JoeSchmoe

Serious question. I might have asked this a while back... I don't recall. But are there beaches in Vancouver where you can comfortably go in the ocean without a wetsuit. I'm under the impression... Maybe wrongly so, that you can't. If so, that would make it much more less attractive of a feature for me. The mountains no question are still pretty awesome though... Especially as a snowboarder... Though I'd still prefer the interior.

Culture much more putting on a black tie and going to a museum or an art gallery, which isn't to say you can't do that in Buffalo... And again, who really does that stuff on a regular basis?!?! You go to Africa, you're going to get some really interesting cultures. None of which involves museums or anything to what you're suggesting. Buffalo tailgating is organic, and its pretty awesome. I'm trying hard not to dish on your beloved Vancouver, but I'll just say... If you ask anybody from anywhere to say something about it, they'll say mountains first and ocean second. Beyond that to most people in Canada, its kind of just a Toronto Jr. Outside Canada, I'm not even sure what people would think.

I won't thumb my nose at tailgating or chicken wings. It falls squarely in the bullet circled below. They grew this organically. They didn't import their culture from Asia as seems to be what we do here in Canada these days. But if you want to get into the intellectual stuff, Buffalo has that in spades too which some of the posters have already shown. EDIT- Besides how many people actually frequent museums or art galleries. It seems more of a bragging point than something people actually use.

Man, Buffalo is not lacking in culture. It has it in spades. It might not have the pretentious kind of culture some people some people are into (not my type of people), but there is nothing in Vancouver remotely comparable as a cultural experience to a Bills tailgate. Then there's the chicken wing. Maybe it's not fine dining, but it's one of the the most beloved foods in North America... A cultural institution. If you want to get your nose up, the Albright Knox and the Buffalo Philharmonic both punch way above their weight... Not to mention the history with Frank Lloyd Wright, McKinley Assassination, etc. My take on it is that Buffalo doesn't try to be anything but Buffalo. It knows what it likes, and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. From this comes culture. On the other side of me is Toronto. They are the try-hards of world cities and as a result have very little to call their own on a world stage. CN Tower... Maybe. Hockey... Maybe, but I'm taking Montreal as a hockey city. Montreal is another city that like Buffalo doesn't try to be anything but itself. As a result, you get a much cooler city... Better parties/festivals, more culinary contributions (bagels, smoked meat, poutine, etc), better hockey culture, etc.

Blackcat is paddle in only and the portage from Clear Lake is a TOUGH one. I had been on it before on a day paddle, and knew what to expect. When I went in with the dad group, some of who aren't light packers, they were ready to throw me the lake and and leave me there. After we got to the site, and after enjoying the beauty of it all (along with a few cold ones) they were making plans for next year... which sadly didn't materialize after everyone got real busy post-COVID.

I've been a couple suburbs... maybe not the high end ones though. I've been to Ann Arbor for hockey and if East Lansing for football too. In general, I've just found other states to be friendlier.

Blackcat Lake in the Haliburton area. There's two sites on the lake. A group of us took our sons in. Dads on one side of the lake, boys on the other.

You can't change someone's vote by shouting at them. I know a guy who's a right wing conspiracy theorist and is always shouting at everyone. I tell him it's people like you that will turn common sense middle of the road people back into being Trudeau voters... The exact opposite of what he wants.

I've backcountry camped at one here in Ontario. It's really amazing clear and blue the water is. When you open your eyes under water everything is a brilliant aqua colour.

Good discussion so far, and relatively civil. Lots of good posts.

I think Rochester and Buffalo are both nice, especially the suburbs... Though North Buffalo is also very nice IMO. Pittsburgh is a really good city in my opinion. I'd easily live there. Cleveland is okay too, though not as good as Pittsburgh from my limited experience. Detroit is still a pass for me, though it's coming around. The rest I haven't been to, but I'd like to see Cincinnati as I understand it's made a recovery similar to Pittsburgh.

Gotcha... I was going off the basis of how you said monthly payments were the same for mortgage + taxes.

If you had to choose between the two, the 600k house gives you far more equity in the end. Doesn't mean much unless you're changing housing markets or leaving an inheritance, but you'd still want to take the money over taxes.

This is an important point the article completely ignores.

What's the average price of a house in WNY. It's gotta be getting up close to those numbers. Also, I'd guess the average NC or TX house is bigger than in WNY when more homes are 50+ years old. EDIT- just looked it up. Erie county is $275k. I compared it to San Antonio (~Buffalo sized city) which is $301k. However, Erie County is more per sq/ft. $183 vs $173.

Salaries and supply and demand of housing are the biggest factors, combined with good incomes. Edmonton has very good salaries and has developable land in 360deg around the city meaning a greater potential supply of houses. Cities in Texas and the Carolinas also have very cheap housing and very good salaries. I'm not sure how many people would call them undesirable places to live. Vancouver has very little developable land and lower salaries. That's why the article ranks it's 3rd last in the world.

As a very casual observer of Buffalo house prices (from the Canadian side of the border), I feel like it's not even close to as affordable as I used to think. I used to find similar houses to the Canadian side of the border were maybe a third to half of what they are here. Now they're about half to two-thirds. Then there's some of the highest property taxes in the US on top of that. Is it that salaries in the WNY area have climbed that much higher, or is this another bunk listicle. I'd think Texas or the Carolinas would be the cheapest when factoring good jobs, low taxes, and cheap homes. Is that right? Edmonton sounds about right for here in Canada.

Hopefully one day soon we'll be discussing Sabres Stanley Cup Finals hockey on Father's Day and not bickering over how to fix the team in the offseason. 🍺

I predict that after the right amount of seasoning, he's a bad team 2nd liner / good team 3rd liner. Hopefully he exceeds my expectations and is a good 2nd liner (or even 1st liner) for the Blue and Gold.

Don't confuse the fact that he plays on the PK with him actually being good. He is a terrible hockey player who's been single digit assists for the last 4 year.

100%. It might be my #2... I'd only hesitate to say so based on the crowds.

We go to Bristol Mountain for the extra vertical. If we're going to go to Hunt Hollow, we might as well just go to Ellicottville which is quite a bit closer and usually has better snow.

Everytime I'm across the border I bring back some Saranac. My brother and I both agree our favourite beer of all time was had at the Indian Lake Restaurant after boating all day. It was a draft Switchback Ale from Vermont. Perfect temp, perfect head, and just the right amount of malt and hops for the occasion. I've had it out of the bottle and it's not the same.

My trips into Canadaigua are generally in the winter when snowboarding at Bristol Mountain. The view of the blue water from 21 is what got me. That and the view of the hills at the south end looking from the north. We've taken the kids to the beach in the summer and had dinner at a restaurant on a patio on the southwest side of the lake. Both were fun. Maybe if we had a boat we'd hate the congestion more. Seneca I thought was flat and boring from the Geneva side. I've never been to Cayuga or Keuka but would like to see both. Still I prefer the ADKs to the FLs... Though both are very nice in their own rights. As part of our Ontario discussion at work... Anyone who likes Adirondack forest style lakes would like the lakes of Ontario starting about 90min North of Toronto when the Canadian Shield starts. They are similar to Adirondack lakes. No mountains though... hills maybe. However, they have a lot more granite and cliffs along the shores.