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gimme it - Glad to hear you found some areas in Lexington that felt "like home"! As I've written before, we will be visiting Lexington and Louisville next month. Just a couple of questions! In Louisville, did you drive through Anchorage - and if so, what did you think? And in Lexington - I, too, like Stonewall from what I have read - but where is Shadeland?? Can't find it on my map! Thanks - and enjoy the rest of your trip!
Edited to say I found Shadeland on the map!! But I'm still curious if you saw Anchorage!
Tory - Shadeland is the area right around the intersection of Alumni and Tates Creek. Lots of nice, mature landscaping, great schools, and a decent range of housing. Turkeyfoot and Grey Hawk Rd have some apartments, condos, townhouses, both owned and rented, but other areas are single family homes. All in all, a pretty quiet, upscale area that attracts a lot of UK faculty, families, etc. One disadvantage would be that the intersection of Alumni and Tates Creek can get a little backed-up, with an especially large amount of traffic during UK home football games, but there are a lot of back roads and cut-throughs for many of the streets that will help you avoid it when necessary.
ic - I don't know a lot about Parker's Mill, unfortunately. It is a nice street - very peaceful and some nice mature homes. My one concern would be traffic sounds and pollution from New Circle being so close, but that is easy to assess if you're looking at a home there. Also, I don't have much personal experience with Lane Allen but you're right, it doesn't have the best reputation. If you do find a home you love in a less-than-stellar district, and you have the time, maybe you can tour the school and visit one or two of the classrooms. For example, Cardinal Valley Elementary school doesn't have a great reputation but I happen to know some FANTASTIC teachers there, and I would be more than happy to have my child in their classroom. Cardinal Valley deals with a lot of outside issues, including some areas of poverty, a large portion of students that are just learning the English language, etc and that is reflected in their school rating. As you've said before, sometimes a school that doesn't look great on paper can be a very dynamic, supportive environment. So, I'm not sure how helpful that is, but maybe someone else can provide some specific info for Lane Allen.
[quote=nlschr0;715683]Tory - Shadeland is the area right around the intersection of Alumni and Tates Creek. Lots of nice, mature landscaping, great schools, and a decent range of housing. Turkeyfoot and Grey Hawk Rd have some apartments, condos, townhouses, both owned and rented, but other areas are single family homes. All in all, a pretty quiet, upscale area that attracts a lot of UK faculty, families, etc. One disadvantage would be that the intersection of Alumni and Tates Creek can get a little backed-up, with an especially large amount of traffic during UK home football games, but there are a lot of back roads and cut-throughs for many of the streets that will help you avoid it when necessary.
Hi! Thanks so much for all of the info! As you were posting, I was re-looking at my map and found Shadeland - and edited my above post! But thanks for the terrific description!!
In any event, I don't really understand it but there seems to be a lot of disguised (or not so well disguised?) hostility between Lexington and Louisville. Is this some kind of natural rivalry?
Oh, it's not disguised - it's right out in the open! There is a huge rivalry between the two. For starters, the University of Kentucky is in Lexington and the University of Louisville is in, well, you know. This is a rivalry that matches Duke and North Carolina, believe me. There is also a bias against "big city" Louisville by the rest of the state. We're looked on as "Sin City" for a variety of reasons. Oddly enough, now Lexington is getting a little of that now that they are growing.
For the record, I was not insulted in the least by her comments. I enjoyed reading her posts and seeing her enthusiasm, and am just sorry her husband did not like Louisville. Prospect sounds perfect for her. But Lexington has a ton of good qualities and I'm just happy Kentucky is still in the running.
It wasn't my intention. We saw a lot of Louisville. The good and the bad, as anyone should do if they are interested in an area. We spent more time in Lexington today, and my husband and I both love Stonewall and Shadeland. We also love Tahoma Terrace, Ashland Park and Chevy Chase, but the houses we could afford there would be too small ( I think). There are parts of Glendover that we really liked too, today. However, it seems that Stonewall and Shadeland are exactly what we were looking for. We never got around to the Colony area, but we did check out Harrods Hill, which we both thought was nice. And then we saw Stonewall and Shadeland. These neighborhoods felt "like home" or how we would imagine it to be.
I don't think anyone implied that we were insulted, we were just confused because most people say our downtown is beautiful and clean. You said you saw rundown streets downtown? Where? I was just curious as to what you saw, and why you would even tour areas well known to be "the ghetto" when you would likely live 20-30 miles away (La Grange is nearly 40 miles from parts of the west end)? Just curious if you toured the "ghetto" in other cities you have lived/looked at, including Lexington?
To ic-pei, if you felt someone had a false impression of where you lived, would you not want to see why they may have thought that? Its really not a big deal, I think people are just curious. No one is faulting Gimmeit, I think we just want to know what she saw and where! Also, there is no rivalry between Louisville and Lexington other than in college basketball! To be honest, most people in Louisville really could care less about Lexington, other than during basketball season, when they send their kids to college, or if they want to see a horse race at Keeneland. Other than that, everyone in the state at least knows that the premiere and biggest urban city in the state is Louisville.
