I can vouch for that. I lived in Albuquerque for 15 months and had spent a lot of time there before. Wonderful place. Does get cold in the winter though. But the smell of mesquite and pinon fires coming from chimneys helps to make up for that.
I want to find a really BORING place to retire to-it would be nice if the winters are not too cold, as well.
By boring, I mean a place where not much happens…and time slows to a crawl.
My ideal would be a place like the (fictional) Hooterville (of the old TV show “Green Acres”)-think about it-Sam Drucker’s store has the Dec.7, 1941 NY Times…and the local cinema feature “Wings”.
Any suggestions?
[bolding mine]
Oh man, I love that smell! One of the best parts of camping in the mountains around here is starting a fire in the evening and the aroma that fills the campsite.
Edit: The winters do get cold, but nothing like the Midwest. I saw it hit -42 (without wind chill) in Wisconsin one winter. And the sunshine makes the cold much more tolerable.
Houston has some of the most gawd-awful summer weather in the US. Dallas is better, but, it’s Dallas.
Houston is even hotter and more humid than Austin. Nasty! Dallas isn’t quite as bad, but you are NOT going to be comfortable there in the summer.
I live in Tucson now, and tomorrow (March 6th) will be in the 90s. It’s way hot here and I’d love to move to a colder climate.
Houston’s summer temps are often a few degrees cooler than Dallas’s–which is not saying much. But we do have more humidity. (Also, we stay a few degrees warmer in the winter–which has been quite mild, this year. And, as you pointed out, we aren’t Dallas.)
Last summer was generally Hell all over Texas, with record breaking heat & a serious drought.
At a family wedding in Austin a couple of years ago, visitors from Cool California were complaining about the heat. In May…
I would suggest that you look into small towns in eastern TN or western NC. Very friendly people and quite laid-back-- nothing much happens. Lovely geography: gentle mountains, woods, rivers, lakes. Nice weather: 4 distinct seasons, but never really cold, and not a lot of snow. It does get really hot in July & August.
I’ve been all over the lower 48 states and in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. There are a lot of great places to live! All things considered, I’ll take the Southern Appalachians. Rich or poor, I will retire here-- with no family ties.
95 degrees is way more “painful” than temperatures in the 40s.
But a lot depends on what you’re used to. “Too cold” and “too hot” are relative; they vary from person to person, depending on how your personal body thermostat is set, on what you’re acclimated to, and on how warmly you’re dressed.
Very true. Personally, I think below 20 is too cold and above 90 is too hot. Anything from 50 to 80 is just fine, with 70 being perfect.
Obviously, I’d rather be cooler than warmer. My reasoning is that you can always put on more clothing, but there’s only so much you can take off.
Totally agree.
Where do you live? Does it fit this profile?
But I’m the only one I know who thinks the weather in England is great. I’ve lived there twice and loved the moderate rainy weather.
I’m in Chattanooga, TN.
I like the seasons and the fact that ***most ***of the time the temp is between 50F and 80F. Summer can get pretty brutal-- last August we had 0 rain and about 25 consecutive 100 degree days. That was a bit unusual, though.
I lived in the Smoky Mountains for several years and loved it. Four nice seasons, including a little snow in winter-- but rarely bitter cold. Summers were very warm, but not sweltering.
C’mon down to Texas. We’d love to have you!
Not for me I understand perfectly. My preferred state (Virginia, near DC) is perfectly situated for each season to be profoundly noticed. And in a few weeks the weather will become spectacularly spring with cherry blossoms everywhere. It is a spectacle.
And let’s not forget juniper and cedar! It really is a pleasure walking the streets in northern New Mexico in the winter. It did get close to 0 degrees Fahrenheit during my winter there. But I’d much rather experience the beauty of that season in that enchanted land than somewhere like, say, Kansas. And my 15 months covered two summers; I recall it being rather uncomfortable for maybe one week each time, then it settled down.
Wow, that’s really cold for Albuquerque! Our average lows for December and January are in the mid 20s and it’s fairly unusual for it get below 15. It does happen, but it’s not typical. Our average highs for December and January are in the mid 40s.
I do remember hearing it was an exceptionally cold winter that year. And I was on a bicycle the whole time!