Fort Worth B.S. Thread

Any one want to give me some info on Fort Worth area? My wife works for BNSF in Seattle. We live in Tacoma Wa. She may have the opportunity to transfer to BNSF corporate. I guess there's better job opportunities in Ft Worth within the company. Anyways any of you have experience with the Pacific North West and Ft Worth area? I'm not sure I can Handle Your summers and will miss the Mountains, ocean,tall trees and endless forest service roads. Most of all Puget Sound boating, fishing, crabbing... I wasn't to interested until I saw that we can afford a crazy nice house with a pool in Ft Worth area that would only be a pipe dream here. We also have a 2 year old boy and 6 year old girl so safe neighbor hoods with good schools in a must. Is there any state land to explore off road? Washington and Oregon have more forest service roads than you could ever explore and can camp on state land. My brother, from Austin area, said all the wheeling in Texas is on private lands. True? I'm not into anything crazy, just some mild trails and exploring. Don't care much about night life, don't get out much having kids. I spent a week in Austin and loved it but I hear that aint really Texas.
Thanks for any info! Just looking for some positive feedback that I wont hate it there if she does get an offer. My job is over in December so have nothing keeping me in Washington except my family and I love it here.

 

1. Fort Worth is awesome
2. Texas is awesomer
3. Not many state lands to off road at, but we got a few parks and some other "illegal" places
4. lots of lakes to fish and boat at
5. Austin is the most liberal city in Texas, take that for what its worth
6. I love Texas and couldnt imagine livin anywhere else!

 

That's pretty much how I feel about Washington/Oregon, can't imagine living elsewhere...but I'm willing to give it a chance. Sounds like Austin is to Texas as Seattle is to Washington. There's Seattle then there's the rest of the western state. Eastern Washington is like a whole different state and way of thinking.
Thanks for the encouragement!

 

Sure thing! Where are yall lookin at for houses?

 

No idea. Wife's going there sometime in June for training. Her old boss who transferred there is going to show her around. Said something South lake or Colleyville? Neither of us know much about Texas or anything about Fort Worth area.

 

Somewhere not to far, 20-30 min, from wherever BNFS headquarters is I guess. She commutes 70 miles round trip now in some of the worst traffic in the nation. Not looking for anything now, just keeping our options open. It would be a year or two I'm sure.

 

Southlake is pretty far NE of downtown. Colleyville is a little closer.

 

Those places are nice but not my cup of tea, too modern, too many power hungry people to make restrictions on how I should act. Being an American I dont like that too much. I think a great place is ridglea country club in Fort Worth

 

But both colleyville and southlake are fucking beautiful.

 

To new for me

 

Pretty accurate. Texas doesn't have nearly the same amount of places for off roading. Not nearly as many national forests in this part of the country. Pretty much limited to OHV parks, and smaller (not exactly legal) places tons of people go to.

 

Wow, just looked at the weather forecast for Saturday.........Not looking too promising!

 

Southlake and Colleyville are both nice with good schools but a little to ritzy for me. As someone mentioned the Ridglea area is nice but ritzy as well but its older and where most of the parents live whose kids moved to Southlake. Check out Aledo and Keller as well as some areas just west of the 820 loop.
Dont be afraid of summers. You adapt to doing things in the AC or a pool for 2 months of the year. Shaded parking spots become priceless and so does a sun visor for the windshield. I work with a woman that lived in Seattle and relocated for a job change and she loves it. She said the constant rain and overcast weather were depressing to her.
As far as trails go far east Oklahoma/west Arkansas is a 4 hour drive with lots of forest service roads in the Ouchita National forest.
Dont forget about Big Bend state and national park. Both offer very remote exploring options. They are about 10 hours away. Also Colorado is about 12 hours away for some very well known trails. Great seafood can be had around here but Texmex, BBQ and steaks are more common and amazing. The craft beer scene is thriving here if you are into that.
Let us know if you have more questions. Lived here my entire lift as well as many others here so I am sure we can help with info.

 

Yeah....you would be in Colorado for the amount of time it takes to drive to Big Bend

 

@AWalker

I'll agree with the others for the most part. For where the BNSF headquarters is located on Western Center Blvd., you have TONS of options for really nice houses. It depends on your budget and how much land you want. North Fort Worth is thriving right now and new construction is seen at every corner. You can get a really nice brand new house for relatively inexpensive and within a 5 minute commute to the office. I'm up in the Keller area and it is a reasonable commute to Irving or downtown Fort Worth (not sure what you are going to do for work). Oh, and both the Keller and Northwest ISDs are great school districts. You get really good public schools in either one, both of which are just north of the BNSF headquarters. I think Saginaw is a decent ISD as well, and there are some really nice houses for cheap over there too (just Southwest of BNSF). Eagle Mountain lake is about 10-15 minutes to your West, though I'm not familiar with many public boat ramps. We go put our Kayaks in lake Grapevine almost every weekend. If you want more land, look in the Haslet or Justin areas. Both are nice, and things seem to be moving that way. I think the value of land and homes in those two towns are going to skyrocket over the next 10-15 years because everything seems to be heading that way.

Southlake/Colleyville/Grapevine are all really good and safe towns with a lot of food options, and are a little more central to the DFW "metroplex" (You'll hear that word a lot around here).

As for the exploring aspect, pretty much what Tex said. Big Bend shows to be about 8 hours on Google maps, but you have a bit of a drive once you get in the park or at least that's what I understand. You can get to the Ozarks or Ouachita in Arkansas in about 5.5 hours, and you're only about an hour and 15 minutes from the Oklahoma border. Austin is about 3 hours away and San Antonio 4. There are other OHV parks that you can utilize if you just have the itch to get off road. Bridgeport being the closest.

 

Some of you guys make it sound like having electricity isn't rural enough for you.

@AWalker I moved out here from southern California almost 6 months ago. It's a drastic change, but it's nice. Your dollar goes a lot further here, that's for sure. People drive like maniacs, but are generally friendly in person. If you can deal with the culture shock- this place isn't too bad.

 

Thanks for all the reply's! Me I plan on being a stay at home dad for awhile. 18 years of 50-70 hr work weeks, I need a break. That would be the main benefit of relocating. Better pay and cheaper cost of living. We are defiantly not ritzy, just amazed what you can get for under 300k. Around here that's a starter home. Those are some long drives to get dirty! Hr or 2 from my house I can be in the middle of nowhere driving down old logging roads or full on jeep trails on public land. Can go from the city to Mt passes in an hr. Everything is close here. Down side is it's getting really crowded where ever you go. Will just be quite an adjustment if it happens. I'm looking forward to a change though. Big help! Thanks again!

 

You can get ALOT for 300k depending on where you are

 

Sorry 1 more question. Snowboarding would be left to traveling home and elsewhere since your missing the main ingredient but are the good Mt. bike trails close? Not just paths but actual trails. I'm just going to have to spend a week or so in your area when the time comes to make the decision. Not going to lie "I live in Texas" has a nice ring to it. I'll go back to lurking on the N.W. forum now. Thanks again! You've all been a great help