10 day trip- must see?? (Houston, Dallas: rooftop, place to live, restaurant)

[leorah]

Husband is a Texas native and I'm from the Midwest. We spent 35 years in the northeast and retired to Central Texas five years ago. It's good to be here. For us, trading four+ months of cold, miserable weather for 8 months of glorious sunny weather was wonderful. The summers are brutally hot but bearable. Snakes are everywhere but pretty easily avoided if you stay aware of your surroundings. There are spiders but we had many more of them in our former northeast wooded lot than we find here.

Our climate most of the year in Central Texas is warmer and a bit less humid than Massachusetts. Humidity often drops as it gets hotter, which is different than the 90 degree muggy we had back in the northeast. If you are okay with PA humidity you will be okay here except for maybe Houston and parts of the gulf coast, which to me are unbearable.

We go to The Waco area often. It used to be pretty rough but the economy has improved and there are some good things going on there.

Medical type jobs are available in the larger cities. In the East Texas area, particularly around Tyler, the population is growing and the regional medical center is a big employer. East Texas is piney woods, hot, humid and green, and fairly affordable.

El Paso is great, as mentioned above. The panhandle, around Canyon, Lubbock and Amarillo, has varied terrain, from canyons to featureless flat expanses of plains. And West Texas is remote, beautiful, sparsely populated high desert.

We have it all, but commuting time from home to job can easily take you hours every day because things are just not as close to each other as they are up north. Use Google maps to check commute times from potential home sites to where you might be working. Things look closer on a map then they really are when you drive the route.

Decide on the job you want and look at what's available now. College towns tend to have good infrastructure and stable opportunities. Plan to visit the areas that have jobs that appeal to you. You won't be able to see the entire state but if you concentrate on the areas with opportunities that fit your skills you will narrow down your options.

Best of luck!

[StealthRabbit]

Coming to visit in summer... focus on where you can get in the WATER!!! (very crowded tho)

New Braunfels, Canyon Lake, Wimberley, are nice spots as are several youth camps in Hill Country.

As a teacher, maybe you can FLEE TX in the summers (through mid Oct preferred)

Have you considered other options?

I use the rainy PNW as home for the 3 months / yr TX is not inhabitable. PNW is ideal during those 12 weeks. (50F sleeping nights, fresh berries and Salmon daily, LOTS of gardening (year round))
Few bugs and critters in PNW.

Personally, with small(er) kids... I would get an international job (DoD or similar).

We came back to USA when kids were near HS age, so they could attend FREE FT college instead of HS (available in WA state). Ideally staying OUT of USA would have been better, especially now that we no longer have Healthcare available in USA (nothing is affordable anymore after A(?)CA arrived)

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

Waco isn't quaint. It's an armpit.

Totally agree here. Waco is only an hour and a half away from me, yet I can think of at least two other towns in every direction where I'd recommend as a place to live. Aside from Baylor and Magnolia, there isn't anything in Waco that would make me want to even spend a weekend there. It's just not as great as the TV show makes it seem to be.

The biggest issue will be where you and your husband can find jobs, your housing budget, and how long of a daily commute you are willing to make.

I agree it's best that you come in the summer and experience what the heat is like here. You can leave the snow shovel and snow blower back in PA, but it does get really hot here. Fortunately, everything is air conditioned, and sometimes so well that you need to bring a light sweater!

The bugs and snakes are really no big deal. You won't see many snakes at all. If you do get one of the black and yellow garden spiders that makes a large web, remember that they are a beneficial spider that eats the bad insects, and just leave them alone.

[ikoolu]

yes stay away from Waco - don't need anymore people who want to live here- start a business - be good neighbors - live in any of the great neighborhoods around waco proper

[C24L]

I think you are doing the right thing by coming in the summer so you can see if you can handle it.

[oldoak2000]

Originally Posted by birdlady127

So is July going to be the worst time? The problem is my husband has limited time and since I teach and the kids are school age we have to do July or August.
We haven't been far from home in a decade and I want the trip to go well, not be miserable.

I keep trying to learn more about the various areas and think the northern part would perhaps be an area of interest over the south or coast.

