On a trip

[clarabear]

So, some of you may know I'm on a trip to my home state for a wedding. I'm from the Seattle area. It made me think about how this area is different than where I live in NC. So what are the quirks about where you live? I am currently from 2 places so I'll include both.

Seattle: lots of coffe stands, bikini coffee stands, lots of sushi and other Asian food, everything is "green," the land is hilly.

Fayetteville, NC: military town, no one is from Fayetteville, land is flat, in the Sandhills so everything tends to be dusty, you can wear flip flops 9-10 months out of the year, fast food chicken on every corner, no sidewalks

 

[ourmisadventures]

Hmmm... Fresno, CA has hatchet wielding heroic hitchhikers, a ridiculous amount of nail salons, tanning salons, and pizza parlors... hmmm.... uh... there's nothing really to do here but eat out, and everyone runs red lights like they're just a suggestion.

 

[LaurieW]

Oh how I miss Central NY- the fingerlakes, the hills, valleys wide curvy roads and people I knew for over half my life.

Central Ohio- I've been here 10 years and well I will never say "Go Bucks" I don't get the entire scarlet and grey - I use a vacuum cleaner, not a sweeper, I drink soda not pop and I wonder where you are, not where you at? That said, I like not having to worry too much about snow and I like the longer warmer temperatures, plus it is where my husband is so where my heart is!

 

[petey111]

We have the most restaurants per capita than just about anywhere else....whether it's because we are a huge test market or we are a huge test market because of that I don't know.

We have no serious pro sports teams. There are some minor league teams, but we are fanatical about our state university's college football team.

We have a really low cost of living, but a ridiculous amount of taxes. Which people frequently comment on when moving to or from.

We have the #1 zoo in the country. We tend to fight and go back and forth with San Diego, but we recently overtook them. (On TripAdvisor's reviews...I can link to the article! LOL)

We have a fairly decent art scene in our downtown area in our city that isn't a bad urban scene and people seem to really like our manners. We also have plenty of rural-ness around too.

Oh...and we have our own oracle!

I'm kind of partial to where I live.

 

[SharLamb]

Sara, you don't mention where you live! What city could possibly compete with San Diego for zoos? =:O

 

[SharLamb]

I live near Seattle (& was born in the city). Coffee. Rain. Space Needle. Ferries. Rain. Fanatic outdoor sports enthusiasts who all especially enjoy the weekend we have summer. Boeing. Computers. Rain. Mt. Rainier. Lakes. Puget Sound. REI. ...and of course, coffee and rain. Oh yes, I guess there is a huge music culture here, but I'm not into it (Jimi Hendrix memorial is a short distance from my house, and of course, the abominable building that houses Paul Allen's Music Experience Project). Did I mention coffee and rain?

 

[LaurieW]

I visited Seattle once- no rain in the 3 days I was there, loved the city- right after the earthquake- anyways I remember then that nearly everyone had a cell phone stuck to their ear- loved my time there!

 

[petey111]

You need to use your research skills! I'm making it a game. Our zoo has the largest indoor rain forest, the largest indoor desert, the largest indoor swamp, the second largest aviary, a decent aquarium with a huge shark, ray, and sea turtle tunnel, and leads enormous conservation efforts. We have lemur island and gorilla and orangutang valley, one of the largest packs of white rhinos, giraffes, an indoor butterfly Pavillion, otter, cheetahs, zebras, a cat complex and more. Sadly, the elephants had to move. One passed away and since they are pack animals, the other one moved away. They are planning major expansion as they recently acquired the land of our old hometown stadium that was torn down not too long ago. Rumors of bigger cats and aquariums, better bear complex, including maybe habitat areas, like the arctic, etc. have been tossed around. (I forgot to list the Bears! They are fun too.). I worked at the zoo once and dreamed of being a zoo vet. I wasn't very good at science though. Lol

 

[SharLamb]

Sara: Omaha????????????

 

[SharLamb]

Lauri:

Yes! That's how we lure people to move here. They come for the rare week of sunshine and see us in all our glory. So they move here, and about mid-December, they are feeling Mover's Regret! LOL But it keeps our economy going! hehehe Actually we had 2 or 3 months last summer into fall that were pretty glorious, but it was an aberration. Part of our budget is get-aways to Phoenix.

 

[LSlycord]

Sara, I didn't know that they tore down the stadium. You guessed it Shari...Sara is from Omaha.

