A slightly different "Moving to Omaha" post (Clearwater: school, utilities)

CCJ · 10-18-2012, 08:29 AM

#6.... At little background first... I grew up in NM where being friendly is not high up the list. Then we lived in TX for 5 years and I was shocked at how nice people were. Then we moved to Omaha (West Omaha/Elkhorn) and were completely blown away by how nice people were. They have TX beat! BUT, I do/did find it difficult to find those lasting friendships you talk about. It feels to me like most of the people we meet grew up here and never left. They already have a great support system of friends and aren't looking for more (not that anyone ever said this, just my opinion). I don't think my husband has this same opinion, but one of his really good friends moved up here a week before us (they worked for the same company) so he wasn't on the same "friend search" as I was.

#5 - We are way out West and Offutt is a good 30 minutes for us (we are also close to West Dodge). To me, the traffic here is nothing (not that I would want to commute that far) and "rush hour" is pretty tame. But, we came from bigger cities.

rezfreak · 10-18-2012, 09:17 AM

If i were you, I wouldnt live in west omaha to commute to bellevue. There are far better areas closer. Dundee is a great area. There are also some nicer houses in fontenelle hills in bellevue that are in the higher end (IE: 200-400k houses). I knew some friends in school that lived there and the area behind the fontenelle apartments, man I had no idea such houses existed in bellevue. They were gigantic! A quick search on NPdodge.com shows quite a few houses in that area for sale.

So, if I were in your shoes, that's where I'd be looking. Nicer houses then west omaha, and it would only be a 10 minute commute vs 45 minute commute. Dundee would be the next option, that'd be closer to a 20-30 minute drive though.

MountainMen · 10-18-2012, 10:53 AM

Yea, I second that Fontenelle Hills neighborhood in Bellevue. Lots of nature and you can see deer regularly. We considered living there, the biggest reason we didn't was the hills that could be a problem with driving in the winter. I suppose if you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle it wouldn't be a problem though.

south_east2west · 10-18-2012, 11:02 AM

Thanks so much for your input. Based on Busguy2010 response, we have totally abandoned the idea of living in West Omaha if I choose to accept the Offutt offer. Actually I have two offers and trying to decide between Omaha or Charleston? As someone who was born and raised in the south, I know what I get in Charleston. For the record I LOVE THE SOUTH AND EVERYTHING IT ENTAILS!!!!!! I guess you can say Charleston would certainly be my comfort zone. However, with Omaha it will be a chance to try something different......again! Similar to what I said in my OP about moving to Southern AZ. Never in a GAZILLION years did i think I would one day live in AZ and it turned out to be such a positive, eye opening, and rich experience that I/we will cherish for a lifetime. Would we want to put down roots in AZ? Absolutely not!!!!!! To be completely honest, I found AZ to be too hot, desolate, and small minded. The "small minded" part is not a knock. We just found it very hard to relate/interact with most (not all) people who hadn't seen or experienced much of anything outside of AZ or that part of the country. As a result, we kinda felt ostracized but it wasn't of their (or our) intentional doing. We also missed the seasons, lush greenery, and abundance of seafood. For entertainment we had to drive an hour north to enjoy the things we like to do. With that said, living there exposed me to another part of the world and another culture that I wouldn't have ordinarily seen had I stuck in my comfort zone - east coast. I wouldn't change our time there for anything. Although we didn't make long lasting friendships, which seems to be the norm these days, we did have plenty of enriching experiences and I will say once again, for anyone who thinks AZ is not AA friendly, think again! They were the most welcoming and hospitable people I have ever met and that says something considering I am from the south with southern hospitality oozing through my veins. BTW, I held, purchased, and shot my first gun thanks to the friendly folks in AZ. I also became interested in golf thanks to the friendly folks in AZ. When it came to BBQ, well i taught them a thing or two! hehehehe!

albus87 · 10-18-2012, 01:51 PM

My husband works at Offutt and we live in the Elkhorn area of West Omaha. The drive is a little longer than we originally assumed (about 30-35 minutes in the morning, 40 min in the afternoon) but my husband doesn't mind it at all. It gives him a little decompression/alone time before the kids pounce on him at home. The bottom line is we love it out here. We have a great community, fantastic schools and it doesn't take long at all to drive to the attractions in downtown Omaha, Papillion, etc.

