Originally Posted by
dc3driver
I am trying to convince my wife (and myself) of moving here. Would appreciate some quality of life issues addressed. Specifically: triathlons races, dog parks, good outdoors stores, restaurants, towns with a pedestrian friendly downtown area?
What about websites for meet and greet. There was a great one in CLT called CHOA.com for proffesionals that moved there and didn't know anyone but wanted to get in on a pickup soccer match, hiking, and etc.
Thanks
DC3, I have been in MEM for almost 13 years now and it is not as bad as a some guys make it out to be. Shelby Farms is a great park with lots of space for jogging, mountain biking and letting your dog run. This park makes living in MEM enjoyable. By the way, the lake out there is a mudhole -I would not step foot in it.
As for most other outdoor activities you need to go out of town. There are some great lakes and rivers in Arkansas that are good for boating. You have the Spring river, the White river and Little Red that are good for kyaking, canoeing and has some of the best fly fishing in the country. You can hike and I believe rock climb in arkansas.
http://www.arkansas.com/ [/URL] They have a great website showing what to do and where to go. I go to Arkansas often since my wife is from Arkansas. The lakes in west TN or Mississippi are only good for bass fishing or catfish noodling(redneck sport), which is why I do my triathlons in Arkansas. There are at least 3 or 4 a year in Arkansas within 3 hour drive of MEM.
Since you might be looking for someplace to live that is maybe within driving distance of mem, look at little rock(2 hours). Very progressive city with lots of bike trails and parks. People in memphis think your a commmunist if you ride a bike on city streets. In little rock they have bike lanes.
As far as memphis restaurants. Memphis has GREAT restaurants. In the loop of memphis there are very few chain restaurants other than fast food. Some to try when in town are: McEwens on Monroe, Stellas, Lolo's table, Felecia Suzannes, Belmont (best burger ever) Half Shell, Tsunami, LuLu grill, Ciao Bella. The guys who say there are not good restaurants in memphis are the guys who only leave Collierville or Germantown to go to the airport or the guy who eats at KFC when in Milan Italy. I have flown with many guys who have not been downtown in 20 years.
If you dont have kids live in downtown. If you do have kids, you can do it but it takes a little effort. There are great places to run and walk dogs downtown on mud island or tom lee park and you have beale street, grizzlies and the redbirds and numerous bars restaurant for entertainment. Downtown is where most of the young people are moving to when they come to memphis, especially if they are coming from outside the region, nless they are fedex pilots, then they move to collierville or germantown.