Re: Question for you Northerners...
I lived in a 100,000 population town in the Midwest for 3 years after getting out of college. Corn, corn, corn everywhere until the harvest, then it was mud, mud, mud everywhere until June/July. Not a lake for 100 miles. Cabin fever is real in a long hard winter--not seeing above freezing and nothing but snow for months on end. Worst experience of my life.
Then I moved to the Mid South--Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta. We had 4 seasons and tons of things to do--including fabulous lakes and magnificent mountain ranges. But, I seldom even wore a coat.
I later traveled all over the country--California (4 wks. yr.), Seattle (2x), Pennsylvania (3 wks. yr), Massachusetts (3 wks. yr.), Georgia (10 wks. yr), Virginia (10 wks. yr), and Florida (4 wks. yr.) I once locked myself out of my rental car in Jamestown, North Dakota one December morning @ minus 33 degrees. They called Chicago "down there"--650 miles southeast.
I swore off living anywhere they didn't have good pig barbeque--which limits me to living from Kentucky south. (I love Texas, but I cannot handle that beef stuff they call barbeque.)
I retired very young to the Tennessee River in North Alabama. Our 5 mile water/sunset view is like living on the ocean. Our waters are not land locked, and our river is the best river cruising in the U.S. House prices are the most reasonable I've ever seen anywhere, and property taxes are extremely low. (Disabled landowners don't even have property taxes.) I have two Robert Trent Jones golf courses on my street and a third within eyesight across the lake. This place is Shangra-La.
Home is home, and I'm glad people have family lives. I just don't cherish living anywhere there is much snow. We're back on the river by the first of April, and boat until November. Our bass and catfish fishing is as good as it gets. It's just a great place to retire to--especially since our cost of living allows us to retire young and live longer.
I lived in a 100,000 population town in the Midwest for 3 years after getting out of college. Corn, corn, corn everywhere until the harvest, then it was mud, mud, mud everywhere until June/July. Not a lake for 100 miles. Cabin fever is real in a long hard winter--not seeing above freezing and nothing but snow for months on end. Worst experience of my life.
Then I moved to the Mid South--Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta. We had 4 seasons and tons of things to do--including fabulous lakes and magnificent mountain ranges. But, I seldom even wore a coat.
I later traveled all over the country--California (4 wks. yr.), Seattle (2x), Pennsylvania (3 wks. yr), Massachusetts (3 wks. yr.), Georgia (10 wks. yr), Virginia (10 wks. yr), and Florida (4 wks. yr.) I once locked myself out of my rental car in Jamestown, North Dakota one December morning @ minus 33 degrees. They called Chicago "down there"--650 miles southeast.
I swore off living anywhere they didn't have good pig barbeque--which limits me to living from Kentucky south. (I love Texas, but I cannot handle that beef stuff they call barbeque.)
I retired very young to the Tennessee River in North Alabama. Our 5 mile water/sunset view is like living on the ocean. Our waters are not land locked, and our river is the best river cruising in the U.S. House prices are the most reasonable I've ever seen anywhere, and property taxes are extremely low. (Disabled landowners don't even have property taxes.) I have two Robert Trent Jones golf courses on my street and a third within eyesight across the lake. This place is Shangra-La.
Home is home, and I'm glad people have family lives. I just don't cherish living anywhere there is much snow. We're back on the river by the first of April, and boat until November. Our bass and catfish fishing is as good as it gets. It's just a great place to retire to--especially since our cost of living allows us to retire young and live longer.