Louisville is not for everyone, and Gimmeit is entitled to move her family wherever is best for them! But, I like the old addage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," and will tell you it is almost impossible to judge a city the size of Louisville by driving around one day. I guess that is just my opinion
To be honest, most people in Louisville really could care less about Lexington, other than during basketball season, when they send their kids to college, or if they want to see a horse race at Keeneland.
That's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.
At least here in Iowa, that kind of attitude (between cities) doesn't exist. I would never say that people in Iowa City "could care less" about people in Ames (where we have a huge college rivalry, by the way... Iowa State versus Iowa) or any other Iowa City. It's all our home state, why would we feel that way? There is a very big sports rivalry, but aside from that (which I would expect anywhere) the whole state is very supportive of its towns and cities and about being part of Iowa... and I just don't sense that kind of thing being evident in KY, but maybe I am mistaken.
No, it's not a big deal, just that gimme it noted (in the title of her responding post yesterday) that maybe she insulted or offended someone, and that's the same impression I got when I read those same posts so I understood where she got it. It's just something of a different underlying current that appears to be present in KY. Not sure at this point if I should be concerned about it or not. Anyway, sorry if I hit a nerve.
At least here in Iowa, that kind of attitude (between cities) doesn't exist. I would never say that people in Iowa City "could care less" about people in Ames (where we have a huge college rivalry, by the way... Iowa State versus Iowa) or any other Iowa City.
...It's just something of a different underlying current that appears to be present in KY. Not sure at this point if I should be concerned about it or not. Anyway, sorry if I hit a nerve.
It did not hit a nerve with me, but I respectfully disagree that rivalry between the two leading cities of a state is confined to Kentucky. And certainly there is an omnipresent rivalry between a big city and the rural areas of any state. If no such rivalry exists in Iowa, I'd say you are in a lucky minority. My experience is that these rivalries are common throughout all states.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say these rivalries can be healthy and productive as cities strive to out-do their competitors, to the benefit of both cities and the state in general.
For the record, I do not wish Lexington or UK any ill will - I just want to do better than them!!!
It did not hit a nerve with me, but I respectfully disagree that rivalry between the two leading cities of a state is confined to Kentucky. And certainly there is an omnipresent rivalry between a big city and the rural areas of any state. If no such rivalry exists in Iowa, I'd say you are in a lucky minority. My experience is that these rivalries are common throughout all states.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say these rivalries can be healthy and productive as cities strive to out-do their competitors, to the benefit of both cities and the state in general.
For the record, I do not wish Lexington or UK any ill will - I just want to do better than them!!!
Do better than them, how? (i.e. in what way?) That's the part I don't get. (No need to respond; just a rhetorical question)
For the record, I didn't say anywhere that rivalry between two leading cities (by that do you mean the biggest cities?) is confined to KY. I only said that it seems different than it does here in Iowa.
We certainly have rivalry here, sports-related. I am just sensing something additional that is not present here; some kind of additional... competitiveness, maybe, based on something that as of yet I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe I'll understand better after I've lived there for awhile. It's no big deal.
Anyway, I appreciate all the helpful information from everyone who has posted on this forum. I am looking forward to your next update Gimme it!
Do better than them, how? (i.e. in what way?) That's the part I don't get. (No need to respond; just a rhetorical question)
For the record, I didn't say anywhere that rivalry between two leading cities (by that do you mean the biggest cities?) is confined to KY. I only said that it seems different than it does here in Iowa.
We certainly have rivalry here, sports-related. I am just sensing something additional that is not present here; some kind of additional... competitiveness, maybe, based on something that as of yet I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe I'll understand better after I've lived there for awhile. It's no big deal.
Anyway, I appreciate all the helpful information from everyone who has posted on this forum. I am looking forward to your next update Gimme it!
Haha, it really is hard to explain, but there is indeed no "city" rivalry here. If anything, though, much of the state views Louisville as an outsider. Stereotypically, many rural areas in KY consider Louisville to be a mega city, riddled with crime, drugs, and run down gritty buildings. As we all know, none of this is true, and Louisville isn't really that big of a city (but for KY it is I guess). It is sort of an interesting dynamic, and yes you see it in almost any state with major urban areas. Perhaps you never saw it in Iowa since there aren't any large urban areas......Des Moines is more like Lexington.
Now, I would say Louisville DOES have a rivalry with Indianapolis, Nashville, and possibly Cincinnati. If you visit here, you will often hear people say, Indy has this, why dont we? Or Nashville has that, why don't we? Read the Courier-Journal message boards and you will often hear people complain about the lack of pro sports, etc. And my response is, why don't those towns have our friendly people, our beautiful parks, or the diversity and architecture of our neighborhoods? So, yes, I think friendly city rivalries is pretty common in Midwest/Southern cities packed so close. I just don't think there is one between Lexington and Louisville, other than bball (also let it be known that Louisville has as many and possibly more UK fans than UL fans anyways!) When you move to KY, I think you will find most people so friendly, and that they will promote the beauty of the whole state. Most people know its a gem!
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Ice-epi
