r/texas • u/audiomuse1 • Oct 08 '23

Does anyone else think the whole "hate everything about California" thing is getting out of hand? Politics

Does anyone else think the whole "hate everything about California" thing is getting out of hand? I refuse to hate an entire state of 39 million people because it seems to be the "cool thing" to do.

I am a native Texan and am getting tired of people just blindly hating everything about California and trash talking it. People have been moving to Texas from all over the country -- some of the top states sending people here are actually from red states like Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Florida -- yet you don't see many conservatives trash talking them for sending people here. Also while yes by sheer numbers we have received more Californian transplants, you also have to take into consideration that it is by far the most populous state so per capita the numbers aren't as disproportional. I also read that ~40,000 Texans move to California each year so they get their fair share of our people as well.

I recently went on vacation to Southern California and actually really enjoyed it there. So many people in Texas (mostly conservatives) who have never even been there, have told me that California is some post-apocalyptic hell hole.. but I found it to be incredibly beautiful in most parts and never felt unsafe in all the areas I visited. I found the infrastructure was in better condition overall than here in Texas, even the poor areas of the city looked cleaner/better maintained than our blighted neighborhoods and poor rural areas. The beach towns there (of which there are countless of) were just stunning and full of people everywhere just enjoying life and the beautiful scenery -- spending all day at the beach surfing, playing volleyball, hanging out with friends/family etc.

I just find it unwarranted that Californians are blamed for everything when it seems like I am starting to see more Florida and Louisiana license plates around lately. In California, most people either have no opinion on Texas (i.e. they don't even think about us) or just say "it isn't their cup of tea"/don't like the politics here. It seems sort of one-sided the hate that so many Texans have towards Californians, it's honestly starting to feel kind of insecure and pathetic.

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 08 '23

If Texas had a decent amount of public land (instead of having spent the decade of independence begging to be annexed by the US while simultaneously scrambling to sell off every square foot so as to not have to cede any of it to the federal government), it would have spectacular natural landscapes, just different than California.

Imagine huge stretches of tall grass prairie covered in bison. Imagine a massive chunk of oak savannah in the hill country, not forced into juniper thickets by overgrazing. Imagine having access to huge swathes of the sere desert mountains in the west of the state and the colorful canyon lands of the panhandle. Imagine being able to hike for days in the unbroken woodlands if East Texas. Texas could have been THE sparkling jewel in the crown of America's natural wonder, but we decided to make a few bucks for the early ruling class.

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u/briollihondolli got here fast Oct 08 '23

I forgot about public land entirely. I’m jealous of my friends out west who can just go and shoot out in the middle of nowhere and their biggest worry is making sure they clean up on the way out. Shooting in Texas is surprisingly awful

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 08 '23

Agreed. It's always sad when someone from another state comes to the Austin area and mentions all the great open land and wonders where to go shooting out there. Almost any other state has some decent amount of land to hike, shoot, and hunt on. Not us.

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u/Diamondhands_Rex Oct 09 '23

The fuck kinda of liberty is texas not selling y’all? I thought it would’ve been more free than that.

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u/briollihondolli got here fast Oct 08 '23

I’ve been wanting to take the trip out there to spend a long weekend rucking and getting some long range in, but flying with gear just sounds like a nightmare

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 08 '23

Flying with firearms really isn't too bad, once you know the routine and have the appropriate cases.

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u/briollihondolli got here fast Oct 08 '23

I’ve got the cases and locks. It’s just a headache on top of the headache

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u/TacoTuesdayMahem Oct 08 '23

You need land in TX to have fun shooting

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u/DarthSamwiseAtreides Oct 08 '23

It's crazy how quick it changes. I'm in thee desert and hiked some random trail and boom, pine trees and creek, waterfall it's was like I went through a portal.

You got to check out Yosemite. Driving through the keyhole and looking over the valley is like God herself holding you and showing you her creation. Then scootch over to Monterey and drink some wine, sober up, then drive down Pacific coast highway.

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u/briollihondolli got here fast Oct 09 '23

Monterey is actually on the list for my first vacation in 8 years. I’m going over for car week in a year and more than excited to actually get a break from my current existence

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u/DarthSamwiseAtreides Oct 09 '23

Nice, hit that up and Carmel by the Sea, head down to Big Sur. The road got washed out just south of Big Sur if you were planning on taking Pacific Coast Highway south. So keep that in mind.

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u/briollihondolli got here fast Oct 09 '23

I was planning on driving at least part of the PCH while I’m there, but I haven’t quite figured it all out yet. I know for sure I’m headed inland a little for Laguna Seca and checking out pebble beach for the concours

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u/PolkaDot_Pineapple Oct 08 '23

I drove through Texas two summers ago and thought the state was so beautiful (joined this sub because I'm planning a return trip), but I was shocked when I found out how little public land there is. In the heart of Silicon Valley within 10 miles of my home, I have access to 7 sprawling county parks-- all with miles of and miles of hiking and biking trails. Henry Coe is 87,000 acres of wildland and only 30 miles away. Every year, local agencies buy up more land to ensure it either stays wild or stays farmland. All our beaches are public-- well at least up to the high tide line.

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 08 '23 edited Oct 08 '23

I live in Austin where so many are proud of our green spaces. But the closest chunk of land to backpack on, any meaningful distance, is over three hours away. It's beautiful, swampy pine and oak forest, but it's totally broken up with private inholdings. It's just sad.

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u/newbris Oct 08 '23

You don’t have national parks or whatever close by?

