Northwest Arkansas is a beautiful and unique place that offers many benefits, including beautiful sceneries, affordable homes, and great weather. Since Northwest Arkansas is a unique place, there are a few things about the place that might intrigue you should you move here.
Here are a few weird things I discovered moving to Northwest Arkansas from Chicago-land:
- No basements
- Fewer mosquitoes
- 5th lane turning
- Fall lasts forever
- So many trees
Keep reading this article to know more about Northwest Arkansas for a better chance of acclimatization once you move. If you’re planning on a trip to NWA, check out my 3-day itinerary for the best trip!
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1. No Basements
The first and most exciting thing I learned about Northwest Arkansas moving from Chicago-land is that there are hardly any homes with basements.
I grew up in Northern Illinois, the Chicago-land area, and the Wisconsin area, where every home has a basement. It is weird in these locations to find a house with only a slab and no basement.
So naturally, one of the first things I looked for when I moved to Northwest Arkansas was a house with a basement. However, I soon realized that there are no homes with basements around here. So, it is very common to find houses with slabs and sometimes crawls and walkout basements.
Basements are not common in Northwest Arkansas because there is a lot of stone and rock in the ground that requires huge amounts of money to dig up and install basements. This doesn’t make much financial sense, hence the houses with no basements.
Furthermore, the truth is that most people usually use their basement as a storage space. Therefore, houses in Northwest Arkansas have higher storage spaces, such as attics, mitigating the need for a basement.
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2. Fewer Mosquitoes
The second unique thing I learned about Northwest Arkansas compared to Chicago-land is the fact that there are less mosquitoes in the area.
If you have lived around Northern Illinois in Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and the Canada area, you will know that you cannot go outside for minutes without getting bit by mosquitoes. This is especially the case if you live near a forested area or near stagnant water that creates ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
Moving here, one of the first things I discovered during my first summer was that I did not get any mosquito bites. I thought it was a fluke until I went a second summer where I hardly ever got bit.
Northwest Arkansas has significantly fewer mosquitoes compared to the Chicago land area, making it nicer and safer for you.
Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:
https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas
3. 5th Lane Turning
One of the other most unique things that I learned about moving to Northwest Arkansas compared to Chicago-land was that they use a fifth lane turning instead of stop lights. Maybe in your state, you have that fifth turning lane, but in Illinois, they really don’t use them too often.
The fifth turning lane is essentially two lanes going one direction and two lanes going the other direction, with a center lane dedicated to people merging out and then jumping into traffic.
Now, I actually prefer this because in Illinois, what they do to solve the problem in a busy intersection, or if you’re leaving Home Depot and want to jump into traffic, is to put a stop light there.
This is problematic and unsustainable because if you are traveling across the Chicago-land area, you are likely to come across 40 stoplights in a couple of miles. Thus, a journey that should take about three minutes takes an hour and a half.
In Northwest Arkansas, they installed many major roads and added center lanes for people to jump to while waiting to merge with traffic after it thinned out. This enables you to travel much faster and save time by avoiding traffic.
Still not sure if Northwest Arkansas is for you? : Find out!
4. Fall Lasts Forever
One of my favorite things about moving to Northwest Arkansas compared to the Chicago-land area is that fall lasts forever.
People who have lived in that Northern section of the United States usually experience fall for about two weeks when it looks glorious and beautiful before the storm comes and knocks down all the leaves and branches.
The interesting thing with Arkansas is that fall usually lasts longer, thus allowing trees to hold leaves longer. Additionally, there are stages of leaves falling throughout the fall season. Some leaves drop earlier, and then some drop way later into December, giving you this long fall stretch. Living in fall is really a dream come true.
Along with all this, Northwest Arkansas is filled with business opportunities! Read Best startups and new companies in NWA to know more!
5. So Many Trees
The last interesting thing I learned after moving to Northwest Arkansas is that there are so many trees.
When I moved to Northwest Arkansas, I knew that Arkansas state theme is the natural state. While I knew that, I didn’t know exactly what it meant.
After living here for a year and a half, I have witnessed Arkansas’ natural state from the many trees, trails, lakes, and rivers.
Arkansas has so many natural things making it the natural state, including the vast measures employed to preserve nature. For instance, one of the fascinating things they do in Arkansas is they don’t go through and bulldoze everything when doing a new subdivision or making a new trail system.
Instead, they work with the area, the tree system, and the trail system and build it into the area rather than ripping everything down. For example, I have seen builders on countless occasions come in and subdivide plots while leaving stuff there like trees. They try to work around the trees to preserve their place in their natural state.
So a lot of times when you go around Northwest Arkansas, you will notice very mature subdivisions that have only been there for two years but with much older trees. This is because the trees are left a lot longer as a focal point of the community.
Especially when it comes to the trail system around here, they don’t just go in and make concrete pathways everywhere. Instead, they use the ground and rocks available right there to make a natural trail system.
