Other Places We Considered

Before we decided that Austin was the place to be we researched some other places. Some were places that we had visited and liked, others were places we researched online. The following are some of the places and the thoughts we have on them.

Chicago - We visited Chicago last July (2006) and loved it. The food was amazing (as you will notice we put a heavy emphasis on food), the museums were excellent, the aquarium was great and the parks and lake were beautiful. We had a great time on the pier, checked out the deep dish at Gino's, went to the top of the Sear's Tower and took a boat tour up the river. Some how, this large city maintains a small town feel that we really liked. The obvious negatives are reasons why we won't be moving there any time soon: Way too expensive and way too cold in the winter.

Baltimore - Charm City is the place the people in the article about starter cities chose and we had the chance to check it out this summer (2007). While we loved the harbor and the proximity of Camden Yards, we were not too comfortable with the vagrants. We stayed in a hotel by the baseball park and the walk from there to the harbor was definitely sketchy.

Celebration - Celebration is a new town in Florida that was designed by Disney. It is a planned town based on new urbanism with a projected population of 20,000. The draw of this town is that the downtown relies heavily on mixed-use zoning which means that there are living spaces above commercial spaces. That is of major importance to me as I want to be able to walk from my home to a store. The negative of Celebration is the high price and the fact that there is no grocery or hardware store within the city limits.

Orlando - Downtown Orlando has been going through a resurgence and is primed to become a vibrant city at some point. The problem is that it isn't there yet and still feels disjointed. It just does not have the cohesive qualities that a great city needs. Plus, it is quite expensive to be in the desirable areas.

Louisville - This is a city that came up a lot on the online quizzes that we took. It really looks like an up and coming city and will eventually be a cool place to live. Though I may be wrong, I just do not feel like it is there yet.

Raleigh - My girlfriend went to school at NC State so we had some time to evaluate Raleigh and the surrounding areas (Durham, Cary, etc). The biggest negative was the lack of culture in the city and it was just too southern for our tastes.

Des Moines / Minneapolis / Boise - All these cities kept coming up on the online quizzes we took and we dismissed them based solely on winter conditions.

The Trip - Sunday & Monday

Sunday morning we started the day with the 'Tour Of The Town' bus tour that Capital Metro offers on weekends. For the amazing price of one dollar, the bus takes you to all the major Austin landmarks. You can get on and off as you please for the entire day.



We caught the northbound bus at 2nd & Congress and headed up to the Capitol building. This is one impressive pink building and here's a fancy factoid: the dome of the Capitol building stands seven feet higher than that of the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C.



Next we walked up to the University area to check out the Drag. This is the portion of Guadalupe next to the school and home to many unique stores and restaurants. We chose a sandwich shop called Potbelly Sandwich Works. We thought it was a local chain but it turns out it's national. It was still a really good and spicy sandwich so it worked out.



After lunch we rejoined the bus tour and got views of the home of the Texas Longhorns and the birthplace of the Hook'em Horns. The football stadium is pretty impressive and it looks like they're adding some fancy new luxury suites for next season. We like going to sporting events and were initially concerned that there are no pro teams in the area but I think we could get our fix from this team.



The bus headed south after a tour of the school and finally ended up at Zilker Park. It just so happened that this was the first night of the Zilker Trail Of Lights so we stuck around and waited for dark.



After the marching band, Santa Claus entrance, formal introductions and sponsor thank yous (it's free to enter), the general public was allowed to check out the mile long trail of 41 holiday scenes. It was most definitely an impressive light display and I'd even say it was worth the wait. Also impressive was the chicken tamale we gobbled up from one of the vendors in Christmas Village.



We caught a bus out of the park and found our way to Stubb's for dinner. Stubb's is located on Red River and for the first and only time while in Austin, we were in an area (north of Stubb's on Red River) that felt a little sketchy. The dinner was good and we walked back on the famous 6th Street strip.





On Monday we walked around downtown and had lunch at the Austin Java Cafe on 2nd Street. Afterwards we walked around some more and then packed up and caught the bus for the airport. Since we weren't able to get to Salt Lick, the most famous BBQ joint in Austin, we decided to give their airport outlet a shot. Wow, that is some goooooooooooooood barbecue. I think it's important to add that even the airport has some of the flavor and vibe of Austin.



It was a great trip, all the meals were good to excellent and the feel of the city agreed with us. We really like how the green areas of the city are so accessible, you can literally go from city streets to wooded trails in a matter of seconds. We also loved how active everyone seems to be, hopefully it is addictive. The dog-friendliness is another plus and the mass transit system worked very well and is extremely cheap.

The Trip - Friday & Saturday

We arrived at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Friday evening and, after getting our luggage, we were greeted by temps in the 70s. We saw the Cap Metro bus and high tailed it to the door and paid our fare (50 cents each). 20 minutes later we were dropped off around 6th & Congress and walked the few blocks south to the Radisson.



Once we got checked in and settled we headed back out to Congress and made a left on 2nd street to see the new high-end district that's being built. The mixed-use 2nd Street District will soon be home to many expensive high-rise condos, lofts and apartments with fancy shops and restaurants at ground level. Some stuff is completed and we decided to eat at a new barbecue place called Lambert's.



