What do you love about Long Island?

tracyg - we're neighbors. We live on the queens side of Bellerose.

We love it because it's so convenient to the city yet quiet and convenient to shopping, etc.

Very expensive though.

Hey , i grew up in Bellerose!

Its not that i hate NY, its just that i'm tired of living here. I don't want to live in one place all my life. I just need a change of scenery. I know once I move i'll miss it, but I need a change.

I can't say I really love anything about LI - we're here because hubby and I decided we needed to live closer to family, instead of in Boston where we didn't have any family. Mine is in AZ and we decided the heat is too much there, although I'd love to be closer to my nieces.

The housing prices are ridiculous, and the taxes are worse. I grew up in Michigan were the yards were sooo much bigger than here (and we have a half acre now). I never was much of a beach person (give me hills, trees and mountains any day). I guess since I didn't grow up here, it's just not in my blood, and hasn't won my heart yet.

What's good - a 3.7 mile commute to work, nice people, decent shopping, though nothing that special, double and triple coupons at the supermarket, living closer to some dear friend now and hubby's brother and cousin - both great guys.

The two way streets, the fact that I dont have to parallel park, the shopping, the grass in front of my house, the garage, the parks, the beaches, the pools, the fact that I graduated with LESS than 400 in HS, the fact that there is ALWAYS parking when I shop, the LIRR, the bars, hmmmmmm... I could go on and on and on!

Edited to say: I am comparing all of this to when I lived in Queens. I'm there all the time, but could never go back.

I love being near the beach. It's something that we take for granted. We went to visit my brother in San Diego in September and we were laying on the beach with some of his friends that lived in Ohio. They were so excited to be on the beach at the ocean. We were not so excited b/c it;s something we do all summer. We realized at the point that we love living on Long Island and we realized how much we take it for granted.

But the cost of houses is outrageous!!!

the prices!!!! LOL jk

I love the 'New York-ness' of it all. I love the clannishness of cops, firemen, italians, irish, jewish....seems like everyone either knows everybody else or knows someone who knows a guy that will (insert service here: fix the roof, fix the brakes, get you a deal on a pool, make a 12 ft hero etc., sell you a great used car, etc.).

I love the North Shore and its beaches, I love the quaint houses (I grew up in Texas and its SO different) - for example, here in NY, you have 75-100 year old cottages in some places whereas in Houston the oldest houses are like, 40-50 yrs old. I love the food (never had chicken parm in my life til I moved up here), I love Little League, I love the good school systems....I love the 'suburban-ness of it, strip malls notwithstanding) and the family-ness of it.

I don't like the housing prices, the traffic and the narrow-mindedness I have encountered. Tell people you're from Texas and they think you're from Mars....

Anna, you're too much!!! I also grew up in Queens, a different part of Astoria then Anna -- closer to where you work Jennbaby. But my mother's whole family lived out in LI -- East Setauket and then Stony Brook (now they're ALL over). I used to LIVE out there in the summers and when I started driving, I would drive out there whenever I had no school or a day off. I know my way around there better then some of my cousins do!!!

I love the shopping and it's amazing to see how much the shopping has changed over the years! I remember when Yellowstone Farm Stand (next to Friendly's on 347) was an actual FARM and it's amazing to see how much they've built it up. The traffic to get out there and back has also changed and not for the better!!!

What used to annoy me was when I would go to school w/my cousin on my break (what an idiot I am, I'm off, but going to school w/her!!!) and all her friends would say 'oooh, you're from the city? did you see anybody get shot?' -- WHAT???? I used to say that I'm not from the city, that's Manhattan, I'm from Queens, which by the way is attached to Long Island!!!

I could live out there with no problem, but since my DH works in Jersey and his mom is in the Poconos and my sister is in another part of Jersey, I don't think that's ever going to happen!!