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EnglishMajor03
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Name something good/bad about where you live
EnglishMajor03
member
Try to convince me to come to your town/city for vacation.
Name something SPECIFIC that would be good to do (with or without kids). Name something negative that might be a "pain" about visiting.
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Re: Name something good/bad about where you live
I live in NOLA! Enough said....
Acutally we have amazing history. Tons of plantations to visit. We also are home to the Audubon Aquarium of the America's, If I am not mistaken it's the second largest aquarium in the US. We also have the Audubon Zoo and Insectarium.
We are home to Mardi Gras with museums dedicated to it. We are famous for the French Quarter which contrary to popular belief is very family friendly during the day. When you are in front of Jackson Square you can look up at the ships on the river...yes up! We are very noticably at that point below sealevel.
You can still ride streetcars here. In fact there is one named Desire! We also have a ferry that crosses the Mississippi you can ride over to Mardi Gras world and see the floats used during Carnival.
If you drive a bit to the southeast you can tour the Chalmette Battle Field, or at least get pictures of it. It dates back to the War of 1812 the battle of New Orleans is believed to the be the last battle in that war.
We are also home to Jazz and while you walk around our city you can hear it floating all over! We have tons of free festivals throughout the spring dedicated to various things full of food and music.
We have food you can only get here, no matter who markets their stuff as "creole" and "cajun".
Crime isn't a big deal, not as much as rumored. It's largely between groups of people and doesn't leave those parts of town.
I love it here!
The summers here are brutal and long.
I'm not sure what our big exciting thing would be - cowboys and rodeos? lol
Don't come to New Jersey. The upside is the shore, but you have way better shores in New England. The downside is most everything else (traffic, crappy hotels, poor service ethic).
Just go to NOLA.
I live in Northern Virginia in a suburb right outside of Washington DC.
DC has many many great things to offer, especially for families. The Smithsonian Museums alone are worth the trip here. And of course, all the other famous touristy things such as the Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt Memorials, the National Zoo, the White House ect.
Also, there are so many great restaurants.
The traffic is terrible though. Uhhh, don't get me started on the traffic
(
Really?
I agree the summers are long, but there is so much for kids to do here it is amazing!
We have a zoo that ranks in the top 10 every year, another zoo, and aquarium, two great children/science museum, Legoland!! (just opened and I am super excited, a great wolf lodge, six flags amusement park, fun western acitivies for the kids,tons of water parks, the american girl store, mid-evil times, there is always a fair or festival somewhere, within an hour from me is a dinosaur park, and drive through safari, I am sure I am missing some, but there is tons to do with kids in our area.
I live in the DC metro area and there are so many things do do with kids. The metro is a great way to get to The Smithsonian Museums and to the Zoo . The Smithsonian and Zoo are free. The metro is how I get into the city with the kids.
Traffic is horrid. My dad came to visit last summer and said he will never drive here again and he lives in LA
Living right outside a major city, we have a TON of fun kid-friendly options for activities that are very close by. One we've been doing a lot lately is the National Zoo in DC. We are about a 25 minute drive, so we can spend an hour or two there, have lunch, then return home for nap time.
One major downfall to this area is the horrible traffic. It is pretty much awful from 6:30am-9:30 am, then again at lunch time, then from 3-7. So almost all day. LOL
I suppose my thought was that all big cities have that stuff, right?
I think the other nice thing about it that is different from larger cities is that we are basically two cities in one so there is double the stuff. DH and I have lived in two large cities DC included and I feel like tthere is more family stuff here then anywhere else we have lived.
I just like to contribute to the stereotype that we are all riding horses and chewing on straw.
And I guess since I have lived in Dallas for all 32 years of my life, I am not overly impressed with what we have. Maybe I shouldn't be so down on it.
Philadelphia is awesome and has tons to do. It is also a very walkable city, you could start in Old City and see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, National Constitution Center etc then walk up through Society Hill on Pine St (Antiques Row) and hit Midtown - lots of cool shops and restaurants.
Reading Terminal Market is a fab spot for lunch and right near City Hall. Then you can make your way up Walnut to Rittenhouse Square - fab shopping and great restaurants and bars
The Ben Franklin Parkway is not far from Rittenhouse Sq and is home to the Franklin Institute, Art Museum, Rodin Museum
There is also a great aquarium across the river
The bad things about Philly affect the people that live there (we recently moved from the city to the burbs) ridiculous city government, horrible schools etc. I could go on lol
DS 3.12.08
DD 7.11.09
DD 8.01.13
I live in Lancaster, PA and it is amazing. There is so much to do here from Dutch Wonderland (we have season passes) with the kids to walking around the city. Plenty of Amish Farmers markets too! I've been here almost 2 years and still haven't seen it all. Oh and did I mention Outlets?
The only negatives are all the tourists (so I guess I shouldn't be selling my area as a vacation spot...lol) and getting stuck behind horse and buggies fairly often.
