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hello, Congrats to you new move and wish you all the best, I seen you had lived in TX, what area, can you give me any suggestions about TX. I am looking to relocate either to TX, AZ, or NM I currently live in Omaha and for far too long now, need a change and want more I am interested in the housing, employment and the best ares to live, and schools for my daughter who is 10 years old. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thank you
Location: In my cat's house, until she finds a better human servant
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sscott102,
Thank you! We lived in Austin for over 4 years, we really liked it there, the people were friendly, alot of pretty land with many outdoor activities as well as a big music scene, lots of places to go see local bands (mostly country music) although to be honest we were so busy between my health issues and working we never really did either ...the allergies will kill you if you are sensitive to the local stuff, and the humidity and heat during the summer is intense, especially for us coming there from the high desert of CA (and it wasn't just us not being used to more humidity, it is -very- humid there, although we had a coworker from louisiana who said when he moved there his skin was peeling it was "so dry"! ). The job market is strong, depending on your field, although the poor economy has still had it's toll there, the local economy is one of the most strong/stable in the US right now. The "keep Austin weird" attitude is still there despite a steady flow of incoming biz and development, it's a big Tech center, alot of the economy is IT-based, UT Austin is there, big university scene. We only moved when we did for a job opportunity we couldn't pass up in KY.
Whole Foods market is based in Austin, there is a huge store there which is like nothing I've ever experienced, and if you take the time to look you -can- find good options at WFM that won't empty your wallet, although it's true it's not really a place most would do their regular grocery shopping (including us), but it's alot of fun if you like that sort of thing. They also have a regular grocery chain based in Tx called HEB that I just loved, which had really good stuff at good prices. I miss HEB!
Restaurants lean towards TX BBQ, steak places, and chains but there are some good mom-and-pop places if you look and some higher-end dining, although not really alot compared to major metro areas like L.A. or NYC. We were used to really good Chinese and Asian food in SoCal that was also very affordable, Austin was kind of sparse on those options, but if you looked around you find some decent choices, as well as some good Persian and other cuisines.
I would put Austin as one of my favorite places to live, but the desert still wins 1st place in my heart, and the humidity and allergies made it uncomfortable for me in Austin, I had to stay inside alot. I guess it depends on how sensitive you are to stuff like that.
I didn't see much of the rest of the state, was briefly in Houston a couple times, didn't care for the city sprawl and smog, and didn't see much of Dallas ever, Western Tx is alot different than Central Tx...CenTx is hilly and green with rivers and lakes, West is more scrubby desert/oil fields/refineries/ranchland/etc, then you hit El Paso, which I only drove past, I've been told El Paso is a good place to live, low crime despite the proximity to Juarez, Mexico. All I saw was the huge amount of thick black smoke belching from the factories across the river in Juarez when we drove through on the 10. I'm told that if you go up into El Paso it's alot nicer, but I didn't get the chance.
I hope this helps, I could go on and on about Austin, mostly good stuff , if you had any specific questions, let me know. Oh, and we don't have kids so can't say much about the schools, there are some really nice family-oriented neighborhoods, we saw alot of that through our church that we went to (the church we went to was fantastic), this church has a private school that is very well regarded if you wanted that
Cat5e: I envy you! I've been looking at moving to Socorro, since it's only a little over an hour from ABQ but is a small college town and away from all the big city lights. I haven't decided definitely on moving there, but it'll be either NM or the Alpine-Marfa-Fort Davis area of TX, which is like Baja NM. In he meantime, I get out there every chance I get!
Socorro is a nice town (not too big/not too small). We went there last Spring just to check it out among other places..... It is beautiful to come down 25 and see it at night; I guess that is the first thing I noticed about it.
NM is a beautiful state and I think it has awesome weather. It is a diurnal type weather pattern; which means that as soon as the sun goes down, the evening (in the summer) gets cool and comfortable to enjoy.
Yeah, the large diurnal range is an indication of low humidity. I love that! And you were right in your previous post: humidity is relative (no pun intended, but there it is). DFW seems horribly humid until I go to Houston or someplace like that. Socorro sounds better all the time!
