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Old 10-12-2019, 08:38 AM
 
17,264 posts, read 11,104,090 times
Reputation: 40521

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Up until you mentioned 6 hours from Vegas (assume drive time) the most perfect place would be around the blue grass area of KY, around Lexington or surrounding smaller towns like Paris. You'll get 4 seasons, a little snow but not much, some cold in mid winter but nothing like the Midwest or New England. Tons of beautiful horse farms, rolling green hills. You'll have a hard time finding a more beautiful area with a stronger more devoted horse community. Even the Lexington international airport looks like a museum devoted to horses and horse racing.

Last edited by marino760; 10-12-2019 at 09:31 AM..
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Old 10-16-2019, 05:05 PM
 
119 posts, read 137,511 times
Reputation: 351
OP: I left California last year and really quite miss it. As places to live, I found the San Francisco Bay Area to be okay (amazing amenities and cuisine, but hot-or-cold people) and San Diego to be absolutely dreadful (bad coworkers and bad fit for the local culture), but I absolutely adored greater Los Angeles (warts and all).

As places to visit, I quite enjoy Sacramento, the Mount Shasta area, and damn near anywhere along the Central Coast (except maybe Salinas).

The only things I don't miss about California are the politics and the workplace environments I experienced there. I'm right-of-center politically, and I got to a point where I was fed up with the Bay Area political machine that runs the state; yet I knew that I'd miss California immensely if I left. So, I took a risk and pulled the plug when a career-advancing opportunity in Texas basically fell on my lap.

I live in a really nice suburban area just outside of Houston. While here, I've also explored all of the major cities sans El Paso, and explored even a lot of smaller cities like Waco, Beaumont, Galveston, College Station, Seguin (pronounced seh-geen), etc. I know the native Texans are a proud bunch, prouder even than a lot of native Californians, but...dang! I find the Texas natives to be a very difficult nut to crack, collectively; an odd blend of polite and extroverted, yet crass and cliquish. Think fake-friendly meets hostile. Customer service is certainly no better than in other parts of the country. Texans will talk your leg off when it's convenient for them (for example, at work), yet aren't big into general neighborliness or chatter while standing in line at the grocery store. In that sense, I actually find Californians slightly more randomly friendly and non-judgmental, if you can believe that!

While the cost of living out here is great compared to urban coastal California, try finding an apartment complex that won't let you out of your lease without a 60-day notice (yes, 60 days!) and subsequently paying $1,800+ to release you from your contract. Pavement quality and general road maintenance are much better in Texas than in California, but construction site management and entry/exit ramp management are far worse on Texas roads. Many drivers throughout Texas are reckless, incompetent and self-centered; for example, Harris County (Houston) has nearly 300,000 (300 THOUSAND) automobile accidents, ranging from the most minor to fatal, in a year. Look it up! That's significantly higher, at least per capita, than Los Angeles County and California. For another thing, you can only swim in the admittedly beautiful, shallow rivers in the rural Hill Country, or in the filthy waters just off the gulf coast, so many times before you realize that Texas summers are not to be underestimated.

Oh, yes...Texans reflexively HATE seemingly anything and everything California! It's damn near a phenomenon out here to turn something, anything about an adverse situation into some joke about California. Granted, it doesn't bother me that individuals don't like California, but the reflexive, group-think-based bashing does get old.

On the upside, Texans generally have more common sense than Californians, and aren't giddy about enacting every ballot-initiative tax increase "for the environment." The work I do in Texas is as rewarding as it was in California, but the management I've worked for here have been (relatively) better. My career is being fast-tracked here.

I recently paid a visit back to L.A. and Orange County for four days with the woman I'm currently dating, as she'd never been west of the Rockies, and L.A. had long been on her bucket list. We spent minimal time in the tourist crap (read: Hollywood!), and instead I showed her places like DTLA, USC, UCLA/Westwood, the South Bay beach cities, Belmont Shore, and Costa Mesa--places where I know cool locals and cool local hangouts. She didn't want to leave as, to paraphrase her words, "People in Southern California actually seem nicer than they are back in Texas."

