That is funny. You touch that glass, I’ll kill you lol.

As you get older in retirement, you may want to consider being close to a good hospital. This usually means a larger city.

The thing to remember about Texas is that it is so huge that you can't just say things like "Texas is ___". There will be parts of Texas where that is true, and parts of Texas where it is not true.

Dallas is very different from Austin, and Austin is very different from Houston, and west Texas is very different from east Texas.

And family! We live close to my one daughter and the other one is less than an hour away. Good to have family nearby.

Funny. I was gonna say, before you go into any bar, lose that Yankee accent!

But I'm from south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
In New England I'm a southerner.

For the most part, we don't mind where you're from. If you're considerate of others, you are welcome and will be treated like family.
If you act like a jerk, we'll label you a "foreigner".

I lived and worked in Texas for 3 years. Met my wife there and unfortunately we moved to Cali to be closer to my kids. Now we are looking to move back to Texas. I love Hill Country, Austin, San Antonio, Waco, West Texas, Fort Worth surrounding areas, (i.e Decatur, Denton etc.. )

I would stay away from anything below San Antonio and anything on the coastline. or east Texas.

Other than that we absolutely love it there and cant wait to get back. Cheap, clean living, nice people, good food, etc..

:p

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Whats your issue with Houston, Galveston and Corpus? Its a real big place with good fishing on the coast, great food in Houston and beaches south of Corpus Christi on Padre Island.

If you would really like to understand what Houston is really like, you should catch Anthony Bourdain's “Parts Unknown.” episode from the 2016 series. He nailed it. Proud of Houston

Well, since I CAN now... and someone else just mentioned it.. I had a lot of fun in Galveston when my wife and I spent a few days there year before last. It's *really* different than the 4 big cities, and the food was great, if a bit pricey (tourist town..gotta expect that a bit..). Walking around on the beach looking at shells in the middle of a thunderstorm coming in was great. Beach patrol rolled by telling people not to go in the water, and that they were leaving and if you needed help after that...tough shit. We stayed well until the rain started, and it was pouring down. Really, really enjoyed that trip.

Spent the day before Katrina hit on the beach in Galveston. Place is so hot and sticky that the minute you get out of the water you want to jump right back in. A/C or bust.

What area(s) of Texas are you considering moving to?

We went in....I want to say mid-June. It was surprisingly nice. At least partially cloudy most of the time we were there. But again...I'm from Dallas, so I'm used to like 103 in the summer.

Just watch some King of the Hill. I'm sure you will be fine.

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I've lived in fourteen places in my life. This is my fourth year in Dallas, and the people here (in general, of course; there certainly are exceptions) are the friendliest I've known. I'll also give a nod to Galveston. Just got back from the island a couple of hours ago.

There might very well be thousands of vegans in Texas, but bill boards on the interstate will tell you that MEAT is for dinner.
You can get barbeque, steak, pork chops, ribs and any other meat product that you can imagine, prepared just how you want it at reasonable prices.
You figure it out...

Sounds perfect to me! I just meant if someone’s looking for veggie/vegan food they can probably still find it. Not in most small towns of course, but that’s hit or miss everywhere.

I live in NY so where ever I travel it seems like the people are much more friendly than back home. NY sucks.

I really need to get down to Texas after reading this thread. My employer has a facility near DFW airport, but I haven't really had a desire to take the trips there when they come up because it's always hotter than Hades when they need us. Although, the $1 burrito truck that comes by the plant every morning is kinda enticing!

I guess if you want to, you can get salad at the steak house....
Maybe even cottage cheese and fruit...
While you watch all your friends eat really good steak...

You know, the wife and I and some friends went to NY this past summer for a week and it was fantastic. We ran into many friendly people, someone paid for our subway one day when our card wouldn't read, etc. I was surprised after hearing about how unfriendly NYers are. Efficient, for sure, but you have to be in that throng!

We were lucky enough to be there during the big mid-town blackout where half of Times Sq. went dark for a few hours. Even then, other than one extremely irate traffic cop people were very chill.

I have been here for 60 years and I am just tired of this state. In general people are friendly just not as friendly as other states that I have visited. It is just one big rat race it seems.

I get it. The pace of life must be a real grind.

1. The grass is always greener somewhere else. Every place has goods and bads.

2. Never move somewhere with preconceived prejudices. The new place will always live up to your prejudices if you have them. You will be unhappy.

3. If you wear your political and religious beliefs as advertisements you will limit your range of friends and good neighbors. Try being open minded for while, it works.

You'd make a terrible vegan.

I like vegetables just fine... Fruit too... But I want meat with my meal... Cottage cheese is not normally on my menu...

Beef its whats for dinner.

