Question for northerners...

I live in Canada---Ontario to be exact---and I would not move south at all. I hate hot/humid weather. So definitely nothing like Florida or California. I would prefer to move west...to coastal British Columbia. They get winter, but it's usually a mild one. Just enough snow to dust the ground. Here we usually measure snow in inches (or cm's)....the east seems to measure it in feet! LOL I always thought that was strange, the east coast getting so much snow and yet the west worrying more about rain. But winter is ok as long as it isn't bitter, wtih deep snow to drive through.

Plus a lot of the hotspots are overpopulated. Yuk. I guess it's a good thing, winter. Less people want to live here, hence more space for me!

DD

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We took a travel trailer to Florida, and stayed the month of Feb for 5 years. The trailer parks all had some big park model trailers that were there year around. Most of them had a car parked in front, and a TV lit up inside. For the most part the people living in them never came outside for days at a time. I could never see how sitting in a trailer in Florida was any improvement over sitting in a comfortable house in Pa, or Ont. where most of the license plates were from.

I dontlike to sweat. I start to sweat when the temps get above 60. I just cant take warm weather. My wife is from NC. Her parents, and all her family are there. I go visit evvery few years. The southern states are beautifull, but winter here is the only reliefe I get from the 70, 80, and 90 degree temps we get in the summer. I love winter. When the temps are to cold for my diesel to start, and Im working on my truck, or cutting firewood in below freezing temps, and my fingers are freezing, I thank god that Im not sweating. I dont like, hurricanes, floods, scorpions, brown recluse, aligators, earthquakes,mudslides, tornados, or many of the other things that are common in warmer climates. My wife and I have talked about getting a place near her parents so we can spend some time there in the winter, but I need the cold. As bad as the scocialist government is in Michigan I think it has the best living conditions of all the states.

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If I understand the question...you are trying to decide where to go for a few months a year to get out of the cold. So we northerners who like our winters, really can't give a heart felt reccommendation! I am from Buffalo, NY area and have been family based here all my life. I was in the mulitary though and did travel throughout the states. The standard answer of FL is too humid for me. That kind of heat is tiring. Southern CA, Vegas and AZ are better if you want high temps because the heat is dryer. Easier to adapt to quickly.

If I was doing what your talking about, say a yearly get away to the same spot every year. I would choose Western TN. The area usually has mild winters, similar to our fall temps. But has wonderful year long activities. You are a short drive to major National forests and lakes. If your into country, Nashville and Graceland are both there. If you want to make a weekend of it you can go to DC, or the ocean, or even the home of the Kentucky Derby! Where ever you choose remember there can be fluke weather systems. You could leave the comfort of fall like weather at home and hit a snow storm in Southern CA, or an earth quake! Not to mention hurricanes on the eastern or southern coasts. If you are looking to get away from it all, I would not go with a major tourist area. Good luck with your search and God bless.

My parents retired 20 years ago and went South traveling about for 6 - 8 weeks in January/February. They spend time in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
After 4 years of this they found a place in Harlingen (southernmost) Texas where they rented it for 4 months. They absolutely loved the area and purchased a place there 2 years later.
Now they spend 6 months in Harlingen and 6 months in Northern Wisconsin.

Of course, they lament that Harlingen is no longer the sleepy village it was 15 years ago. It has become increasingly overcrowded & congested.

I like winter. I loathe heat and humidity. I grew up in the south. Moved here on purpose.

I have this theory that you can always put on more clothes, but you can only get so naked. Give me the cold any day.

We call Florida, "Heaven's Waiting Room!"

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I was stationed in San Angelo, TX for a short while in 1988. I always said I'd retire there, but I have no idea what it is like now. I used to love getting up early and doing PT out on the old runways in February; 50 degrees at 5:30am! I met one of my favorite western writers there, Elmer Kelton.

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Hawaii or the Keys. Everywhere else has a chance of getting cold.

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Not so much in Death Valley.

I've lived in the Texas Panhandle most of my life but if I recommended an area of Texas to someone from the north, that's the area I would steer them towards. Midland, San Angelo and down towards San Antonio. Mostly staying in the center and western half of the state.

I would go to Jupiter FL, that is where my mom is and I miss her terribly.

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San Angelo seems pretty much the same to me as it did when I first went there in late 50's. I am sure it has modernized, but still a nice town.

