Cities/States with love/hate relationship

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by First24

Dallas/Ft Worth

Spent much of my early life there due to a parental military transfer from Virginia. Love the kindness and generosity of the native Texans, my family & friendship ties. Really like the can do attitude in the Metroplex. The business and built environments are amazing. As far as employment, shopping, racial diversity, dining, dating, making new friendships, quality of life etc..there is anything & everything your heart desires there. I totally understand why soo many people relocate to the area and are happy.

The relative lack of greenery, flatness and seemingly endless late summer heatwaves & dryness all make it hard from me to choose to ever live in DFW on a permanent basis again. The urban environment in and around Dallas while neat & well built feels very manufactured. You sense the city is trying too hard to feel urban and to make a good impression. It doesn’t feel organic by any means.

All in all.. Could I live there again? Absolutely. But, I’m not seeking it out.

Thats a very good assessment of DFW.

[Podo944]

I'll throw one in that's off the beaten path...

REDDING, CA.!

Oh yeah, the love/hate thing I get it. My brother lives right outside of Redding in Old Shasta and I've been going up there about every year for decades as well as briefly living there a couple of times in my late teens and early 20's. So many mixed emotions, lol!

Number one is the heat! I HATE the heat!! It's HOT 5 months out of the year and sweltering and when we're there in the summer, going anywhere in the city after 10 am is brutal!
Saying that, there's a lake nearby that I LOVE because there's nothing like jumping into that cold lake in 110 degree heat, and it's the best feeling! The evenings are balmy, and clear. You don't have to go far from the city to find the perfect star gazing spot! That's real nice.

Speaking of heat... the fires can be bad and I HATE that! It devastated the area around where my brother lives and he's lucky his house is still standing! On the other hand, when it's not on fire, there's very little humidity and most of the time the air is clear. My asthma doesn't bother me at all when I'm there and I LOVE that!

The place feels backwards and I HATE that! Someone who lives there described it as a big truck stop on the way to other places! On the other hand, I LOVE that it's surrounded by those other places! The northern Ca. coast is 3 hours away for a weekend getaway, Shasta and Lassen mountains are close by for day trips and hiking, Shasta Lake is huge with little inlets for fishing and swimming, the bike trails along the Sacramento River and through Turtle Bay (as long at it's not in the middle of the afternoon!) are lovely.

There's a LOT of homeless there and besides Jesus, nobody really "loves" the homeless, let's face it. Petty crime, car break ins etc. are not a good thing, so I HATE that element. Have no rebuttal to that one, lol!

Redding has a good ol' boy government corruption thing going, or so I've heard the complaints through the years, and the hospital there doesn't have the best reputation. UG!
The town is also known for having "odd" people with a big (so called) cultish church in town that draws folks from all over the place including overseas. Some of the residents there HATE it! I have mixed emotions on that one, because we've also met some of the nicest people who are church members and I LOVE their friendliness and helpfulness. While Hubs and I usually stay with my brother, we rented an RV once and stayed at a campground in Shingletown. We had some trouble with the door and hubby went to the office to ask to borrow a wrench, then returned with 3 guys following him to help! We notified the RV rental guy and he came out right away to help as well and knocked off a day's fee of our 4 day stay. All of them were members of this church, and surprisingly didn't tie us down and force conversion.
So, while a holy roller church may not be my cup of tea personally, the members we've met (there were other besides these guys) are very sweet, and they do try and help the homeless folks there in town. I wouldn't mind them as neighbors.

Let's see what else... oh yeah...
It doesn't have a reputation for being a foodie paradise and there's a fair amount of chains but there's a a little gem I LOVE in downtown Redding called Jack's Bar & Grill! It's been there since the 1930's in the original building. Kinda pricey, but the steaks are yum! The place is small and sometimes ya gotta wait a long time for a table since a third of the place is the bar, lol, it's fun!

So yeah, Redding is kinda "redneck", not too exciting, has it's share of meth zombies and so called religious fanatics etc. but the area is beautiful and rich with Old West history, with some pretty good people.

