Which city has the best scenery in Texas? (Houston, San Antonio: how much, living in)

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Spade

Those pics I posted earlier is Austin I think Lake Travis? Right by the Oasis (which I think burned down, right?)

Yes, one of them looks like it's from the Oasis at Lake Travis. Burned down in 2005 but was rebuilt (with stone instead of wood decks). Looks like this now:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3d/83/ed/3d83ed2a89456d35e800ac29d68a9bd7.jpg[/IMG]

Here is what it looked like before it burned down:
[url=http://highhopesgardens.com/blog/2005/06/01/june-1-2005-journey-of-lawlessness-and-destruction-ends/]June 1, 2005 – Journey of Lawlessness and Destruction Ends | high hopes gardens

Not to be confused with the Hula Hut on Lake Austin:
http://sugarfooteats.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/The-deck-at-Hula-Hut.jpeg

And this is Hamilton Pool -
http://www.kimcamjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Hamilton-Pool-.jpg

Barton Springs -
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/360_Barton_Springs_5July08_(9).JPG

Ladybird Lake -
http://cdn1.theodysseyonline.com/files/2015/05/04/635663084407414094-1808383370_austin,%20tx.jpg

Lake Austin -
http://www.garrisongroupaustin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/288x100xLake-Austin.jpg.pagespeed.ic.tvIQkhd2v3.jpg

Of course the more secret local places:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wRFiMuwwa4A/UA9ZgJG6C6I/AAAAAAAAAhg/hVdJT-ON81M/s1600/Twin+Falls+063.JPG

http://www.junyongchau.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/TwinFallsAustinTX.jpg

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/536bfe99e4b09743e6c6168b/t/538f7e24e4b095f510434acb/1401912871065/

http://s3.amazonaws.com/production.reserve123/images/product/13060-2.jpg

https://public.realtyaustin.com/resources/swimming-holes/mckinney_falls_630.jpg

mod cut copyrighted material

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Slowpoke_TX

For example?.

ACRES Homes in northwest Houston, a mere 15 minutes from downtown. All throughout the area you even find homes where people are raising chickens in their backyard. And of course there are actual ranches within the metropolitan region itself.

Maybe you should do more driving.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by Spade

Here's my order of preference on where I wish Houston was actually built.
1. Where Texas city is at.
2. Where La Porte is.
3. Where Baytown is.

The thing about Texas City is that its location makes it even more vulnerable to Gulf storm damage and it's also less forested.

[SAN GENNARU]

Tyler, Houston, Deep South baby

[radiolibre99]

The pic of the Oasis is beautiful! It looked like something out of Italy. Very romantic.

[soletaire]

Originally Posted by Spade

Those pics I posted earlier is Austin I think Lake Travis? Right by the Oasis (which I think burned down, right?)



Well Texas is surely not alone. This is honestly for every city including Atlanta and Seattle. If you want enjoy nature, you don't go to the city to do so. Cities only try to duplicate a nature like scenery and atmosphere with parks. But nothing touches really going out into the country. Nothing of the city can touch what you can get with the Appalachian Mountains. Even with the beaches. The best beaches in Florida are on the gulf coast and it helps that's not as populated. Not South Beach.

Exactly...which is why I said it is what it is....there has just never been any park replica in any city that could come even remotely close to touching the unblemished country side .....it doesnt mean the citylife is worthless...it just means some people prefer the pristine countrysides, picturesque vistas and relaxed pace of life only offered by rural areas and unmatched by most cities. Scenery like the kind found in the Appalachians, the Ozarks, the Alleghanys, the Rockies etc, just cant be matched by anything Ive seen in cities. I dont even consider mountains and hills a necessity...and even places like Caddo Lake have their own enchantment..but I cant deny that the synthetic greenspaces, and parklets created by cities dont even come close to replicating the natural scenery found outside of cities. And I wouldnt dare put Tyler or Huntsville's skyline up against Houston or Dallas' either.

