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What's there to disagree with here? The air being bad in Bakersfield and worse than that of El Paso doesn't mean that El Paso has good air quality. It just means that Bakersfield has it even worse, and it really is quite bad out there. If air quality matters to you, then Bakersfield certainly wouldn't be a good pick and would be an even worse one than El Paso.
Im in the process of planning a trip to Bakersfield. I imagined Bakersfield smelled like greenery and fresh air. One other city with horrible air pollution is Long Beach, CA. When I go there, my eyes get so watery. Makes me wonder how the air in Bakersfield is like.
I spent a summer selling dictionaries door-to-door in El Paso in 1977, so my memories of the place are about as fresh as yours were of Collingswood.
But I remember liking El Paso a lot. It's isolated, true — getting there from points east, you pass through the most sparsely settled part of Texas, with so little in the way of settlement that some of the "interchanges" on I-10 in the county just east of El Paso County were actually at-grade intersections — but the mountains that come down almost all the way to downtown give the city a character no other city in the US that I've seen has. (People associate Denver with mountains, but the mountains begin about a half-hour west of the city itself, closer to Boulder.)
Yes, it's a military city more than it is a college town — Fort Bliss, which borders the city on its northeast, is huge, while UTEP is a branch campus — but it didn't feel military-dominated to me. It does sound like the air quality has deteriorated since I was there. I did find it interesting that you didn't need air conditioning to keep a house cool — the air was dry enough that a swamp cooler did the trick.
I'm not a winterphobe, so the presence of four seasons in the area doesn't faze me. In fact, I enjoyed the Sunday our team went to Ruidoso, drove up into the mountains, and experienced snow falling in July.
But much like my hometown of Kansas City feels like it's not in Missouri, El Paso struck me as more a city in New Mexico than a city in Texas. Certainly the closest other city to it that's in this country is in that state — Las Cruces.
And the presence of Juárez right across the Rio Grande added a different flavor to the area too.
I've never been to Bakersfield, though I know a professor who teaches at Cal State Bakersfield. He seems to think the city is okay — not great, but not awful either. Still, even if it's not really flat, I don't see how it can stack up against all this.
I've never been to Bakersfield, but the one time I ever went to El Paso gave me a good impression of that city. And I'd like to go back, one day. Plus the natural scenery north and east of El Paso and Las Cruces in my mind, would give that area an edge over Bakersfield IMO. Isn't Bakersfield and much of the central valley of CA(i.e. Visalia, Fresno) agricultural? No thanks. And I also like how there are nearby mountains and hiking trails, within the city of El Paso. Plus being right by the Mexico border(and by Juarez), would be a nice bonus IMO.
For anyone more familiar with Bakersfield than me, feel free to respond and post some google street view links to some of its nicer neighborhoods. I'd love to look at some of Bakersfield, and get myself better acquainted with that city. Though I have my doubts that city would surpass El Paso, to me.
I've never been to Bakersfield, but the one time I ever went to El Paso gave me a good impression of that city. And I'd like to go back, one day. Plus the natural scenery north and east of El Paso and Las Cruces in my mind, would give that area an edge over Bakersfield IMO. Isn't Bakersfield and much of the central valley of CA(i.e. Visalia, Fresno) agricultural? No thanks. And I also like how there are nearby mountains and hiking trails, within the city of El Paso. Plus being right by the Mexico border(and by Juarez), would be a nice bonus IMO.
For anyone more familiar with Bakersfield than me, feel free to respond and post some google street view links to some of its nicer neighborhoods. I'd love to look at some of Bakersfield, and get myself better acquainted with that city. Though I have my doubts that city would surpass El Paso, to me.
El paso is an anchor to millions of people. Bakersfield is an anchor to 800k people. That's One reason why El paso is more interesting.
You wouldn't spend much time in Juarez if you lived in El paso. It's a very one sided relationship (juarez tourists trek over and spend their money in El paso)
There's a lot of ag near bako but it doesn't feel surrounded by it like you're imagining.
Edit: here's an old video of Bakersfield. I'm sure some progress has been made since this was filmed.
Looking at streetviews of Juarez makes it look like a pretty urban place that's a bit run down but not charmless. I wonder if there's some hope for the near future of the violence ratcheting down significantly, because it seems pretty interesting.
I've never been to Bakersfield, but the one time I ever went to El Paso gave me a good impression of that city. And I'd like to go back, one day. Plus the natural scenery north and east of El Paso and Las Cruces in my mind, would give that area an edge over Bakersfield IMO. Isn't Bakersfield and much of the central valley of CA(i.e. Visalia, Fresno) agricultural? No thanks. And I also like how there are nearby mountains and hiking trails, within the city of El Paso. Plus being right by the Mexico border(and by Juarez), would be a nice bonus IMO.
For anyone more familiar with Bakersfield than me, feel free to respond and post some google street view links to some of its nicer neighborhoods. I'd love to look at some of Bakersfield, and get myself better acquainted with that city. Though I have my doubts that city would surpass El Paso, to me.
Bakersfield has tehachipi as its Las Cruces.
It's not as pretty but it's pretty nice. People go up for nice restaurants and hiking.
I was in El Paso today. The air smelled heavily of sulfur and tires. Not sure if Bakersfield has a smell, but the pollution in El Paso is terrible. The smog over Juarez was greenish brownish. Does Bakersfield have a smell outside?
I booked myself a plane ticket to Bakersfield. I'll be there in early January. I'll let you all know how it compares to El Paso. I told another friend I was going to Bakersfield and he was saying too how it's not a good city. I doubt it's like what everybody says.
I booked myself a plane ticket to Bakersfield. I'll be there in early January. I'll let you all know how it compares to El Paso. I told another friend I was going to Bakersfield and he was saying too how it's not a good city. I doubt it's like what everybody says.
El paso is also a dusty city. a lot of it's beauty gets lost in the dust during summers. Outside of summers tho it's quite charming.
Elevation of Bakersfield is over 800 feet at the edge of town, it's not that flat. To put it in perspective, Highest elevation of Sacramento is just 50 feet. There's lot of good hiking in the foothills and mountains near bako, too.
El paso is the nicer city, but bako has more potential. It just needs good leadership to reach it.
Edit: El pasos summers aren't a big improvement over Bakersfield. El paso is probably the hottest city in Texas because its so dry. It also gets occasional snow storms and humid heatwaves.
If you want world class skiing. Bako is roughly 4 hours to Mammoth. El paso is roughly 6 to Taos.
Besides Ruidoso ski resort which is 2hrs 15 minutes from El Paso, There is another skip place called Ski Apache which is another 30 minute drive. Great skiing there also.
]Besides Ruidoso ski resort [/b]which is 2hrs 15 minutes from El Paso, There is another skip place called Ski Apache which is another 30 minute drive. Great skiing there also.
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