As of now, I'm looking to give Texas another 6-18 months before I cycle out. I don't get the hype of the place. A move back to certain parts of California isn't out of the question by any means, though I also quite like Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, and parts of Oregon (not so much Portland). Basically, a lot of places west of Interstate 25! Even so, the move will be methodical, such as finding the next logical career step at a healthy organization.

In closing, OP, make damn sure that leaving California is absolutely the best thing for your own self-interest and mental health. If it is, I wish you nothing but the best, as, again, I don't get butthurt when people tell me directly that they don't like California. However, you might want to be methodical in the execution of your move, should you choose to move.

Last edited by AmericaBravoCharles; 10-16-2019 at 06:09 PM.. Reason: language
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Old 10-16-2019, 07:50 PM
sub
 
Location: ^##
4,963 posts, read 3,676,721 times
Reputation: 7831
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericaBravoCharles View Post
OP: I left California last year and really quite miss it. As places to live, I found the San Francisco Bay Area to be okay (amazing amenities and cuisine, but hot-or-cold people) and San Diego to be absolutely dreadful (bad coworkers and bad fit for the local culture), but I absolutely adored greater Los Angeles (warts and all).

As places to visit, I quite enjoy Sacramento, the Mount Shasta area, and damn near anywhere along the Central Coast (except maybe Salinas).

The only things I don't miss about California are the politics and the workplace environments I experienced there. I'm right-of-center politically, and I got to a point where I was fed up with the Bay Area political machine that runs the state; yet I knew that I'd miss California immensely if I left. So, I took a risk and pulled the plug when a career-advancing opportunity in Texas basically fell on my lap.

I live in a really nice suburban area just outside of Houston. While here, I've also explored all of the major cities sans El Paso, and explored even a lot of smaller cities like Waco, Beaumont, Galveston, College Station, Seguin (pronounced seh-geen), etc. I know the native Texans are a proud bunch, prouder even than a lot of native Californians, but...dang! I find the Texas natives to be a very difficult nut to crack, collectively; an odd blend of polite and extroverted, yet crass and cliquish. Think fake-friendly meets hostile. Customer service is certainly no better than in other parts of the country. Texans will talk your leg off when it's convenient for them (for example, at work), yet aren't big into general neighborliness or chatter while standing in line at the grocery store. In that sense, I actually find Californians slightly more randomly friendly and non-judgmental, if you can believe that!

While the cost of living out here is great compared to urban coastal California, try finding an apartment complex that won't let you out of your lease without a 60-day notice (yes, 60 days!) and subsequently paying $1,800+ to release you from your contract. Pavement quality and general road maintenance are much better in Texas than in California, but construction site management and entry/exit ramp management are far worse on Texas roads. Many drivers throughout Texas are reckless, incompetent and self-centered; for example, Harris County (Houston) has nearly 300,000 (300 THOUSAND) automobile accidents, ranging from the most minor to fatal, in a year. Look it up! That's significantly higher, at least per capita, than Los Angeles County and California. For another thing, you can only swim in the admittedly beautiful, shallow rivers in the rural Hill Country, or in the filthy waters just off the gulf coast, so many times before you realize that Texas summers are not to be underestimated.

Oh, yes...Texans reflexively HATE seemingly anything and everything California! It's damn near a phenomenon out here to turn something, anything about an adverse situation into some joke about California. Granted, it doesn't bother me that individuals don't like California, but the reflexive, group-think-based bashing does get old.

On the upside, Texans generally have more common sense than Californians, and aren't giddy about enacting every ballot-initiative tax increase "for the environment." The work I do in Texas is as rewarding as it was in California, but the management I've worked for here have been (relatively) better. My career is being fast-tracked here.

I recently paid a visit back to L.A. and Orange County for four days with the woman I'm currently dating, as she'd never been west of the Rockies, and L.A. had long been on her bucket list. We spent minimal time in the tourist crap (read: Hollywood!), and instead I showed her places like DTLA, USC, UCLA/Westwood, the South Bay beach cities, Belmont Shore, and Costa Mesa--places where I know cool locals and cool local hangouts. She didn't want to leave as, to paraphrase her words, "People in Southern California actually seem nicer than they are back in Texas."

