sager wrote on 02/20/14 at 12:23pm:

Except for South Meck.   

I live in Huntersville.  Use to commute downtown but now I'm home-based.  Never had a problem with traffic. 

I really like the area.  It's safe and pretty friendly.  Although we just had our first homicide in 2 years 2 days ago.  Some very good eating places and pretty close to everything.  IDK how old your kids are, but Huntersville has a childrens' museum and the parks are great in the area.

It's also close to the water.  In about 10 minutes I can have the kayak out on the water at two large lakes   

Mooresville is nice but the commute to Charlotte would suck.

I have been driving and since our stay in this area we have driven 500 miles and I need more time! I love it here!

Jeff,

I'm from upstate NY and moved here 2 years ago. I settled in Waxhaw and love it. Would be worth your time to check it out. What part of NY are you from?

I think if you move the veiled racism of others aside, I think a lot of the "bad" schools are also just old schools in the opinion of many.

NYJeff wrote on 02/22/14 at 2:20pm:


Be sure to let us know when you come back - we'd love to show you some trails.

stateprez wrote on 02/21/14 at 1:48am:

HEY! WHOA! Watch it there!   

At least not when I went to school there...waaaaaay back in the early 80's...

BTW Class of '87 rules!

NYJeff wrote on 02/28/14 at 4:57pm:


Hey! Im in Waxhaw... last time I looked out the window anyway. I'd be happy to show ya the local roads and trails. Your 30-40 minutes away from a half dozen great trails and the trails on the North side of town are only an hour or so away. Also some really great road riding out here if your into that sort of thing. I went to Union County skools and I turnned owt awlwright.

Waxhaw is great choice...Our Mayor has been sober 5 full weeks!
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MountainCycle wrote on 02/21/14 at 10:59pm:


Hey man, we had our conversation on this so you know where I stand on it. However, if its trail info you want, I can provide that. Obviously Ellicotville is great. It will be about 40-45 minutes from OP. Really close to OP is Sprague Brook, that would be the place you will hit most often. Its only about 15 minutes from OP. Last I heard maybe a 10-12 mile loop. Very rooty. Its become the go-to place for most of my friends for a weekday ride in the area because its so much closer than E-villle

Hunters is old school there, thats where I learned to mtb. Fun trails, but pretty short, maybe 20-25 minutes from OP. Watch the cliffs down to the creek!!! They are buidling new trail at Harris Hill. There is also Letchworth State Park and some excellent riding in the Finger Lakes as well as near Rochester. Thats about 1-1.5 hours away. And just over the border in Canada there are some decent trails. Heard they are building more at Alleghany, right now its really just wide double track, nothing really good at all. The park is about 25 minutes south of Eville. Near Eville is Golden Hills. Its a good trail, very worth checking out. Check out: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

There is a big difference in when you can ride up there. They are still buried under 2 feet of snow. Learn to snowshoe, xc ski, dh ski, or get a fat bike. It will make the winter a lot more fun. I did a lot of xc skiing and snow shoeing.

I lived there for 14 years and have a lot of good friends up there. Its a good place, gets a bad rap. 

Good luck with the move!

[quote author=4E4D54534E544F3D0 link=1392859300/38#38 date=1393680824]Do Mongoose and GT make good bikes?  Depends.  Get past the label and some of the higher end stuff is great.  CMS is labelled by many but actually is improving in many ways.  Students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools outperformed counterparts in 20 urban districts on a rigorous national test of math and reading, according to 2013 results released Wednesday.

The majority of students in CMS, North Carolina and the nation fell short of proficiency on the exams, which were given to a representative sampling of fourth- and eighth-grade students in 21 large districts. But the report on the National Assessment of Educational Progress highlights a number of strong points for Charlotte:

• CMS topped all other districts in fourth- and eighth-grade math and was one of only three districts logging significant gains in eighth-grade math since the tests were last given in 2011.

• CMS was virtually tied with Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Fla., to top the list on reading. CMS showed small gains in reading, but the increase was not considered significant.

• Black, white and Hispanic students in CMS outperformed the national, state and big-city average for those groups on all exams.

[/quote]
But those facts just get in the way, don't they?  ;)