BATE: Why we should/shouldnt visit your hometown

[_wolfbrother_]

Everybody's hometown is unique in its own right, for good reasons, and in some cases, for bad. This thread is for all of you, yes you, to tell us what makes your hometown great [or not so great] and why we should or shouldnt visit your town.

[_wolfbrother_]

I'll start us off

 

I was born, raised and live in Cill Dara, a small town in County Kildare, Ireland. Personally, I despise this town. Theres nothing to do for teenagers. Everything is centred on adults [there are 16 pubs and 8 betting offices in the town].

 

Cill Dara is a tourist town though, there's plenty for visiting people to come and see. Its situated on the Curragh of Kildare, so there are plenty of scenic views, and is home to the Curragh Racecourse. The Irish Derby takes place there every year. Cill Dara also has a two golf courses, Japanese Gardens, and a lot of religious landmarks too.

 

Though I wouldnt ask any of you to visit here. In recent years crime is getting really bad that really its unsafe to be out at night [i know from experience, trust me].

 

Well thats my two cents. Hope to hear from everyone else

[Daruya]

Well, I don't really live in Panama City Beach, but near it, and work on that side of "town."

 

What do we have? Sugar white sands, breathtaking emerald water, fishing, snorkeling, and SCUBA diving. There are also other "touristy" things like go-kart tracks, mini-golf, several golf courses, and Shipwreck Island water park. Oh, and we have a mall. It's not a huge mall, but it's a mall. However, we do have Pier Park on the Beach side with lots of stores, restaurants, and a humongous movie theater.

 

If you like the beach, it's a really nice beach. And it's kind of off the beaten path because we don't have an interstate that comes here. You have to get off the interstate and drive south for about an hour or so to get to the beaches area.

 

But we also often have wicked riptides and many tourists ignore the flags (2 red flags mean STAY OUT OF THE WATER) and drown.

[Kathleen]

I'm from PEI Canada, and it is beautiful here! We have wonderful beaches (not like the tropics, but its an island so we have beaches!). We have rolling hills and really nice nature stuffs. And its really laid back small time small town. But that in itself could be a reason to not come. We are set up really well for touristy tourists, as we get a lot of people in the summers coming for golf or Anne of Green Gables, so we really cater to the cheesy city tours and kitchy tourist attractions.

 

The down side is we really are small town for the whole island. Everything closes between 5-10 pm...closer to the 5 than the 10. We don't have big shopping centers or very big time shops. We just got Sunday shopping about 2 years ago. Aside from the kitchy there really isn't much going on around here.

 

I don't want to push you away too much as I'd love to meet some of you and the only way that would happen is if you come here! If you do come, come between june and october (aim for july/aug) if you can...other than that this place is pretty well out of order with snow or swamp conditions from rain and melting snow.

[_wolfbrother_]

I hope to emigrate to Canada in the next few years

[Rasheta Ardashir]

Well I don't live in Seattle but close enough for government work. *ggls*

 

The upside: Seattle has literally something for everyone. There are pubs, coffee shops, and the world famous Pike Place Market. The Market is a huge outdoor market that a friend of mine from Germany tells me is very European she felt right at home there. The waterfront has shops, sailing, and parks. There are several cruises that leave from the Seattle waterfront and take you around the bay, or up the coast to Canada. In the city itself if you are a gamer we have several gamer centers, the biggest being Gameworks, which is open to the public till midnight and after that its 21 and over till 2 when the bars have to shut down. We have a big anime convention at the Convention Center in downtown Seattle every year over the Easter weekend so if your into that, Easter is the time to visit but get your tickets early. The Woodland Park Zoo is one of the nicest in the world. The Seattle Science Center is a fun learning experience for all, with an Imax theater attached you can't go far wrong. There is music and dancing for every kind of musical taste. Food for everyone and generally speaking Seattle is a fairly safe city to be around in at night. A few areas are not good but the streets are well lit and the police patrol regularly so its hard to get mugged. The Seattle Symphony is also worth a visit they do amazing work and the Benaroya hall has been newly renovated for maximum listening pleasure.

