[MSchu]

It's tough, but it can be done.

I came here from California where the wine flows and the trees are big, just above Santa Barbara... and after living in the deep south for about 5 years.

just remember it's just different here in las vegas... there is still life even here in the desert.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by unf0rgiven6262

I never really fully adjusted. If you want my totally honest opinion, I will probably move out of Vegas at some point. With that said, Im not unhappy here and I make the best of it. I'm grateful to be able to take in such a staggeringly different climate and landscape.

Where do you think you might consider going if you were to leave NV (might help me contemplate options too)?

[Merrily Gather]

Originally Posted by joe_obody999

So if you had a choice, I Dream of Jeanne blink your eyes and you could live in Vegas or Oregon, which would you choose? I visited Eugene, OR a few months ago, and a day trip to Portland; the entire trip it was sunny, gorgeous, then started to rain as we drove to the airport to return to MN, so we know the weather was not normal. I really did like the lush green of Oregon, have considered moving to Portland, but everything I read says Portland would give me 8 months of dreary almost constant rain, sigh, and I thought on that and how it would seem so much better to have sunshine and warmth. Which would you (or anybody reading this) choose-- Oregon or Nevada/Vegas? House rentals seem so cheap in vegas, half that of Portland, so a year in Vegas seems like at least a good move to get out of MN, make an independent film (my goal) in Nevada by the end of 2015. I have to say another very enticing perk of NV for me is the 0% state income tax-- would save me a lot of money, a lot; sure I could have that in WA but then I have the rain/gloom, or FL but then I have tropical humidity and gators and snakes and also snakes.

I haven't had enough time in Las Vegas to answer that question fairly. We didn't get a choice in where we moved. We'd love to go back to the PNW as we were part of a larger community there. We haven't established a place in a community here yet as we're still newcomers to the area.

For film I'd say that Las Vegas has the advantage of being closer to the industry in LA. You can do independent film anywhere really.

The rain becomes like second nature and doesn't stop people from going outside. It's likes breathing. You don't think about it really because it's known as the "Washington/Oregon sunshine".

There's no State income tax but they get their money elsewhere such as sales tax, property tax, and fees when you go to register your car.

Originally Posted by longton52

Yeah, a fellow PNW resident! Were you in Oregon ?
I lived in the Seattle burbs and we sure couldn't count on 3 months for summer. August was usually the dependable summer month.

I've been going to Seattle regularly with friends and family for about 15 years and lived 4 years in the Washington area mostly on the Palouse, and then 3 years in Oregon on the West Coast side. Summers were always pleasant and what we lived for. Snow storms on the other hand were a different creature.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by joe_obody999

I have to say another very enticing perk of NV for me is the 0% state income tax-- would save me a lot of money, a lot; sure I could have that in WA but then I have the rain/gloom, or FL but then I have tropical humidity and gators and snakes and also snakes.

The opportunity cost of that 0% income tax is having to live in Las Vegas. All of your threads touch on some of the down sides -- small lots, the necessity of privacy walls, little greenery. And you haven't yet hit the other side of the problem: What happens when you put 1.8 million people together who only seem to care about how cheap things are? You get Las Vegas, that's what.

There's a reason the expensive places of the world are expensive. They're worth it.

[MSchu]

I am growing a "Live Oak" (from a seedling) from my native central california area... it's doing rather well here in the desert.

[yellowsnow]

I have lived literally all over the world. Before I moved here, MN for almost 15 years. Seriously Vegas is totally worth it if you consider the endless Winters, Summers full of biting insects, and gloomy days with no sunshine that go on forever. And just in case you forgot, no shoveling or mowing either. And how much do you love the humidity, nightly tornadoes and straight line winds? We do have wind but no sirens here! No hurricanes either.

Sure I miss the green. Every time I fly somewhere I am amazed by how green it is. I miss it a little. At least till they start talking about blizzards and tornadoes on the news. Every place has it's own beauty. If you take time to get to know the desert, you will see it. With no mowing and shoveling to do, you will have more time to look!

It's too hot here for about 12 weeks a year. Really hot! But you can live with it. You do as much as possible after dark and swim a lot.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

It's too hot here for about 12 weeks a year. Really hot! But you can live with it. You do as much as possible after dark and swim a lot.

But let's be honest, there are many, many places that have all of the advantages of Las Vegas, and only one disadvantage compared to Las Vegas -- the cost of living.

Some people on C-D say they would stay in Las Vegas forever if they hit MegaMillions or Powerball. But I have to wonder how many would move to Hawaii or Santa Barbara (or Lisbon or Malta) as soon as the check cleared. My guess is that nearly everyone would, if money were no object.

[yellowsnow]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

But let's be honest, there are many, many places that have all of the advantages of Las Vegas, and only one disadvantage compared to Las Vegas -- the cost of living.

Some people on C-D say they would stay in Las Vegas forever if they hit MegaMillions or Powerball. But I have to wonder how many would move to Hawaii or Santa Barbara (or Lisbon or Malta) as soon as the check cleared. My guess is that nearly everyone would, if money were no object.

Really? If I won Megabucks tomorrow, I wouldn't move. I might get a different house and take a couple vacations every year but I wouldn't leave!

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by Merry Lee Gather

I haven't had enough time in Las Vegas to answer that question fairly. We didn't get a choice in where we moved. We'd love to go back to the PNW as we were part of a larger community there. We haven't established a place in a community here yet as we're still newcomers to the area. ...

not that i pretend to know anything about the vegas community, i don't, having never been to Vegas, yet, but maybe check this out:
Las Vegas meetups
i used meetup.com during a several day trip to Eugene OR recently and on a day's notice found a wine tasting meetup (Sweet Cheeks winery) just outside Eugene and we just went and had so much fun, met new people, it was great. So if and when I move to Vegas, or wherever, I play to get involved with a half dozen meetup groups for things I am interested in, seems like a nice way to quickly get involved in a community.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

...It's too hot here for about 12 weeks a year. Really hot! But you can live with it. You do as much as possible after dark and swim a lot.

Everything else aside, I think i could easily trade 12 weeks of hellish heat for six months of hellish winter and shoveling. In either case you go between climate controlled home/car/shops, right? At least with the heat you do not have to shovel and you do not get buried by plows and you do not skid your car off the road because of heat and you do not scrape ice off your car and .... etc etc. We had a few people this past winter lose fingers and toes and lives from being exposed to the cold too long, no joke; beautiful college girl locally dropped off at her house after a party, car drove off, she was locked out, could not find keys, -50 wind chill, she got hypothermia and lied down on her porch and next thing she has her fingers and toes amputated. I know heat can be dangerous, but a canteen and you can survive at least a day or two right? Fricken -50 here and you can DIE in a matter of minutes to a hour or two from the temperature.