Relocating within Texas: Best of both worlds?

[HomewardBound01]

I'm exploring to see what else is out there. 

I live in the SE Texas Gulf Coast area, and I'll be out of grad school within a year, ready to start my own practice as a professional head shrinker.  I have a good number of contacts in the field around Texas to help me get established. 

I'm looking for a town around the Houston or Dallas area with a decent amount of forest to take my kids out to experience hiking/camping/TSP-type getting-back-to-nature stuff.  Reasonable (not inflated) housing prices a must.  Low crime, low corruption, good schools, etc.  So I'm looking for some city with nearby nature for weekend excursions.  Does such a thing exist?

I grew up in Plano, and knew nothing of nature/survival/etc.  It's a concrete jungle and I don't want my kids to grow up there. 

Any ideas?

[machinisttx]

Houston area would be a better bet than the D/FW area for forested areas and such, though I wouldn't want to live or work in either. I spent a fair bit of time in Houston when my wife was having radiation after her tumor was removed. I hated it. Rude people(and lots of them), terrible traffic, etc.. D/FW isn't much of an improvement IMO, and you'll have to drive farther to find forested areas. I'd imagine that housing prices are high either way.

Look at Corps of Engineers maps, state public land maps, and national forest maps for a better idea of what is available and where. I know of quite a few areas around here, but few elsewhere.

[1greenman]

By forested, do you just mean state parks and wildlife areas?
If you look east side of Dallas or Plano you will be within 1.5 hours of some nice options.

Would you consider Tyler? Or College Station?  Both are smaller, maybe less rude people.  A lot cheaper(Tyler) anyway. 

Not sure about Shrinkage opportunities.

[TNVolunteer]

The Woodlands is a major suburb of Houston but really a pretty large city in its own right.  I live in the middle of Houston and my thoughts are leaning towards moving north or west of the Woodlands and getting a job there and commuting in from someplace in the country.

[sojourners96]

I think Dallas is a better job market, but I know a lot people in your line of work doing telemedicine. So it is possible to live rural and have the city within an hour. Tyler has some beautiful lakes.   

[Cptcaveman]

Houston area would be a better bet than the D/FW area for forested areas and such, though I wouldn't want to live or work in either. I spent a fair bit of time in Houston when my wife was having radiation after her tumor was removed. I hated it. Rude people(and lots of them), terrible traffic, etc.. D/FW isn't much of an improvement IMO, and you'll have to drive farther to find forested areas. I'd imagine that housing prices are high either way.

Look at Corps of Engineers maps, state public land maps, and national forest maps for a better idea of what is available and where. I know of quite a few areas around here, but few elsewhere.

I am sorry you had those experiences.  You are too old to teach life lessons to so if you do not know better than to judge based off the few then I suggest living some other place.  If you wipe that poor attitude away, I would bet you meet some of the best people in the world right here.  Good luck.

[shadowalker_returns]

I love Texas and I especially love South Texas. I currently live in Corpus Christi. I say that cause some other Texans are gonna get pissed at me for the following statement... In general Texas is not a rude place, its not an intolerant place. Its not even a racist place. Houston is a rude city. Though its mostly in 'zones'. You can literally cross over a road and the people will have an entirely different vibe. There is not a lot of public access land near Houston to do the things your speaking of but there are plenty of accessible places all over to have teachable sharing moments outside the "concrete Beltway". DFW area is a distinct region of Texas with its own feel/vibe and a whole lot of pluses and minuses (my son loves it, my daughter hated it and chose Houston), For me they were equally pleasant/unpleasant cities and I chose to move elsewhere. Trying to read between the lines at your situation, perhaps you would consider other areas of Texas? I don't recommend Austin to anyone I care about though my daughter just took a position there (a career defining opportunity opened up). San Antonio might be your kind of place. Its a big vibrant city. It has the great outdoors to the North, South, East and West of it. Housing is rising but still affordable, Its more "progressive" than some Texas cities but nothing like Austin. Good access to the rest of Texas and the world for that matter. An active adult life and active kid life is equally possible, Relatively safe areas. Some flooding issues, not as bad as Austin or as often as Houston. This is all just my opinion, others will differ

Regards,
Shadowalker

[Redman]

Forget Houston, I live in the metropolitan area, there are good people but traffic and everything else sucks, forget DFW, Austin, San Antonio. Look at the smaller towns. Just my $0.02.

[shadowalker_returns]

Forget Houston, I live in the metropolitan area, there are good people but traffic and everything else sucks, forget DFW, Austin, San Antonio. Look at the smaller towns. Just my $0.02.

That would be my choice as well... I gave up on big cities. While I state Corpus as my home its actually one of the smaller belt towns.

Regards,
Shadowalker

[Redman]

That would be my choice as well... I gave up on big cities. While I state Corpus as my home its actually one of the smaller belt towns.

Regards,
Shadowalker

Rockport could be a nice area but it's seems mostly tourist oriented. Winter Texans. Might be a nice place for a shrink.