30 years living here and I don't want to move
-
4/16/2008
I moved here 30 years ago in my mid-thirties. It was and still is a good place to be single and a good place to raise a family with so many diverse indoor and outdoor activities to do with a lot of others who will share your interests. Austin is one of our country's cities with the highest number of blue-sky-sunny days that I think improves my mood a lot over cloudier climes. I raised two daughters here and loved their small, central city, public school. The central part of the city offers at least two, small, open-enrollment elementary schools that you can transfer to from any of the larger elementary schools farther out in the suburbs. There are a lot of family-related activities available. There are Farmer's Markets and organic based Whole Foods Market and Central Market are popular places not just to shop but to eat and socialize and even to listen free to live music. There is definitely a large music scene here from cozy low-cost Happy Hour jazz fests to rockin-and-rollin night life. If you like reading, the city has been cited for being one of the highest in the country for number of books sold per capita. The public library system is great; and it, as well as most of the bookstores, offer a wide variety of book clubs. The summers, particularly July-August, are hot, hot, hot; but during the summers there are frequent, free outdoor music scenes for all ages and the movie theaters offer sweet air conditioning for the summer blockbusters. I guess the sunny-blue-sky-hot is my preference over icy-cold-snow or grey-cloudy-rain climes. The biggest drawback to me at this point in my life is how much the cost of living here has risen as the city has grown. I only hope that I can afford to retire here!
Verlis | Austin, TX