Things you love and hate about where you live.

[ecdlanddude]

I can very much sympathize with Jazzman!

I live in Eatonville, WA

Likes:
my family is here
I grew up here
I know everybody here

Dislikes:
40 min drive to the closest mall, fast food, big theater etc
greedy town government who sold out to developers
soul destroying weather, dreary all year long
too far from Disney

[samsma]

I live in Calgary,Alberta (Canada).
Things I love:
Clean city
All my family is here
Mountain views
Friendly people
The amounts of sunny days we have

Things I hate:
Traffic
Cold winters
How crowded the city has become

I have lived here for about 28 years now and could not picture living anywhere else. I love visiting other places but will always consider Calgary my home.

[Disneykat]

I live in NC between Raliegh and Greensboro:

Things i love:

NO TRAFFIC!!!!!
My job
Cold weather when it's supposed to be cold
Trees with leaves that change colors in the fall
Affordable rent
Affordable housing
The fact that my ghetto neighbors moved out this month
I can drive to the mall and not be stuck in an hours worth of traffic
Going to Panther games
Going to Duke Bball games
being able to travel to fun places cause they are close (NY, PIttsburgh, DC, etc)

Things I hate:
Not being close to DL
Missing my friends
missing my family
I miss having USC fans around me
I miss being able to watch Angel games on TV

While I hate those things, I don't Miss certain aspects of CA one single bit. Yes, there is alot to do, but people here are so nice and the last few years I lived in CA I ran into alot of "snobs".

[upov]

I dig it here in Orlando.

Traffic in my part of town is easy.
I'm close to Sea World and Universal.
The shopping areas I go to are all easily accessible.
The weather is pretty good most of the year.

As for the negatives, they're petty, so I choose not to dwell on them.

[mistyisjafo]

I live in Orange, CA. Born & raised Southern CA girl.

Love:
That Disneyland is so close I can smell it
It's almost always sunny!
Days like today after a rain, where the sky is so blue you want to drink it
Being near the ocean. I get to far inland and I start to feel like I lost something
All the different cities, places and things you can do

Hate:
The stereotype of the "OC". We're not all rich snobs with boob jobs
Getting stuck in South OC after 3pm because the traffic is so bad to get home to Central OC
The fact that the OC has gotten so packed that we are now North, Central and South OC!
Clubs and bars closing at 1am.

[stinkerbell]

I live about 3 miles from the dead center of downtown Portland, OR, so I'm about 5 minutes from a hundred excellent restaurants.

What I love about Portland--NO traffic where I live. I don't ever ever have to get on a freeway, but if I had to, I'm less than a mile from I-5. During the commute (I don't have one), we're against the flow of traffic, both ways.

Awesome restaurants--hardly a chain restaurant to be found here.

Awesome bars--we have a major cocktail scene here and a brewpub on every block.

Laidback people--no one wears a suit. Everyone is outdoorsy (except me) and cool.

About 90 minutes to the coast. Less than that to Mt. Hood.

Lots of rivers and trees and bridges and coffee places.

There are 9 Starbucks within two miles of my house.

Very progressive politically.

TONS of parks. We have 7 parks just in my small neighborhood. One of them is 90 square acres. What's not to love about that?

Easy to walk around and cycle here. I don't cycle, but I'm happy that it's so pedestrian friendly. I also love our train system and use it quite a bit downtown and to get across the river or to concerts and Blazer games.

People are generous and kind in Portland. If you walk by someone downtown, most of the time they're going to smile and say hi.

There's always something to do. And our waterfront esplanade gets more and more beautiful every year.

I really love Portland. No hates OR dislikes. We don't get the ice storm issues that sleepyjeff gets. And we get more snow than him, as we're about 1000 feet above sea level in my neighborhood. Same city, different weather!!

[PinBrian]

I live in Downtown Sac, about a 20 min walk from the state capitol.

What I love:
Downtown Sacramento! The neighborhood has a great older feel to it, and the place is just awesome in the summer with the trees and the old victorian houses.

Merlino's Freezes. Nuff said. Best frozen dessert ever.

I live about an hour from ski resorts, and about 2 hours from some of the biggest waves on the planet.

All the history here. Sutter's Fort, the governor's mansion, the Capitol, Old Sacramento, etc..

