Reviews & Comments
Huntington, WV
re: Diversity? - 5/17/2009 -
12/29/2014I would stay away from this place because there are plenty of other small cities/towns that offer more. I lived here for 5 years with my wife and our daughter, just born when we arrived. I grew up in a small town just south of San Jose, CA and Huntington is not a place you would want to retire, believe me. I try and explain the way Huntington is to my family and friends and they aren't able to understand because they have never experienced life like this. They are all from the west and there are very few places like this, but in the Appalachians this is more common than people admit. The only word that seems to come to mind when I'm describing Huntington is "apathy". Most people are on welfare, most people don't care about what they eat, what they do, or what there children are doing. They only care about there satellite TV and doing nothing. My wife and I knew this older couple that had a daughter that had multiple children taken by CPS. They approached us to see if we would want to try and adopt this baby boy since they already adopted another one previously. Apparently the father's goal was to have 6-7 children so he could pull in enough welfare money so he wouldn't need to work and do nothing all day long. I had only heard of these stories before in the news, but in WV these situations are at your front door.
A few good things about Huntington are that the "normal" people are very nice and accepting. We left some very close friends whom we consider next to family. It is pretty there and love the spring and fall. The winters are usually mild.
Tucson, AZ
Tucson -
12/29/2014Tucson seems like it is two different cities: one dirty and run-down, the other is upscale and beautiful. I have lived here for about 2.5 years and have a love hate relationship with Tucson. The weather for about 6-7 months of the year is great! but the summer of 100+ weather seems to never end (May-Sept). With little kids, it does really seem like you are stuck inside during this time. There are some places to go but it almost seems like the flip side of a winter somewhere in the midwest where you cant do much for the winter months. And the roads are horrible! Most are 20-30 years old without upkeep. And nobody has any grass. I miss the grass! If you have kids, you must avoid the TUSD like the plague. Thank goodness for the Vail, Catalina, and Oro Valley school districts (which are some of the best in the state; Vail is actually rated the best in AZ). Again, this goes back to my point of two different cities
The foothills and the north are very nice and the Tucson has great food! Not just Mexican food but many different types of food with great restaurants, both local and chains. The amount of sunny days is great. I never look at the weather forecast here because it's always sunny and either hot or not hot, depending on the time of year.
Overall, I'm kind of indifferent about staying here longterm. I could and would be okay with it. I could just as well leave and think I wouldn't want to move back here.