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What the heck! Who would want to move to Texas?! Seriously?! Scorching heat, rattlesnakes, hurricanes, flat as a pancake, no evergreens, and one HECK of an accent to get used to! Sure you have the love of liberty and that's great, but I can't imagine being able to live there! Not to mention you probably HAVE to know Spanish or you're in trouble.
Haha, Elektro, they do have evergreens. East Texas is basically one giant forest. They call it the Piney Woods. It's got nothing on what we have here, but it is a lot of evergreens.
It's not flat-as-a-pancake throughout, either; north of Austin you have the Hill Country. And it is moderately hilly. And it can be beautiful; full of deer and live oak trees, on an early morning, it's very peaceful.
Scorching heat, scorpions, yes. Knowing Spanish... a plus, but not a requirement yet. Will be in a generation or two though. Snakes... I've seen more snakes since moving here than I did in TX, but only because I'm outdoors here more! And I'm thinking the ones here are less likely to be venemous than the ones I saw there. I did a hike at Big Bend one year and just fell down on the trail, I was sooooo tired (too hot! too hot!!). Then a snake came up the side of the hill and slithered up in front of me. I found the motivation to keep going after all. Here, walking a trail on Rainier, I looked at the hillside to me immediate right and was surprised to see a big green snake just sitting there. He looked at me, and then slithered away on the almost-vertical surface. Crazy. And much less terrifying.
You forgot the Gulf of Mexico. Fun times swimming in Galveston! Gray or brown seaweed-filled water, yay!
The heat is just oppressive, MOST of the state is ugly ugly ugly, and the whole state is full of Texans. Which wouldn't be so bad except that they're rabidly conservative, protectionist, suspicious of education, and ready to form an armed mob at a moment's notice. If I had to live there again, it'd be in Austin, end of story. Though when I DID live in Austin, when I was ten years old and had just moved there, our very first night, I was stung by a scorpion. Welcome to Texas, indeed.
Give me the giant forests here, the Olympics, the Cascades, Rainier, Baker, the rivers, the Sound, the Pacific. Give me mornings that taste like this one does outside... makes me feel like ditching work and putting on a pack and going walking all day. Just amazing.
Haha, Elektro, they do have evergreens. East Texas is basically one giant forest. They call it the Piney Woods. It's got nothing on what we have here, but it is a lot of evergreens.
It's not flat-as-a-pancake throughout, either; north of Austin you have the Hill Country. And it is moderately hilly. And it can be beautiful; full of deer and live oak trees, on an early morning, it's very peaceful.
Scorching heat, scorpions, yes. Knowing Spanish... a plus, but not a requirement yet. Will be in a generation or two though. Snakes... I've seen more snakes since moving here than I did in TX, but only because I'm outdoors here more! And I'm thinking the ones here are less likely to be venemous than the ones I saw there. I did a hike at Big Bend one year and just fell down on the trail, I was sooooo tired (too hot! too hot!!). Then a snake came up the side of the hill and slithered up in front of me. I found the motivation to keep going after all. Here, walking a trail on Rainier, I looked at the hillside to me immediate right and was surprised to see a big green snake just sitting there. He looked at me, and then slithered away on the almost-vertical surface. Crazy. And much less terrifying.
You forgot the Gulf of Mexico. Fun times swimming in Galveston! Gray or brown seaweed-filled water, yay!
The heat is just oppressive, MOST of the state is ugly ugly ugly, and the whole state is full of Texans. Which wouldn't be so bad except that they're rabidly conservative, protectionist, suspicious of education, and ready to form an armed mob at a moment's notice. If I had to live there again, it'd be in Austin, end of story. Though when I DID live in Austin, when I was ten years old and had just moved there, our very first night, I was stung by a scorpion. Welcome to Texas, indeed.
Give me the giant forests here, the Olympics, the Cascades, Rainier, Baker, the rivers, the Sound, the Pacific. Give me mornings that taste like this one does outside... makes me feel like ditching work and putting on a pack and going walking all day. Just amazing.
...and don't forget the tarballs on the beaches. South Padre was always nice though.
You have Texas down to a "T! Austin is the exception. I remember when it was called "Berkeley of the South". How long did you live there?
