texans will be somewhat reflective about how the kind of government they elect to the state is really not living up to what a government should do, serve the people, all the people. I hope they will think about how they treat their less fortunate neighbors and friends, how they plan and run their cities. And I hope they just dont lash out blindly blaming others for their misfortune.

[Cha Ching]

We moved to Texas when I was 2, went away for 6-9 months (AF dad), and settled in Austin. But both my parents were from Illinois. And my dad's originally came from Wisconsin. Even though I lived in Texas my whole life, I always felt a little strange because both my parents were "Yankees."

So I've lived in the Rio Grande Valley, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Lewisville, Denton for school, and I've visited Houston, Galveston, Canton, Longview, The Hill Country, Corpus, Port A, South Padre, Gladewater....

I've never been way west to Big Bend. Just never had an opportunity. I'm definitely Texan, thru and thru. But when my 30s came around, I just got a massive case of wanderlust and wanted something else. I figured I'd done everything I wanted to do down there. When i saw Wisconsin in 2000 for the first time, I fell in love.

Then, in 2005, I was diagnosed with MS. I'm a gal who could garden in 104 degrees and laugh it off, as long as I had my water and a tree to sit under. Not anymore. I positively melt when it gets over 80.

Instead of being miserable for the rest of my life, we moved up here in 2007. I figured if I had to be indoors 6-9 months of the year, I'd like for it to be the crappy half. I always figured I'd hate snow and ice and cold, but I don't even feel it anymore. My body chemistry has completely changed.

I love Wisconsin. I love the beautiful rolling hills and barns, and living near the lake, and the festivals, and being in the place where my ancestors walked. I love going to the courthouses and seeing their signatures in books of births and marriages and deaths, and photographing their gravestones and their old houses, and feeling like I've come home. It's the strangest feeling to visit somewhere I've never been before and feel so comfortable, as though I'm wrapped in the arms of these ghosts up here. Yeah, I'm a genealogist, and I'm weird.

Another thing-- so many people left Texas or came to Texas to care for family members. Unfortunately, the only family I have left, my mother, is crazy-- like THREATENING me crazy. I will NEVER return there as long as she is there, outside Austin. It's a personal safety issue for me. Even Dallas wasn't far enough to get away from her. I wanted several states' safe distance.

[mlassoff]

I'm leaving Texas at the end of the month. The reasons have much more to do with what IS in Connecticut than what isn't in Texas. I have been in Texas as a student since 1992 and full time since 1995. I have enjoyed Austin, found the city to be good for my career, and enjoyed the recreational opportunities and the friends I have made here-- however it has never become home.

I have often said that I feel more "at home" in a room full of strangers at La Guardia Airport than a room full of people I know in Texas. The culture has never become ingrained in me and I have always longed for the things at home like:

A Beach walking distance from my House
Mom and Pop Restaurants-- Especially the Italian food
The Four Seasons-- The leaves changing in the fall (Trust me-- New England is much different in this respect)
My Family and Friends
Convenient Quality Public Transportation to NYC
NYC Itself!
Snow In winter-- Real Snow! And Cold. I miss Cold Weather

These are not critcisims of Texas, and I'm sure someone is going to respond with "We Have Great Italian food here... " etc... These are things I like back home, can't find here and am going back to where I call home now that I have opportunity.

I had a good experience in Texas, will miss somethings about it, but highly doubt I'll long for it when I am gone.

[Cathy4017]

These are not critcisims of Texas, and I'm sure someone is going to respond with "We Have Great Italian food here... " etc... These are things I like back home, can't find here and am going back to where I call home now that I have opportunity.

No, it's not criticism--it's a well-thought-out reasonable post.

Glad you enjoyed your time in Texas--now you can enjoy all of the things you love about home.

Good luck!

[rgb123]

Originally Posted by mlassoff

I'm leaving Texas at the end of the month. The reasons have much more to do with what IS in Connecticut than what isn't in Texas. I have been in Texas as a student since 1992 and full time since 1995. I have enjoyed Austin, found the city to be good for my career, and enjoyed the recreational opportunities and the friends I have made here-- however it has never become home.

I have often said that I feel more "at home" in a room full of strangers at La Guardia Airport than a room full of people I know in Texas. The culture has never become ingrained in me and I have always longed for the things at home like:

A Beach walking distance from my House
Mom and Pop Restaurants-- Especially the Italian food
The Four Seasons-- The leaves changing in the fall (Trust me-- New England is much different in this respect)
My Family and Friends
Convenient Quality Public Transportation to NYC
NYC Itself!
Snow In winter-- Real Snow! And Cold. I miss Cold Weather

These are not critcisims of Texas, and I'm sure someone is going to respond with "We Have Great Italian food here... " etc... These are things I like back home, can't find here and am going back to where I call home now that I have opportunity.

I had a good experience in Texas, will miss somethings about it, but highly doubt I'll long for it when I am gone.

you are right on about the Italian food! I was in St. Louis last weekend and that was one of the first things I was reminded of....even at the little exits on the highway, one of the restaraunts was Italian....and not some chain pizza place!

[doctorjef]

I'm afraid I find most Italian food on the east coast to be like most Mexican food in Texas -- mediocre! Around here we have a huge number of people with Italian surnames, the largest annual Italian festival in the country, and an historic Little Italy. However, most Italian restaurants aren't that good, really. Like Texas with a mediocre TexMex shack and a Baptist church on every corner!

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

I'm afraid I find most Italian food on the east coast to be like most Mexican food in Texas -- mediocre! Around here we have a huge number of people with Italian surnames, the largest annual Italian festival in the country, and an historic Little Italy. However, most Italian restaurants aren't that good, really. Like Texas with a mediocre TexMex shack and a Baptist church on every corner!

You must be looking in the wrong places. Good Italian is very common-- at least in Connecticut. Many of the restaurants I frequent have been there for generations and can be counted on for consistent high quality.

That is not to say there aren't places that are mediocre or even bad, but to say that MANY aren't good is stretching things...

[rgb123]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

I'm afraid I find most Italian food on the east coast to be like most Mexican food in Texas -- mediocre! Around here we have a huge number of people with Italian surnames, the largest annual Italian festival in the country, and an historic Little Italy. However, most Italian restaurants aren't that good, really. Like Texas with a mediocre TexMex shack and a Baptist church on every corner!

I miss Chicago fast food -- Italian, Greek, Polish infused creations....Italian Beefs, Gyros (and people that know how to pronounce it -- we do have a pretty decent greek place in SA and I honestly heard the lady in front of me order a jyro). Polish sausage and hot dogs. One of those on every corner up there! But we did have great pizza and Italian food. I can't even find it here, at all. Especially not in take out form. A good ol' spaghetti with meatballs to go...but yeah like the Mexican food here, it was hit or miss. You have to find the place you like best!