Anyone here ever lived in Atlanta and Chicago? (compared, people, quality)

[mjtinmemphis]

Chicago has Milwaukee Detroit Indianapolis and St. Louis within a 300 mile radius.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

Chicago has Milwaukee Detroit Indianapolis and St. Louis within a 300 mile radius.

So? Atlanta has two oceans, multiple large lakes, countless whitewater rivers, the Appalachian Mountains, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Charleston, Savannah, and numerous others within 300 miles (and Memphis just slightly further). I'll take all that over any of the cities listed above.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

Chicago has Milwaukee Detroit Indianapolis and St. Louis within a 300 mile radius.

It's funny that you point out that Chicago is indeed in close proximity to other major cities after it's been said that it's not, but then you are told that those cities are insignificant.

There is a lot of natural beauty here and in the Great Lakes areas, lots of forest preserve areas in Chicago, and yes we do have trees lol. The Michigan Upper Peninsula is absolutely gorgeous, with lots of outdoor recreation and resorts and is under 400 miles from Chicago.

The Chicago Forest Preserves have water bodies. You can hike, bike, fish, boat, cross-country ski and sled in the forests right inside the city itself. This idea that Chicago has nothing in terms of nature and outdoor activities is just not true.

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

It's funny that you point out that Chicago is indeed in close proximity to other major cities after it's been said that it's not, but then you are told that those cities are insignificant.

There is a lot of natural beauty here and in the Great Lakes areas, lots of forest preserve areas in Chicago, and yes we do have trees lol. The Michigan Upper Peninsula is absolutely gorgeous, with lots of outdoor recreation and resorts and is under 400 miles from Chicago.

The Chicago Forest Preserves have water bodies. You can hike, bike, fish, boat and cross-country ski and sled in the forests right inside the city itself.

Yeah. There isn't much of an honest debate with people like that.

[flamadiddle]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

So? Atlanta has two oceans, multiple large lakes, countless whitewater rivers, the Appalachian Mountains, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Charleston, Savannah, and numerous others within 300 miles (and Memphis just slightly further). I'll take all that over any of the cities listed above.

Hope you didn't hurt yourself with that stretch!

Any decent ocean beach is a 5+ hour drive from Atlanta (Destin, PCB, Hilton Head, etc). You have two man made lakes that dry up half the time, congrats. Whitewater rivers? yeah okay. And what's so significant about the cities you listed? Driving 300 miles from Chicago opens up a plethora of options. A drive to Canada is less than that and only a 4 hour drive.

So I dunno, you tell me how it feels to be wrong so often?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Hope you didn't hurt yourself with that stretch!

Any decent ocean beach is a 5+ hour drive from Atlanta (Destin, PCB, Hilton Head, etc). You have two man made lakes that dry up half the time, congrats. Whitewater rivers? yeah okay. And what's so significant about the cities you listed? Driving 300 miles from Chicago opens up a plethora of options. A drive to Canada is less than that and only a 4 hour drive.

So I dunno, you tell me how it feels to be wrong so often?

You tell us.

And the bolded? I mean, please. That's ridiculous, even for you.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

^ Dude, you're nuts! There are far more hardwoods and towering trees in the Chicago area. Atlanta is infested with pine trees that choke out the majestic hardwoods. Give it up, it's the wrong argument!

"towering"... Interesting way of portraying trees in Chicago.

You should tread carefully. These threads often evolve to the point where some city-homers control the conversation (on both sides) and they can't possible give in to accepting one good or better quality of the other city for the sake of the overall argument. This thread has clearly hit that point... from multiple people.

You're falling into this trap with this argument and it is just silly.

Chicago is a great city, but so is Atlanta. The key thing is if you can accept what is great about each and give credit to the other for what makes it great and unique. This happens to be one key defining character about Atlanta, so I'm going to focus on it.

Atlanta being positioned in the Piedmont is in the middle of a large, healthy temperate forest in one of the wettest areas of the country is a thriving area for plant life. It has one of the highest amounts of biodiversity in the country.

If you go a small ways northeast of Atlanta, there is even one part of northeast Georgia that is considered to be a temperate rainforest.

Now what I find funny about your statements is just how out of touch they are with science and the nature of forest development, but perhaps that is indicative of someone from the plains with only some forests with very low canopies and a low amount of biodiversity.

