Snowbirding and Sunbirding

[wetwillie]

Pete are you going to forfeit Kansas/Missouri fall weather in this new adventure?

[Catchacold]

Also if the place isn't fully furnished, furniture rental companies were easy to deal with and they deliver/pickup. Then you just need kitchen stuff, bedding, etc. We sometimes found these in thrift stores and then donated back when we left.

[Trim]

How are you transporting the dogs from Minnesota?

Honda Odyssey with a 100K miles on it.  All of this scheme will be driving, and not flying.

Sounds like you should lave Minnesota by mid-October and not go back until May.

[DaBigTrain]

Pete, my mom has been a snowbird for 6 years now. She lives in Wyoming during the summers and then has a house just outside Phoenix during the winters, both of them are on golf courses. The first covid winter I snowbirded to AZ because it was just miserable in KC. I also live in south Texas now so I have a couple things I wanted to add.

I like Phoenix but the traffic around both downtowns sucks, it's also so spread out it takes forever to get anywhere. During the winter when you're there the weather is amazing, sunny almost everyday and lots of things to do outside. It sucks to live there in the summer so you wouldn't have to worry about that.

I like Tucson a lot too, it's got a small town feel in a not too overwhelming area. They also have skiing all year and it's nice during the winter. So you can enjoy your 60-70s weather and be like 30 min from the slopes. The food in both Tucson and Phoenix is very good and lots of variety.

The winters in south Texas are similar to Arizona but you do have more cloudy days and there's probably ~2 weeks a year where it could get down to freezing. When it does, omg, it's like the end of the world, people don't know how to drive and they even hoard water and stuff pretty wild. BUT I really like it down here. Austin is nice but it's super expensive but there is a lot to do also. There's a lot of hiking and biking here too. San Antonio has a lot of stuff to do outside and there's all the touristy stuff but there a lot of different areas of the city to visit. Hill country is not far and that's great for hiking and biking.

The other good thing about AZ and Texas is they are very close to KS. So I'm only a ~2 hour plane ride away from being home, that helps.

Anyways I absolutely hate the winters in KS and can deal with the super hot summers here so it's worth it to me to stay here to be able to enjoy all the months outside of the scorching summers.

[Pete]

Man this blog really delivers. 

[kim carnes]

Somewhere in the Coachella valley/thread

[sonofdaxjones]

Wilmington NC may provide enough hipster and enough sipping cold one's at a yacht basin eatery overlooking boats of all shapes and sizes . .  . MJ might even cruise buy on his fishing yacht.

Albeit affordable rentals may be difficult.

The place is getting pretty upper end, the county experiencing population decline because of gentrification and the working class indigenous population being pushed out because of higher costs of living.

[tdaver]

Agree with the St George comments.  Similar to Az but a little cooler.  Lows average at or just below freezing in Jan and highs in the 50s.  By March you’ll be up to 70s or even some 80s.  Again, fantastic outdoor recreation there. Some of the weird Utah things to get accustomed to, buts it’s slowly normalizing as the population grows. 

And the entire Wasatch front will be down there for MLK, Presidents’ Day weekends, so you can bitch and moan about all the out of towners messing everything up. 

[catastrophe]

As a Texas dweller I have the opposite problem. Is there a term for anti-snowbirding?

[tdaver]

Sunbirding! 

Snowbird/Sunbird is my goal.  Mountain town in the summer, SW desert in the winter.

[star seed 7]

Just move to the pacific coast

[catastrophe]

Sunbirding! 

Snowbird/Sunbird is my goal.  Mountain town in the summer, SW desert in the winter.

Sunbirding is my retirement (or semi retirement) wet dream. During COVID my online research took me to Bend, OR. But now I’m sort of resigned to CO on account of convenience and a bunch of family there.

[catastrophe]

Just move to the pacific coast

Maybe when I have no taxable income.

[Pete]

As a Texas dweller I have the opposite problem. Is there a term for anti-snowbirding?

Get/rent a cabin in northern MN/WI/MI in the north woods May - Sept.  May fishing is the best, but you won't be swimming. July/August is the best for lake sports. 

[wetwillie]

I have dreamed of being nomadic and starting in Minnesota in early summer and migrating south before winter hits, not sure how far south I'd end up going but San Antonio seems like a logical spot.

[DaBigTrain]

As a Texas dweller I have the opposite problem. Is there a term for anti-snowbirding?

Oh come on, it’s not THAT bad

[CNS]

What’s the mosquito sitch on these Minnesota lakes during summer?

[mocat]

Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere

[DaBigTrain]

Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere

I’m literally 20 min from anywhere in the city in SA.

[catastrophe]

Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere

I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.

[pissclams]

Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere

You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.

this sounds exactly like kansas city

[mocat]

Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere

I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.

This is an insane take and I love it!

[DaBigTrain]

Is there anywhere to live in Texas where you don't have to drive 1.5 hrs to get anywhere

I’ve never actually lived in KC, but Dallas feels like it has significantly less sprawl from my experience. You might have to drive 20-30 minutes to visit a friend but most everything you do on a daily basis is in your own little pocket of the city.

DFW is gigantic, so I think you’re meaning just, like, Dallas Dallas? Because the metro sprawl is to the max.

[Pete]

How are you transporting the dogs from Minnesota?

Honda Odyssey with a 100K miles on it.  All of this scheme will be driving, and not flying.

Sounds like you should lave Minnesota by mid-October and not go back until May.

That is definitely the ideal approach, but it's just more expensive.  If for any reason we find that we need to keep our KS place, that's almost exactly what we'd do, and then stay in KS Oct - April....that's what my mother-in-law and father-in-law do.

[Pete]

What’s the mosquito sitch on these Minnesota lakes during summer?

If varies, and gets worse at night.  Most of the time it isn't really that bad at all.  If you are going to be out of the water, just wear bug spray or clothes that ward them off. Camp fires work great for keeping them away.  People don't really ever notice them if they are swimming or tubing/skiing during the day, for example.

Personally, since our kids are nearly out of the house, we don't spend any time swimming really.  I'm either fishing or doing a stroll around the lake in the pontoon.  When I am fishing I am usually wearing long sleeves, like those fishing hoodies, and then a little bug spray on top of them to keep them away.  On a moving boat, they won't get you much, so the pontoon strolls are nice.

The whole thing kinda gets overblown.  Northern Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin, and Northern Michigan all have the same ecological profile, and they are all amazing in the summer. Minnesota does have the advantage of more lakes, of if you like water stuff, that's nice.  Wisconsin and Michigan have way more access to the Great Lakes though.  Duluth in MN is a super desirable place on a great lake, but definitely better in WI and MI if you like the big water 100 foot lake trout and salmon stuff.