These folks are a staple in our economy here, though few think about it. They travel all the way down here to west central Arizona to enjoy the Winter climate here, like Spring where they live. They are part of the reason why our cost of living here is the lowest in the state. They spend money.....Today, my wife and I headed up to Laughlin to cash in our "free-play", and she spotted a large enclosed trailer hooked to a huge pickup: Alberta (Can) plates, parked in front of a nice upper-middle income home, obviously not visiting friends. These folks had fled the cold north, rented a beautiful house, probably for the Winter. When we returned home, she called out to me during one of my frequent returns from the shop for coffee, showing me the radar picture in Alberta. It was SNOWING! Later, this evening, she revealed it was also snowing in British Colombia. Now, me, I've always loved the snow, perhaps because I grew up with it in Chicago. But as I grew older, and after I left Chicago for the warm climate of Las Vegas at age 30, I began to wonder there, that first Fall, about the monotony of the weather. One morning as I opened up the service station, I noted the beautiful red mountains to the west were white! The young guys who worked for me assured that snow only 30 miles out of Vegas was an every-Winter thing! I was flabbergasted! Thought Vegas was like the "Tropics!" Who knew? Frank
Yeah, I guess you can run into snow whenever you go "up" far enough, whether it's up north or whether it's up in the mountains. Parts of Texas have snow too.
Canadians are a staple in our local economy too. Many Canadians come to this area to shop at the local mega-mall. Some of them wear old worn clothes that they dispose of when they change into their new designer togs for the trip home in an attempt to escape the border taxes. I often wonder if it does much good or if it is just an odd tradition/shopping ritual. As for the snow, I don't bother it and it doesn't bother me!
The Rio Grande Valley was flooded with "Winter Texans" each year, although most of them came from the US Midwest, I think. I don't remember seeing Canadian plates.