Thinking of moving to Texas

Ok, been away from the forum for a bit, but here's a quick list of random tips and recommendations for San Antonio:
Areas I can recommend: Medical district, North of 281 (around Encino Park) and Alamo Heights. There's not a ton of residential areas around the Medical District, but it's a good area overall with lots of good restaurants. The area around Encino Park was good from what I can recall, but I haven't been there in a long time. Lots of good residential areas. Alamo Heights is a nice area, but it also has a reputation for where a lot of rich people live. It's also technically it's own city, even though it's right also in the middle of San Antonio.

For food, it's hard to go wrong with most small Mexican restaurants, especially if the wait staff speaks primarily Spanish. Taqueria Data point in the medical District was a favorite of mine. Taco Cabana is also a decent chain fast food Tex Mex place, but they're not nearly as good as they used to be. Golden Wok is also a great Chinese restaurant that has amazing dim sum. Pasha is a great place for Mediterranean food. For burgers, Chris Madrids has a big reputation and is great, but I always preferred Chester's.

Fiesta and Rodeo are the two biggest events of the year and are both great for the family. Just probably don't keep the kids or too late if you go to N.I.O.S.A. (part of Fiesta) because the beer really starts flowing then.

Also, with any place down south in hot weather, remember that roaches don't always wait for messy conditions before they start to move in, so find a good pest control service.

And the people are definitely friendly and quick to start up conversation, especially the older crowd. People also regularly wave when you let them in while driving, which I miss. Just don't use anyone's ranch entrance for a turn around if you're outside of the city. The stereotype of the paranoid rancher that thinks any stranger on their land is a ner-do-well who is trying to trespass is real and Texans aren't afraid to draw guns when in doubt, lol.

Whether you go with Texas or not, I hope you find a good place that the family enjoys.
 
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toximus said:
That's a shame. Where I'm at, every body of water is clean to swim in. I'd drink out of my river without much concern and have drank right out of Lake Superior on a number of hiking and kayaking trips.
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What I meant was TX rivers and lakes in central TX are clean, but the coastal waters are not. At least they seem not to us. The gulf can be a harbor for junk. I have driven off-road only sections of the coast up to 25 miles one way. That is fun if you like isolation.
 
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“Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy, and you don't look much like a steer to me, so that kinda narrows it down. “

Name that movie....

I spent time in Houston as a young man and thought it was a nice place to visit. I was there from Jan to May and the weather was 60-80 degrees. I was in an open top Jeep and people we wearing parkas. The Tex- Mex food is awesome. The people are friendly and the roaches and mosquitos are hungry. I heard they have vaccines for malaria so you should be good.

Do you really want to leave this behind? ;)
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For this... it does look Death Valley dry though. Lol 😂

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Unfortunately the Oregon coast is only beautiful like that for a very short period of time each year. Go there in the fall, winter, or even Spring and it's rainy as hell, windy as hell, and plain old gloomy.

It is very beautiful in the summer though, that's for sure.
 
Native Texan here. I didn't read all of the posts, only the first two pages. You can move here as long as you leave your prior voting practices behind. Texas is booming right now for a reason, and frankly needs to go a little to the left when it comes to health care and infrastructure, but thinks are so binary, I'll take things the way they are vs. today's leftist ideology.
 
JMT said:
What I meant was TX rivers and lakes in central TX are clean, but the coastal waters are not. At least they seem not to us. The gulf can be a harbor for junk. I have driven off-road only sections of the coast up to 25 miles one way. That is fun if you like isolation.
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Been a while, but I recall rivers being pretty hit or miss, depending on where you go. The Guadalupe is a toilet, but that's no surprise considering that it goes right through S.A. and soaks up all the crap from the boardwalk. It also gets pretty crowded from tubing.

However, I used to spend every summer with my family by the Frio river when I was a kid and that place was in pretty good shape, considering how popular it could be with people who went tubing there. That was an amazing place to take summer vacations, but I do say that with more than just a hint of nostalgia.
 
Equilibrium31 said:
Been a while, but I recall rivers being pretty hit or miss, depending on where you go. The Guadalupe is a toilet, but that's no surprise considering that it goes right through S.A. and soaks up all the crap from the boardwalk. It also gets pretty crowded from tubing.

However, I used to spend every summer with my family by the Frio river when I was a kid and that place was in pretty good shape, considering how popular it could be with people who went tubing there. That was an amazing place to take summer vacations, but I do say that with more than just a hint of nostalgia.
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The Frio is typically clear to the bottom, and cold as the name betrays. Much less trafficked

The upper Guadalupe is clean and even the lower till it gets closer to New Braunfels.
 