I live with slightly rolling hills, lots of corn fields, hot summer nights with fire flies and cold winter days with snow and wind chill. Speaking of wind...Chicago may be called the windy city but DES Moines is actually windier. We definitely have 4 seasons here. If you have never been to the Iowa State Fair, you have nev been to a State Fair! We even have a butter cow...or sometimes a butter Michael Jackson.

Great topic Clara.

 

[LaurieW]

Linda- the New York State Fair always had a butter sculpture- oh the fair memories when I was growing up!

 

[val]

hum ...

let's write it for Reykjavík

wind ( a lot) snow ( a bit) 24H sun per day in june
zoo here mean cow/horses/pig/ goat and seal or reindeer

hot dog shop at every street corner, and FABULOUS cappucinos ...

v

 

[petey111]

Yes Shar! Omaha! I love trivia games. Maybe we need to start a trivia thread in the games.

Linda - The final stuff came down recently. They started maybe a year ago...I've lost track now. But's it's all gone now. They've started redoing the parking up top now too. We were rather confused last weekend when we went to go park.

Everyone sounds like they live in amazing places!

 

[hondachicc]

I live in a small place Roanoke Virginia....we are known in our state as THE STAR CITY, because we have this HUGE star on top of a mountain that shines every night (they turn it red for three nights if someone is killed in a drunk driving accident), that you can see from a good portion of the county. We are in a valley and no matter where you are at, you can see mountains all the way around you. Extreme crime is very low around here. We have one major mall that for some reason everything new that goes up is built out there and it's a major pain to get in and out if you need to go to Target, Best Buy, or any of those places.....My biggest peeve about this area are the police....seems almost anyone can be a police officer, and the sheriffs dept is aweful....I would not trust my life to any of those people..they are all extremely overweight and out of shape.

 

[faerywings]

I live in the anomaly of North Jersey. Most of North jersey is close to highways, and shopping and restaurants. Not us! We have mountains and black bears. Our center of town is basically a bunch of banks and liquor stores and pizzerias. We have 1 set of traffic lights and we celebrate them every year at our Autumn Lights Festival. Oh wait, I forgot-- we recently got one other traffic light going up the mountain.... no party for that one however.

W Milford is 82 sq miles and it takes about 20 minutes to drive from one side to the other. We also have a variety of weather patterns- it can be snowing in one place, raining in another and sunny somewhere else,, all at the same time.

Our HS Marching Band is one of the best in the country and has led the St Patrick's Day parade in NYC.

Personal trivia- I live 1/4 mile from Greenwood lake and have never been in it or on it.

 

[dwsewbiz]

I live in Silicon Valley, a made-up term for what is really Santa Clara Valley, encompassing San Jose and much of the peninsula up to San Francisco.

It has the highest concentration of high-tech jobs in the country, the highest pay for high tech jobs, the highest concentration of millionaires and billionaires per capita than any other area in the country.

We are home to Apple Computers, Sun Microsystems, eBay (where I work), Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Google, Oracle, HP, Sysco, Adobe, etc etc

We have the best weather in the country! Mild winters...it was 75 degrees yesterday, mild summers, low humidity, sunshine 8 months of the year, with a good chance of sun even in the rainy season.

The downside...because it is so nice here and lucrative, there are a LOT of people, I think something like 8 million, depending upon how you define the area. Housing costs are some of the highest in the country. I've seen shacks sell for nearly a million dollars, bought to be torn down and rebuilt.

I LOVE it here, could not live outside California. I wish it were less crowded and that there were less traffic issues but we deal with them. Yesterday when I was on the golf course in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, looking around at the beautiful hills, able to see all the way to San Francisco and beyond, I said thank you to God for enabling me to live here

 

[taxed4ever]

I live on the Island on the West Coast of British Columbia :canada: Like Clara and Shari I live in a place with lots of rain, buts that's why the trees are huge and everything is lush green!! The city of Duncan where I presently live and is home to the worlds largest hockey stick, wonderful vineyards surround us in the Cowichan Valley and we have a very large array of very talented artists that live in the area! Our downtown is beautiful with many heritage buildings and exquisite shops and restaurants. It is also called the City of Totems, we even have a Totem Tour that you can take around the area. I love it here!! We can hike, ski, golf and go whale watching all within the surrounding area. I don't think I would live anywhere else.