Haha, Elektro, they do have evergreens. East Texas is basically one giant forest. They call it the Piney Woods. It's got nothing on what we have here, but it is a lot of evergreens.
It's not flat-as-a-pancake throughout, either; north of Austin you have the Hill Country. And it is moderately hilly. And it can be beautiful; full of deer and live oak trees, on an early morning, it's very peaceful.
Scorching heat, scorpions, yes. Knowing Spanish... a plus, but not a requirement yet. Will be in a generation or two though. Snakes... I've seen more snakes since moving here than I did in TX, but only because I'm outdoors here more! And I'm thinking the ones here are less likely to be venemous than the ones I saw there. I did a hike at Big Bend one year and just fell down on the trail, I was sooooo tired (too hot! too hot!!). Then a snake came up the side of the hill and slithered up in front of me. I found the motivation to keep going after all. Here, walking a trail on Rainier, I looked at the hillside to me immediate right and was surprised to see a big green snake just sitting there. He looked at me, and then slithered away on the almost-vertical surface. Crazy. And much less terrifying.
You forgot the Gulf of Mexico. Fun times swimming in Galveston! Gray or brown seaweed-filled water, yay!
The heat is just oppressive, MOST of the state is ugly ugly ugly, and the whole state is full of Texans. Which wouldn't be so bad except that they're rabidly conservative, protectionist, suspicious of education, and ready to form an armed mob at a moment's notice. If I had to live there again, it'd be in Austin, end of story. Though when I DID live in Austin, when I was ten years old and had just moved there, our very first night, I was stung by a scorpion. Welcome to Texas, indeed.
Give me the giant forests here, the Olympics, the Cascades, Rainier, Baker, the rivers, the Sound, the Pacific. Give me mornings that taste like this one does outside... makes me feel like ditching work and putting on a pack and going walking all day. Just amazing.
you guys exaggerate so much. must be that seattletude. texas is so terrible, yet all its major cities are among the fastest growing in the country. maybe people are trying to escape all those high taxes and condescending attitudes of people like you.
US Census Press Releases (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/012242.html - broken link)
you guys exaggerate so much. must be that seattletude. texas is so terrible, yet all its major cities are among the fastest growing in the country. maybe people are trying to escape all those high taxes and condescending attitudes of people like you.
US Census Press Releases (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/012242.html - broken link)
Texas has a lot of good points, but heaven forbid, if any of the bad is pointed out, watch the Texicentric attitudes come out and start talking secession.
My brother and I were just talking about how much Austin has changed due to all that fast growth. Back in the day, Austin struggled not to become another "Houston" yet here we are in 2009 and guess what? It has become the very thing it did not want to be: a spawling metropolis with bad traffic and strip malls as far as the eye can see. It's really sad.
I guess all those people escaping high taxes and "condescending" attitudes are what ruined it. This is not an exageration, just my opinion as a NATIVE Texan.
Texans are the proudest people in the USA no doubt about it. When I lived in Colorado, I didn't like that about the Texans that would come to ski. But then I moved to Texas and lived there for 12 years and I started to understand it and by the time I left Texas, loved it. Probably even participated in it to some degree. Moved to Seattle and missed Texas (really Austin) terribly. But now that I have been in Seattle for almost two years it would be hard to go back. We sailed on Lake Washington today with a clear view of Mt. Rainier. Ate dinner right near Elliott Bay with a view of the the Olympics, drove home on 520 toward the Cascades. Looked at my husband and said "There's no place I would rather be" and that says a lot coming from a girl who went kicking and screaming out of Austin TX.
Well put Texastrigirl! I'm proud of my home state and there is a lot that's good about it. However, no place is perfect, including Texas.I understand the pride, but I am always ashamed at the rabid display of it. I find it interesting that when one points out Texas' faults, one is accused of being condescinding while having "how Texas is better at everything" shoved in your face - if that's not calling the kettle the black, I'm not sure what is. It's what makes the stereotype "loud mouth Texan". Hell, I even lapse into it from time to time lol!Do I miss Texas? Sometimes. Would I want to go back - no. Seattle, with her good AND bad, is my home. No matter how many times I leave for a trip, coming home is like falling in love with her all over again, warts and all.
