I think for me, it wouldn’t be the weather that would be the determinant.
Instead, it would be the size of the city- I don’t know that I could do a small city. I very much enjoy new stuff- restaurants, stores, technology, cuisines, etc… and that stuff is mostly limited to big cities, except for maybe some college towns.
Geographically, I don’t think I’d be happy for long too far away from a major city. I grew up mostly living near Baltimore, undergrad was near Philly, and now I live near DC. I also have a deep love of NYC. I’m not an East Coast elitist, I’ve just spent most of my adult life near one large city or another and – at nearly 51 – I like it this way.
In terms of climate, I’m pretty happy in the Mid-Atlantic region: four seasons, and not too much of any of 'em.
At the moment, my only true “absolutely, positively never” is an apartment (or apartment-style condo). No place that has neighbors on more than two sides. I lived in apartments with no problem from 1994-2003, but my last experience was so horrible that I will never again risk having multiple terrible neighbors like I did then. I’ve been a renter my entire adult life, and that’s the only lease I’ve ever broken (legally; I paid the extra to get out early). Since then I’ve lived in either townhouses or small single-family homes.
Civilization sorta fades away the further north you go in Wisconsin. Green Bay is fairly civilized. You get north of Wausaukee and it’s like entering the Twilight Zone. Unfortunately for various reasons I’m stuck here so I try to make nice-nice with the local rednecks and hope they don’t shoot me.
Oh, before anybody else points it out- I am all too aware that outside of a few big cities, Pennsylvania is very well lets just say conservative.
But, in Philly candidates for mayor aggressively court the LBGTQ vote. You can find a neighborhood and shops and restaurants for any ethnicity. And we have Mummers.
Some one, knowing me to be generally warm and generous and greatly enjoying hearing stories from seniors, suggested I volunteer at a nursing home. I said, and those who knew me agreed, that I would bring the residents poison and give it to any (sure to be a large number) who wanted to end their suffering.
No place under Islamic law, but being Jewish they wouldn’t want me.
No place in the Deep South, partially for weather, mostly for politics.
My daughter used to live in Hong Kong, and I liked it. No longer.
I’m not fond of retirement homes, but my father-in-law lived in an artsy one and loved it.
And Jackmannii, I live in California, and have a wonderful garden, where I can grow things all year round.
Moot point - I can’t afford to move because of taxes.
Anywhere not rural with nice views is where I don’t want to live. I’d rather not see another house from my deck. A neighbor or two is fine down the road. That’s where we have been for 30 years.
Ha, we looked at one property a few years ago. The real estate agent was very excited about the view. If you step on this rock and look around this tree you can see a mountain. Uh huh. We have two 14,000 Colorado peaks just across our valley. Not more than 1.5 miles away as the crow flies.
My Wife and I enjoy playing chess on our deck for instance, when the odd car drives down the road it’s usually someone lost. I’ll gladly help them of course. But we are perfectly fine on our own. Don’t need restaurants or bars. I can cook and enjoy it. Sure you have to plan a little bit. I’m fine with that.
I’m not sure who said this “If you can’t take a piss in your own yard, you have too many neighbors”. I agree with the sentiment.
My wife and I are kicking around where to go when we retire. Should be closer to health care. And, well the snow is going to get hard to handle. Don’t want to move to a red state either. Or further north than about 40 degrees latitude. The choices are few.
Our problem is we love where we live, but won’t be able to handle it in 10 years or so. 30 feet of snow in the winter, is a bit much.
I was only able to get partway through it. Yes, The Villages looks like a godawful place to live.* But I think the filmmakers could’ve made their point and it would’ve been much less excruciating to watch had they taken a lighter approach.
*our one-time next-door neighbor in Ohio, a very nice widowed lady, sold her house and moved to The Villages.
I refused to watch it on the grounds I’m depressed enough as it it. IIRC from chats with Yiddishe Mama, the Villages are known for wealth and having an extremely high rate of STD’s.
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It can be a country, a city, a type of neighborhood, a type of dwelling - this is a wide open topic, inspired by the current effort underway to move my in-laws closer to us.
I would never want to live in a retirement community, especially not in Florida. My in-laws have been in their neighborhood for over 20 years, and I will admit, it’s not horrible, for all that it’s in Florida. But it seems every time we visited, we’d be treated to a recitation of who died, and more often than not, they’d get a call from the community association telling them someone else had shuffled off this mortal coil. I can’t imagine having that constant reminder of death - how depressing!!
I know it’s a natural part of humanity. I know my day will come. I don’t fear it or fret about it, but holy crap on a cracker, why would you want to wallow in it? Assuming I’ll remain more or less healthy till the end, I’ll stay where I am, thanks. Since my daughter will get the house when we die, I may well l turn it over to her and her family and move into one of the smaller bedrooms when I can no longer manage on my own. But I can’t imagine wanting to spend the end of my life in death’s waiting room, with or without an HOA.
Second worst place to live - any city. I like my 3 acres, thanks…
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Makes me think of Helen & morty Seinfeld.
Desert or anywhere rural. An aunt and uncle of mine retired to Scottsdale and it sounds horrible. Hot and all the worst of suburban sprawl.
New Orleans is a great place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there. My first visit was in late August to help move my brother into his dorm. It was awful, the heat and humidity were barely tolerable. However, another visit in March was very pleasant. For better or for worse, NOLA is much older than Vegas and the two are very different.
I used to be one of those people who said “never” to a retirement community. I’m still not wild about it, but I finally realized the sense in doing it. As those places go, this one is a cut above. It’s privately owned, not a corporate cookie cutter. The staff is efficient and effective and their longevity speaks to how well they like it here. You can pick and choose which services (if any) you want, the apartments are fairly spacious and quiet, and we come and go as we please. Now, life can turn on a dime, and your independence can disappear with no warning. Additionally, did I want to have to make this move when I’m in my 80s, or be forced into a care facility that was not of my choosing? No thanks. So never say never, folks.
For me it’s pretty much the opposite. I don’t mind urban, but I wouldn’t want to live somewhere where I’d have to travel more than a mile or so from home for most of my routine shopping.
When I traveled to Bangalore, India for work back in 2010, I was told by my Indian coworker that Bangalore isn’t the “real India”, the rural villages are. So I strongly suspect that attitude is found all over the world.
North Dakota has a few hills on the far western reaches in Teddy Roosevelt National Park; otherwise, it’s pretty boring. SD has the Black Hills, which are gorgeous, and the Badlands, which are. . .interesting.