There is a documentary about this now on Netflix: "Bottled Up - The Battle Over Dublin Dr. Pepper"
I had no idea...

Is it worth a watch for Dr. Pepper fans?

The documentary was pretty informative.
It will also make you angry if you are a Dr. Pepper fan...

I saw this Doc. It was very good. Its a shame how the people who still believe in old school values over greed get pushed out in favor of cheap products that can bring in more money. Fuck you Corporate America!!!

Also, I couldn't find it on Netflix but Amazon Prime has it.

Hilarious. So, to be as helpful as I can, I will key these answers to your specific statements:

"What places should I avoid because I hear the east part is fully of hardcore Republicans,"
- Republicans make up the voting majority in nearly every county in Texas except for urban areas (DFW, Houston, Austin etc) and Southwest Texas (the Valley etc.), so stay away from small town Texas if you want to avoid unpleasant discussions with people that feel differently than you.

"Austin is full of drugs,"
- too bad, because it is perfectly safe from those hardcore Republicans. Having recently visited our Capital, I can assure you that it is, indeed, full of drugs, so you might want to stay away from there too.

"further South looks like something from Breaking Bad?"
- again, too bad, because it is also perfectly safe from hardcore Republicans. While I have lived in both Laredo and Beeville, I will confess here that I've never seen Breaking Bad, so I can't comment on the comparative optics. If Breaking Bad has a lot of trailer parks, and bald headed men, then yes, it does look like something out of Breaking Bad, so you better stay away from that part as well.

"I have no clue..."
- well, we are a polite bunch down here, so I'll let that one go.

"I really don't want to turn this into a "oh man stay out of our state Yankee"
- no, I wouldn't say that. Texas, especially it's cities, are home to some of the most diverse populations you will find in the country, and, for the most part we get along just fine, even with northerners. What we aren't terribly good at tolerating are people that come here thinking they are somehow better than us. Remember that, and you will do just fine here.

Dr. Pepper is terrible, I didn't realize it had so many fans! I wonder if it's like cilantro, where it tastes good to part of the population, but to some people it tastes like soap.

Does a cowboy hat help?

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Here you go:

The ad with the same guy making fun of Ted Cruz' burger choices as not very Texan is pretty funny too.

I wasn't able to find:
"Bottled Up - The Battle Over Dublin Dr. Pepper"
on Netflix... but did find it on Amazon Prime Video.

Visit Fort Wort. Good people. Laid back. A little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. Great museums and entertainment. Not Dallas.

Disregard the political talk. As long as you are cool you can get along with most anyone here

--Jeff

I love Fort Worth, very nice people.

I moved from CA to Houston. The biggest downside by far for me is the weather. The humid summers here seem to last for 9 months. The next biggest change I immediately noticed was politics/gun ownership. I am apparently the only one on my street not packing. Then there are the mosquitos. The job cycle here can be cyclical, meaning when the price of oil is down, there are layoffs. Overall, I prefer Houston due the sheer volume of jobs coupled with the low cost of housing. You cannot buy anything in many parts of CA for $400k, but here in Texas, that will buy you a McMansion. Also, there is no income tax here (though property tax is 3%). People are friendly enough here and big pinball community here too!

Yes, Houston weather can by brutal (especially the humidity). By contrast, Dallas summers are hot, but not nearly as humid.

The humidity would be a total deal-breaker for me, but at least you'll save big money on humidifiers and hand lotion.

If you're buying in Houston or another city subject to seasonal flooding, remember to check those flood zone maps so you know what you're getting into. I'd also want to do a little independent research on actual historic flood patterns, I have a friend in city planning and he says the mapmakers are subject to intense political pressure (since they're deciding when and where development will be permitted), so the maps don't always end up reflecting reality. And regardless, flood insurance seems like a good idea.

I guess I have a little different perspective. Weather in the Northern USA is brutal in the wintertime with no humidity. My skin began to itch all over, had respiratory problems, eventually nosebleed and I had no idea why it was happening. When it gets cold like that, it hurts to go outside and the humidity is like at nearly zero. I like it to be really hot, like 90 degrees or so. You can dress in light colors, cotton preferably, shorts and a tee shirt and learn how to sweat and drink a lot of water. No need for all those layers required in the arctic tundra region. I never realized that I might need a humidifier until I lived up North and it was miserable. Never ever heard of a humidifier before I went there, much less why I might need one. I tell people near me that I survived 2 winters up North. Never again...

I’m not a fan of regular Dr. Pepper, but Dublin Dr. Pepper was excellent. My favorite soft drink. Really pissed me off that they were forced to stop producing it.

What state were you in?

Iowa for two years and New Jersey for one year.
Both were miserable in the wintertime.