What do you do during the summer months that is fun/enjoyable? From previous Threads, most of you already know what it is for us: power boating, rifle/pistol range and, this year, a trip to a water park.
That sounds like a great summertime schedule for fun, @Cody Fousnaugh , and if we had a boat, it would be part of our summertime fun, too. When spring first peeks its head out, both Bobby and i start doing yard work outside, and we both enjoy working in the yard and garden together. I can't handle the heat/humidity in the hot part of summer, so I try to get everything established before that gets here, and then I am up early in the mornings to get out and water the flowers and gardens. I guess the swimming pool is where we spend the most time during the summer, and we have one of the above-ground pools that we can swim and float around in and get a good suntan. Both of us like fishing; but it seems like we just don't get that into our schedule very well, because the yard keeps us busy in the spring , and then it is too hot to sit out and fish. Robin and I have been going to take out the kayaks; but she was working in Afghanistan last summer all summer long; but maybe she will have more time for swimming, fishing, and kayaking this year, and we will all three go together. I used to have one of those little pedal-boats (paddle-boats?) and I loved that when I had it. It was perfect for 1-2 people and we could fish or just pedal along and enjoy the lake. I lived very near the lake and i could just chain the boat up along the shore, and walk down the little trail to get there. I would love to have another one of those; but we are too far away from anyplace to be able to use it now anyway.
Besides a few visits to my daughter, I will probably go to NJ to visit my baby sister and then go with them to her condo on the beach in W. Palm Beach, Florida. So, I guess a lot of swimming....my sister is the one that lives on the lake in NJ and has an inground pool...the condo in Florida also has a pool but it's right on the ocean too and the water is pretty warm there. It will be kind of hard at first going there because the last time I was there my mom was still alive. Don't know yet if I'll be visiting my son in Illinois in the summer or the fall. My sister in Colorado has been wanting me to visit but I don't know if I'll have time this summer. I also am planning on joining a 55+ group in my area that goes on little trips....so kind of a busy summer for me.
In Colorado, we'd be on the water at 9AM. Not much boat traffic at that time. But, that was in Colorado where the humidity isn't nearly as bad in the summer as it is here. Actually, there have been a few times here where the temp in the AM was just too warm to take the boat out. When we first got this boat, we bought rod holders that I installed on the gunwales of the boat, but ended up taking them off when I knew we wouldn't fish here, like we thought we would. We ended up selling all of the saltwater gear we had. With the way the humidity gets here in the summer, there have been weekends when we pretty much stayed in our apartment all day, had the A/C on and just watched movies. We do have days here that does get that hot and humid here. It can also get so hot, that going to the range is out of the question as well.
I can see why you would want to be in Colorado in the beautiful summer weather, @Cody Fousnaugh ; but it is beyond me why you would want to live in a place that gets so cold and has so much snow in the winter. Do you and your wife ski in the winter or what do you do that you enjoy the snow so much ? I loved the summers in northern Idaho; but hated the below zero winters that we had there, hated driving on icy roads, and having to shovel almost every day just to get in and out of the house to feed the horses. Of course, if you lived in an apartment, you would not have to worry about shoveling snow most likely. I think that Western Washington was the best for all around weather. We did get a lot of rain there; but also los of beautiful sunny days, and in the winter we didn't have to fight our way through snow, just lots of rain. Here is an example of north Idaho winter snow from back in the early 1950's, and you can see how deep it gets there. Right now, most of northern Idaho is a disaster from melting snow causing flooded rivers and mudslides all over.
For one thing, and I've told this to those that have also talked about the winters there........when people are retired, it's much easier living in snow. No driving to work and back home. The other thing, people have to "take the good with the bad" when living places. Here, the humidity can make a person miserable and hurricane season can get people scared. We can get some nasty t-storms here, just like in Colorado. For the things we love and miss about Colorado, have to put up with the winters. I worked for a company that done Senior Healthcare when we lived there and it can be amazing how many Seniors live there yearround.
It is about the official "First Day of Summer", tomorrow, and we are already having hot weather, intermixed with cooler and rainy. Bobby has the swimming pool set up now, and he has started working on making us a back deck that will be around part of the pool. My balance is not very good, and I had a hard time climbing in and out of the pool with those skinny little ladders that comes with them. Once Bobby gets the deck made, then we can just have a ladder down into the pool and not need to climb over from the ground on the outside. We have already really been enjoying the pool though, and lounging in the sunshine. This summer, we will probably be spending most of our time either at the fitness center, or outside in the swimming pool. I will take a picture of how it looks so far, and then another one when he is finished. We are also looking at getting one of those privacy windscreens from Amazon that will go along the side fence between us and the house next door. I will then plant some cannas and Jerusalem artichokes along the fence line, and eventually, we won't even see the windscreen, once the greenery thickens up.