I agree with you. For me, it's better than CA. I live near The Woodlands, so the hurricane thing is not so much of a worry. My wife has family down in Montrose, and it can be fun down there, but I would not live in Houston proper due to the sheer amount of time it takes to get places, as you know. It takes a vast amount of time to drive across Houston, even at night. People don't realize that Houston, area wise, is like a small country. If I want to go to the beach from here, it's like 2 hours.

Like I said in another post, if I ever came into serious money, I'd buy some land and build a house outside Burlington, VT. Proper four seasons, proper fishing, proper winter activities.