I would recommend reading up on Ecological Succession of forests (ie. how the type of plant life in a given area evolves/re-grows over time from a canopy disturbance event).

What you will find is the presence of pine trees is partly the byproduct of Atlanta being built in a healthy forest with a high amount of biodiversity.

The pine trees don't crowd out hardwoods, actually the opposite. They are early movers and fast growers, but don't last as long. They create safer conditions for hardwoods to be able grow in slower. Eventually they will grow larger than the pine tree and edge out the pine tree that needs a high amount of light to survive

Now in a healthy forests there are many small disturbance events that create conditions for plant life to re-grow. It varies from an aging tree falling over, lightning, natural fires, remainder of hurricanes/storms, etc...

What is so interesting with your argument is the fact that pine trees act fast and grow in so fast to fill in the gaps and create favorable growing conditions for hardwoods is actually a sign of a very healthy forest that can seem grow anywhere if allowed throughout the Atlanta area. It helps establish a very tall and healthy canopy quickly.

[ATLTJL]

I'm pretty far away from an Atlanta booster, but you pretty much lose credibility when you say the city isn't near whitewater rafting. Ocoee River has class 5 rapids and hosted a little event called the Olympics. Heard of it? And the Chatooga is where Deliverance was filmed. Those are just two examples of nearby rapids.

I will never say anything negative about Chicago. But I don't think proximity to St. Louis and Detroit is really anything to write home about. I guess it's all opinion, but I'd rather go to a charming town like Charleston for Asheville for the weekend than wander the streets of St. Louis.

And I say this as someone who would probably overall rather live in Chicago than Atlanta.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

It's funny that you point out that Chicago is indeed in close proximity to other major cities after it's been said that it's not, but then you are told that those cities are insignificant.

Are you referring to my comment? If so, please point out where I said those cities are "insignificant". They are large cities, but they are not very interesting cities, at least in my opinion. And yes, I've been to every single one of them for at least a week, and up to a month, each. Not a single one do I care if I ever return to.

The Chicago Forest Preserves have water bodies. You can hike, bike, fish, boat, cross-country ski and sled in the forests right inside the city itself. This idea that Chicago has nothing in terms of nature and outdoor activities is just not true.

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

Yeah. There isn't much of an honest debate with people like that.

Uhh...just pointing out that Atlanta does not lack any of those types of options within a part-day's drive. Never said Chicago didn't have any of them. If you ask flamadiddle and his almost entirely inaccurate portrayal of nearly everything, Atlanta is a barren wasteland with no natural element to be seen for 1000 miles, while Chicago is flush with nearly every natural amenity to ever be discovered by man.

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Any decent ocean beach is a 5+ hour drive from Atlanta (Destin, PCB, Hilton Head, etc).

Uhhh...yeah? And how many oceans are within a part day's drive of Chicago? The closest is over 12 hours away. You got a big lake, and I love lakes more than oceans, but the point stands.

You have two man made lakes that dry up half the time, congrats.

Bwaahahahaha. You try so hard.

Whitewater rivers? yeah okay.

Care to elaborate? North Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina are flooded with whitewater rivers, from class 1 to class 5.

And what's so significant about the cities you listed? Driving 300 miles from Chicago opens up a plethora of options.

So does driving 300 miles from Atlanta. What is your point? If you don't have one, that's okay.

So I dunno, you tell me how it feels to be wrong so often?

Did you just pull a "I know you are, but what am I?"

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I will never say anything negative about Chicago. But I don't think proximity to St. Louis and Detroit is really anything to write home about. I guess it's all opinion, but I'd rather go to a charming town like Charleston for Asheville for the weekend than wander the streets of St. Louis.

Seriously. It's all well and good to love the city you are in, but seriously. Being within five hours of Detroit and St. Louis is hardly a game changer. There is literally nothing that you can do in Chicago that you can't also do here, except take public transit more places.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Seriously. It's all well and good to love the city you are in, but seriously. Being within five hours of Detroit and St. Louis is hardly a game changer. There is literally nothing that you can do in Chicago that you can't also do here, except take public transit more places.

Now, that is just not true, Sami. You can spit off the top of Aon Center! A favorite pastime of certain posters here, no doubt.