I have ignored this thread because I thought about it for a long time. I don't want to move anywhere else permanently! I think Lisa S.H. sort of described the way I feel. I am a born and bred New Englander. I lived in a large suburb next to Boston until I was almost 16. My growing up life was really perfect. We had enough woods and open space for me to wander by the brooks and wetlands and yet I was 6 miles from Boston. I was taking the train into the city when i was 12. Then I moved to Miami. Yuch. I hated the politics (this was the late 60s), the environment, the lack of culture. I lived there until I was 21 and then moved to Scottsdale AZ. where my parents had moved. I liked AZ better, but as the years went on, especially after I married and had kids, I yearned for the east coast again. My husband is from Philadelphia and we really wanted to bring our kids up the way we were. We had a great house and jobs in Tempe, but it felt sort of "plastic." When my friends started flying to LA to buy gold bracelets, I said, "that's it." Plus, you couldn't go outside for almost half the year and the air pollution was horrible as the valley grew. I have lived in 3 different towns since moving back to MA. I love Concord, even though I don't feel that much of an attachment, since we moved here last year and my kids went to high school in a neighboring town. I love the fact that we have two village centers. It's a bit far for a quick walk (3.7 miles), but it is a quick bike ride. One center is a little upscale and historic (lots of visitors all year round) and the other is more artsy and funky. We are only about 25 minutes from Boston and it's just much closer to a lot of the city type things than the other 2 places we lived in. My house is really different; it's a contemporary house, with 4 levels, in a very diverse neighborhood, with plenty of woods and a community pond. I hated living in the typical 8 room colonial in a development in my last house. There are tons of local hiking/snow shoeing trails and lots of cyclists. It's not quite as rural as the cycling in my last town, but we are close enough to that area that it's not an issue.
I love the changeable weather in southern New England. It's not brutally cold for long periods of time, like in the mid west and there is a diversity of scenery. I can be at the beach fairly quickly and in the mountains in about 2 hours. We moved here because we were enamored of being near the ocean, but since we started cycling we hardly ever go to the beach. The cycling in those areas is horrible. So, I guess what I am saying is that there is more to life than endless summer. I think I might get sick of cycling if I could do it 365 days a year. I like having a short winter sports season; it's just enough to give me a different perspective on things. I might like to take a longer "visit" to someplace warm for a few weeks in the winter when I get older, but definitely will not be moving to Florida or anywhere else where people follow the sun. I like to travel, but I always like returning home!