[joe_obody999]

To anybody who moved to the Vegas area from somewhere with lush green, etc. (northern climates or SE USA, etc), what was it like psychologically, did you adapt and how long did it take? I am in northern MN, lush green grass everywhere, pine trees, other trees, and it will seem so odd if move to Vegas to transition to arid desert with cacti and no lush greenness. Of course I would also be giving up the nasty whiteness of snow and ice, lol, and that i can do without, this last winter did me in. Just wondering if immigrants to Vegas from places such as OR, MN, etc get used to the desert and such and how long it takes, or if one never gets used to it?
Joe
Duluth Minnesota
retired; writer, filmmaker, composer

[ft_chief]

I grew up in central MN on a dairy farm. It will be a shock to your system initially with the culture, heat and desert surroundings. Everybody is different so you really need to come for a visit and see for yourself. Everytime I go home to visit family in MN, I could never see myself moving back to the cold winters, flying insects in the summer and lack of diverse food options. I do still have fond memories of fishing with my grandfather at his cabin in northern MN when I was young.

[winter-rabbit]

If you really miss the ocean and greens, dry to california or salt lake.

Vegas is the hub!

Originally Posted by ft_chief

I grew up in central MN on a dairy farm. It will be a shock to your system initially with the culture, heat and desert surroundings. Everybody is different so you really need to come for a visit and see for yourself. Everytime I go home to visit family in MN, I could never see myself moving back to the cold winters, flying insects in the summer and lack of diverse food options. I do still have fond memories of fishing with my grandfather at his cabin in northern MN when I was young.

[longton52]

I moved here from the Seattle area. This is my 2nd time moving here.
Do I miss the greenery .... hmmmmm. When I go back to visit, that lush scenery is the first thing I notice. Even flying into Seatac all that greenery is the first thing I notice as the plane approaches, but on a day-to-day basis, no, I don't MISS it. I appreciate it when I see it, but I don't miss it. It probably helps that this time I moved into a community that has tree lined streets, and probably every other house has some lawn in their front yard, so it seems very green in comparison to my previous las vegas neighborhood .

My front yard is gravel with a huge tree and about 20 shrubs and flowering cactus. My back yard is quite barren looking tho; fine gravel with some shrubs along the perimeter walls. My dogs miss having a lawn to roll around on. Eventually I'll do something with this backyard. It's just too beige looking .... beige gravel leading to a beige wall. So probably a little patch of lawn for the dogs and desert landscaping for me. Desert landscaping is not just gravel and palm trees .... you can easily add greenery and lots of color with the right plantings.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by longton52

... It probably helps that this time I moved into a community that has tree lined streets, and probably every other house has some lawn in their front yard, so it seems very green in comparison to my previous las vegas neighborhood . ...

I hear you, I have never been to Vegas so I am just perusing homes for rent on zillow.com and at first i just came across the monopoly board homes crammed next to each other like sardines and there were no trees no grass. The more I look and explore I am now seeing homes in vegas burbs like Henderson, Boulder City, etc. that sometimes have a few odd looking trees (odd for me from Minnesota) and even with some grass-- that is what I am going to try and get for a rental at first so it is not such a shock; I want to get a year lease on such a home, then I can take it from there and see where to go. I just know I can NOT deal with the winters here, just brutal shoveling of heavy and abundant snow, ice to chop and slip on, streets buried with blizzards and then waiting for plows to come 2 days later before i can even drive to a coffee shop, I have so had it with that way of life, i simply MUST LEAVE Minnesota, but I am just so having a hard time dealing with living in more arid desert like Vegas. But I looked at Oregon and I just do not want 8 months of gloomy rain each year, and the South and SE USA has the damn snakes like black rat snakes that creep me out. So what is left is e.g. Vegas! And damn good house rental prices, and shockingly resources i need for at least a year for getting an independent feature film made (meetup.com shows lots of filmmakers, screenwriters, etc. to network with; plus astronomy stargazers!)

[longton52]

Ya, I lived in CT for 6 yrs. I couldn't deal with snow again.
Then I moved to WA ... very little snow but 10 months of rain and grey skies.

I could do rain again, but not snow.

[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.

[Merrily Gather]

I grew up in Texas and been to California many times and lived the rest of the time in the Pacific Northwest.

I'd say it's a mixture of Texas and California here for the native vegetation that's been shipped in but the environment is desert. No doubts about that. Gorgeous mountain views all around though with some breath taking sunrises and sunsets. It's very beautiful in it own kind of way that's unlike the rest of the country.

On the other hand there is nothing like the Pacific Northwest and I do miss it. If you've ever flown over Oregon or Washington during a sunny day and looked down on the green farm patches it's ridiculously idyllic. Like something out of a fairy tale book. I'm not kidding either. Even the forest creatures are models for the animated Disney fairy tales. It is a large rain forest after all.

The rain there isn't like Texas size thunderstorms however. Over a decade I saw lightening once during a storm and I was surprised. I'd become accustomed to the intermittent rain showers with sunshine. Most days you have the sun with the rain so it's not 9 months of straight downpour or anything like that and we were an hour from the coast. It's light rain showers and sunshine throughout the day for most of the 9 months and then three gloriously gorgeous sunny summer months. Some years the rain is heavier than others but I didn't experience that.

From what I saw here last night the thunderstorms are similar to the dramatic Texas size thunderstorms. Which I've really been missing for a long time and I'm pleased to see again.

I read that the largest percentage of people that migrate and stay in Las Vegas are from the Pacific Northwest so there must be something to that. I guess they adapt well here so if where you're from is similar to that like you mention then maybe you'll do well too.

[joe_obody999]

Originally Posted by Merry Lee Gather

...On the other hand there is nothing like the Pacific Northwest and I do miss it. If you've ever flown over Oregon or Washington during a sunny day and looked down on the green farm patches it's ridiculously idyllic. Like something out of a fairy tale book. I'm not kidding either. Even the forest creatures are models for the animated Disney fairy tales. It is large a rain forest after all....

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.

[longton52]

Originally Posted by Merry Lee Gather

It's light rain showers and sunshine throughout the day for most of the 9 months and then three gloriously gorgeous sunny summer months.

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.