The Shoals - Not my favorite place
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4/1/2008
My husband and I have moved around quite a bit since we've been out of college, and we've been in a lot of great towns, but when we were in the Shoals, it wasn't one of our favorite places to live. The town tries really hard to be an appealing place for young couples and families and retirees, but the only people that it really has success with keeping there are the retirees and families. As for young people or those in college or fresh out of college, it's somewhat of a frustrating place to be. There are hardly any really good places to hang out with friends or find entertainment. The grocery store and shopping choices are also generic and less than satisfactory. There are four major cities in the Shoals area of northwest Alabama, and out of the four, the only place to really go out to restaurants or bars is in Florence, and even then, the choices are not that fabulous. The schools are good; the river is pretty; the climate is mild; the crime is low; it has a fantastic newspaper; it's a 2 hour drive to Memphis, 2 hour drive to Nashville and 2 hour drive to Birmingham, but with gas prices the way they are, who wants to drive 2 hours to get somewhere that actually has good shopping or entertainment? The history of the Shoals is amazing and well worth reading about, as is the music that was produced at Muscle Shoals Sound and FAME. But my husband and I were not pleased with the city's planning or with the way the pitiful downtown areas were handled. Downtown areas in all four cities are dying or barely exist. And the sad thing is, they have so much potential, but it's not utilized in the right way. There's also a good-ole-boy mentality that runs deep in the Shoals that's a turn-off. The economy is doing well there, compared to other places in the U.S. right now, and housing is extremely affordable. But why live somewhere for those reasons, if you're not enjoying the rest of your life there? There are a whole lot of extremely friendly people, and that's really what makes us miss the Shoals. But all in all, it's too far away from better places to be and too stuck in the mud about a lot of things that could make it a better place to live.
Suzanne | Minneapolis, MN