The smell of the smoked meat was ridiculous and the food was fantastic. It was an excellent and, I think, relatively authentic first meal in Austin. I recommend the brisket and the cauliflower au gratin. After dinner we walked around a little bit and then called it a night.



Saturday morning we made the trek to 4th & Guadalupe to check out the Austin Farmer's Market. One of the things we really crave in a new town is the ability to shop at a farmer's market for fresh, local produce. The cool thing about this market is that, in order to sell an item, you have to be the one who made/grew it. The market had all kinds of meat, fresh bread, crafts, cheeses and even cooking demonstrations. We tried some organic prickly pear pink drink that was light and refreshing.



After the market we headed to the Whole Foods on 6th & Lamar. This really is an Austin must-see. The place is huuuuge and they even have an ice skating rink set up with skating Santas.



We headed south from there across the pedestrian bridge and made a right on Barton Springs Road. Though all the restaurants we walked by smelled great, we figured we had to try out Chuy's so, after a brief wait, we were sat and had a fine burrito and enchilada.



Next stop was up to the Barton Springs Pool. We passed many kayakers as we walked the path up the springs and saw lots of joggers and bicyclists. We both remarked that this town seems very, very active and made vows to join in on the craze if and when we get here. Not surprisingly for the time of year, the pool was empty but there was a puppy just north of the pool splashing around in the water.



After the pool we stayed on the path and looped back around along Town Lake (aka Lady Bird Lake, aka the Colorado River). We came to Auditorium Shores and were amazed at the number of dogs. I had read that Austin was very dog friendly and has many leash-free zones but to see one packed with dogs was quite a site. It was great to see all the dogs running around in and out of the water and just having a great time. You could actually see the smiles on their little dog faces.



Next stop was the South Congress shopping district known as Soco. This is where all the eclectic shops are and is ground zero for the 'Keep Austin Weird' motto. We browsed the shops and had an authentic soda-jerked Dr. Pepper from the old time candy store. There are definitely some cool shops, bars and coffee shops here and the whole area had a cool vibe. We decided to head back down at night for dinner at Magnolia Cafe with an ulterior motive of paying a visit to Amy's Ice Cream.

Step Two: Recon

The second step to bringing this plan to fruition is to see if we actually LIKE Austin. There's only so much information one can gather from internet research and the time has come for some old fashioned, hard nosed research. A long weekend should be enough to get the basic vibe of the city and to check out the lay of the land. The trip is set for the second weekend of December.

We have chosen the Radisson Hotel because of it's location. We will be relying on public transportation via Capital Metro both from the airport and to get around town. Though I've read some complaints about the mass transit I think it will work out, plus the bus fares are insane. 50 cents gets you from point A to point B and a dollar gets you an all day pass. Plus they run a special 'Tour The Town' route on weekends for tourists which stops at all the must-see locations.

Step One: Research

After deciding on Austin, it was time for some heavy duty internet research. Getting the lay of the land was easy enough, there's a river (Town Lake) that cuts the city in half (north and south) and an interstate (I-35) that divides it the other way (west and east). The downtown is in the northwest quadrant, the so-called 'seedy' area is in the northeast, the hip and 'real' area is the southwest and the airport is in the southeast.





The best site that I discovered is the Austin forum on city-data.com. This site contains a wealth of information from people who live in Austin and from other people who are moving to Austin. With this site and others, I started to put together a mental image of the area and I began to get a feel of the kind of place it is.



The next step is to pay Austin a visit to see what all the hype is about.

What This Blog Will Be About

I have created this blog to document my move from the suburbs of New Jersey to Austin, Texas. The move will be made by myself and my girlfriend and is currently planned to take place in the first half of 2008. The reason for this online diary is, first and foremost, to document the journey for future reflection and secondly, to hopefully help other people who plan a similar relocation in the future.

Why do we want to move from the comfort of our friends, family and everything we know to the total unknown? For the adventure! Well, that's not completely true. The fact is, it costs a ton of money to live in central New Jersey. We live in Hunterdon County and it is one of the most expensive places to live in the country.

According to wikipedia:
Hunterdon County ranks as the 13th among the highest-income counties in the United States with a per capita income of $36,370. It ranks third among U.S. counties for household income according to the most recent U.S. Census. Hunterdon County's median household income was $93,342, behind only Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in Virginia. As of 2005, Hunterdon had the third-highest median property tax of any county in the nation at $6,988, the highest in New Jersey.

Basically, it costs over $300,000 to buy a fixer upper in this area. Even with the recent real estate slump, the deals are few.

Another factor that led to this momentous plan was an article on MSN.com called 'Getting ahead in a starter city.' This article was basically the instigator that started us on this path to Austin. We started finding and taking all the best places to live quizzes online and, of course, they usually led to different answers. We kept at it and started compiling a list of places that sounded good, we wanted somewhere warm (which narrows the field down a TON), we wanted somewhere urban but safe (also narrows things down) and most importantly, we wanted somewhere that was unique and had it's own thing going on. The obvious answer was Austin.