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JMT said:
What I meant was TX rivers and lakes in central TX are clean, but the coastal waters are not. At least they seem not to us. The gulf can be a harbor for junk. I have driven off-road only sections of the coast up to 25 miles one way. That is fun if you like isolation.
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That's a bit of a stretch.. I wouldn't swim in the Houston Ship Channel but jumping into the Gulf in Galveston or Freeport has never been a problem for me and a long board.
 
That’s fine. My post said that it was dirty to us. I’m comparing to FL waters, but I didn’t state that
 
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Austin is so messed up it’s ridiculous. San Antonio is quickly become a crime wave. Dallas/Ft Worth falls within the tornado zone, and is overcrowded. Waco is nice, but will become weird like Austin within the next 10 years. East Texas is pretty, but unless you like heat, humidity and ticks, I’d avoid it. Midland / Odessa is a desert oasis, and the closest lake is man made. Amarillo is in the middle of nowhere.
Basically, central Texas slightly east of center is the best part of the state. Scattered trees, four seasons with some parts more intense than others. Open country, lakes, A&M University (gig ‘em!), wildlife of all sorts, all the restaurants, and within traveling distance to everything else the state has to offer.
 
Fixer6 said:
But I’ve paid them so much money I feel like I own part of the place. My youngest of three is going to be a senior starting here a couple of weeks, so unless he chooses to continue, I’m almost done.
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Now see.. no matter who you root for, that is why you stick up for your team! I feel the same way.
 
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Chris said:
My wife and I have been talking for years about moving out of Oregon. We both can't stand the absurd amount of rain that we get here in the Willamette Valley, and the fact that you literally don't see the sun for probably 7-8 months straight is very depressing (especially for her, since she suffers from seasonal depression). Ultimately we've decided we would both much rather deal with the hot than the cold and rainy. Another thing is that Oregon has virtually nothing to do for kids. I look at some of these other states (like Texas) with Six Flags, water parks, theme parks, etc., and as a parent, I'm very, very envious.

Initially we wanted to move to Arizona, since I lived there for 5 years and really grew to love the heat and the desert. However, looking at current home prices there, to get the kind of house we want, it's simply no longer possible unfortunately.

That led us to Dallas / Fort Worth. We can get a house in the area that would cost $1,000,000 up here in Oregon. 5 bedrooms, 3000+ sq/ft, a pool, gorgeous kitchen, etc. I've visited Texas many times before and even briefly lived in Austin, Texas for a year when I was 18. However, I haven't been back since then, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect.

What is the weather like? I expect hot summers for sure, but when do they start and how long do they last? What is the fall, winter, and spring like? Does it rain a lot, or is it like Arizona where you'd get these almost tropical like rain storms where it would pour insanely hard, but then be gone 20 minutes later with nothing but clear skies (lots of flash floods in Arizona).

This would be a very big move as it's long distance. I have to factor in the cost of expenses such as what it would cost to have all our stuff moved across country, what I would have to pay to have our vehicles registered there, etc.

Any information from members who live in-or-around DFW would be much appreciated!
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Have you thought about Tennessee? Possible somewhere within driving distance of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg? Lots to do there for both adult and kids. Climate is great, no state income tax and no property tax. Yes, there is a 10% tax on goods, but you still make out because you can control what you buy. We vacation there every year and love it. I live in the Pittsburgh area and ultimately want to go the heck out of the Upper Ohio Valley. My wife also hates the winter months here.
 
ZEN357 said:
Have you thought about Tennessee? Possible somewhere within driving distance of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg? Lots to do there for both adult and kids. Climate is great, no state income tax and no property tax. Yes, there is a 10% tax on goods, but you still make out because you can control what you buy. We vacation there every year and love it. I live in the Pittsburgh area and ultimately want to go the heck out of the Upper Ohio Valley. My wife also hates the winter months here.
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We looked at places in Tennessee and it seems to have gotten quite expensive there for whatever reason.
 
ZEN357 said:
Have you thought about Tennessee? Possible somewhere within driving distance of Pigeon Forge & Gatlinburg? Lots to do there for both adult and kids. Climate is great, no state income tax and no property tax. Yes, there is a 10% tax on goods, but you still make out because you can control what you buy. We vacation there every year and love it. I live in the Pittsburgh area and ultimately want to go the heck out of the Upper Ohio Valley. My wife also hates the winter months here.
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This is on my radar for a retirement state.
 
The Guadalupe river doesn't run through S.A. Most of South Padre Island has clean sand and clean surf.

The Rio Frio is lovely. Its spring fed head waters are wonderfully clean, the Blue Hole is a place dreams are made of; not accessible to the public though. Because livestock are a fact of life here, fecal contamination at some level is common in area streams. That hasn't kept me from wedging myself against stones in the Medina River or Red Bluff Creek rapids for enjoyment.

The city of Boerne Northwest of San Antonio has become a growth area. It is a family supportive community.

I've lived in Bandera county for almost 40 years. My well water is safe to drink, no jet engines spoil the quiet, and no city smell.
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