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We moved here from CA almost a year ago and love it as well, although we are originally from the east coast to begin with. I have to say thought we actually like not having fences. To me it makes neighbors more neighborly. I think the only thing that bothers me is the street names. There are waaaaay to many streets with names that are to similar. Why must we name one street Park Rd, one off of that Park Ct and yet another street in the same area Park Drive? LOL!! Could no one come up with another name? I have had one instance of getting "lost" because Google maps gave me directions and I couldn't find the street to turn onto. Turns out Charlotte had changed the name of the street and Google didn't have it under the new name.
What gets me as a newcomer are the hills! What is up with all of the winding, hilly roads? Why cant they all be flat like back in SoFla???? OK, just kidding! I love driving here, even in CLT itself, we see roads that are hilly, which is way cooler than we are used to. We also have a GPS, which after being here for 2 weeks we are no longer using to go to HT! We were confused at first with Mallard Creek and Mallard Creek Church roads, especially where they intersect, but we figured it out. We were also lucky enough to buy a house with a fence, which seems to be the exception in Highland Creek rather than the rule. Plan on adopting a dog soon if we can find one, so the fence is great.
I was born and raised in CA and had lived in the Southwest for a few years before moving here. I'd never been east of CO until we moved here (that's right, I moved here without visiting first!). So, I thought I'd share my opinions of CLT from a "west coaster's" perspective.
Things I like
-the trees! I've never seen so many in my life!
-the houses. I love traditional style homes like in "Father of the Bride" and here I can actually afford one!
-the people. Everyone is so friendly and helpful!
-beautiful parks (Freedom Park is amazingly beautiful in toward the back!)
-the small town feel. Charlotte isn't overly built up like most cities out west. It's strange to go to the mall (Northlake, Concord Mills) and not have apartment complexes and businesses everywhere, there are still open spaces with trees! (though probably not for long it looks like they are doing more construction everywhere)
-the safe "feeling". It looks and feels like Mayberry to me!
Things that are an adjustment
-no fences...weird. I've realized Californians are kind of "freaks" about their privacy. And I'm one of them. I can't wait to have a fence up (and not a picket fence either, I want to keep my neighbors out of my backyard unless I invite them over!)
-the street lights! AHHH! I hate them! Why aren't they on poles?
-the street signs! GRRR! Even more annoying than the lights! Why aren't they over the streets in most places and why are they so small? I'm always flying right past streets I was supposed to turn on!
-all the houses look the same. Yes, I want a traditional home but I don't want everyone to have the same color vinyl (and vinyl is weird too, whatever happened to wood?) and the same shutters and garage door, etc. as me.
Overall, I LOVE it here and plan on staying 'til I die. I told my husband we are NEVER EVER EVER moving back west again!
We moved here from CA and I agree with everything. I will have to add something to the negative list-farmers markets and fresh fruit. I miss the big markets and all the fruit you can get in CA. We were hoping to plant some fruit trees in our new house and have been discouraged by every landscaper we have talked with. Oh, and I miss the availability of organic food. We pretty much only eat organic and it has been tough out here to be strict about it.
We are planning on lining our property with trees because you are not allowed privacy fences in our neighborhood. Dh and I talk all the time about how weird it is to have open yards.
I agree with alot of it and find some of your points interesting too. I never knew how tree free parts of California were. Also its allready been said alot of your charlotte complaints are valid. Neighborhoods with a lot of trees are the best solution to the lack of privacy fences that was previously stated.
I have found that even without fences we have much more privacy here then with fences in CA. And the green---oh that beautiful green. There is nowhere in CA that comes close to that kind of greenery. The feeling of being around friendly people. People smile and wave---didn't see much of that in CA! Feeling of being welcome. At least for us we were welcomed into our new neighborhood with open arms. Our neighbors soon became our best friends always wanting to help or to share their fresh grown veggies. We've been here 1 1/2 years now and would never go back to CA.
Actually, the size of the street signs didn't bother me nearly as much as the names!
My MAP says "turn right on HWY 51" but the sign on the street only reads "Pineville-Matthews Road!"
And then the names CHANGE as you drive down the road and you are sure you have taken a wrong road somewhere!
Give a street ONE NAME and then keep it that name throughout.
Ok, done ranting.
Dawn
I hear ya!! I've never talked to my GPS so much. She'll tell me to turn right on Sharon Road and I'll say ,out loud, "but I'm already on Sharon Rd". I'm getting used to it though.......
I thought about this complaint that is often stated by others and I do see some good of street with various names if you are looking for a particular address on that street.
Stateville Road is a good example of a road that is a challenge to find an address with having one road name. It hard to know where exactly to begin to start hunting for the address of the location you need to go to.
When I need to go to Billy Graham Parkway I know what area to head to first or Woodlawn or Runnymede or Mulberry Church Road.
I as well have a GPS unit and so now I could careless what a street is named or how often it is renamed since it will get me there regardless
Two of my pet peeves are the street names being almost the same. Sharon road, Sharon view, Sharon circle etc.
Other pet peeve is the splitting of the roads. I couldn't find Pike Nursery on community house road. There is actually three areas that the community house road exists and they aren't joined. I have seen Providence road like that too. Very confusing.
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it looks like they are doing more construction everywhere)
