The 100 Best Places to Raise a Family

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Honolulu, Hawaii at #1? LA at #12?

That's funny.

Do any families even live in Honolulu? It seemed to me that it was all hotels.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Seriously, are there any museums in Utah outside LDS museums? I guess the U of U has a pretty good museum of natural history. Is there an art museum in Salt Lake?

BYU has a natural history museum with cool dinosaur bones and an art museum on campus, although the art museum refused to show Rodin sculptures at one time...I was attending law school at the time, I think. If an art museum refuses to display Rodin, then I kinda wonder how legit it can really be.

We were in Utah for about 8 days last summer and looked for some traditional museums to pass the time. Didn't have a lot of luck. We did go to a fun Children's Science Center kind of place downtown at the Gateway Mall. Not really a museum but a fun interactive playground for kids.

We wound up going to the Hogle Zoo and looking at the Ghost of the Bayou...an albino alligator that was either asleep or almost dead when we walked by and looked into the tank.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Do any families even live in Honolulu? It seemed to me that it was all hotels.

Honolulu is weird. I love going there for tourism, but truthfully, most of the neighborhoods are pretty old and dumpy. Some are almost third world.....clotheslines, stray dogs running everywhere, old cars that no longer work, some yard has a random washing machine out front, etc..

There are some really nice areas, like Hawaii Kai just past Honolulu. Also, I really like Mililani Town.

Once you go to the North Shore side, and over by Laie, all that is also mostly old or dumpy, too (excepting a lot of the houses right on the beach along the North Shore, of course)

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Seriously, are there any museums in Utah outside LDS museums? I guess the U of U has a pretty good museum of natural history. Is there an art museum in Salt Lake?

Besides this, http://museum.ceu.edu/history.htm, I can't think of any others.

Certainly SLC can't hold a candle to the Air Force Museum and Dayton Art Museum found in the Dayton, Ohio (Birthplace of Flight).

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

BYU has a natural history museum with cool dinosaur bones and some likenesses of Adam and Eve and Caine and Abel and Noah's ark and a hypothesis of the animals that may have been on board.

Why am I not surprised? Research my ass.

[creekster]

Aren't denton Texas and Waco Texas right next to each other? Denton is in the top 100 and Waco is one of the worst? THis doesn't make much sense to me (unless I am wrong about their proximity) and reflects poorly on Baylor, eh?

[SeattleUte]

seriously, DDD, how is BYU's natural history museum on protohumans? Hee hee.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by creekster

Aren't denton Texas and Waco Texas right next to each other? Denton is in the top 100 and Waco is one of the worst? THis doesn't make much sense to me (unless I am wrong about their proximity) and reflects poorly on Baylor, eh?

This whole thing is stupid. What is Best Life magazine anyway? THough I do hold it against Utah that it's so barren of cultural amenities including museums. That is bad for children.

[FarrahWaters]

Originally Posted by creekster

Aren't denton Texas and Waco Texas right next to each other? Denton is in the top 100 and Waco is one of the worst? THis doesn't make much sense to me (unless I am wrong about their proximity) and reflects poorly on Baylor, eh?

Denton is just north of Dallas, and about a three hour drive from Waco.

[ERCougar]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

This whole thing is stupid. What is Best Life magazine anyway? THough I do hold it against Utah that it's so barren of cultural amenities including museums. That is bad for children.

Do you have kids? If so, how many art museums have you taken them through?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

If I'm wrong, tell me your secret. When we've gone anywhere, we've had to switch off watching kids with another couple to see anything cultural. My kids really enjoy...well, childrens museums. Well, that and dinosaur bones--they did sort of enjoy the Field Museum in Chicago--but liked the Aquarium MUCH better.

The fact that museums are on this list at all (as well as some of the cities highlighted) tells me these people don't have kids.

Speaking of museums--has anyone ever been to the wildlife museum in St George? My kids loved that one.