Houston - Need Opinions Please

[Triple J]

My wife may have a great job opportunity in Houston. We've thought about Austin, but never Houston. We've both been there a couple times for very short visits, but all I can remember is it was flat.  I've always lived on the west coast, so flat is really weird to me but i guess I could get used to it. More sun than here in Seattle would be fantastic...I think I'm slowly losing all skin pigment and fear I may be clear within the next decade. 

Anyway, pros and cons from those with experience? Good food in the area, mountain biking, local club level motorcycle racing? Anything else?

[zooom]

well....either way, Texas is closer than Seattle from DC/MD for when I come to take my KTM from you!

[Triple J]

well....either way, Texas is closer than Seattle from DC/MD for when I come to take my KTM from you!

 

[Triple J]

The place is so bad no one wants to talk about it?    

[duccarlos]

I've never heard that many good things about Houston. I've been to Dallas and Austin. I prefer Austin 11tybillion times more than Dallas.

[DesmoLu]

The place is so bad no one wants to talk about it?    

We're all too busy being employed and not having to pay income taxes to post.

It's actually a really awesome, booming city once you get to know it. It can be a little daunting if you don't.

I'll post more later.

[Triple J]

Cool, thanks. 

[NorDog]

I've never heard that many good things about Houston. I've been to Dallas and Austin. I prefer Austin 11tybillion times more than Dallas.

Yes, and I prefer Dallas 11tybillion times more than Houston.

Houston?  Think of the worst parts of Los Angeles, non of the benefits, combined with rednecks, and then copiously slather on infinite humidity.

Other than that, Houston is great!

[muskrat]

I hate Austin, prefer Dallas where I live and San Antonio second but Houston does have it's good points.  There is beautiful scenery just North of you in the Piney woods region of East Texas, Hill Country is three hours away (Bandera rocks for riding) and Port Arnasas is really nice.  Traffic simply SUCKS but Houston is very green with lots of trees and plenty of fancy bits.  The first thing you'll realize is that there are no zoning laws so it's a little weird at first but it adds to the charm after a while.  If you are looking for "nicer" areas anything around the Galleria is nice, Katy, The Woodlands and anywhere out 290 past Beltway 8.  Yes, Houston itself is flat but just outside the City there are nice roads, heavily wooded, with good curves to boot.  There is no State income tax and job markets are booming here so from a financial perspective you'll find a lot of house and toys for the money can be had compared to the "left" coast (lived there for a year and a half and returned).  Plus at least once a year we do a Hill Country ride for three days you'll certainly enjoy.  Let me know if you need any help, my home office is there so I frequent Houston almost monthly when not in MI, WI and IL. 

[Punx Clever]

I hate Austin, prefer Dallas where I live and San Antonio second but Houston does have it's good points.  There is beautiful scenery just North of you in the Piney woods region of East Texas, Hill Country is three hours away (Bandera rocks for riding) and Port Arnasas is really nice.  Traffic simply SUCKS but Houston is very green with lots of trees and plenty of fancy bits.  The first thing you'll realize is that there are no zoning laws so it's a little weird at first but it adds to the charm after a while.  If you are looking for "nicer" areas anything around the Galleria is nice, Katy, The Woodlands and anywhere out 290 past Beltway 8.  Yes, Houston itself is flat but just outside the City there are nice roads, heavily wooded, with good curves to boot.  There is no State income tax and job markets are booming here so from a financial perspective you'll find a lot of house and toys for the money can be had compared to the "left" coast (lived there for a year and a half and returned).  Plus at least once a year we do a Hill Country ride for three days you'll certainly enjoy.  Let me know if you need any help, my home office is there so I frequent Houston almost monthly when not in MI, WI and IL. 

Hill country was some good riding.  Not as good as the Rockies... and a little unnerving, but pretty damn good still.

If you do end up in Port A... belt sander races at The Gaff, and lots of good times at Bernie's

[IZ]

I miss the h*ll out of Austin.  The Hill Country is good riding but nothing compared to the PNW J!!  The s/o used to work for UT.  She would go to UT-Houston often.   She never had good things to say about it but I'm sure it's just because the area she was in.  I've been there once and all I remember it the humidity.  I thought it was bad in Michigan.  Houston, as well as, Dallas are crazy though!!  Austin isn't so bad.  The good thing about Houston is it'll be close to Austin and the MotoGP/F1!       San Antonio and the riverwalk are pretty cool for a daytrip too..especially at Christmas when it's all lit up.  You and M should do it.  I'm sure your lil' one will love seeing what a sunny day looks like!   

