Living in the southwest has been full of ups plus downs.
When I originally came out here for college, I landed in Phoenix, Arizona.
For a boy who was used to freezing winters plus mild summers, Phoenix was absolutely brutal. Many Summer afternoons saw highs drift close to 110 degrees. And since the town is in the middle of the desert, there aren’t cool breezes or freezing temperature spells throughout the summer. I suffered in Phoenix for many years before I couldn’t take it any longer. You end up relying on as much as you rely on water, although evaporative cooling is possible whenever the humidity level is below 50%. With this experience, moving to Albuquerque, NM was surprising to me. I was shocked that Summer hot plus cold temperatures rarely went over 95 degrees, even at their hottest moments. My aged beach house on Lomas Boulevard was within view of the University of NM, however it was also close enough to Old Town that I could get there on foot. It was in full sunshine with no natural shade of any kind, plus I had no troubles staying cool in the Summer with a quality window By the time I bought our first house, I had access to a quality that made it even more comfortable residing in this area. Albuquerque is by far our favorite town in the southwest. Living in Phoenix felt love torture plus there weren’t any natural attractions comparable to Sandia Peak plus the other mountains that wrap around Albuquerque to the west plus to the east.