Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Who are you, Why do you live where you live?

I had pretty much lived my whole life in Southern California, specifically the South Bay Beach area of Los Angeles county.

However, about 7 years ago, when my wife Judie and I were looking for a place to retire to, we thought of the time just a few years before that, in the winter of 2001, when we had driven through Prescott Arizona one early evening, and while on our way to see the Grand Canyon.

It was just a few weeks before Christmas at the time, and as we drove through this historic old west town(which served as the original territorial capital of Arizona from 1864 to 1867), the old town square was all lit up with Christmas lights, as was much of the town itself. Adding further to the quaintness of this was all the snow which had blanketed Prescott just the day before.

I kind of fell in love with the town right then and there, as while we were driving down Whiskey Row, I almost felt as if I would any minute spot George Bailey[Jimmy Stewart] running down the street and yelling "Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!"

Well, we ended up purchasing a house here about 6 years ago and used it as a vacation home until Judie also retired at the end of 2009, whereupon a few months later we moved into it permanently, and now rent out our other house in California.

Due to Prescott being situated a mile high in elevation, the climate here is very temperate as compared to other parts of Arizona. Summertime temps rarely exceed 90F, and winters may bring two or three dustings of snow, but that usually melts away within a few days, as the average daytime temps during that part of the year is in the 50F range. Sunny days are the norm throughout the seasons, also.

There are Ponderosa Pine-filled mountains aplenty up here which have very well maintained highways running over and around them, and upon which are a blast to ride motorcycles.

(...oh, and I have to say I kinda miss the beaches of SoCal, but definitely NOT the multitudes of PEOPLE and the TRAFFIC that's now commonplace there!)