You may want to look at the area just North of DFW (north to north-east); there are some pockets here that have the combo of TOPOLOGY , TREES, and affordable homes on acreage.
I'm giving you some serious insight, acquired over the last 25 years: My wife is from W.PA, so we've looked & lived all over Texas to find an area where she wouldn't miss home (MUCH of the rest of texas is flat, boring, crowded, and overpriced). We get just enough snow to still have seasons, but never too much, and the beautiful old-growth White oak savanna that dips down here. I grew up in south texas; we lived in Austin a while, but it has become TOO crowded (and TOO liberal) there. North DFW is a GREAT place to raise a family. It's funny what you said about spiders/snakes; sound exactly like my wife - but she's been very happy to finally call this area home for over 16 years.
Plenty of work available all over the north side of the dfw metroplex, without having to be mired in it.

[birdlady127]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Coming to visit in summer... focus on where you can get in the WATER!!! (very crowded tho)

New Braunfels, Canyon Lake, Wimberley, are nice spots as are several youth camps in Hill Country.

As a teacher, maybe you can FLEE TX in the summers (through mid Oct preferred)

Have you considered other options?

I use the rainy PNW as home for the 3 months / yr TX is not inhabitable. PNW is ideal during those 12 weeks. (50F sleeping nights, fresh berries and Salmon daily, LOTS of gardening (year round))
Few bugs and critters in PNW.

Personally, with small(er) kids... I would get an international job (DoD or similar).

We came back to USA when kids were near HS age, so they could attend FREE FT college instead of HS (available in WA state). Ideally staying OUT of USA would have been better, especially now that we no longer have Healthcare available in USA (nothing is affordable anymore after A(?)CA arrived)

What is "DoD"? Where did you live overseas? I have considered an international move, but I have no idea how that'd work. I've spent some time in south America, but neither of us is bilingual.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by birdlady127

What is "DoD"? Where did you live overseas? I have considered an international move, but I have no idea how that'd work. I've spent some time in south America, but neither of us is bilingual.

Department of Defense would be my guess.

[ClaraC]

You mention your fear of creepy crawlies in almost every post, so it's hard to think you'd be happy in Texas. But you can certainly have a fun and interesting 10 days.

For your 10 day whirlwind trip - hit East Texas - Crockett or Nacogdoches for a day or two. Check out Davy Crockett Forest or Salmon Lake Park, if you like interesting very rural stuff where your kids can swim and they won't ever forget being there. Ratcliff Lake Park in Crockett Forest is beautiful, especially if you bring a fishing rod for sunset fishing off the pier.

Swing down to Austin and spend a couple nights where you can canoe at Zilker Park and watch the bats emerge from under the Congress Avenue bridge and eat dinner at the Oasis restaurant overlooking Lake Travis.

From there spend a night on the Riverwalk in San Antonio (I recommend the Drury Inn. It's got a wonderful rooftop pool that overlooks the city, and a cocktail hour in the evening with snacks before you hit the Riverwalk). The Alamo Mission Fort is in very easy walking distance, and that's well worth a visit. El Mercado Mexican market is also in very easy walking distance, and they have a great variety of cheap cheesy stuff and also very nice stuff, and a restaurant called La Margarita that's fun and good. There are also lots of wonderful places to eat on the Riverwalk.

From there, go to Port Aransas and stay in a condo on the beach for a couple nights (I recommend The Dunes but the Aransas Princess is more upscale and therefore pricier). If you go there, be sure to go to Point Park near the ferry and watch the dolphins leap out of the water in the late afternoon.

It's too bad you're coming in July because the gorgeous mountainous Big Bend area on the Mexican border is virtually closed because it's hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell in July and August. Otherwise it's gorgeous.

The Glen Rose/Fort Worth area has some interesting stuff. I personally am very fond of Lubbock, in West Texas - the sky is a clearer shade of blue out there. And you don't want to miss prairie dog town in Lubbock! (I'm kidding, but actually it is fun).

I'd skip Waco. Really.

Best -

[birdlady127]

Thank you /\ I will check in to those. I do seriously wonder how I could ever live there.