Lafayette, visiting then moving if i can convince the husband, HELP! (New Orleans: crime, home)

[kathrynrose]

Hi, all! Here's the deal. I want to live within 6 hours of NO. I was looking at East Texas, but there aren't many places there to look that meet the criteria, maybe 2 places only. So, we are road tripping to NO next week, going through the few Texas towns I found. I went on here and asked people about East Tex, and someone mentioned the Lake Charles and Lafayette areas of LA.

I hadn't considered them because the husband doesn't want to live in LA. He thinks its all Duck Dynasty and Swamp people. Now, before you all get mad at him for thinking that, he's lived in small town AZ his whole life with little to no travel so he doesn't know any better. He's also not too fond of Hurricanes, and thinks ALL of LA gets hurricanes. Seeing is believing I guess.

So what i'm asking is what in Lafayette or Lake Charles and surrounding areas are a MUST see while were there?

Any neighborhoods in Lafayette you recommend? what about Lake Charles? Little background...

Grew up in small town NY, currently in AZ.
Price range is non factor.
School is non factor.
Job is non factor.
Relatively safe areas ARE a factor.

So, again- Great things to see in Lafayette & Lake Charles to convince husband on the stunning beauty of LA.
Neighborhoods to check out if I do end up convincing him.

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it! Sorry if I didnt explain this well, I hope it's understandable!

[cBach]

I grew up in Lake Charles. It is a very pretty town on a lake by the same name. Downtown there is a boardwalk and a nice children's park, splash pad, and there is even a beach.

The food is top notch, try Steamboat Bill's.

If you live in the south part of town, crime is non-existent and you are still 10 minutes from downtown. Just take Lake St. north to Shell Beach Drive and take a right and you're there.

For neighborhoods, I recommend the area between West Prien Lake Road to Holly Hill Road, from I-210 to Country Club Road. That area is very green, treed, with bayous and is absolutely beautiful.

[Mzurie]

Lafayette is filled with pocket neighborhoods with lovely, arching live oaks; azalea and rose bushes, magnolia and banana trees. A good inventory of architectural styles.

Consider getting a place on or within easy walking distance to the parade route - and that covers a lot of territory. Depending on your interests, look at the geographic area between the university and downtown. Being able to walk downtown and to the university for diverse cultural events is a great advantage, especially nice if you like to entertain out-of-town guests. No traffic hassles.

[Podo944]

We visited New Orleans for the first time last year and fell in love!
While in the area we got away to Cajun territory and stayed in a small town called Breaux Bridge. Loved it! It's about 2 hours from New Orleans and 15 minutes or so to Lafayette.
On Saturday mornings at the Cafe Des Amis they have what is called "Zydeco Breakfast". They have live music there, and while we got there too late for breakfast, for a small cover charge we got in and danced our tushes off! One of the highlights of our vacation for sure.
We went to the same restaurant for a late breakfast the next morning and it was much quieter, but we ended up talking to the waitress and some other people sitting near us who lived there all their lives. Very sweet people we met there.
We also had dinner in Lafayette, and listened to some Cajun music. The food in that whole area including NO is to die for!

So I told my hubby, that if we were ever to hit the lottery and wanted to live in the south, I would want to have NO nearby, but live in Breaux Bridge.

(checked on City Data stats and it's a pretty safe area.)

Curious, how is it that you'll be able to choose to move to that area? Work from home deal? Retiring?

Well, good luck in your search. By golly, I'm getting rather jealous.

Cheers!

[freepelican]

Truthfully, the areas you mention are fun for visiting but for living full time year round, are you sure you want to? Have you ever lived in an area with at least 4 months of upper 90's to above 100 every day and 100% humidity, along with the biting insects that come with that? Sometimes this lasts for more like 5-7 months. There's also virtually no fall, spring usually lasts about a month but can be as short as a couple weeks, and the winters are muggy and cold.... not NY winters as far as snow and super low temperatures but a wet cold that chills you down to your bones no matter what layers you wear. I'd be curious what month you actually visited Louisiana and if you happened to hit it on the 1-3 months of good weather that are had each year? I realize some people on this forum will disagree, and I hope I'm not upsetting anyone, but I have seen people move to Louisiana without a realistic impression of what it is really like to live there. Same goes for certain things about the culture which I won't go into here except to say again that visiting a place is very different than actually living there.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by freepelican

Truthfully, the areas you mention are fun for visiting but for living full time year round, are you sure you want to? Have you ever lived in an area with at least 4 months of upper 90's to above 100 every day and 100% humidity, along with the biting insects that come with that? Sometimes this lasts for more like 5-7 months. There's also virtually no fall, spring usually lasts about a month but can be as short as a couple weeks, and the winters are muggy and cold.... not NY winters as far as snow and super low temperatures but a wet cold that chills you down to your bones no matter what layers you wear. I'd be curious what month you actually visited Louisiana and if you happened to hit it on the 1-3 months of good weather that are had each year? I realize some people on this forum will disagree, and I hope I'm not upsetting anyone, but I have seen people move to Louisiana without a realistic impression of what it is really like to live there. Same goes for certain things about the culture which I won't go into here except to say again that visiting a place is very different than actually living there.

