Top comments when people hear we are moving to St Louis (St. Louis: home, neighborhood)
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So true! I grew up loving beaches so I could get a good tan--oh, I mean a blistering sunburn!! After years of seeing and having family/friends develop skin cancers (yes, I know that there is skin cancer and hot sun in the Midwest)---but my point is it changed my perspective on laying out on the beaches. The sound of the waves is nice, but truthfully I can't count on two hands the number of times I have spent at a beach here in the past 3 years. Oh, unless you count a trip to a beach during summer break. But if I am going to do that, I don't need the ocean 20-60 minutes driving distance. I would rather have the beach be an annual vacation when I will appreciate its beauty and feel. Also I am so done with traffic on these freeways. Rush hour on a Friday on I40 (see I am starting to use my lingo!)--is nothing compared to the 5 freeway in CA at any time of the day.
I think I will probably miss the mountains more, but you can at least get a nice rolling hills feeling in St. Louis.
IMHO, there are people who are more Midwest at heart. Hopefully that is our family. If not, then we just discover activities that we do love in the new town.
I was talking to one of my SoCal sisters last week. She said she only goes to the beach about once a year, same with another sister who lives only 30 mins away from the beach. And yet, people always cite the beach as a reason not to move away.
At the risk of sounding like a racist, I still appreciate that I can understand people in restaurants, stores, doctors offices, etc because everyone (just about) here speaks perfect English.
I was talking to one of my SoCal sisters last week. She said she only goes to the beach about once a year, same with another sister who lives only 30 mins away from the beach. And yet, people always cite the beach as a reason not to move away.
At the risk of sounding like a racist, I still appreciate that I can understand people in restaurants, stores, doctors offices, etc because everyone (just about) here speaks perfect English.
I agree about the beach thing. My brother has a second home in Three Arch Bay, in Laguna, and I can go there anytime enjoy the private beach, and guess what, I don't do it very often, probably because I spent so much time at the beach the novelty wears off, and while it's beautiful it's not a priority.
I agree about the beach thing. My brother has a second home in Three Arch Bay, in Laguna, and I can go there anytime enjoy the private beach, and guess what, I don't do it very often, probably because I spent so much time at the beach the novelty wears off, and while it's beautiful it's not a priority.
It's no different than say the zoo in St. Louis. That's one of the first things people bring up about St. Louis. But realistically, who goes there even more than once or twice a year? Hardly anyone. Now the STL fanboys will jump in and say how they go twice a week
BTW, I go to beach several times a week. Luckily, it's only a few minutes walk from my house.
I was talking to one of my SoCal sisters last week. She said she only goes to the beach about once a year, same with another sister who lives only 30 mins away from the beach. And yet, people always cite the beach as a reason not to move away.
At the risk of sounding like a racist, I still appreciate that I can understand people in restaurants, stores, doctors offices, etc because everyone (just about) here speaks perfect English.
Yes, you sound like a racist. But you fit perfectly in the Midwest.
It's no different than say the zoo in St. Louis. That's one of the first things people bring up about St. Louis. But realistically, who goes there even more than once or twice a year? Hardly anyone. Now the STL fanboys will jump in and say how they go twice a week
We probably go about 4-5 times a year during the warmer months as do most people we know. Once a month is probably a reasonable guess. I also know people that don't go at all so to each their own. It is a great zoo though. I have a friend who is a physician in Chicago, and he makes good money and is an animal lover, and he travels all over the country to visit zoos. He has always said the St. Louis zoo is in his top 3 in the whole country. People here are proud of it.
I do think the whole the "Zoo is free thing" can be a bit misleading to people that have never been there. Sure general admission is free (They do accept donations though), but if you want to visit the petting zoo, ride the train, watch the sea lion show, put the kids on the merry-go-round, etc. then you are paying for all of that. If you want to do it all then you are buying the $10 dollar bracelet (cheapest way) for each family member, and then with $15 dollar parking, and $9 dollar hamburgers it can add up.
Totally worth the money, but not really free unless you just want to walk around the park and not eat, which tons of people do.
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BTW, I go to beach several times a week. Luckily, it's only a few minutes walk from my house.
You are braver than I am. The pacific is freezing cold. When I was there it was pretty much only the people that surf that actually got in the water any way though.
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Originally Posted by topospace
Yes, you sound like a racist. But you fit perfectly in the Midwest.
Unfortunately racism isn't regional. If it was then it would be easy to avoid.
It's no different than say the zoo in St. Louis. That's one of the first things people bring up about St. Louis. But realistically, who goes there even more than once or twice a year? Hardly anyone. Now the STL fanboys will jump in and say how they go twice a week
I go about twice a month during the warmer months, and maybe about two or three times in the winter on "warmer" days.
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Originally Posted by Warcrime
I do think the whole the "Zoo is free thing" can be a bit misleading to people that have never been there. Sure general admission is free (They do accept donations though), but if you want to visit the petting zoo, ride the train, watch the sea lion show, put the kids on the merry-go-round, etc. then you are paying for all of that. If you want to do it all then you are buying the $10 dollar bracelet (cheapest way) for each family member, and then with $15 dollar parking, and $9 dollar hamburgers it can add up.