Right now, in NE Texas, I am thinking Mexico.

Being a lifelong Texan, I have lived through the ups and downs. The old saying goes, 'if you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a couple of hours and it will change.' We didn't used to have days on end or weeks on end of the same. It has been raining cold here for what seems like weeks (maybe 2) and it has been cold for a few days now. That's enough. A 3 day winter is fine with me. I don't mind cold, just don't like real cold and don't like prolonged cold.

This summer we had almost a month of three digit heat - and although we were having a major drought, it wasn't the heat of AZ.

We spent a summer in the Phoenix area, I didn't mind the heat so much. My husband minded it even less. He would sit outside to read. Some of the people would rush out in the morning to shop and get home by 9:00 and stay under the A/C. It just didn't bother me that much.

I am not at all sure I would want to live in the Rio Grande valley now. It has changed so much as has so much of South Texas.

Phoenix area would be my choice right now. Of course, I think I would really like to be in NYC. If I am going to be cold, and it looks like I am, I would like to be somewhere interesting. Right now, NE Texas is NOT.

Can anyone tell I have cabin fever?

I wouldn't move to the US for all the tea in China. I enjoy the seasons here in eastern Canada. Snow has always been a part of my life and i enjoy it. I can't imagine living in a desert for 12 mths of the year. Nothing ever changing, no new growth, no cold winters by the fire and summers here a quite pleasant

I'd thnk about Texas or the Florida Keys. Went to Texas outside Dallas a few years back and was pleasantly surprised at how much greener it was than I expected. I wouldn't go to southern Calif. if you paid me in gold bars. We lived there for awhile in the 60s and just hated it. Wherever I went I wouldn't want to be in a metro area with too many people. New Mexico sounds nice although I've never been there.

Thanks everyone! We do like winter, just not soooo much of it . Being that my job is portable and the cold seems to be bothering DH more the older he gets, we have been tossing around the idea of just spending 2-3 months a year (probably all or part of December, January, and Feburary) somewhere warm. We were thinking that because we will soon be living in the country that spending 2-3 months a year near a larger city would be pretty fun. We would be looking for something near a beach (or preferably on the beach) near a larger city with lots of cultural things, museums, etc., and warm temps. Being around lots of people wouldn't bother us for a couple months as most of the rest of the year we will live on our property and don't see too many people.

TX is someplace we hadn't yet considered but lots of the responses above have mentioned. Are there any places in TX that would fit our criteria? If it is fairly warm and within the US we would consider it. Doesn't it snow it TX? Does it get cold? Anyone know anything of the Miami area or southern CA?

LisaInN.Idaho & Tiffin:

On our annual trek to the Keys this year, we were not allowed to swim! The beaches were posted with a bacteria warning sign due to an algea bloom or somesuch stuff and we had a van full of swimming and snorkling gear and never got to use any of it. So call ahead before you go. The Keys have become so over-crowded that the pollution has killed a lot of reefs. It looks more like an old black and white movie underwater than the fabulous colors of corals and fans I remember from my childhood.

Orlando hasn't been too bad this year. Cold snaps haven't lasted more than a day or so. Of course, I only work there and stay on the homestead as much as I can when I have time off. The poultry are very appreciative of the warmer weather this winter. We haven't had to cover their coop yet.

I'd move to Albuquerque in a heartbeat. Dry & warm but not too hot, spread out nicely for a little elbow room but with easy access to fun & cultural stuff, nice variety of scenery, decent people.

Well, up where we are Winter has been more like spring - as in, I've been able to go most the season without putting jackets on the kids! It's only been the past week or two that it's gotten seasonably cold.

The result? Well, Everyone in my area has been touchy...moody...off, cuz we all feel like "Something just isn't right". On top of that, old wives tales say that warm winters up here (cuz of the humidity) make cold and flu season worse... all I know is that nearly everyone was sick for two months straight, and then the past few weeks we're just starting to kick it...right around the time the temps starting hitting 'normal' cold levels.

I'm a born-bred New Englander. No need to move to warmer temps.

In your situation, I'd be most interested in snow-birding with an RV or trailer. So I wouldn't need to pick a fixed place, I could try many. Heck, I could just stay on the road going week by week all around the southern areas.