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I've been exploring the possibility of moving out west, but have one major concern: It's mostly dry and brown.
Does anyone who lives out west (including California) ever feel like they would like to see more greenery in their life?
Last year when I took a trip out to San Diego, I thought it was a beautiful place, but still thought it was somewhat dry and drab green looking. I'm possibly spoiled from living in the eastern U.S. where it's very green in the summer, but if someone moves from the east to the west, do they get used to the lack of greenery compared to the same levels of greenery found in the east during summertime? I mean, for me, I live in the East and although we go through 7 months of dead looking vegetation, I think it's worth suffering through in order to see all the lush, beautiful greenery in the summer just for 5 months.
I've heard of mixed feelings on this matter, from people in the Albuquerque area. One guy told me that he's disenchanted with the area because of how brown and dry it is. But then, my cousin who lives there (originally from back east) LOVES the scenery more than back east, even though it's not as green. He said that he prefers the diverse landscape, which has a mixture of brown and green.
One thing I have heard from people in the Southwest is that they feel almost claustrophobic when they're in a heavily wooded area (like central NC). They're generally used to being able to look out on the horizon and see for a few miles - it's much more wide open - which is rarely the case here.
Just two different sides of the coin. The Southwest is beautiful in its own way. I have different concerns about living there than the scenery.
Also, FWIW, the drive along I-10 is absolutely breathtaking. There is so much amazing scenery. Wide open plains, huge sand dunes like you're on another continent, giant mountains etc. It's something to experience. I'm happy to have driven it coast to coast twice.
We moved from Michigan to Phoenix for a relatively brief time about six years ago. Our experience was that when we visited a couple of times prior to our move, we thought the desert landscape was just the coolest thing (but isn't that always how it is when you are "just visiting" and scouting around for a place to live without ever having lived there?). After moving there, however, we VERY quickly tired of the "brownness" of the place, and I do mean brown. Almost all of the houses are some shade of brown or beige, ditto the commercial buildings. People's lawns are brown because it is very expensive to maintain a lush, green lawn like the type that we take for granted here in the East. The entire landscape outside of the city is brown, brown, brown. The palm trees have green fronds, but they're only a small part of the tree. The trees that actually have true leaves on them are much different that the deciduous trees here in the East. The leaves are sparse and provide little to no shade. The cacti are sort of a dull green. Overall, though, if you are accustomed to the lush greenness that we have in the East, it is a hard pill to swallow, or at least it was for us.
When we flew back to Michigan, I can remember getting off of the plane in Romulus (suburb of Detroit where Detroit Metro Airport is located) in late August and thinking that it looked and smelled like a jungle in comparison to Phoenix. Even the weeds in the ditches along the road looked good to me!
The Southwest has its own unique beauty, I guess, it's just that it isn't for everyone. I found out rather quickly that I am a person who needs lots of green in my life, although I am content to just have it seasonally, since I have no desire to ever live somewhere hot and steamy like Florida where it is green year round.
We moved from Michigan to Phoenix for a relatively brief time about six years ago. Our experience was that when we visited a couple of times prior to our move, we thought the desert landscape was just the coolest thing (but isn't that always how it is when you are "just visiting" and scouting around for a place to live without ever having lived there?). After moving there, however, we VERY quickly tired of the "brownness" of the place, and I do mean brown. Almost all of the houses are some shade of brown or beige, ditto the commercial buildings. People's lawns are brown because it is very expensive to maintain a lush, green lawn like the type that we take for granted here in the East. The entire landscape outside of the city is brown, brown, brown. The palm trees have green fronds, but they're only a small part of the tree. The trees that actually have true leaves on them are much different that the deciduous trees here in the East. The leaves are sparse and provide little to no shade. The cacti are sort of a dull green. Overall, though, if you are accustomed to the lush greenness that we have in the East, it is a hard pill to swallow, or at least it was for us.
When we flew back to Michigan, I can remember getting off of the plane in Romulus (suburb of Detroit where Detroit Metro Airport is located) in late August and thinking that it looked and smelled like a jungle in comparison to Phoenix. Even the weeds in the ditches along the road looked good to me!
The Southwest has its own unique beauty, I guess, it's just that it isn't for everyone. I found out rather quickly that I am a person who needs lots of green in my life, although I am content to just have it seasonally, since I have no desire to ever live somewhere hot and steamy like Florida where it is green year round.
Very interesting read. Sounds like you never got used to it.
Very interesting read. Sounds like you never got used to it.
No, we never did. I have no desire to ever live there again, although I have to admit that the winter weather was nice. Summer, on the other hand...our pool felt like a hot tub and our tap water, even the "cold" water, came out warm no matter what time of the day it was. I was reading a thread on the Phoenix forum earlier today about the warm tap water, and everyone who responded was like, "Welcome to Phoenix!" No, thanks!
No, we never did. I have no desire to ever live there again, although I have to admit that the winter weather was nice. Summer, on the other hand...our pool felt like a hot tub and our tap water, even the "cold" water, came out warm no matter what time of the day it was. I was reading a thread on the Phoenix forum earlier today about the warm tap water, and everyone who responded was like, "Welcome to Phoenix!" No, thanks!
Ugh, that would be annoying. I have tasted the tap water in Phoenix...it's the worst in the nation. Tastes like sand or something. The best tap water I have ever had is in Buffalo, NY.
Sounds like the OP should go to the NW instead of the SW.
Exactly. This thread would make more sense if it didn't just say "the west". Parts of Washington, Oregon, and Alaska are very very green. Probably the greenest part of the country.
Yep, the Pacific NW is green year round. If you want green, go there
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