[ckinchen]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Wow! I appreciate that, but the Houston and New Orleans areas are the two places along the gulf coast that are definitely out. My family and I are in agreement that the bigger cities are not where we want to be. I went to high school in NO and visited Houston enough to know that It's not where I want to raise my children. Of course, avoiding the big cities makes the job search more challenging.

Lake Charles, Thibodaux, Lafayette are just about right! Baton Rouge is kinda marginal, getting to be too big and a pretty good drive from good inshore and saltwater fishing, though my wife has recently applied for a faculty position there.

[SIZE=2]Have you been to the Woodlands area? That is where MikedaTiger lives (myself as well), I live on two acres, and have deer in my back yard every morning. The schools in this area are far better than what you are going to find in the cities you mentioned and the pay difference for you will be 20% to 50% more than what you are going to find in the other areas you discussed. My mother lives in Baton Rouge and she thinks that she is "in the country" when she comes to my house. Yet I am still only 30-40 minutes from downtown Houston (and 20 minutes from the airport) if I ever decided to go there which I never do. Also the Woodlands is usually rated as one of the top places to live in most studies that you look at. Plus if you love trees the area is beautiful.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=2]Most people avoid Houston because they went to the Galeria, downtown, Galveston, or the east side of the city. Up north is an entirely different ball game. If I had to live on the east side or inside the loop I'm sure I would hate it. Galveston has to be one of the dirtiest coastal towns I have been to. At this point in my career I could move anywhere in the country and do well but we are very comfortable here.[/SIZE]
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I will retire and live in Hackberry....