Totally worth the money, but not really free unless you just want to walk around the park and not eat, which tons of people do.
Yeah, its free as in admission is free. I doubt anyone thinks a free zoo includes free food (and a cheeseburger meal is $8 including fries and drink). But even though you can go to the zoo and spend money, you can also go and spend nothing at all. There is free parking all over forest park, if you have to eat while at the zoo you can just pack a lunch, and the Children's zoo carousel and stingrays are free for the first hour the zoo is open.
And really paying an optional $10 bracelet for the children's zoo, train, carousel, movie, 4-D motion simulator and stingrays is not bad considering the price of some other zoos. The San Diego zoo is $46 to visit. Even the Kansas City zoo is $12, and that doesn't include the train, tram, sky safari or carousel.
Yeah, its free as in admission is free. I doubt anyone thinks a free zoo includes free food (and a cheeseburger meal is $8 including fries and drink). But even though you can go to the zoo and spend money, you can also go and spend nothing at all. There is free parking all over forest park, if you have to eat while at the zoo you can just pack a lunch, and the Children's zoo carousel and stingrays are free for the first hour the zoo is open.
And really paying an optional $10 bracelet for the children's zoo, train, carousel, movie, 4-D motion simulator and stingrays is not bad considering the price of some other zoos. The San Diego zoo is $46 to visit. Even the Kansas City zoo is $12, and that doesn't include the train, tram, sky safari or carousel.
I don't disagree with any of that. I just said calling the zoo free can be misleading to people that have never been there, and might not realize that attractions inside the zoo do cost money. I have seen it happen. I agree that it's still reasonably priced though.
I am in NM and am moving somewhere to the St. Louis area (Arnold, Barnhart) as soon as we sell our house here. My dads side of the family is from SE Mo but now family lives all over the St. Louis area.
When telling people here I'm moving to St. Louis, I have gotten mostly the responses that the OP mentioned....mostly about the humid weather and the bad winters, oh and the ticks and mosquitos.
Nothing positive from anyone here. On the other hand, my family and Mo. friends are so excited and that makes me more excited. Like the OP, I am looking forward to my new adventure and looking forward to meeting new people.
Does St. Louis have a city-data get together? They used to do that in Albuquerque once a month but not sure if they still do. I've met quite a few on here.
Anyway, here's another thing I've been told, I just thought of when telling someone I'm moving to St. Louis......You're 55 years old. When are you going to settle down? I had to laugh at that one.
I moved to STL almost three years ago from Phoenix. While there are things I miss about Phoenix, I truly enjoy this city. A few comments regarding the OP and other posters:
1. The humidity is a fallacy. The humidity is not bad here at all like it is down south. I moved here in August of 2011. So I've experienced approximately 2.3 summers. I've never seen a day where the temp was above 90 AND the humidity was above 70%. Not once. The most common temps in the summer on the hotter days is right around 90 degrees and humidity at around 50%. When it starts to get hotter the humidity goes down, WITHOUT FAIL. Sometimes you'll get 85 degrees with 70% humidity early in the morning, but then the temps will go up and the humidity breaks.
2. As for the overall weather I would take STL to PHX every time. Here is why. In STL you get breaks from the negative weather. In the summer you may have a week straight of 95+ temps with mid 50's humidity. And then as soon as it starts to wear on you, you'll get an 82 degree day. In Phoenix when I left to move here they were at the beginning of 33 straight days of 110 or hotter. No breaks. The winter is the same way. This past winter has been the coldest since 1982 from what I've heard. Yet I went golfing in 60 degree weather on December 28th.
3. The biggest thing I do miss about Phoenix is the Mexican food. I'm not going to lie, with few exceptions it absolutely sucks here. I think Chipotle might be the best Mexican food place near my house. There is a place called Cherokee Street that has fantastic Mexican food, but it's not super convenient. In Phoenix I was always near great Mexican food.
4. We have gone to the zoo many times and not spent a dime. We have also gone and spent quite a bit. The fact that going for free is an option is a great amenity.
5. My favorite part about living here is that it's a real city, with history, and neighborhoods that have stories. You just don't get much of that in Phoenix or other places out west. Everything there is nice, new and consumer driven. And you can choose to live in an enclave that suits your personal tastes. I will say that the OP moving to Chesterfield will encounter an atmosphere not that uncommon from the west coast. Chesterfield has shopping malls, big box stores, and other consumer driven culture. But you can also choose to live where I do in Webster Groves where there is no mall, no big box stores, but rather most of the business is local. Webster has a cool downtown area and looks and lives nothing like Chesterfield.
6. My other favorite part of living here versus out west is the relative proximity to so many other different places. Chicago, Indianapolis, Memphis, Louisville, Kansas City, just to name a few are all less than a 5 hour drive from STL. If you expand to 9 hours you open up Atlanta, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and many more.
I love it hear. I do miss Phoenix as well as it was home for over 30 years.
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