 

The downside: Its cold and raining here about 208 days out of the year. If you want to come and see the state your best bet is between July and August. Sept, is sometimes okay but mostly that's about the time we get the clouds and rain back. Seattle is also kind of hard to get used to unless you come visit with a native, the streets are laid out in a strange fashion and its hard to find which way you need to go on them in order to get to your destination. Traffic is also pretty bad around the downtown area and on the freeways going into and out of Seattle unless you are out late at night or early in the morning. Parking in the city is a nightmare as well. Bring extra cash for the parking lots if you can find one near your destination. Also if driving be aware that the pedestrians in Seattle don't pay attention to walk/don't walk signs they just go where they like. So you have to pay attention to what the people are doing. Teenagers may find it harder to find things to do later at night since most of the fun things to do either stop running at about 9ish or are for the 21 and over crowd. Unless they are gamers in which case they should be okay till midnight at the least. *laughs*

[charis sedai]

I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

on the Plus side:

-great shows

-2 professional sports teams

-moderate weather

-several GREAT malls

-lots of great restaurants and pubs

-several good museums

-world class zoo

-two pretty nifty theme parks

 

 

on the not so good side:

-for a vacation it is great if you have money. If you are willing to spend the money, the theme parks are great, the zoo is FANTASTIC, etc. If not... it gets a little harder. The scenery is ok, but not great, there isn't a lot of hiking, or great parks, or a beach or much of anything in that department.

[Jeannaisais]

I"m from a small town in Missouri called Lone Jack and, with just under 2,000 inhabitants, the most interesting thing to do here is come towards the beginning of August to watch the commemoration of the Civil War Battle we had here. My town was actually named after that Civil War battle because there was one lone tree standing after the battle.

 

As for the nearest big city, I am classified as within the Kansas City metro area. Having lived in Kansas City almost my entire life, it's hard for me to say exactly what the touristy things to do are. You can go the plaza, the Harry S. Truman Library, the Liberty Memorial, the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum (that's actually free to get in!!) and Union Station, which is connected to Crown Center and the headquarters of Hallmark. People typically say it's better to come during the Christmas season to the Plaza after it's all lit up. And you can go ice skating by the crown center, listen to local high school choirs come and sing, etc.

 

Overall, it can be a nice city and you can find things to do, however there are lots of parts of town that I highly suggest be avoided. For example, being in downtown Kansas City you should stick to either the Plaza/Westport area (careful in Westport late night though as that's where all the bars are) and Crown Center/Union Station. The other places listed should be visited during the day because we unfortuantely have a relatively high crime rate.

[Millon]

Buffalo New York baby!! What more of a reason do you need than that you'll find MY awesomeness here?! Seriously? I am made of all that is win!

 

 

In case you show up and I am NOT there well, there is still plenty to do. The one major thing I love about Buffalo is there are actually 4 distinct seasons and a whole lot of festivals for all of them. We seem to have a problem with finding excuses to drinkhave festivals. Heritage festivals, art festivals, free concerts downtwon every Thursday in the Summer.

 

We have been dumin whaever mones we can into our terrible waterfont. It's comin along, slowly but surely, but it still has a ways to go. See, we are a part of what's called the 'Rust Belt Cities'. We are right ontop of lake Erie and we were a huge hub of the steel industry because of the Erie Canal. Now, ships arent relevant to iron trade so we lost A LOT. Our waterfront was riddled with scrap yards and vacant buildings. Lately, with some very interested people in congress we have been getting lot of stuff done. So, come back in a few years for our waterfront. Windsurfing is becomeing pretty popular here and with some of the finished devwelopments we have some amazing parks. It's funny, I just went to this River Fest thing over the weekend ad it was a really cool moment. Here I was on the Buffalo river in this beautiful brand new park and across the river you see old grain silos and boathouses. It was a really nice juxtaposition.

 

Aside from parks and festivals our night scene is becoming pretty sweet to. Our bars are open until 4:30 in the morning lol. We ahve stuff for everyone in our Chippewa District. Wine bars, Coffee Bars, Hooka Centers are starting up here to. Greta Micro breweries a couple pretty big malls. One of which is a little bit aways but it's worth it. PLUS!! We are steadily becoming an awesome culinary destination. We are a short drive from one of the greatest wonders of the world to. Niagara Falls. A!!mazing. Just stunning. At night they have the falls lit with multiple different colored lights. It's just magical. And our back yard is CANADA! So we get lots of really good imported beers.

 

The downside? well, this city is doomed to remember the past it seems. Our biggest obstacles is ourselves. very time someonecomes with a plan to bring something good here all these people rise up and form committees and just DESTROY it. People would rather watch an historic building rot and crumble before there eyes(not try to fix up God forbid) instead of remove it and remember it in a museum. So, lots to do, just tr not to judge too harshly all the rotting buildings.

 

Man, I can go off on my city. There is sooooo much up in there right in terms of development that I can't NOT be excited. Wintertime, we have the largest pond hockey tourney in the world and our festival the Powder Keg Fest. Summer, Festival for EVERY heritage you can think of. Irish, Polish, German, Italian. We JUST had a Eukranian festival.....Eukranian!! Fall, pumpkin harvesting and corn mazes, food. Fresh rpessed apple cider. Crazy! Halloween Stuff!! Nuts! Spring, well, Spring, we just prep for all of our festivals lol It gets real rainy in Spring to so it cna be a lil difficult. Parks, Museums. Alright enough enough. I have gone on enough lol. COME SEE ME!!!