As of now, I'm looking to give Texas another 6-18 months before I cycle out. I don't get the hype of the place. A move back to certain parts of California isn't out of the question by any means, though I also quite like Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Idaho, and parts of Oregon (not so much Portland). Basically, a lot of places west of Interstate 25! Even so, the move will be methodical, such as finding the next logical career step at a healthy organization.

In closing, OP, make damn sure that leaving California is absolutely the best thing for your own self-interest and mental health. If it is, I wish you nothing but the best, as, again, I don't get butthurt when people tell me directly that they don't like California. However, you might want to be methodical in the execution of your move, should you choose to move.
I can relate to a lot of this. California wouldn't be half bad were it not for the extreme politics. The excessive cost of living isn't worth it either, in my opinion.
One thing I'd like to point out is that there are a lot of places outside of Texas and California. There are parts of the country that have all the positives of California with far fewer negatives.
Between those two large states, you're basically just swapping out problems. I don't know if one is better than the other when all things are considered.
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Old 10-16-2019, 08:26 PM
 
119 posts, read 137,511 times
Reputation: 351
Quote:
Originally Posted by sub View Post
I can relate to a lot of this. California wouldn't be half bad were it not for the extreme politics. The excessive cost of living isn't worth it either, in my opinion.
One thing I'd like to point out is that there are a lot of places outside of Texas and California. There are parts of the country that have all the positives of California with far fewer negatives.
Between those two large states, you're basically just swapping out problems. I don't know if one is better than the other when all things are considered.
Yeah, that's what hurts California the very most, the extreme politics. The Bay Area has so much of the money and clout, arguably in a way that's far more significant than Los Angeles. As such, machine members such as Brown (well, formerly), Boxer (formerly), Newsom, Bacerra, Harris, Feinstein, and Tom Steyer have pretty much had unchecked, free rein in running the state for quite some time now.

All that being said, California would be better served by the "purple" political climate that served it from the late 1980s to the late 2000s. Alternating liberal and conservative overall bents in the state's politics, with significant influences from anybody from the far-left nut jobs in Marin and San Francisco to the far-right religious nut jobs in the most rural areas of the Central Valley.

Also, I've seen some thoughtless, hubris-steeped, chest-pounding, borderline-redneck legislation become law in conservative Texas that actually has the potential to hurt free market progress in the coming decades. Why? Well, you know, multi-billion dollar developers of cookie-cutter, poorly built homes can pay legislators what they damn well please under the table. All about short-term profits and revenues, taking shortcuts in construction, all in such a way that neighborhoods can become moderately crime-ridden no sooner than they open--which keeps property values down and hurts developers' public reputations. Then the cycle repeats. For those of you familiar with California, think parts of suburban Moreno Valley or Concord, except on steroids! Which is to say, suburbs with a few nice areas and nice facades, but some ugly social and community problems barely lying underneath. I've never been so disappointed in my fellow conservatives until now, observing the Texas legislature.

No other state offers the Mediterranean climate that the California coast offers. No state offers the climatic and geographic diversities that California offers. No other state offers the amazing caliber of world-class research universities, and their massive impact on research and development and the state's GDP, than California; not even Massachusetts. No state on the West Coast offers the cosmopolitan energy that urban California offers, and Los Angeles' only peers in North America for the incredibly vibrant energy you'd expect to find in mega-cities are NYC and Mexico City. No other state comes close to California in the quality of Mexican food; yes, New Mexican cuisine is truly wonderful and I love it, but it's not necessarily as "Mexican" as what comes out of California, and Tex-Mex is fine just every once in a while. New York and Texas are the only states that can offer the culinary diversity that California offers, and the freshness and quality are notably higher in California at that, in my opinion (well, NYC and Houston are still no slouches in certain genres).

One might be swapping out one set of big state problems for another. Maybe you're right. One has to decide which set of problems is easier to contend with, or if they want to live in, say, Colorado (if they're left-leaning, at least these days, unless they're drawn to the right-leaning "the Springs") or Utah (if they're right-leaning, unless they're drawn to left-leaning SLC). Ultimately, the good news is we have 50 states and even a few territories to choose from.