What I hate:

Traffic! People here cannot drive. Evidently red lights in the Sacramento area is only a suggestion.

Smog in the summer. Ugh.

I think that is it!

[ladyalmalthea]

Redlands, CA is my hometown
Love: the fact that my town has a lot of cute history, like we were the first town in the US with electrical street lights.
Hate, the fact that everyone that can't afford OC is coming my way, so no more small town going on. The local industries are going

[TraceCub]

I live in Atlanta, GA.

The few things that I like are:
Kennesaw Mountain is about a 30 minute drive from where I currently live. It's beautiful!

Stone Mountain is also about a 20-25 minute drive (the other way) from where I live. I love to hike to the top on a clear day and see the city.

There's a fun place in the city called Shakespeare's Tavern that I to go to! They recently rennovated the outside to look like a section of the Globe Theater. They have fun, seasonal food items and there is NOT a bad seat in the house for their plays. I've seen Romeo & Juliet four times there, Julius Ceasar twice and Christmas Carol once. It's great fun and a good cultural diversion if you don't want to join some of the snobs at the Alliance and the Fox (both of which I love as well).


Things I hate:

How the scum of the earth seem to rule the city.

Confederate Flags on bumpers. (really people, let. it. go. )

How everyone besides us is a baseball, hockey, football, or basketball fan (college or pro). No, I don't follow that team religiously and yes I do have my priorities straight.

ITP or OTP distinctions.

I'm really disturbed here recently at how it seems like NO business is safe from having to close down. We recently drove out to a mall we haven't been to in about six months. I was absolutely appalled that so many mom & pop stores had to shut down and haven't been replaced. But I was absolutely dumbfounded when big chains like Smokey Bones were also forced to shut down.

Not to get too off topic but we recently saw Anthony Bourdain's episode on Cleveland where he highlighted that the city never really recovered after the Industrial collapse. I think (at least metro) Atlanta is going to have a collapse of its own. It won't be ghost factories that dot the landscape, but ghost outlet centers. It's sad.

I hate my apartment complex. It just recently changed management - again. And there will no doubt be another price hike soon. $900 for a place where kids heathens are allowed to run around with stones and sticks and bang on any random object they can find (including the buildings and cars). Wish we could move.

Oh, and as surprising as it may be to some, I *hate* our Target. Nowhere else I've ever been will have only two registers open in which one is an express 10 items or less lane. On Christmas Eve day. Ugh!

Methinks I better stop now. This thread opened a can of worms for me.

[PrincessY]

Originally Posted by TraceCub

Confederate Flags on bumpers. (really people, let. it. go. )

Love this quote! Seriously - let it go.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by stinkerbell

Awesome restaurants--hardly a chain restaurant to be found here.

Yeah, Jazzman has most of them up in Vantucky

Laidback people--no one wears a suit. Everyone is outdoorsy (except me) and cool.

Sometimes a little too laid back....go into a Trader Joes after dark and you're sure to see someone in their pj's

About 90 minutes to the coast. Less than that to Mt. Hood.

There's even a race between the two every year(although I've never done it)

Lots of rivers and trees and bridges and coffee places.

...I do like all the trees---

There are 9 Starbucks within two miles of my house.

Only about 5 within two miles of mine.....but we have 6 Walgreens nearby

Very progressive politically.

That's ok...the Greens take more and more votes away from the Dems every year

TONS of parks. We have 7 parks just in my small neighborhood. One of them is 90 square acres. What's not to love about that?

Don't forget Forest Park.......Via Magazine rated it the best City Park in the US

I really love Portland. No hates OR dislikes. We don't get the ice storm issues that sleepyjeff gets. And we get more snow than him, as we're about 1000 feet above sea level in my neighborhood. Same city, different weather!!

That's for sure; Matt Zafino someitmes has to split his broadcast 3 ways into East County weather, City Center Weather, and Tualitin Valley weather

[Alice's Wonderland]

I live in McKinleyville CA (it's part of Humboldt County)

I love:
That I can breathe. This air does wonders for my asthma!
Being so close to the ocean
That everything is so green

I hate:
The shopping, or lack there of
the Humboldt lifestyle. Free boobin' and hairy legs are sooo not my thing, not to mention the whole I don't do marijuana
There's not a whole lot to do if you aren't that outdoorsy (which I'm not)
The restaurants- there is nothing chain that isn't fast food, and really most of the restaurants just aren't good.
The small churches
Gas prices
Food prices
People caring more about the trees then say the rising homeless population.