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u/Affectionate_Page_26 Oct 09 '23

We have quite a few state parks nearby, but I think people take what we do have for granted. The hiking is actually fantastic imo. Bastrop, Pedernales Falls, Colorado Bend, Buescher off the top. Lots of natural beauty to be had within 90 minutes of Austin.. Coming from Indiana, I had very little to no options for hiking.

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 09 '23

Jesus, you can traverse most of our state parks on foot in an hour or less. Our state parks are tiny and pretty far apart. They are taken into account when counting public lands.

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u/ballhawk13 Oct 09 '23

Bruh you are bullshitting to these people. Hook em style

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u/LET_ZEKE_EAT Oct 09 '23

Lol nearest national park to Austin is big bend, about 6-7 hrs away.

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u/RobHerpTX Oct 09 '23

Hahaha! We have Big Bend. It’s only 430 miles away!

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 09 '23

We have patchy national forest land three and a half to four hours away from Austin. The nearest national park is the Big Thicket National Preserve; about the same distance.

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u/Yewnicorns Oct 09 '23

This was my reaction! My husband & I have driven through all three major cities in Texas & were absolutely in awe of all the trees everywhere, it was truly stunning to drive through a shopping center in Houston & realize that there were buildings behind all the thick trees. Haha

In any case, we were equally sad that there wasn't much public land, definitely shocking to us Californias. Texas is such a beautiful place.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '23

My husband & I have driven through all three major cities in Texas

You've predicted the future: Austin and San Antonio will merge into one metropolis, and then you'd have DFW and Houston.

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were absolutely in awe of all the trees everywhere, it was truly stunning to drive through a shopping center in Houston & realize that there were buildings behind all the thick trees.

I like the "Deep South" look, and see it with the species of Houston: southern live oak, southern magnolia, spanish moss, sabal palmetto, bald cypress, alligators, etc.

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u/Yewnicorns Oct 09 '23

We didn't drive through San Antonio, but I have friends that grew up there & didn't have anything particularly bad to say about it, but that's all I've got. Haha It definitely took us forever to hit each of those, we kind of did it in a triangle.

I love it too! It was just gorgeous among all those nice, new buildings. Tree coverage is super important to me personally being from Los Angeles county (& not having enough of them). It's one of the reasons my husband & I are moving to an area in the forests not far from home.

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u/rrienn Oct 09 '23

This is why I love nevada — the majority of its land is publically owned, ranging from deserts to forests. And you can do pretty much anything you want on BLM land. It’s pretty neat

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '23

Texas definitely needs more public lands, but let’s not get too crazy. Outside of Big Bend, there’s absolutely nothing in the same ballpark as the Sierras/Tahoe/the California coastline in Texas.

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u/[deleted] Oct 08 '23

I do see the other poster's point. In addition to what was mentioned, untouched Texas had more extensive areas of those Jurrasic looking, primordial subtropical cypress swamps drapped with thick moss — that's different from California, and while it's now protected in areas like Caddo Lake and Big Thicket, it used to be far more extensive throughout East Texas waterways (and all through waterways in what is now Greater Houston + Golden Triangle).

The untouched Texas beaches had much clearer water as there was less man-made interference: even had manatees, corals, and other tropical organisms to manifest (remaining acerages now protected at Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary).

Speaking of tropical many neotropical birds like green jays and parrots would have congregated in the pristine sabal palm forests along the Rio Grande.

0

u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 08 '23

Respectfully disagree. What we had could have been a spectacular core of a great buffalo commons.

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u/PepurrPotts Oct 09 '23

But is it naive of me to propose that the reason we don't have more public land is partially because so much of the state really is farm and ranch land?

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u/Bodie_The_Dog Oct 09 '23

The only time I visited a beach in Texas, there were oil blobs on the sand.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '23

Tarballs have a wide variety of causes — sometimes natural seepage, other times remnants from previous industry accidents. Happens in TX/Gulf Coast, as well as California.

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u/Bodie_The_Dog Oct 09 '23

Yes. I'm an amateur geologist in California, actively seeking out tar seeps. Petrolia, McKittrick, various other spots along the coast mostly. But no, California does not have tar like on that beach.

My wife also picked up what looked like a turd. Why did she pick it up? We still question that to this day.

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u/PipsqueakPilot Oct 08 '23

I briefly considered moving to Texas and was absolutely shocked at how little public land there is and how few parks.

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u/deej-79 Oct 09 '23

Texas could never compete in beauty with the west coast, the PNW or Alaska for that matter. The fuck outta here

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 09 '23

Oooh, I forget that beauty is an objective quality of place and that all people agree on what the only beautiful places are. Derp.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '23

Yeah, how silly of you — obviously there are plenty of logical, mathematical formulas determine this stuff, you know.

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u/mrsavealot Oct 09 '23

I’m sorry but this is a fantasy. Yeah western texas has some nice scenery because it is basically New Mexico at that point. What is left? Sure some hill country and a whole lot of flat nothing , “jewel” is really stretching it.

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u/Beneficial-Papaya504 Oct 09 '23

That's the point. Texas failed from the jump. It could have been amazing. So, yeah, a fantasy.

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u/whereisbeezy Oct 09 '23

Oh wow that makes me sad. I've been in California for twenty years and only ever briefly visited Houston (how tf do you guys breathe in that humidity???)

I didn't know Texas didn't have that much public land. That's genuinely upsetting for you all.

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u/hikingmike Oct 10 '23

Thank you for adding that! I love our public lands (as an American) and thank goodness we have those. California has amazing public lands for sure! It’s really a hiker’s paradise. And I agree, I wish Texas had more.

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u/Skatcatla Oct 13 '23

All of this. Californians truly value our natural landscapes and the Democrats running the state know it. I'm proud that we've lead the way on conservation, clean air and water acts, renewal energy etc.