[Moon Sedai]

Well, I don't really live in Panama City Beach, but near it, and work on that side of "town."

 

What do we have? Sugar white sands, breathtaking emerald water, fishing, snorkeling, and SCUBA diving. There are also other "touristy" things like go-kart tracks, mini-golf, several golf courses, and Shipwreck Island water park. Oh, and we have a mall. It's not a huge mall, but it's a mall. However, we do have Pier Park on the Beach side with lots of stores, restaurants, and a humongous movie theater.

 

If you like the beach, it's a really nice beach. And it's kind of off the beaten path because we don't have an interstate that comes here. You have to get off the interstate and drive south for about an hour or so to get to the beaches area.

 

But we also often have wicked riptides and many tourists ignore the flags (2 red flags mean STAY OUT OF THE WATER) and drown.

 

I lived in PCBeach for a year (2002-2003) and worked with my dad at his Karaoke Bar! We got married on that same beach. I loved living there. It's where we took our vacations as a kid!

WHen I moved to Houston, one of my friend's wives said "Welcome to the Gulf Coast!" I laughed.

I live in Houston, now.

Houston has NASA, (Just down the road from me), and the Johnson Space Center (The tourist side of NASA). Houston has an annual Rodeo, football, baseball, hockey, and a ginormous mall (the Galleria). It has an large museum district. It is relatively close to the beaches of Galveston, another touristy place.

WHy not visit Houston? Traffic, for one. Plus, it is so large you can spend your entire day in the car getting from one side of the city to another.

[Ithillian Turambar]

The city that I would class as my Home Town is Leeds, in Yorkshire UK. Leeds is often described as being like a little London. It has a financial district and some seriously tall modern buildings. Before the economic crash plans were afoot to build the tallest residential tower in the north of the UK here in Leeds, but I think that has been shelved.

 

There are numerous restaurants and bars/clubs to ensure that we have one of the best nights out you are ever likely to find. We also have three theatres, a dance repertoire studio and enough 19th century architecture to make your eyes pop - as Leeds made its money in mills around that time. We are also home to the UK's Royal Armouries Museum. Which houses the national collection of weaponry and armour - from ancient and historic all the way up to modern times.

 

So, if you fancy a nice short visit to the UK - with a vibrant nightlife and lots of culture, then Leeds should on your list. Probably just a little further down than London, Newcastle and Liverpool. But definitely on the list somewhere.

[_wolfbrother_]

I've been to Liverpool. Went to Anfield [massive Liverpool fan]

[Ithillian Turambar]

Oooh. Got a bit of a visit coming up in December to see Liverpool play QPR. You should come - mind I bet you are saving for Canada instead.

[Raena]

My hometown is Umeå, in the north of Sweden. It's actually the biggest city in northern Sweden, with almost 80,000 inhabitants. It's a huge town.

 

If you're interested in culture, Umeå is one of the European Capitals of Culture in 2014. Umeå has an opera house and throughout the year there are several music festivals here, among others a folk music festival, House of Metal (a metal festival) and Umeå Jazz Festival. There's also the MADE festival (Music, Art, Dance, Etc) and they're reviving the Umeå film festival this year.

 

There are also a few museums... like a museum of skiing. Did I mention that Umeå is in the north of Sweden? We have long winters and usually get lots of snow. So I guess if you like snow you should visit.

 

If you're into sports, we have several sports teams that used to be successful but aren't anymore.

 

Umm, what else. Umeå is not a very big town so there's not really much to do here. Oh. We have the best tap water in all of northern Sweden. And the air is clean. And if you like to ride bikes, we have miles and miles of bike routes. It's super easy to get from one side of the town to the other if you have a bike.

 

Sävar is a village, just outside of Umeå, where I grew up. You should come here if you're at all interested in history because the last battle of the Finnish War took place here, which was also the last battle ever on Swedish soil. There's a memorial monument here, jokingly called the cannibal monument. The inscription says "Fäderneslandet åt sina stupade söner" which could mean both "The fatherland to its fallen sons" or "The fatherland ate its fallen sons". Also, if you like canoeing, and want to see beavers, you should come here and canoe down the Sävar river.

[_wolfbrother_]

More people live in your city than they do in my COUNTY, Raena

[Raena]

Really? But wikipedia says the population of County Kildare is 186,335

[_wolfbrother_]

oh...80 thousand. thought it said 800 thousand my bad

[Basel Gill]

Well, mostly I'll just go with... what Mills said. I don't have much to add, since he beat me to it. My own hometown is North Tonawanda, about halfway between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. If you come to this little burb, we have a museum devoted to carousels and their history that formerly housed a factory for them. Also worth seeing is the Riviera Theater, a grand old time movie theater with a big organ like in the classic days of movies.