We could have lived closer to Offutt - there are some beautiful neighborhoods, many of which have already been mentioned in this thread. However, we didn't want to live where there was a large military population. We have nothing against the military (in fact, we are both retired military and my husband is now in gov't service) but we wanted to put down roots and wanted our kids to have the opportunity to build long lasting friendships. Being close to base pretty much guaranteed many of our neighbors/friends would be moving on a regular basis. That's just not what we were looking for after a full career of moving every 2-3 years.

south_east2west · 10-18-2012, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by albus87

My husband works at Offutt and we live in the Elkhorn area of West Omaha. The drive is a little longer than we originally assumed (about 30-35 minutes in the morning, 40 min in the afternoon) but my husband doesn't mind it at all. It gives him a little decompression/alone time before the kids pounce on him at home. The bottom line is we love it out here. We have a great community, fantastic schools and it doesn't take long at all to drive to the attractions in downtown Omaha, Papillion, etc.

We could have lived closer to Offutt - there are some beautiful neighborhoods, many of which have already been mentioned in this thread. However, we didn't want to live where there was a large military population. We have nothing against the military (in fact, we are both retired military and my husband is now in gov't service) but we wanted to put down roots and wanted our kids to have the opportunity to build long lasting friendships. Being close to base pretty much guaranteed many of our neighbors/friends would be moving on a regular basis. That's just not what we were looking for after a full career of moving every 2-3 years.

albus87 how long have you lived in the area and what are your raw thoughts so far? Have you experienced your first winter? If you don't mind me asking, where did you all move from? You may not have the answer to this off the top of your head but what are your husband's thoughts on Offutt AFB?

albus87 · 10-18-2012, 02:52 PM

We've been here since June but we were stationed here from 2004-2006. We really enjoyed it then and when this job came open, we remembered how much we liked it and decided to move back. Bottom line is it is a great place to raise a family. The quality of life is high and the cost of living is relatively low, especially compared to the coast. Even though the real estate taxes are high, you can get a lot more house for the money than in the coastal areas (though I don't know about how the prices compare to Sierra Vista).

We moved from SE Virginia. We also really liked it there but the bottom line is we thought Nebraska was a better place for our family. I'm not going to lie to you - winters are harsh. I know last winter was quite mild, but I doubt if we can count on that every year. When we were here a few years ago, it snowed several times each winter. However, there was not constant snow on the ground the entire winter as it would always eventually warm up enough to melt the snow. It was definitely cold for much of the winter, but I don't remember it being unbearable. Summers are also quite hot and are often humid - this past summer was quite brutal in my opinion. This is definitely a 4-season type of place.

The base is an AF base, so it is pretty nice. It has a new exchange, a fairly decent commissary and a HUGE gym. I actually rarely go there this time around but I worked there every day when we lived there before. He is also very happy with his job. He works for a very large organization, so there are some frustrations/inefficiencies that inherent in all large organizations but he's quite pleased with his job, coworkers and chain of command. If you want, PM me with specific questions and I'll try to answer them.

rezfreak · 10-18-2012, 05:10 PM

We're at MacDill and wishing/hoping we get Offutt back as our next base (we have BoP for next base!). If that's any indication how awesome offutt is...

south_east2west · 10-18-2012, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rezfreak

We're at MacDill and wishing/hoping we get Offutt back as our next base (we have BoP for next base!). If that's any indication how awesome offutt is...

Yes that's says a lot......

rezfreak · 10-18-2012, 11:32 PM

I find people back in Nebraska are much friendlier than the people down here in the south. I guess its that "midwest charm". I am probably biased since I have spent a large majority of my life in Omaha, however my husband has been stationed across the US and still to this day prefers Omaha over any place he's ever lived. If we get offutt as our next base, we will "retire" there and buy our house and set our roots, if we dont get offutt, then we may rethink our plans for him to go career, but i'm not trying to think that way yet, we'll find out if we're back in Omaha in another year or so.