A few Q's about the Galveston area.

[graffixjones]

Trainwreck20,
Thanks again for your reply, and on the breakdown of the different types of people we're bound to experience. The town I live in now is also a university town, with one of the CSU campuses smack-dab in the middle of the city. That's primarily the reason wages are so depressed in this area. We have some very nice quality-of-life amenities in our town, and a huge supply of cheap labor when students decide they don't want to leave after they graduate.
Thankfully everybody on the island are "happy drunks"... in my town they become testosterone-fueled, bullet-proof drunks, and fistfights are common every night of the week. There's at least one or two drinking establishments on every block in our downtown area that surrounds the campus.
It is refreshing to know that gang activity is minimal. Most of the gang activity in Chico is 'wannabe' gang-bangers, but we're starting to get an influx of real gangs due to our proximity to Yuba City, one of the gang hotbeds in Northern California.

aggies07 and love roses,
Thanks for the votes on the Clear Lake area. That's something I'll definitely consider. However, I'm having trouble locating it on my Google Earth map... since it doesn't seem to be a formal township. Is this the area between Webster and South Houston?
I actually don't mind the tourists, because I've been one myself, and the Mardi Gras sounds like a lot of fun actually. Has the turnout been larger since the New Orleans devastation?

Thanks again to all for your help. If this is any indication of the personalities of people in the area, we're gonna love it in Texas.

[Trainwreck20]

Clear Lake, Webster, League City, Friendswood, et al, are the towns clustered around the interstate south of Houston. They are 15 to 30 mintues from the beach, generally speaking, and there are some in the 150k range. I was a kid in Friendswood, but it has changed quite a bit since then . This is definitely one of the more popular middle class areas around Houston, with some very nice and some much less nice sections. It definitely lacks the 'character' of Galveston (box store mecca), but also is less pricey and nicer amenities.

Dickens on the Strand and Mardi Gras (Galveston) are both pretty fun. Not near as crowded as NOLA MG.

[graffixjones]

Thanks again Trainwreck20.
You're a fountain of information.

Anyway, we're not taking the plunge just yet, but we're going to get our toes wet. We have a flight booked to come visit the area in mid-July, and we'll be looking around for a couple of days just trying to get a feel for the different areas.

Everything I've seen down the I-75 corridor in our price range looks great, though I'm still primarily focused on the island. The Dickinson and Clear Lake areas also appeal to me, so we'll be checking out those areas as well.

Then it'll be time for some serious thought, when we decide if this is really what we want to do, but things look great so far from my computer chair.

Thanks again for all the help. I truly appreciate it.