We will be jumping into Whiskeytown Lake this summer for sure!

[Kmanshouse]

Tucson AZ

I love the environmental attitudes, where people care about keeping natural desert landscapes over growing grass and watering constantly like they do in PHX. I love the mountains there. Solid U of A pride. Art is actually important in Tucson and it shows. The weather is great 2/3 of the year. Also lots of great wildlife. A very underrated food city as well.

But everything is very spread out and far, and there is only one highway that misses most of the city completely - just ludicrous. Also, the public schools are terrible and unless you work for Raytheon, the U of A, or are a doctor, it's very hard to make more than working class wages. Also, the city's core, while improved, has an anti-development problem.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by Podo944

I'll throw one in that's off the beaten path...

REDDING, CA.!

Oh yeah, the love/hate thing I get it. My brother lives right outside of Redding in Old Shasta and I've been going up there about every year for decades as well as briefly living there a couple of times in my late teens and early 20's. So many mixed emotions, lol!

Number one is the heat! I HATE the heat!! It's HOT 5 months out of the year and sweltering and when we're there in the summer, going anywhere in the city after 10 am is brutal!
Saying that, there's a lake nearby that I LOVE because there's nothing like jumping into that cold lake in 110 degree heat, and it's the best feeling! The evenings are balmy, and clear. You don't have to go far from the city to find the perfect star gazing spot! That's real nice.

Speaking of heat... the fires can be bad and I HATE that! It devastated the area around where my brother lives and he's lucky his house is still standing! On the other hand, when it's not on fire, there's very little humidity and most of the time the air is clear. My asthma doesn't bother me at all when I'm there and I LOVE that!

The place feels backwards and I HATE that! Someone who lives there described it as a big truck stop on the way to other places! On the other hand, I LOVE that it's surrounded by those other places! The northern Ca. coast is 3 hours away for a weekend getaway, Shasta and Lassen mountains are close by for day trips and hiking, Shasta Lake is huge with little inlets for fishing and swimming, the bike trails along the Sacramento River and through Turtle Bay (as long at it's not in the middle of the afternoon!) are lovely.

There's a LOT of homeless there and besides Jesus, nobody really "loves" the homeless, let's face it. Petty crime, car break ins etc. are not a good thing, so I HATE that element. Have no rebuttal to that one, lol!

Redding has a good ol' boy government corruption thing going, or so I've heard the complaints through the years, and the hospital there doesn't have the best reputation. UG!
The town is also known for having "odd" people with a big (so called) cultish church in town that draws folks from all over the place including overseas. Some of the residents there HATE it! I have mixed emotions on that one, because we've also met some of the nicest people who are church members and I LOVE their friendliness and helpfulness. While Hubs and I usually stay with my brother, we rented an RV once and stayed at a campground in Shingletown. We had some trouble with the door and hubby went to the office to ask to borrow a wrench, then returned with 3 guys following him to help! We notified the RV rental guy and he came out right away to help as well and knocked off a day's fee of our 4 day stay. All of them were members of this church, and surprisingly didn't tie us down and force conversion.
So, while a holy roller church may not be my cup of tea personally, the members we've met (there were other besides these guys) are very sweet, and they do try and help the homeless folks there in town. I wouldn't mind them as neighbors.

Let's see what else... oh yeah...
It doesn't have a reputation for being a foodie paradise and there's a fair amount of chains but there's a a little gem I LOVE in downtown Redding called Jack's Bar & Grill! It's been there since the 1930's in the original building. Kinda pricey, but the steaks are yum! The place is small and sometimes ya gotta wait a long time for a table since a third of the place is the bar, lol, it's fun!

So yeah, Redding is kinda "redneck", not too exciting, has it's share of meth zombies and so called religious fanatics etc. but the area is beautiful and rich with Old West history, with some pretty good people.

We will be jumping into Whiskeytown Lake this summer for sure!

Yeah, I noticed that when I stopped in Redding to eat at an In-N-Out. The other people there looked like the kind of people you would see at a Trump rally, lol.