What part of NM are you moving to? City or country? It's nice to see so many positive posts here that I hate to burst the bubble...but... We moved 2 years ago to the high desert/county from Washington State. There is very little positive I can say about living here and have joined the many who refer to NM as the "Land of Entrapment". We are moving as soon as we can back to the Pacific Northwest (or any place other than NM!) I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Location: In my cat's house, until she finds a better human servant
372 posts, read 391,140 times
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Thanks everyone for all well-wishes
Townandcountrygal - Thanks, we are moving to the ABQ area, maybe Moriarty, sorry that you didn't like NM I imagine it was a pretty big shock for you compared to the lush PNW, we have lived in high desert (although actually not as "high" as ABQ) in CA and have lived in a number of other places over the years and our favorite place is the desert.
We are moving for employment, so we didn't get to pick which desert, but I think we'll be ok with the move, I am looking forward to it. I have lived in larger cities, mid sized cities and smallish city, have pretty much had my fill of the crowds and such so we think we're going to try Moriarty and see how that goes. We can always move after awhile if we don't like it, but we've heard it's a very friendly place and we really like the sound of that.
When we lived in Austin, pretty much everyone was really nice, and we enjoyed that change coming from the L.A. area where people are generally polite but I found many look at you strangely if you even say Hello or ask how they are, unless you've known them for some time...in Austin strangers would treat you like they'd known you for years, and we were pleasantly surprised when early after our move when we ran out of gas, a bunch of guys over at the station just ran right over and pushed out car to the pump, ...to be honest, we've had tires blown out, etc, on the freeways in SoCal and no one really cares/notices and if someone did stop, I might have been nervous about their motives. (and that makes me feel bad to live somewhere where you learn be so distrustful of people)
Have been to Moriarty/Edgewood. You should be fine there. We looked at property there before moving here--should have bought it! --Even though it was more expensive than in Cibola County. Living in the rural areas has its own set of problems. You have paved roads and water is probably not going to be a problem. When you have lived in more "progressive" states, you'll find that some things just are not the same--ie., medical care, work ethic, etc. Best of luck to you and enjoy the blue skies and interesting cloud formations.
Location: In my cat's house, until she finds a better human servant
372 posts, read 391,140 times
Reputation: 812
Quote:
Originally Posted by Townandcountrygal
Have been to Moriarty/Edgewood. You should be fine there. We looked at property there before moving here--should have bought it! --Even though it was more expensive than in Cibola County. Living in the rural areas has its own set of problems. You have paved roads and water is probably not going to be a problem. When you have lived in more "progressive" states, you'll find that some things just are not the same--ie., medical care, work ethic, etc. Best of luck to you and enjoy the blue skies and interesting cloud formations.
Thank you, I know NM will be challenging in some ways, we didn't have alot of choice regarding our employment/where we moved this time, but we are really happy it'll be desert, so that makes up for alot. Also, we think we'll really like the Moriarty area.
We moved 2 years ago to the high desert/county from Washington State. There is very little positive I can say about living here and have joined the many who refer to NM as the "Land of Entrapment". We are moving as soon as we can back to the Pacific Northwest (or any place other than NM!) I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Townandcountrygal.... I sure wish that you would enlist those things you found in Albuquerque that were unpleasant for you. We are looking several places ... one of them being Albuquerque .... to retire. So I'd like to have a heads up if there are things there of which it would be good to know about. We have a few other places we're pondering also. If you want to write me personally, that would work too. I am familiar with the larger cities of the Pacific NW (vacationing and family).
If we went with Albuquerque, I'd like to live perhaps near the University. Pricewise, Edgewood in the mountains is going to be too expensive for us; Placitas is way out of our range. Haven't looked at Moriarity yet (nor other considerations like Los Lunas or Bernalilo). We are looking for a place that has a good community spirit; where the "natives are friendly".
Last edited by Northanna_2001; 08-31-2010 at 10:54 PM..
Reason: originally didn't say all I wanted to
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...the allergies will kill you if you are sensitive to the local stuff, and the humidity and heat during the summer is intense, especially for us coming there from the high desert of CA (and it wasn't just us not being used to more humidity, it is -very- humid there, although we had a coworker from louisiana who said when he moved there his skin was peeling it was "so dry"! ). The job market is strong, depending on your field, although the poor economy has still had it's toll there, the local economy is one of the most strong/stable in the US right now. The "keep Austin weird" attitude is still there despite a steady flow of incoming biz and development, it's a big Tech center, alot of the economy is IT-based, UT Austin is there, big university scene. We only moved when we did for a job opportunity we couldn't pass up in KY.
, if you had any specific questions, let me know. Oh, and we don't have kids so can't say much about the schools, there are some really nice family-oriented neighborhoods, we saw alot of that through our church that we went to (the church we went to was fantastic), this church has a private school that is very well regarded if you wanted that 