Last edited by AmericaBravoCharles; 10-16-2019 at 08:49 PM..
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Old 10-16-2019, 08:46 PM
 
Location: OC
12,734 posts, read 9,379,776 times
Reputation: 10524
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericaBravoCharles View Post
Yeah, that's what hurts California the very most, the extreme politics. The Bay Area has so much of the money and clout, arguably in a way that's far more significant than Los Angeles. As such, machine members such as Brown (well, formerly), Boxer (formerly), Newsom, Bacerra, Harris, Feinstein, and Tom Steyer have pretty much had unchecked, free rein in running the state for quite some time now.

All that being said, California would be better served by the "purple" political climate that served it from the late 1980s to the late 2000s. Alternating liberal and conservative overall bents in the state's politics, with significant influences from anybody from the far-left nut jobs in Marin and San Francisco to the far-right religious nut jobs in the most rural areas of the Central Valley.

Also, I've seen some thoughtless, hubris-steeped, chest-pounding, borderline-redneck legislation become law in conservative Texas that actually has the potential to hurt free market progress in the coming decades. Why? Well, you know, multi-billion dollar developers of cookie-cutter, poorly built homes can pay legislators what they damn well please under the table. All about short-term profits and revenues, taking shortcuts in construction, all in such a way that neighborhoods can become moderately crime-ridden no sooner than they open--which keeps property values down and hurts developers' public reputations. Then the cycle repeats. For those of you familiar with California, think parts of suburban Moreno Valley or Concord, except on steroids! Which is to say, suburbs with a few nice areas and nice facades, but some ugly social and community problems barely lying underneath. I've never been so disappointed in my fellow conservative legislators until now, observing the Texas legislature.

No other state offers the Mediterranean climate that the California coast offers. No state offers the climatic and geographic diversities that California offers. No other state offers the amazing caliber of world-class research universities, and their massive impact on research and development and the state's GDP, than California; not even Massachusetts. No state on the West Coast offers the cosmopolitan energy that urban California offers, and Los Angeles' only peers in North America for the incredibly vibrant energy you'd expect to find in mega-cities are NYC and Mexico City. No other state comes close to California in the quality of Mexican food; yes, New Mexican cuisine is truly wonderful and I love it, but it's not necessarily as "Mexican" as what comes out of California, and Tex-Mex is fine just every once in a while. New York and Texas are the only states that can offer the culinary diversity that California offers, and the freshness and quality are notably higher in California at that, in my opinion (well, NYC and Houston are still no slouches in certain genres).

One might be swapping out one set of big state problems for another. Maybe you're right. One has to decide which set of problems is easier to contend with, or if they want to live in, say, Colorado (if they're left-leaning, at least these days, unless they're drawn to the right-leaning "the Springs") or Utah (if they're right-leaning, unless they're drawn to left-leaning SLC). Ultimately, the good news is we have 50 states and even a few territories to choose from.
Money no object that's probably where I'd live.
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Old 10-16-2019, 11:20 PM
 
Location: Greeneville, tn
46 posts, read 22,785 times
Reputation: 59
Try looking around St. George area of Utah. It’s horse country not as horrible in summers and winters not to bad. Plus only about an hour and 20 minutes from Vegas.
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Old 10-17-2019, 08:21 AM
sub
 
Location: ^##
4,963 posts, read 3,676,721 times
Reputation: 7831
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericaBravoCharles View Post
Yeah, that's what hurts California the very most, the extreme politics. The Bay Area has so much of the money and clout, arguably in a way that's far more significant than Los Angeles. As such, machine members such as Brown (well, formerly), Boxer (formerly), Newsom, Bacerra, Harris, Feinstein, and Tom Steyer have pretty much had unchecked, free rein in running the state for quite some time now.

All that being said, California would be better served by the "purple" political climate that served it from the late 1980s to the late 2000s. Alternating liberal and conservative overall bents in the state's politics, with significant influences from anybody from the far-left nut jobs in Marin and San Francisco to the far-right religious nut jobs in the most rural areas of the Central Valley.

Also, I've seen some thoughtless, hubris-steeped, chest-pounding, borderline-redneck legislation become law in conservative Texas that actually has the potential to hurt free market progress in the coming decades. Why? Well, you know, multi-billion dollar developers of cookie-cutter, poorly built homes can pay legislators what they damn well please under the table. All about short-term profits and revenues, taking shortcuts in construction, all in such a way that neighborhoods can become moderately crime-ridden no sooner than they open--which keeps property values down and hurts developers' public reputations. Then the cycle repeats. For those of you familiar with California, think parts of suburban Moreno Valley or Concord, except on steroids! Which is to say, suburbs with a few nice areas and nice facades, but some ugly social and community problems barely lying underneath. I've never been so disappointed in my fellow conservatives until now, observing the Texas legislature.

