Maddy,
Hmmm..bugs - flies, ants, mosquitos, "no see 'ems" {in season}, regular old house spiders are things that I have encountered around the house {and we live outside of town on 5 acres].
critters - dogs, cats, horses, goats, cows, lambs, prairie dogs, calvs and foals in spring.
Snakes - small garden type snakes {I've olny seen one dead along main road, never in yard}.
I don't like creepy crawly things and I am ok here.
As far as snowstorms in ABQ area...they do happen but they are the exception, not the rule.
The one major drawback of SW Colorado as far as I am concerned, the closest airport is ABQ a 4 hour drive. Also, we are 3+ hours from an interstate. But hey, the outdoors here makes up for it by far!
Debi

If you were thinking of Sedona, I do think Prescott is worth checking out. Average highs in January are in the 50's and lows are in the mid-twenties. Beautiful scenery, plenty of outdoors activities....maybe someone else will know about the healthy living aspect.

Our son will be a Junior at Univ of Oregon and loves Eugene so much has stayed for summer. Have never seen begging dogs or homeless beggers and have visited many times. Not that they don't exist, but sounds like a real pessimist overlooking all of the Natural beauty to focus on the one bad thing to pick out. No shoveling the liquid sunshine, snow is possible, but in Oregon if you want to make a snowman
you must run out the moment there's enough on the ground as in an hour or two it may be gone! Trick to surving the rain is minute the sun comes out drop all indoor plans and go take advantage. When sun is out which has been a lot this year it truly is Heaven on Earth! Pharmas should have no problens with employment, we
are on several lists of Best places to retire, but plenty of recreation and cultural opportunities for all ages. Newest trends are restaurants that cater to dogs & owners! We live in Sherwood, OR also lovely; a suburb just South of Portland. Rgds, LO

Leora- you expressed that very well
Completely agree!

Debi thanks for the information and for not making me feel like a weirdo for asking the question. The bug situation would be one of the factors I'd have to consider before I was to move somewhere. A small garden variety house spider is bad enough, an area that has those big hairy suckers would just not work for me.

o2deep2 I'm so glad you posted your question. I always find these topics that get people to talk about the pro and cons of where they live really interesting and fun. You hear about places that you might not have even considered, and get insights that just aren't available from those lists in a magazine.

Do you care whether you are a reasonable distance from an airport? One that flies to more than one other city? Some of the places suggested are at least a couple hours away, or are close to a small airport with limited, expensive options. I have family in Bend, Oregon, for example - great place, but three hours from the airport is a pain getting to see them!

Since my hometown of Phoenix appears to be ineligible on heat grounds, I'll offer my husband's: Bellingham, Washington. 90 miles north of Seattle on a beautiful coastline. Lots of municipal parks, a big lake in town, cute downtown, close to serious hiking in the Cascades, ferries to the San Juans and British Columbia are nearby, huge biking area, local food co-op does good business. It snows a couple times a year, maybe.

The catch is that you have to be okay doing your outdoor activities when it's 50-60 degrees and cloudy/rainy. That doesn't work for me, but my husband thought it was just great.

It's also technically a college town, since it's the location of Western Washington University. In this case though that seems to make the town much more interesting than it would otherwise be - there isn't really a student ghetto or other type of area negatively influenced by the students.

HI everyone!

Great responses! I love the ideas. We do want to be within say....1 hr of the airport.

The Washington/Oregon states kind of scare me with rain, coldness and cloudy skies. That is what I am coming from. I'll keep looking though.

We would love Sedona but their aren't a lot of jobs there that would support a family.

I do love the ideas because it is so interesting to see all the great places people come up with.

Thanks everyone!

Bishopl, CA?

um, it's not cold here. We have palm trees and flowers all winter in Southern Oregon.
Have you ever been to the desert? No Green gets to you after a while.

Much of the southwest is "high desert" which is very different than desert and can have lots of green...with beautiful blue skies...just no blue oceans.
Debi

Ft. Collins, Colorado was just voted the most livable city in the US by mondy magazine. I was just there visiting my sister - the have lots of parks, open space, Whole Foods. Don't know about the cost of housing except that it is less than San Jose. It does snow but usually melts before they can get any snow removal equipment out of the shed.

HI Again!

Ok I'll check more into Oregon. I guess the few cities I looked at scared me away and I didn't look further

As far as the desert, I've been to Death Valley in CA, Tuscon, Phoenix ( does that count???) Sedona, the painted desert, etc.

I do agree that the lack of green might get to me after awhile.

I'm taking notes on what everyone is saying. I can't remember all this so I'm making a notebook of suggestions!

Thanks to everyone. This is such a big help!

Consider Oregon.
I have lived all over the US - and always come back here... Portland is the best - but lots of smaller towns - the ocean - mt. mild weather - check it out!

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Might think twice about Portland ... I am looking around sw Colorado. Portland has some wonderful things but the area has closed public schools 2 yrs in a row and as of now we are the meth capitol of the nation. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news ... maybe when they get things under control it will be back to what people loved before. Seattle I love but got to love the rain! I loved Taos best of all but I am not sure about what there would be to do there for a teenager. Looking for a small town in high desert. Love the arts and to have down to earth people around. We were only there a week but it is really great. I loved the little towns in the NE but cant move so far away. Wish I knew of places kind of like them in the west. Any suggestions???

I have answered one of your other posts about checking out Austin. YOu mention that you don't have kids, but if you think that they could be anywhere in your future, be sure to check out areas that also have good schools. If for no other reason than resale value. I would say the Austin area fits all of your criteria except for the heat, but I suppose that is why we have air conditioners right?