| There are 16 comments on this blog. |
|
|
Which city are you currently in ?
|
|
|
Start off with a trip to Waffle House  They are on just about every corner...
Gotta have a " Whataburger "
Austin : Vince Young Steakhouse and the 6th Street bars ...
Dallas : JFK assassination site @ Dealey Plaza, Dallas Cowboys Stadium, SMU University, Gas Monkey Garage, Gas Monkey Bar & Grill...
San Antonio : The Alamo, Riverwalk, great Mexican restaurants and bars...
Houston : A shit ton of Museum's - if you're into that... Gilley's Bar in Pasadena TX, NASA Space Center, Downtown restaurants and bars... Lots of Tex-Mex places... Galveston party scene is okay ...
The rest of the state is pretty rural, and all of the smaller cities like : Texarkana, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Lubbock, Amarillo, etc... Have some good BBQ places
The western border cities like El Paso, Laredo, Harlingen, Brownsville --- are basically East Mexico...
|
|
|
^bro chill  ).gif)
|
|
|
Ya dude. Chill!
|
|
|
I heard there is a one of a kind bicycle in the basement of the Alamo. 🚲
|
|
|
Casinos in Shreveport. A lot of good strip clubs. And of course you are there which is great for Texas
|
|
|
Pete’s on it lol
|
|
|
First if you're in Austin you should know - You CAN'T get anywhere in Austin easily. The road system is poorly laid out and there aren't enough freeways to handle the population so traffic is terrible.
If you go 'Downtown' it's hard to find parking, traffic sucks and most stores are crowded.
Most main roads like Lamar, Cesar Chavez, First, Congress etc have major traffic. The roads running next to freeways are all one way and you'll have to make U turns to get to places on the other side of the freeway - no underpasses or overpasses.
People CAN'T FUCKING DRIVE in Austin!!! So keep your head on a swivel! They change lanes without looking - on both the surface streets and freeways. They go slow in the fast lanes, don't know what the on ramps are for, don't know they can turn on a red light etc.
The people are VERY nice. They say hello to everyone whether your out hiking or just taking a walk down the street. If you don't say hello they'll know you aren't from Austin/Texas.
There's an annual car inspection your car will have to pass in order to get registered. Almost every car place will preform the inspection for about $25.
Almost EVERY freeway is either a toll road or has toll road sections. Exceptions are interstate's like the 35, 10 etc. but they are always crowded because they're the only 8-10 lane freeways.
If you moved to Texas to escape California - LEAVE the liberal politics in california!!! The reason Texas is doing so much better than california is because it's a Red state.
Stay away from Franklin's Barbecue - the food's pretty good but it's a tourist trap and you'll wait at least an 1 1/2 -2 hours just to place an order, unless you get there at like 5 in the morning, usually when the line starts to form. They open at 8 am.
Wataburgers is okay. I prefer In N Out which is on South Lamar about 1/2 mile north of Pint House. Whataburgers are pretty much every where.
For shopping - The Domain off MoPac freeway and north of the 183 freeway stores and restaurants.
Barton Creek Square off the 360 and Mopac stores and restaurants
Lakeline Mall in Cedar Park off the 183
The Arboretum on Research Blvd. just south of the 183 and west of the 360.
Clubs. There's clubs everywhere but a lot of people go to the ones on 6th street. If you go there go with at least 2 other people!!! - it gets pretty rowdy especially on friday/saturday night and is jammed with people mostly college kids from UT.
There's a lot of restaurants and clubs on South Congress just south of the river.
BTW the city is divided into north and south by the river running through the city. East and West is divided by the 35 freeway.
County Line BBQ on RM 2222 (RM = ranch to market) has really good BBQ and a good variety of craft beers on tap. Great patio and right on Bull Creek.
Pint House Pizza - located in a shopping center on South Lamar at the 360 freeway on ramp. Good pizza and and a huge variety of craft beers, it's also a brewery. The Park sports bar is in the same shopping center and there are some other restaurants in the same center.
Grocery stores - Whole Foods is downtown on North Lamar or in South Austin on William Cannon in the 'Shops at Arbor Trails' shopping center. There's also a Chuy's restaurant and Costco in the same center. There's a Gold's gym across the street too.
Central Market - There's one in Central Austin on North Lamar and one in South Austin on South Lamar, across the street and caddie corner from Pint House.
Wheatsville Coop - Located across the street from Pint House on South Lamar.
Wimberley is about an hour south of Austin and is a nice little tourist town. If you go there try The Leaning Pear they have great food and also some great beers on tap. Located just north of the main square off the 12.
Community has some great pizza's and other food as well as many craft beers on tap located in town.
BTW you can go to any bar/restaurant in Texas, look at the taps and ask for a taste of any of the on tap beers before buying one.
Middleton brewery is just south of Wimberley off the 12 and Rough House brewery is just about 1/3 of a mile east of Middleton and on the same road. Middleton has better beers but Rough House has better patio.
These are some of the 'Locals' hangouts
The Alamo in SA isn't the real Alamo. That was torn down in the early 1900's. The one that people go to is actually the one that was built for the movie - some local trivia.
River Walk is a tourist trap so inflated prices.
From Austin - San Antonio is about 1 1/2 south on the 35
Dallas is about 3 1/2 hours north on the 35. Waco is on the way.
Houston is about 3 hours west you can either take the 35 to the 10 or you can take the 290 toll road.
Atticus Finch
|
|
|
Been looking at houses in TX recently. I can get a brand new house, never been farted in for $350k just outside Austin. Not bad considering that same house here would be $900k.
