Austin- I'm afraid a little disappointing (Houston, Dallas: crime, unemployment rate, moving)

[Banacek]

Well here I am in Portland, Oregon. Just in case you were curious as to my thoughts of here compared to Austin (and I guess you probably don't care what I think), but for what it's worth:

Driving around here is a delight. The massive freeway system of Austin does not exist here. The roads are busy but so far the traffic seems to be flowing. The bridges from Vancouver WA to Portland seem kind of rusty and very industrial but they offer nice views of the river and the cityscape. The loop de loop system of Austin seems just an unpleasant memory now. There are trees everywhere and even glimpses of the nearby mountains.

The people here are ok, bit sallow looking...look a little pissed off a lot of the time. I think I would too if I had to suffer the biggest problem here in the Pacific NW...the weather.

Ah the weather...yes, I did realise it rained a lot here but arriving here last week and being greeted by the sight of my own breath on the coldest May day ever...well it's worse than I expected. Everyone tells you it rains a lot here but it rains in Honolulu a lot too. What they don't tell you is that when it's not raining it's very grey. Cold I can tolerate, lived in Vermont and even Tokyo which is cold but in the month before summer? And with constant unending gloomy greyness? No blue skies? Hmmm...

Florida is looking better all the time..

[MallieF]

Originally Posted by Banacek

My wife and I just arrived 6 days ago with an eye to moving here ourselves.

I have to say I'm finding this place a little bizarre. I'd heard that Austin was the city to be and that it was pretty but I can't get past those god awful highways. I'm not finding the traffic too bad. In fact I think it's amazing to me that one can live so far out from the city (we're looking at Round Rock/ Cedar Park) yet it's so relatively quick to get downtown. But these highways just seem to cut an ugly swathe right through all of Austin and that although the neighbourhoods can be quite pretty, they seem very far flung.

My wife who's American tells me this sprawl/ highway/ strip mall kind of style is normal in the US. My question is, is it? We have a couple more days before we have to extend our accommodation here or move on. Does Florida have these eyesore style highways? How about Portland, Oregon?

(I am relocating to Austin, from Portland, in Dec.)

Portland has some beautiful pieces of highway, but it would be hard to live in any city in the US, from my experience (I have lived all up and down Oregon and California, from San Diego to Portland), without passing multiple strip-malls. The pretty parts, not in the country, are about a mile long, or so, within the cities. I would focus more on what is within the city, not what is right next to the highways. Portland is beautiful and has a lot to offer, but if considering Portland, you better like grey skies and rain for several months at a time. The seasonal changes are really beautiful, but the amount of sun is inadequate for my taste. If Portland was warmer and had more sunshine, I would probably have never thought of leaving. That being said, I am SO EXCITED to move to Austin! I like to spend the majority of my time, outside, not staring out the window watching the rain. If you like cooler weather and rain, you can play outdoors in a lush wonderland, in Portland. I'm a weather wimp though, so I choose Austin. Best of luck to you!

[MallieF]

If this shows up, it is my favorite stretch of a SE Portland freeway, but it is not a long stretch, before a bunch of gas stations and eyesores.



I took this, today, from the 6th floor of the Portland State University Rec Center, downtown.



This is an uglier part of the Portland highway system, in SW.



It gets cold, in Portland, but doesn't always snow.



Freeways near downtown Portland, in the distance.

Basically, the freeways right downtown are not filled with strip malls, but the rest are, within Portland and its suburbs, for the most part. I hope these show up and it gives you a good comparison. I don't have pics of strip malls, sorry, but they are plentiful.

[sezzam]

Originally Posted by MallieF

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...20309441_n.jpg

If this shows up, it is my favorite stretch of a SE Portland freeway, but it is not a long stretch, before a bunch of gas stations and eyesores.
...

Nice picture. SE McLaughlin Blvd, closer to Bybee?

[MallieF]

Originally Posted by SMUR

Nice picture. SE McLaughlin Blvd, closer to Bybee?

It sure is!

[MallieF]

Streets of downtown, near PSU.

...but you drive a mile and a half away, and you are right back to ugly strip malls. It is all about what is within, not right along the freeways, in my opinion.



This is today, from PSU rec center 6th floor. Not great weather, to say the least.

[MallieF]

I guess the pics from today, don't show up. Oh well. It is grey and dark....again, in Portland.

[ScoPro]

We drove through the High Five in Dallas yesterday - it's like a beautiful sculpture:

[dlcarrington]

Originally Posted by Banacek

But not being car people, the thought of hopping in the car to go anywhere has left us questioning why would we willingly subject ourselves to this? Horses for courses I guess. Oh well, Portland here we come.

I am a nondriver who lives in Austin and loathes the freeways here. I just have to ask out of curiosity, how can an Australian not be a car person? How do you get from, say, SA to the Northern Territories without going through thousands of miles of nothing in a Landrover or something? My husband and I would love to visit for a long period/live in Oz but there's no incentive to give old unemployed IT and health care clerical workers the requisite points...

cheers

dlc

[sezzam]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

We drove through the High Five in Dallas yesterday - it's like a beautiful sculpture:

Now that is cool. I would love it if they did this in Austin. Would make driving on Research Blvd (and the like) quite pleasant.