VERY, VERY different towns, IMO. Not as different as Miami and Myrtle Beach, though.
As someone who has traveled all over the US and a good bit of Europe... Jax is not cosmopolitan at all. It's a lot like a town of 100K people that has been duplicated about 10 times within the city limits. It's just a constant repeat of strip malls, used car lots, and bunch of sub divisions, with a low-to-mid-grade mall thrown in once in a while. Just never acheives the critical mass to be called a city. And considering that there's no place worth going, the traffic is pretty horrible at anything close to rush hour -- it seems that everyone must work on the other side of town from where they live.
And there's one cop for every 8 citizens (at least that's the way it looks). And if you got used to good food in Miami, you'll have to do a lot of searching to find good restaurants. They're here, but there's not many, and the good ones tend to be expensive. On the other hand, if you love all-you-can-stomach buffets, you'll be thrilled.
Enough of the negative....
On the positive side, there are some good people here and the weather is very nice from ~November through March (and a little longer and better if you're within a mile or two of the beach because of the moderating effect on temps that the ocean has). Nice weather for meeting up, working on the car in the cooler months (too hot in the summer for it to be enjoyable), and so forth. If it weren't for the abundance of cops it'd be a great place to have a fast straight-line vehicle. There are no curves, so aftermarket suspensions and cars set up to handle especially well tend to be of little benefit. (People who haven't lived in Tennessee, NC, or other states where many of the backroads are a lot like the Road Atlanta track may not understand what I'm saying, but trust me; there are no curves here.)
I recommend you go spend a few days both places because where you live can be a very critical factor in your perceived quality of life, etc. Let me know if you decide to visit here and I'll try to meet up with you and show you around for a couple hours (though I actually live just north of Jacksonville on Amelia Island).
CRM33184 said:
sorry to hijack you thread, but I do have a quick question for you Jacksonvill guys...
My wife and I were transfered from Miami to Myrtle Beach last year, Myrtle Beach sucks. Our time to move again is comming up in 2 months, our location options are
Charlotte, NC or Jacksonville, FL
What do you guy think
Thanks,
Chris M