No other state offers the Mediterranean climate that the California coast offers. No state offers the climatic and geographic diversities that California offers. No other state offers the amazing caliber of world-class research universities, and their massive impact on research and development and the state's GDP, than California; not even Massachusetts. No state on the West Coast offers the cosmopolitan energy that urban California offers, and Los Angeles' only peers in North America for the incredibly vibrant energy you'd expect to find in mega-cities are NYC and Mexico City. No other state comes close to California in the quality of Mexican food; yes, New Mexican cuisine is truly wonderful and I love it, but it's not necessarily as "Mexican" as what comes out of California, and Tex-Mex is fine just every once in a while. New York and Texas are the only states that can offer the culinary diversity that California offers, and the freshness and quality are notably higher in California at that, in my opinion (well, NYC and Houston are still no slouches in certain genres).

One might be swapping out one set of big state problems for another. Maybe you're right. One has to decide which set of problems is easier to contend with, or if they want to live in, say, Colorado (if they're left-leaning, at least these days, unless they're drawn to the right-leaning "the Springs") or Utah (if they're right-leaning, unless they're drawn to left-leaning SLC). Ultimately, the good news is we have 50 states and even a few territories to choose from.
Again, I can't disagree with your assessments. Just depends on what people want and value. All those things about California sound great if you're into that sort of thing, but it's not for everyone. Neither is Texas.
After an extended visit to California recently, I decided that the low-key midwest was more up my ally even when cost is no object.
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Old 10-17-2019, 09:30 AM
 
8,256 posts, read 17,258,595 times
Reputation: 6220
OP never even responded to anything on here, but I still find it laughable that someone thinks they can get all that within a six hour drive of Las Vegas. Because anything north of LV likely gets quite a bit of snow and can be brutal in winter. Anything south east of Las Vegas is likely either hot desert or places like Flagstaff with lots of now. Everything west of Las Vegas is basically hot desert or LA.
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Old 10-17-2019, 11:06 AM
 
119 posts, read 137,511 times
Reputation: 351
Quote:
Originally Posted by sub View Post
Again, I can't disagree with your assessments. Just depends on what people want and value. All those things about California sound great if you're into that sort of thing, but it's not for everyone. Neither is Texas.
After an extended visit to California recently, I decided that the low-key midwest was more up my ally even when cost is no object.
The Midwest is an interesting place. The Dakotas, Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana are places I can easily do without (I've been to all except North Dakota). However, Chicago is a city that is so undeservedly trashed, so often, even if it is prone to longstanding problems with crime and corruption; the surrounding river bluffs and old towns throughout northern Illinois make for a nice region overall. If I were younger and had a higher tolerance for the cold, I could easily live on Chicago's north side. Ohio isn't a state that I necessarily want to live in, but its charms, merits, cities and towns are all severely underappreciated on a national scale. I could easily live in Minnesota (sans the Twin Cities), Wisconsin (sans Milwaukee), and Michigan (sans Detroit)--again, if it weren't for the cold. But then the cold winters are an important part of what makes the Midwest, the Midwest.

Last edited by AmericaBravoCharles; 10-17-2019 at 11:41 AM..
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Old 10-17-2019, 11:08 AM
 
119 posts, read 137,511 times
Reputation: 351
Quote:
Originally Posted by jessemh431 View Post
OP never even responded to anything on here, but I still find it laughable that someone thinks they can get all that within a six hour drive of Las Vegas. Because anything north of LV likely gets quite a bit of snow and can be brutal in winter. Anything south east of Las Vegas is likely either hot desert or places like Flagstaff with lots of now. Everything west of Las Vegas is basically hot desert or LA.
Yeah. Way back, I'm not even a California native, but I wonder a little bit about how far the OP has ventured outside of California into the rest of the West. That's one reason why in a previous post, I told her to be damn sure that leaving the state was the best thing for them.
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