Austin

Borepatch again asking about Austin.

Austin is the best city in the country. It has every good feature of Texas AND every good feature of California, all bundled into one wonderful place.

Austin was once just a backwater town with Texas government, that happened to be situated in the most livable place in Texas (hills + a lake, in between the swamp and desert). Texas government only meets every other year, for half a year though...and it ain't real important in Texas, so that makes a small town. Then they added a military base and a college. Then college turned into one of the biggest colleges in the country. But it was still a college with a town attached. Then we added an IT industry second only to Sili Valley, for general geekery. And somewhere along the way Willie Nelson moved in, and the pro-gun, pro-weed crowd followed...along with a godly music scene. But it's still surrounded by back-country Texas for groundedness.

Why is Austin awesome? It's everything good about Texas, mixed with everything good about San Francisco...but a little warmer. You want good libertarian-conservative "my life, my property, my gun, GTFO"? Austin's got it. You want good hippy spot with "you look funny with pink hair, no big deal"? Austin's got it. My Gay friends say it's unreal in it's acceptance of gays. Unlike anywhere else...there's no gay quarter...it's just a way some folks are.

It's one of the fittest cities in the country. And houses on the outskirts run 125K for 2500 sq ft.

If you like food...Austin has Tex-Mex for real, BBQ to die for, decent Taquerias, quality ice cream, and all-night restaurants worth going to at 3am. I have a favorite Indian place in town of the half-dozen I've been to, though it's a bit nouveau-fusion-y for some purists. Honestly, I can live on just Mexican, Tex-Mex and BBQ.

John Mackey, the libertarian whole-foods CEO started the chain there, along with my wife's old hippy--doctor.

What's not to love? I don't have family there. I think that's about it.