Zilker Park, Barton Springs, Lake Austin. There are a ton of parks and walkable areas. I love the 360 and Mopac area.
For me it was about quality of life and the way of life I wanted for my family. We went from living in the montrose then got married and lived in the heights, moved from there to the burbs (cypress) when my kids got school age because HISD sucked. My commute into town was 1-1.5 hours one way when I was living in cypress and working in greenway. in 2008 I lost my job and house and decided if I was going to be broke and homeless I'd do it where I wanted to live. Moved to Jonestown north of Austin near lake travis. Rented a little place on 3.5 arcres in a great school district. Found a good job in Round Rock and now I have a 30 minute commute down 1431 part of which is rated one of the most scenic drives in Texas. Today I'll be off work at 3 and on Lake Travis with my kids wakeboarding by 4:30. Houston is a great city and I understand it's different for everyone, and your mileage may vary, but I'll miss out on attending those Texans games and Rockets games for the Hill Country life I have going now.
Austin? Traffic is the worst in Texas and their persistent insistence about what a great place Austin is makes them worse than the Dallas snobs. Restaurants are sub-par, no pro sports and it's an incredibly segregated city. back when it was smaller in the 80s and early 90s it was a neat place. Now it's just a smaller Dallas with worse traffic.
That's a credit to the Hill Country and I admit it's an asset. A city can't be separated from it's geography, but if you picked up Austin and plopped it instead in a humid drained swamp on the Gulf Coast, what would Austin still have to offer? (Maybe a good port with lots of jobs.) Yeah the nature stuff is nice. But you listed 3 things and I listed something like 20 things. That's a different sort of thing. Everybody's different in what they need and what they want and what their priorities are. I can't knock anyone preferring to live in one place over another. It's just a harder thing to quantify than looking at tangible things cities have to offer.
Tyler isn't too bad, it hides it's secrets well. IMO though, the surrounding area would benefit greatly from multiple neutron bomb strikes.
Wait, what? Houston is easily the "greenest" Texas city. Unless of course you're referring to something else other than vegetation.
I got stuck on the Westpark Toll Way going back to Austin from Houston. Who the hell gets traffic on the tollway? Nah pal. Austin traffic is getting really bad, true. But traffic on the toll way? oh hellz no
problem with Austin traffic is there aren't enough freeways. MoPac and 35 are largely unavoidable and they are awful
They are working on expanding the highways. you're right about that. but there are way fewer potholes in Austin.
You're stuck in the 90s if you think that's the only thing the downtown area offers. But if you are stuck in the 90s in hoops and basketball forums, then god bless you brother
Agree with pretty much everything you said (and that's a great image!), including East 6th Street generally sucking, except for the pub I play trivia at every week, and Esther's Follies. West 6th has a different vibe these days. For whatever reason, probably because a good friend of mine lived just off it for 5 years (before moving back to Houston for work), and I hung out around there countless times. I just like that end of 6th better. Hey, I've got you beat. We've been living here for 33 years now. -