Beginning to think about the next 20 years of my life and if I am done with CA land.
|
|
|
^ If you're thinking of moving to Austin be warned - Austin is a far left blue city. The mayor is a gay guy who's allowed homelessness to run rampant and most of the native Austinites HATE him and want him recalled. The city council just voted to defund the police and the cops are pissed. It's due to being a college town and an 'artists' enclave. Think southern most suburb of San Fransisco.
The other thing is that houses here aren't built as well as in California. Part of it is because they don't have access to lumber like California but the other part is that there aren't any real carpenters here, the other part is that construction is an unregulated industry.
How do I know? In California I was a 16 year journeyman carpenter working for other people then when I got my license as a contractor then went back to school and became an engineer.
I've had to 'train' most of the guys working for me on how to hang doors, cut stairs even how to do the basics of framing! etc. So check out any house you buy carefully. Also check out the foundation! A lot of foundation problems here because of the clay soil. Housing is cheaper but the other stuff is as expensive if not more than California - food etc. Although gas is WAY cheaper, right now it's $1.89 a gallon. Last week I got it for $1.29/gallon
Azucar don't have mail at the moment so ...
Depends on what your looking to do. But Austin is really a small town, you can drive from one end of it to the the other in 35-40 minutes without traffic, which is RARE. Unlike San Antonio which is spread out like L.A. and would take about 1 - 1 1/2 hours or so. With that said, I'm in South West Austin it's more of a family oriented area so it's quiet, not as much traffic, stores are convenient, close enough to get downtown but far enough to get out of the craziness and close enough to catch a concert. Has decent schools, low crime although someone did break into my garage and stole all my hand tools a year ago.
But I also like Lakeway which is a suburb kinda north west of Austin as well as Dripping Springs which is west of Austin. Cedar Park, Round Rock and Pflugerville are north suburbs and more family oriented and houses are cheaper then Austin, Lakeway or Dripping Springs. Areas of Austin that have the best schools, really low crime rate etc., but VERY expensive housing, are West Lake Hills, Northwest Hills, Lost Creek, Barton Creek and a couple of others all west, west central Austin.
I also like Driftwood which is in Hays county, Austin is Travis and Williams counties, and south of Austin, you can still get a bit of acreage at a reasonable price. There's also Wimberley area which is about an hour south of Austin in the 'Hill' country but also expensive. Just remember that there's a ton of traffic and the farther out you go the worse it is to get in to Austin and the road system here SUCKS!!! Can't get anywhere in a straight shot, always have to turn and bend etc. What takes me 5 minutes in California to get somewhere takes me 15-20 minutes in Austin because of traffic and the poor road layout.
The one thing you really want to remember, if you're thinking of moving here is to try to stay west of the 35. The soil here sucks!!! so there are a lot of houses that have foundation issues. Most of that occurs east of the 35 but I've seen it happen to houses west of the 35 as well. Foundation repair companies do a bang up business here.
Also remember that the construction industry isn't like California's! It isn't regulated here and ANYONE can call themselves a contractor, whether they know what they're doing or not. In California you have to pass the tests to get your license then be bonded and insured, here there's non of that just get some business cards made.  I know people who have been burned badly and have asked me to come over and fix the fuck ups. So BE careful!!!
Any other questions? Just ask.
Atticus Finch
|
|
|
Oh and if you need a realtor - I work with several who are EXCELLENT! They know the Austin really well and will find you something in you budget. Just let me know and I'll shoot you they're info. All I ask is that you let them know I referred you to them and not to tell them how you know me, which shouldn't have to be said.
BUT be warned people are FLOODING into Austin like a dam just broke! Right now most houses, even if they're out dated, are getting multiple offers on them and selling anywhere from $30k to $150k over asking, that includes the houses in new tracks - so that $350,000 you think you'll pay isn't what you'll actually pay.
The houses I do complete remodels on and put on the market get 6-10 offers AT THE OPEN HOUSE and I accept an offer within 2-3 days and ALWAYS over asking by at least $15k!
Example: I just finished a house in a decent area 2100 sq. ft. 4 bed 3 full baths completely remodeled. At open house on a saturday afternoon I got 4 offers by sunday night I had 10 on monday I accepted an offer and sold it for $27.5k over my asking price.
Housing prices have risen over $50k this year from last year and it's NOT slowing down!
Atticus Finch
|
|
|
^ And that house I was absolutely sure I had over priced it by at least $30k!
Atticus Finch
|
|
|
Thanks Atticus,
Never spent too much time in TX, and never knew anyone from there, so real info has been limited.
Austin was just an idea. I'm also thinking about Nashville. Just looking at different areas and trying to compare.
Its sad to hear about the politics in Austin. Its like people that escape from a place where they throw shit on the street, then throw shit on the street in the new place.
Other option is to remodel my house here. I have enough room to expand the back of the house by another 1200 sqft.
Decisions....
|
|
|
I was stationed in San Antonio and Wichita Falls Texas from October 1969 to March 70. Where I learned how to walk on icey sidewalks.
|
|
|
'And jobs pay half the wages right to work state.'
That's not true, at least it's not my experience. Every one that works for me makes $25+/hr. My subs make what's equivalent to California trades as do engineers that I use.
@ Zeros I'm planning on kinda moving out of Texas in about 5-10 years but will stay in the west. I'll keep my texas residency so I won't be subject to state income taxes. Which means I'll have to spend about 185 days in texas and the rest of the year probably in Arizona.
Can't stand the humidity in the summer and I'm tired of flat and Austin's FLAT! You can watch your dog runaway for 3 days flat.
Atticus Finch
|
|
|
im currently in killeen very close to austin!
|
| There are 16 comments on this blog. |