Portland, OR- during July or August is the best time to visit when it's very sunny. It's beautifully green, you can go to the wineries just 45 mins away, or white water rafting in just an hour, the beach is an hour and half-but not swim type beach, it's cheaper than most cities. If you like sites, Mt. St. Helen's is just an hour and half away...oh and happy hour is a big deal here during the week so if you come on a thursday or Friday you can start dinner and drinks early and get a great deal.- I guess based on this is would be more fun without kids until your kids are older. Sure we have all the basic city stuff, museums, zoo, great wolf, blah but not anything worth traveling across the country with your kids for.
Negatives...it's not terribly warm, like sun bathing weather anytime of year. Very mild summers with cool nights, this would make a different type of vacation than a warm weather one. Also, it's a long way from NH without direct flight options.
I like Jersey beaches much better than New England. Traffic is definitely a downside, but if you're coming for vacation you don't really have to deal with the traffic. I'm going to Cape May this year (first time!) and I'm not planning on driving anywhere while we're there.
Ok, I currently live in Madison, Wisconsin. Good thing about it is it's close to Wisconsin Dells, the WaterPark Capitol of the World. So it's a great place to take the kids! Bad thing, is that's pretty much the only fun thing to do here.
I was raised, and my family lives there, in Georgia. Good thing about it is that you can go to Stone Mountain, World of Coca Cola, GA Aquarium, UnderGround Atlanta, Mall of GA, and there are so many other things that I could go on forever. The bad thing is probably the traffic, and that's all I can think of. : )
Negatives of this area- Traffic, taxes
I live in Central California. Do yourself a favor - visit Southern, Northern, coastal Ca or the mountains, anywhere but here.
We do have a zoo, but it's 45 min. away from me. Even so, we are members and go a lot because there is nothing to do here, especially for kids.Not only that, but summers here are horrible and brutal. Well over 100 degrees from May until sometimes October. We also make the list for worst air quality in the country - worse than L.A., New York, anywhere. We also have some of the worse unemployment in the country.
I would move in a heartbeat if we could.The only thing we have going for us is lower cost of living compared to Southern and Northern Ca.
i'm jealous. Not of the long summers of course, but I'd kill to have half of that stuff near me (as in, less than an hour away from me). How fun.
I'm surprised I didn't catch more hell from the New Jerseyans. Sorry, NJ, I am cranky today.
I am late on this, but LOVE where I live so I had to share. We are very secluded here, but have everything you need. I live in the biggest town in our region, about 20,000, and it is the fifth snowiest city in the U.S. So in the winter we have skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, ice skating and ice hockey. The summers here are unbeatable though. We are right on lake Superior and there are always festivals and outdoor concerts going on. We have an awesome childrens museum, miles and miles of trails BEAUTIFUL beaches, you name it.
Marquette has also won a lot of awards. We were voted one of the top places to raise a family, and were voted #1 Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Perservation last year.
It is a great place to visit with a ton of things to do outside. It is also a very unique place with its own culture and is very family orientated.
Okay, commercial over lol
The Good. There is something going on every weekend of the summer. Depending on what you like to do you could come to the State Junior Rodeo Championship, The County Fair, Churning Dirt (Truck&Tractor Pull and ATV drags), or Star Spangled Celebration (Country Music)! Plus lots more. I love summer in this tiny town.
The Bad. There really isn't anywhere to eat that is special. And no where to shop except WalMart. This is why you wouldn't want to come any other time of the year... it is horribly boring!
Also Hershey park isn't too far from there nor is Gettysburg. Both about an hour from Lancaster.
I am from Atlanta too (the first place I ever drove with my license was Mall of GA opening weekend!) and can honestly not say enough good things about the area. There is a ton of variety in where and how to live - beautiful lofts downtown, historic homes inside the perimeter, great suburbs within 15 min of downtown and rural towns within 30 min.
Good: Great shopping, amazing restaurants with lots of local flavor, the Aquarium is awesome, very family-oriented attractions throughout the year, good and not typically annoying radio stations, lots of concerts ranging from Top 40 artists to the independent local music scene, Delta hub so generally easy to fly anywhere, 5-6 really good universities (public and private), 3.5 hours from the GA coast but 90 minutes from the NC mountains, people are generally very polite and there is a sense of community, if you are religious there are a ton of good churches of different denominations to choose from. I understand from my gay uncle that the gay community in Atlanta is one of the best in the country!
Bad: Traffic, little to no public transportation once you leave downtown and even that can be sketchy at times, you are almost forced to drive everywhere, questionable public school system (good pockets exist but they are not the standard - in my experience), pollen and humidity.
m/c at 13 weeks - March 23, 2011
lol. I don't get all up in arms if people don't like where I live. i grew up in Brooklyn, NY before people got priced out of Manhattan and decided it was an acceptable place to live. I've been in NJ for almost 3 years so I'm still in the honeymoon phase!