Desert Southwest vs. Gulf Coast?

Scorpions. Every time I've been to Moab or St. George, I woke up with a Scorpion in the tub at one point of the trip. Snakes are another big one. Other than that, I never ran into much else.

bmw88rider wrote: So I've lived in both New Orleans and out in Elko, NV and I currently reside in the Austin area. They are polar opposites in just about everything you can think of. ... ...I really like the high desert in the SW. When I say that, I'm talking upstate in Nevada or for me probably the SLC area. I can definitely do without the heat of Phoenix or Vegas. I will probably live out there in the next 5-10 years. It's just a lot nicer area across the board. It is a little more expensive than where you are coming from. I like the dry air and all of the mountains with the Mountain biking, hiking, and trail running in the Moab and St. George Area.

That's interesting. I've read quite a few opinions from folks in the Austin area who have lived in Phoenix, Vegas, SLC, etc, and most of them would take Austin over those places. Austin is so damn popular right now, but I guess from what you said that also means its growing at a rate it can't sustain.

I've never lived someplace as isolated as Flagstaff. Erie was close, but it also had 3x the population. Drive times to the nearest large city were similar. In Erie you only had one of everything. One movie theater. One Target. One Sam's club. If you wanted anything different it mean drive 1.5 hours to Pittsburgh, Buffalo, or Cleveland, which we did probably once a month. In that way it's similar to Flagstaff. Flag is an hour from Prescott, 1.5 to Kingman and 3 to Vegas. Unlike Erie we're surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes in the nation.

SLC is isolated, but its also a major metropolitan area. Lots of residency, housing, shopping, eating and recreation options.

Reno/Spark and Carson City offer something similar, without the Mormon influence. Tahoe for your swimming/boating fix. Tesla Gigafactory should bring some much needed tech jobs to Reno.

Boise doesn't have much in the way of standing water, but again, major metro area that's very densely populated.

In reply to PHeller:

Interesting I didn't realize Flagstaff was that small. Wiki shows ~66k?

ok maybe 2x the size. Erie metro is 280k, Flag is 136k.

PHeller wrote: SLC is isolated, but its also a major metropolitan area. Lots of residency, housing, shopping, eating and recreation options. Reno/Spark and Carson City offer something similar, without the Mormon influence. Tahoe for your swimming/boating fix. Tesla Gigafactory should bring some much needed tech jobs to Reno.

SLC has one big advantage over Reno/Sparks/Carson City and that's Miller Motorsports Park.

Reno SCCA currently has to runtrack events in California (Thunderhill) because our local-ish track doesn't seem to be able to decide if they're open for business or not. So that's a 200 mile drive each way for those of us who need our track fix.

There are almost 2 million people on the Front Range there in the SLC area. It's just spread out over 80 miles north to south so it doesn't feel like it's that big. I like I can get anywhere there and I'd rather be in nature on a dirt bike or hiking or on a mountain bike. There is so much public land you can go out and enjoy there.

Erie is isolated but no worse than anything in the Midwest. I spent 13 years in Harborcreek. I miss the time spent in the Allegheny National Forest growing up.

Austin is great if you can stand the fact it's way too big for what it can support. It was cool when we moved here almost 15 years ago but now the traffic is a mess, everywhere you go is just crowded, and it's really hard to get that close to nature feeling and solitude. Also, It will face a major water crisis in the next 10 years if growth rates continue. The major water sources are way down than even they were 5 years ago. I do like the laid back nature of the place but even that is starting to become less and less.

In reply to BoxheadTim:

How's the water situation in the Reno area?

Austin sounds like it's out. I definitely don't have the patience to deal with major traffic problems and/or huge crowds on a regular/constant basis. That totally make me avoid any of the cool/fun things a city like that has to offer.

In reply to petegossett:

Well, if you're looking for a good place to start a Xeriscaping business, look no further.

So yeah, it's pretty crap. No worse than the rest of the Southwest, but not really any better either.

So it basically comes down to:

1.) Gulf Coast and live with the rain, humidity, and occasional hurricanes.

Or

2.) Southwest and plan on eventually needing to truck in our own water supply.

I think the water situation up here may actually get a little better when people finally learn to conserve it better. And put fewer golf courses in.

oldtin wrote: Downside - the mormon influence can be a little overbearing.

Still less of a bother than Southern Baptists.....

PHeller wrote: I always thought Puerto Rico would be a great spot to live if you could avoid the crime on the island.

Solution.....Hawaii or Guam. Screw Puerto Rico.

In reply to yamaha:

The Gulf Coast is way more diverse than inland areas though, so it's really not an issue down there.

Nobody has mentioned the 110 plus daytime temps around Phoenix. That would be tough, although I'd probably put up with that easier than hanging around in the soupy air of the Gulf Coast.

When I win the lottery, I'm going to buy a place in South America, at about the same latitude as Saskatoon, and I'm going to move every equinox.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

I'd seriously look forward to 110-degree temps if it meant I'd probably never see sub-freezing temps again. I'm just completely 100% ready to be done with winters. Hell, it gets over 100 here in the summer once every few years, and that's with 90% humidity on top of it.

I'm sure you heard it before but dry heat is different that humid heat. Shade, proper clothing, doing things outside of daylight hours, etc.

I've always felt that in the humidity of the northeast summer, the only way to avoid the uncomfortable air to seal yourself off from it and lower the humidity. If I run the dehumidifier in the basement, it actually feel pretty good down there without A/C. Doing anything outside in that humidity means body parts rub against one another, which is no fun.

I don't mind PA climate all that much, although I do wish I could escape the winters more easily. A lot of the Southwest allows you to drive 2-hours and get completely different scenery, climate, culture, etc. In the depths of winter, the only way I'm getting warm temps is flying to Florida.

From Flagstaff I hope to take lots of winter weekend trips to the riding and hiking destinations of Vegas and Phoenix.

In reply to PHeller:

Intersting how much you consider Flagstaff isolated.

Seems like a point of view very much from a mid west background- which makes sense.

I mostly grew up in Idaho Falls- 50k people when I left, an hour from Pocatello (which was smaller) and 3.5 hrs from SLC.

I went to school in Moscow- 15k people, with Pullman 10 miles a way and about the same size. 40 min from Lewiston/Clarkson- which combined was smaller than IF.

In other words- most of the west, places are big and wide open. And not all that populated. But based on my background, you are in a big town for the west.

Maybe Erie is an odd place- being much bigger than my current home of Ann Arbor- as it has considerably less than AA. And we are just outside of the Metro Detroit area- so it's not as if it's a long drive to alternate places.

So... IMHO, the west is really pretty, and perfect for people who live in the outdoors. Finding constant city stuff is pretty few and far between- Phoneix, SCL, Denver, Vegas. Hard to put Boise in that same thing.

It's different. Very different.

And that's why we're going. We may love it, we may hate it, but we won't know till we spend some quality time there. Old job didn't offer enough vacation to really do that.

In reply to PHeller:

So you're definitely going? I look foreword to your updates! It'll still be at least a year(if not 2)before we move, so I'm curious to see what your opinion is after some time to settle in.

Yep. Loading the ZippyShell as we speak. Next week is the cross country road trip in the Fit with the wife and cat. Lease is signed, setting up utilities today.

In reply to PHeller:

Sweet, good luck!