[Gunion Powder]

Those pics atxcio reassures my opinion that if there were a major city in East Texas, it would be just as if not more pretty than Austin is...with the right planning, of course. Sans Hamilton Pool, those shots don't look any more dramatic than many of the exposed rock and waterways of East Texas and Southwest Arkansas.

[soletaire]

Originally Posted by mega man

Those pics atxcio reassures my opinion that if there were a major city in East Texas, it would be just as if not more pretty than Austin is...with the right planning, of course. Sans Hamilton Pool, those shots don't look any more dramatic than many of the exposed rock and waterways of East Texas and Southwest Arkansas.

I actually think thats the direction East Texas is headed anyway. I was speaking to a coworker the other day who is from Houston, but has lived other countries, including Asian countries. She told me that she and her Husband just got back from vacation at a resort in, of all places, Tyler (Lake Palestine actually, but she said Tyler because she didnt know the difference).

I was floored by this. Growing up in east texas, I wouldve never imagined anyone from a city the size of Houston or DFW going to Tyler for a getaway.. Tyler, and east texas in general, was always just considered the useless, southern country bumpkin cousin of Dallas & Houston. But as Ive come to realize in recent years, and after extensive travel throughout the south, mid atlantic and southeast: Tyler IS a very nice little town, and East Texas IS quite a pretty area of the state...its not going to compete with Houston, LA, DFW or Chicago for amenities, but for natural environs, its not too shabby at all...and this is coming from someone who has toured the Appalachias, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Ozarks. East Texas isnt mountainous at all, but it does have very nice topography. And you can tell that city officials in the various cities around east texas have just figured out that they are located in a prime location for those seeking a nature escape.

[mrfoe]

Originally Posted by mega man

Those pics atxcio reassures my opinion that if there were a major city in East Texas, it would be just as if not more pretty than Austin is...with the right planning, of course. Sans Hamilton Pool, those shots don't look any more dramatic than many of the exposed rock and waterways of East Texas and Southwest Arkansas.

While east Texas does have beautiful areas. I think central Texas looks better. Especially the hill country. Central Texas looks more Texan. East Texas is still beautiful as well. Drive down highway 183 from Lampasas to San Antonio that's a good example of hill country scenery especially in spring.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by soletaire

Exactly...which is why I said it is what it is....there has just never been any park replica in any city that could come even remotely close to touching the unblemished country side .....it doesnt mean the citylife is worthless...it just means some people prefer the pristine countrysides, picturesque vistas and relaxed pace of life only offered by rural areas and unmatched by most cities. Scenery like the kind found in the Appalachians, the Ozarks, the Alleghanys, the Rockies etc, just cant be matched by anything Ive seen in cities. I dont even consider mountains and hills a necessity...and even places like Caddo Lake have their own enchantment..but I cant deny that the synthetic greenspaces, and parklets created by cities dont even come close to replicating the natural scenery found outside of cities. And I wouldnt dare put Tyler or Huntsville's skyline up against Houston or Dallas' either.

This is true for TEXAS at the moment as Texas cities aren't really ardently planned for aesthetics but I also think you're thinking of a heavily developed park that incorporates more urbanity in its design. The cities I think that make for the best combo of both the local landscape and the city are Seattle, Denver and Los Angeles. LA has some amazing looking parks and public spaces that, for a city, have taken my breath away. If course it will never compare to God's country but I think that one can be fair and say man has created some pretty impressive feats or architecture and landscape design.

I know you can have a preference, that's ok but sometimes I think that preference is more of a bias and an almost ideological one at that. I mean how can some one not come out impressed with the architectural feat of certain city parks, and landscapes that combine both the elements of hills, beaches, lakes, mountains and such? Sometimes a barren piece of land ain't all that but some in here wax on about the seclusion of a flat undeveloped piece of land like its the Empire State Building. Right there I figure that its more than just a preference but a lifestyle choice they might be justifying, idk.

Have any of you ever been to Carmel, CA? Heck anywhere in CA where the two supposedly opposing landscapes meet? That is where I see Texas going in the future.