So overall, I really don't like it here. But this is the first time in my life that I haven't been on medication for my asthma and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

[SCUBAbe]

Originally Posted by TraceCub

But I was absolutely dumbfounded when big chains like Smokey Bones were also forced to shut down.

smokey bones is owned by darden . they also own The olive garden, Red Lobster and Bahama breeze. I figure if a restaurant can't keep up with the corporate goals they will not think twice about closing. I also think smokey bones was a relatively new enterprise for darden. They were talking it up when I worked t the olive garden about 4 years ago. I even have a smokey bones shirt (I won it in a contest) even though they aren't out here...

[Missviolet]

Let's see... We live in Benicia (right next to Brian Toad's Vallejo!).

I LOVE it here. It's like a little beach town, not the surfer type of beach town.. but it's a little town by the water. We're surronded by water on two side, a big mountain one the other and then we're connected to a nicer/older part of Vallejo.

Things I love:

Our town is small, but not too small.

We're VERY family oriented here with parades and fireworks and a Farmer's Market and Holiday events year round.

The school systems are AWESOME.

Most of the people around here are upper middle class to super rich. But not bad rich.. just nice rich.

People say "Hi!" when you walk down the street.

There are trees here! Yes.. trees in Norther California!

We stay A LOT cooler in the summer than towns that are just five or ten minutes away. It's the nice breeze from the water.

We're close to just about anything that we may want to do... IKEA, Barnes and Nobles, Movies theaters (and artsy one is near by too), Target, Safeway... We've got a HUGE outlet mall in Vacaville (about 35 mins away). Concord, Walnut Creek, Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Napa can all be reached from 10 to 50 minutes.

Awesome Northern California weather.

First Street! Filled with Ma and Pa shops (minus the one Starbucks)... barber shops, all sorts of restaurants, A doggy bakery, an art shop (which I, surprisingly, haven't been in), two decent sushi places, a wine store, antiques, high end furniture, two kick butt chinese places and other stuff... pluuuss, at the end of First Street is a dock. A beautiful dock!

We're right by the freeway... getting anywhere is a snap... unless of course, there's traffic.



What I don't like:

No snow!

How expensive Benicia is... the houses can be brutal. The Raleys here charges up the BUNS for everything. (We got to Safeway.

There is no local Scrapbook store.

To get to the places above (excluding Napa), you have to cross one of two bridges... that means tacking $4 on to every trip... it's no biggie if we're gunna spend the day some where.. but to shell out $4 for a half an hour trip kinda sucks.

We have an old theater on First Street that only hosts plays everyonce and a while. I really wish they would turn it into a movie theater.

Umm... not much else.

[TraceCub]

Originally Posted by SCUBAbe

smokey bones is owned by darden . they also own The olive garden, Red Lobster and Bahama breeze. I figure if a restaurant can't keep up with the corporate goals they will not think twice about closing. I also think smokey bones was a relatively new enterprise for darden. They were talking it up when I worked t the olive garden about 4 years ago. I even have a smokey bones shirt (I won it in a contest) even though they aren't out here...

I was just shocked because they were always mobbed. When it was open, that made three in the metro area. There usually was always a wait during the usual dinner time times. I liked them - A LOT and was just really bummed by the thought that they closed.

The other chain restuaruants that I'm surprised are having trouble in this area are Logan's Steakhouse, Roadhouse, Hops, Copeland's and Bugaboo Creek. Gee, I guess Georgia's got a thing against steak, huh?

Speaking of Bahama Breeze though - that is a chain that needs to hit rock bottom. The locations around here are practically begging for it. The alcoholic drinks are weak and the menu has been completely hacked away at until the most unoriginal food is left (down from something like four or five pages of menu to two). I used to love going there, but sadly the only thing worthwhile there these days is their Lemon Breeze lemonade - surprisingly non-alcoholic but the best thing on the drink menu.

I'm just really sad to see so many places, restaurants and not, go under and then nothing replaces the shell they were in.