Somebody who may be moving to Lexington asked what all places he should visit to get a vibe for the town.  Naturally, some replied places like Keeneland, The Horse Park, Ashland, etc as.  All the places that most people who live in Lex never really go to.  I piped in that if he really wants to get a vibe for what Lex is like, he should go to Wal-Mart, a grocery store and drive around New Circle.

I mean, think about it.  If you are trying to decide if a town is right for you, shouldn’t you go to the same places that you spend most of your time going to wherever you now live?  All those places I mentioned are nice, and surely help define Lex, but I wouldn’t move here because of them, and I am probably not going to get a feel for how I’m going to fit in here either.

So, I figure most people are like me.  You go to the bank, the grocery store, do some shopping, some eating out, deal with traffic.  I think those are the things that will either make your life better or worse since you use them daily.  I drive by Ashland (The home of Henry Clay) everyday.  I would gladly trade that to be 5 minutes closer to my kid’s school!

I do a lot of work for people relocating here.  When I first starting getting all these people, I had these visions about driving them around, pointing out things like Triangle Park, explaining that the grass field in the middle of downtown might someday be called Center Point, a quick tour of UK’s campus, etc.  But just about all of them want to roll up their sleeves and see the neighborhoods where they may be living.  (If you want the tour, just ask or it!)

My advice to anybody would be to first decide what type of neighborhood you want to be in:  Older?  Newer?  Urban?  Suburban?  Which is more important, being close to work or activities?  What activities do you think you’ll end up doing?  Want to be close to a park?  Your kid’s school?  How much drive time can you handle without going crazy?  Once you answer a few questions like that, it gets easy for somebody who really knows Lex to narrow down a few parts of town that would work for you.