[Blueberry]

Hey there, I'm from Montreal, Canada. Montreal's population surpasses 1 million people, and has something for all of those 1 million to do. We've got something for all of you too, I'm sure. We've got man-made beaches, and a few that aren't.. we've even got a nude beach for you naturalists :P Lot's of clubs and pubs, and there's even a Gay Village. Theres the Mont Royal mountain that hosts Tam-tams (A little hippy drum-fest), where you can picnik, smoke and drink (within reason, of course).. If you're interested in history, head to The Old Port.. And when you're hungry, you can go next door to china town for some sponge cake and stir fry... Although there is a downfall.. Montreal is mostly french. But most french people know enough to give you directions to where you need to go. Just ask someone in their 20's and theres a 90 percent chance they know loads in English. Montreal is an urban city, and has it's crappy urban downfalls (Ghettos in certain areas, crime, etc) but I've never had anything I can handle. Travel in groups and be wary, and you'll be fine.

[Tigara]

So we'll say my hometown (or close enough ) is Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

 

The best thing about Calgary is easily the Calgary Stampede! It started off as some kind of rodeo festival thing, but it's turned mostly into a giant party excuse. It's still heavily western/cowboy themed, but there's a ton of other stuff to do. Free concerts (from actual popular bands, not just locals) as well as paid concerts from bigger name artists. I've seen figure skating shows, tons of rides and entertainment, all sorts of different food, either deep fried, on a stick, covered in chocolate, or a combination of the 3. (I have seen deep friend cheesecake, oreos, Coca-Cola, mars bars, and much more)

 

Other than that, there's not a lot to do on a year round basis. There are some conventions and events, but they're usually more for niche markets. For locals, not much to do unless you want to just go to bars and clubs. Everything else closes at 9 with the odd coffee house open till 11. There are some pretty big malls to go to (Chinook Center, Market Mall, Crossiron Mills), but those are only fun if you have money to spend. :P

 

The biggest downside to Calgary, we've recorded snow in all 12 months of the year. It's infamous for extreme and unpredictable weather. :P

[Raena]

oh...80 thousand. thought it said 800 thousand my bad

I realized that so I edited my post. Not used to putting commas between numbers like that.

[Jeannaisais]

Hmm I liked being in Granada better, tallest mountain range in Spain could be seen every single day...and now I'm back in boring KCMO where we get fountains....that half the time aren't even turned on haha

[Minuet]

Okay, it has been hard to resist this thread. I just couldn't as my home town has been facing a tragedy the past two weeks.

I am an Army brat, so I got to see the world, but I consider Sierra Vista, Arizona as my home town. When I go down there it is like going home and I love the mountains in the area.

 

Good- It is just a short bike ride to either Tombstone or Bisbee, Arizona. Right next to Fort Huachuca. It has some of the most beautiful desert mountains (Huachuca Mountains, Chiricahua Mountains, etc...). It has a rich history as far as Native Americans and Cowboys. Remember Cochise and Geronimo? They have a large history in the area. Not to mention the infamous shoot out in the vacant lot behind the OK Corral in Tombstone. Sierra Vista is close enough to Tucson to have fun, but still a small town. It was a lot smaller when I lived there. It has tripled in size since. They even have a mall now. I still love the area and go any chance I can to visit the town and my friends that still live there. There is beautiful plants and animals there. I remember having deer come down and eat my mom's roses at night when we lived on post. We even had a bear by our home once. I love living in areas where that is possible. I love wildlife and sharing nature with them. I even don't mind the rattlesnakes. They are gorgeous and have such awesome color variations. I use to hike in the mountains and as a teenager party in them too. It is one of my favorite places on the planet.

 

Bad- They just had the Horseshoe II fire in the Chiricahua's and now in my beloved Huachuca Mountains the Monument Fire destroyed the mountain and the valley below. Landmarks that my friends and I hung out at are gone. Some of my friends lost their homes. I am glad my brother's house was spared. This is honestly the only bad about the area.

[Kathleen]

I know I already did one, but I just saw this on our Gov's official page as the "Video prepared for the Royal Couple to help plan their visit to Prince Edward Island." and I thought you might like it. There is a shot of the Confederation bridge as it spans out over the water to the next province, New Brunswick. In that shot there is a cluster of houses, mine is there somewhere, or possibly just out of the shot.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iei32AUJfc&feature=player_embedded

[Aiel Heart]

My town is considered one of the 10 best places to live in the U.S. because it's a huge suburbia place but feels pretty small-town like and has some of the best schools in the country