We don't often get "extreme" weather. That usually forms elsewhere and by the time it makes it here, it has lost some of it's punch. We'll get some tornado's once in a while which I don't ever remember from when I was growing up. Climate change? We've been spared severe winter nor'easters the last few years.
From what I remember, western PA is beeootiful! If I were to be a snow bird I would spend the warmer months there. But I like Wisconsin. No real hills where I am.
To dry???? They all get their share of rain and, at times, heavy amounts of rain as in t-storm type. That is, unless you're not talking about rain?
Now, I could say, "Where have you lived that you would never live again?" As for us, nowhere in Florida, Colorado, North Carolina and, without a doubt, So. California. However, my wife's older sister would absolutely love it if we moved back there. When she was looking for someone to rent her condo to, she ask us to move into it. The quick answer we gave her, "sorry, no". Once we leave So. Nevada, will return to visit (possibly), but never/ever live here again. Absolutely not!
I never want to live in a big city again, although I wouldn't mind living in Boston for a year or so. As far as big cities go, Boston isn't half bad. I've been there several times and spent about a week there once for an SEO conference, and I don't hate it.
Amen! My ex and I bought a house, and she moved out a few months later. I was horribly house-poor for a while, but there was no way I was gonna go back to having people live on all sides of me and I had no say-so into who they were.
The only bad thing I remember about Boston is that the stoplights mean nothing at all. I remember traffic streaming through the red lights like they weren't even there. It was a surprise for me who thought people stopped for red lights. They had some system then where the lights all lit in both directions for pedestrians, and the traffic seemed to stop then. I haven't been there for a while. I don't think I ever drove in NYC; I always took public transit there. I think I will avoid all large cities for the foreseeable future, even to visit. I think I have been to all the big American cities when they were still cultural icons, not cesspools. I'd rather remember them as they were then.
I used to love going into DC. I loved the museums and the music and the architecture. The classic buildings were especially pretty at night. At some point it got to be too crowded and too full of The Self-Important. It's also too dangerous, with the city council overturning laws because those laws get broken so often that they must be unfair. I'm glad I got to experience it when I did.
I think I could live just about anywhere. We have lived in big cities and in rural areas; both were fine for me. I wouldn't want to live anywhere I had to be fearful for my safety, though. I could live in an apartment, particularly if I were living alone at this stage of life. I'd rather not manage upkeep on a house and yard by myself.
Many of us live or have lived in a farming/rural environment. Actually much more so than your "apartment in town" existence. I don't mind livestock smells but I can do without the pig pen or the chicken house smells. Yuck.
I grew up in front of a 4H farm and love the smell of livestock. I roll down my windows when driving through farm country. But I agree about the pigs & the chickens. And the guy on the adjacent lot gets paid to spread dried human waste on his fields. It comes from out-of-state, and does not smell "farmish."