[muskrat]

humidity in Dallas is more often than not much less than Austin.  Houston on the other hand sucks in August.  Shit, hot is hot no matter what anyone says.

[il d00d]

Houston is a good place to eat food.  We have a couple Beard award nominees running restaurants here, along with some regional chains that make really good food.  The Papa's franchise seems to do everything well.  We have every type of Mexican food restaurant in the spectrum from taqueria to foodie. We are close to the Gulf, so there is plenty of fresh seafood to be had.  And Houston is diverse - we have a big population of Vietnamese (bilingual street signs in some areas), as well as lots of folks from other Asian countries.  They brought recipes.

Memorial park (West-central part of of the city) has several mountain bike trails - as mentioned above, we're driving distance to hillier spots.

Pros:  There is lots of industry here, and Houston has fared a little better than the rest of country following the Great Depression II.  Houston was hit bad in the early 80s and I think they learned their lesson.  Oil and gas, and medical are the heavy-hitters, but there is aerospace (although that may be going away), transport (port of Houston-Galveston), and others.  Several big companies with HQs here.
Real estate is cheap.  I think this will work in Houston's favor in the long run in that it would be cheap to relocate businesses and people here.  Houston is beating the national average for population growth, and we're expected to jump up a notch or two in the metropolitan area size rankings in coming years.

Cons:  Houston is big, and it is spread out.  The Chicago metropolitan area has about four million more people packed in to about the same amount of square miles as Houston.   The result of this, and a lack of any extensive public transport is that you have to drive everywhere.  And park.  And walk in the heat to your next air-conditioned bubble.  Which brings us to the next con...
The weather is not great.  It is what you would probably consider coming from Seattle Summer hot about five or six months out of the year.  Historically, it is humid all the time, but we are in the middle of a drought.  There were over 30 days this year that we hit 100+ temps.
As a result there is not a whole lot for the outdoorsman to do in Houston proper for most of the year.  That, and a lack of mountains or nearby body of water keeps a lot of people indoors or heading out of town to do stuff.  (Galveston is nearby if you like to fish or boat).  The North  and East parts of Houston are piney woods - it does look nice, but walking around in the woods in the perma-Summer has limited entertainment value, to me at least.

I am going to digress into what is more about my personal relationship with the city for a second.  Take this with a grain of salt.
There is stuff to do here, but I am not sure it all adds up to something I would call a culture or identity.  Houston does have a ballet company, a symphony, and hosts big traveling shows.  Our art museums are good - we have some old money endowing the higher arts.  The Menils have a private collection unlike any I have seen in the US or Europe.  Me and the fam' enjoy the natural history museum, and we have a great zoo.  UH is recognized as a top MBA program, and Rice is a fine private college.   Memorial park is nice, especially if you can afford to live nearby, and our downtown area went through a bit of a revival several years ago.  We have pro soccer, football, basketball, hockey, and baseball teams.  We have the yearly livestock show and rodeo.
All that said, I can't ever say I feel personally enriched by living here.  And I am not just talking about taking in living in a cool city - I don't feel exactly lucky to take advantage of what Houston has to offer balanced out by the cost of doing it.  For every good thing there is about living here, or any large city that can accommodate world-class entertainment or culture, there is a bad thing or some impediment to enjoying it - think 5.9 million people competing for the same scarce entertainment resources.  Millions of people getting in their cars, driving to the same places, in the same traffic, navigating the same neverending construction, to get to the same parking lot... etc.


Wow, this is long, but I hope it helps.   PM on the way too - glad to answer any questions you may have.

[Triple J]

The Hill Country is good riding but nothing compared to the PNW J!! 
The good thing about Houston is it'll be close to Austin and the MotoGP/F1!      
I'm sure your lil' one will love seeing what a sunny day looks like!   

Riding around Seattle sucks IMO. Congestion, crap roads, even worse cage drivers, and cops that hate motorcycles. Nevermind the wet conditions 75% of the time. No thanks. Oregon on the other hand has fantastic roads, which helps to make up for their drivers and weather.  Central OR is even better. Too bad it's all too far for a day ride.

More sun would defintely be nice. Close to the Austin track would also be cool, but it's not exactly a reason to move.

[Triple J]

Wow, this is long, but I hope it helps.   PM on the way too - glad to answer any questions you may have.

PM returned...thanks, very good info.