I actually don’t mind the summer heat, as long as I don’t have to work in it. A little shade and a cool beverage and I’m fine. I absolutely LOVE the monsoon skies: dark blue with puffy white clouds.
The traffic thins out in the summer and I spend my mornings up at the local rivers and lakes with the grandchildren. We go fishing, tubing, kayaking, and occasionally snorkeling. The local firing ranges are nearly empty in the summer, too.
We also make a few trips to go hiking up in the cool forests of Payson or Pinetop, and spend a week in La Jolla snorkeling and body surfing. Before you know it, summer is over.
That’s similar to my summer plan here. Wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else. :)
As I’m a bit older now and really prefer not being in a cold/snowy environment. It snows where I am but when it does it’s gone in 1 or 2 days. I could never live in the low desert, (Phoenix area) too hot in summer...So we picked an elevation between 4k and 5k. It gets a bit cold in winter, but very doable...Weather is everything to me...Especially being a S.CA native. So the elevation had to be right. We have more outdoor stuff to do here than I ever had in S.CA. Off roading close by, no more driving 2+ hours just to go off-roading, kayaking, target shooting etc. There are 5 lakes in the pines within 20 minute drive, great fishing etc....I feel very fortunate to land where we did after years of planning our escape from S.CA.