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LOL, welcome to America's new relevant superstar cities, Austin and Nashville.
Surely great places for a night on the town, but as far as having the basic infrastructure that the average world citizen would expect to see in any city.....yeah they might need a few more decades to get that sorted out!
I know 2 million use to be the size when a city has their starter line in place. Look at KC, Seattle and St. Louis. I guess the cost is so high, that isn't the case anymore.
I would never choose Nashville as my go to spot for nightlife. Miami, New York, Vegas or Chicago yes.
No disagreement there, but how many people are really moving to NYC and Boston to hike in Vermont once a year? As far as the eastern US goes I think the only areas people really move to for the natural amenities are like, western NC/east TN, northern New England, and like Florida if you count the warm weather as an amenity.
Coastal NC and SC have blown up recently in large part due to the natural amenities.
No disagreement there, but how many people are really moving to NYC and Boston to hike in Vermont once a year? As far as the eastern US goes I think the only areas people really move to for the natural amenities are like, western NC/east TN, northern New England, and like Florida if you count the warm weather as an amenity.
There is tons of traffic going to the Whites (and NH Lakes) every weekend from Boston. Not really Vermont cause it’s an extra hour.
No. NYC and Boston offer way more in natural amenities than Chicago. It's not even close. For both NYC and Boston, you can ski within driving distance. Boston has Cape Cod within a weekend trip and some decent trails even within the city (Blue Hills, Fells) and NH and Vermont are drivable. NYC has Long Island too and the Hudson Valley is beautiful. I can't speak for DC area as I've never lived there, but I imagine it being better than Chicago just on proximity to Shenandoah alone.
Chicago has Lake Michigan and that's it. Its forest preserves are some of the lamest hikes I've ever done in the US.
I love Chicago the city, but the natural amenities of the metro area are the pits. It's not controversial except to the biggest homers.
In the same vein as your comment, Chicago has Wisconsin as a backyard playground, and it's pretty awesome. And, they use Wisconsin, as is evidenced every summer week-end, with almost as many Illinois plates, as Wisconsin. I exaggerate a little, but they're all over Wisconsin in the summer. And, Lake Michigan is not a "that's it," it's pretty amazing in beauty, boating, etc.
Lake Geneva, WI, is just over the IL border, and is a favorite of Chicagoans, as are many other lakes in WI. Wrigley had a home in Lake Geneva, that sold within the last couple of years, for millions. Remember, people, Chicago could easily have been a part of WI. The arbitrary border could have been farther south. No one can laugh at Wisconsin lakes.
Also, no one is mentioning the Indiana Dunes National Park. Google that and take a look...practically within the city limits. No one can say that's not pretty amazing for a little "outdoor activity."
As much as it pains me to say it Chicago has certainly suffered a relative cultural decline in my conscious life. In the late 80s/early 90s Chicago had a massive national prominence. It was home to the world's tallest building and busiest airport. Chicago sports loomed huge nationally you had Jordan and the Bulls, Mike Ditka and Da Bears, it still has 2 MLB teams, but baseball was a far bigger deal back then. In TV and movies, you had all the John Hughes movies/Adventures in Baby Sitting, lots of network TV shows set in Chicago. ER would get 30 million viewers. Oprah and many of the day time talk shows were based there. Jessie Jackson was a huge national presence. WGN was a national TV network that spread Chicago culture far and wide. The Tribune was a nationally renowned newspaper. Siskel and Ebert were the most important film critics.
Economically, Chicago was the heart of then more important Great Lakes industrial economy. The Sunbelt MSAs were far smaller and Silicon Valley was just a niche center of Chip manufacturing. NYC/Boston/SF hadn't undergone their economic and cultural transformations into elite yuppie white collar centers of affluence.
From an urbanism perspective, in the early 90s Chicago was one of the very few cities (NYC, SF maybe Boston) that had managed to maintain a middle class/affluent vibrant urban center. There wewas far less immigration/diversity then, so Chicago was more notable nationally as a melting pot. Chicago's crime was pretty bad and probably worse than now. But it was bad everywhere so Chicago didn't really standout on the downside like it does today. It had far less murders than NYC.
So although Chicago has in many ways improved, grown it's downtown core and reinvented its economy, it feels less prominent nationally. It's still the 3rd largest city, but dosent loom over the next 5 or so the way it used to. Frankly, it just feels more lost in the shuffle nationally.
Oprah, Belushi, etc., did not Chicago make. Stars are moving out of LA, as well, does that mean it's lost relevance? Didn't think so. As far as the real things a city is rated by (business, etc.), Chicago is still an Alpha city. I hope I don't have to say that again. Daytime talk shows don't have as much relevance as finance, etc. ER? Seriously?
Woodstock Vermont is 2 hours from the Tip O’Neil tunnel. North Conway is more like 2 1/2 with a ton of secondary roads. You have no clue.
North Conway is the Northeastern Whites? The Southernmost 4,000 footers are like 2hrs away? Killington, the Closest Vermont 4000 footer is further than The Kinsmans or Flume
Plus Vermont 4000 footers are few and far between. NH has like a dozen crunched up right off 93
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