Anyone who's used to the south can handle our weather. It's not any worse than Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, etc.

[Innotech]

The air conditioning everywhere is very strong. Louisiana is well equipped to deal with heat. We do a lot of yard work early morning or late evening and mosquito repellent is a quite useful item. Living here in this climate is seriously not a big deal. Its not like northern cities where older buildings werent built with central heating or cooling.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by freepelican

Truthfully, the areas you mention are fun for visiting but for living full time year round, are you sure you want to? Have you ever lived in an area with at least 4 months of upper 90's to above 100 every day and 100% humidity, along with the biting insects that come with that? Sometimes this lasts for more like 5-7 months. There's also virtually no fall, spring usually lasts about a month but can be as short as a couple weeks, and the winters are muggy and cold.... not NY winters as far as snow and super low temperatures but a wet cold that chills you down to your bones no matter what layers you wear. I'd be curious what month you actually visited Louisiana and if you happened to hit it on the 1-3 months of good weather that are had each year? I realize some people on this forum will disagree, and I hope I'm not upsetting anyone, but I have seen people move to Louisiana without a realistic impression of what it is really like to live there. Same goes for certain things about the culture which I won't go into here except to say again that visiting a place is very different than actually living there.

Sounds like you're from the north as you're comparing to NY. The weather in Louisiana is very similar to many other southeastern states. For instance, Houston has worse weather than Lake Charles but Houston is doing just fine.

[freepelican]

Originally Posted by cBach

Sounds like you're from the north as you're comparing to NY. The weather in Louisiana is very similar to many other southeastern states. For instance, Houston has worse weather than Lake Charles but Houston is doing just fine.

No. I am not from NY and I'm very very familiar with Louisiana weather. I was comparing to NY because the OP mentioned being from there.

Regarding comparisons to other southern areas, not wild about the weather in those places either. However, I will say from experience that Tennessee weather is nowhere near as bad as Louisiana weather humidity wise nor temperature wise. Neither is Georgia or Arkansas.... Houston, yes I agree with that one.

My point to the OP, who stated they are not from the south, is they need to be really prepared for the weather. They haven't answered back yet but I'm betting they visited during a good/decent weather month and really have no idea just how bad it gets for many months out of the year.

[kathrynrose]

Originally Posted by freepelican

No. I am not from NY and I'm very very familiar with Louisiana weather. I was comparing to NY because the OP mentioned being from there.

Regarding comparisons to other southern areas, not wild about the weather in those places either. However, I will say from experience that Tennessee weather is nowhere near as bad as Louisiana weather humidity wise nor temperature wise. Neither is Georgia or Arkansas.... Houston, yes I agree with that one.

My point to the OP, who stated they are not from the south, is they need to be really prepared for the weather. They haven't answered back yet but I'm betting they visited during a good/decent weather month and really have no idea just how bad it gets for many months out of the year.

Hello! As to the weather...I grew up in small town ny, and had a 2 acre pond in my backyard. I am quite familiar with mosquitos and bugs unfortunately. Now they are probably nothing compared to LA, but it comes with the territory, yeah?

Arizona is a dry heat. I am one of those strange people who prefer humidity to dry heat. I see it like this, the sun shines here almost everyday of the year. I wore a sweater one day the entire year. It rained a few times, always at night. And I REALLY hate Arizona landscaping. Louisiana gets rain, sometimes way too much but they do. Summers are VERY hot and muggy, but there are times of the year that are amazing. I've never felt amazed living here. Also, if I'm to endure any heat, I'd rather have LA out my door than the desert.

My reasons may not seem logical to most, but they are mine. I spent an entire July and August in Alexandria, and those are the only times I was in LA which is why I'm unfamiliar with lake Charles and Lafayette,

Thank you for being blunt with me, I appreciate it. I know it will be a shock to me moving there after years in the dry heat, I just feel I'm ready.