Well put Texastrigirl! I'm proud of my home state and there is a lot that's good about it. However, no place is perfect, including Texas.I understand the pride, but I am always ashamed at the rabid display of it. I find it interesting that when one points out Texas' faults, one is accused of being condescinding while having "how Texas is better at everything" shoved in your face - if that's not calling the kettle the black, I'm not sure what is. It's what makes the stereotype "loud mouth Texan". Hell, I even lapse into it from time to time lol!Do I miss Texas? Sometimes. Would I want to go back - no. Seattle, with her good AND bad, is my home. No matter how many times I leave for a trip, coming home is like falling in love with her all over again, warts and all.
Oh please, comments like "MOST of the state is ugly ugly ugly, and the whole state is full of Texans" is not just pointing out faults, its condescending. I'm not a native texan, but i've lived both in seattle and houston. Texans overall are very friendly people. you seem to have left your home state and became smug in seattle. That's too bad.
Oh please, comments like "MOST of the state is ugly ugly ugly, and the whole state is full of Texans" is not just pointing out faults, its condescending. I'm not a native texan, but i've lived both in seattle and houston. Texans overall are very friendly people. you seem to have left your home state and became smug in seattle. That's too bad.
Granted that's a dramatic generalization on that poster's part and the "full of Texans" piece is over the top. However, why did you feel the need to call Seattlites condescending or me smug? Sounds like you're also generalizing.
I agree, Texans are overall a very friendly lot. But as with people anywhere, they can also be rude, obnoxious, and yes, condescinding. Though the majority of Texans are an open minded and kind people, it's the loud and obnoxious ones who seem to get all the attention struttin' their Texas pride like peacocks - that's what's noticed and remembered. And if it isn't Seattle they mock, it's California, New York, Oklahoma, Colorado, or anywhere that's not Texas. IMO.
I agree, Texans are overall a very friendly lot. ... Though the majority of Texans are an open minded and kind people...
Very friendly, sure, IF you drive a pickup, go to their church, like BBQ, and hate all the same things they hate. I've lived in NY, PA, TX, OK, and AR. Three years in Austin, eight years in Dallas. I found, overall, the people in Dallas (in general) to be the most CLOSED-minded, petty, and nasty people of anywhere I've lived or spent significant time. I don't care at all about the people who wave the Texas flag and talk about how great it is. What I couldn't stand is the constant prattle about anyone different from them. Xenophobic. The rage at the "Mexicans taking over", the "Indians taking our jobs", the "Chinese only good for one thing: making food", the "gays that should be drawn and quartered on the elementary school playground to teach them all a real lesson", the "fatties who should be put on a treadmill and not fed till they shed those extra fifty pounds". The level of VIOLENCE that is accepted as normal everyday speech; teaching kids that the kind of car you drive or the brand of clothes you wear is the best way you can judge what kind of "character" they have (or whether they come from a "good family" -- I hope I never, ever hear that phrase again!!); the us-versus-them that permeates every facet of life (career, neighborhood, school, friendships -- to get more for me, it means less for you) -- I could not stand to bring my son up in that environment. The use of religion as a tool to oppress each other and judge everyone else disgusts me. Over, and over, and over again, every group of people I worked with, lived near, etc, the same themes. Is it every single person there? No. But those things ARE a major part of the culture in Dallas. It is the anti-Seattle. We looked around at a big Christmas party of most of our friends one year and realized with a surprise that we were the only white American-born people there. It just didn't click until that moment how out of place we were.
There are pretty corners of the state. East TX, hill country, Big Bend, South Padre (as mentioned), there are pockets of natural beauty. The spring wildflowers are nice. But I don't think it's unreasonable to call most of the state ugly. It's mainly dusty, hot, flat, featureless, except for mesquite trees and the occasional dammed lake (I remember hearing that there's only one natural lake in all of texas; the rest are made from dams). Landmarks are often the next Best Buy or Walmart or Outback. Ugly's subjective and beauty in the eye of the beholder. Some people need wide, wide, wide-open space. Fine. More Washington for me.
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