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I have the same goal as the OP: somewhere to escape the uncomfortable summers where I live (Houston). For me, high altitude, low latitude would be ideal, except that Hawaii seems to be the only choice for that in the US.
A lot of the other places people have mentioned are nice, but some of those do get hot at times and/or have a strong mosquito season. I found Acadia Natl. Park (and the rest of coastal Maine) to be beautiful, but got eaten alive by mosquitos. Same thing happened in the Wind River Mtns. in Montana. Also in Canada and in Moscow, Russia in August. I've read they can be really nasty in much of Russia (Siberia) and also in Alaska. So, thats something to consider.
But ... for me as a city-oriented guy, some place like Portland OR or Seattle might work, or even the California coast. Despite the "heat waves" they've had recently, it can't be as bad as Houston in the summer. (Although Houston is generally pretty nice the rest of the year.)
Higher altitude isn't always the solution for us in Sacramento; some days it gets so hot here (100-105) that, driving 90 mins to Lake Tahoe only nets us a 12-degree cooler climate...so it might be 88 instead of 100. This isn't always true, but quite often. And then, there's the constant afternoon sun....
Luckily, we have very little humidity, and very few bugs. There is a night time cooling effect most days. Temp drops 30-40 degrees so a/c rarely necessary overnight here in Sac. Central California coast is a much better heat escape for us (20 degrees cooler on average), but too far for a day trip.
It's getting harder and harder to deal with traffic, long drives, very high rental fees (and hotel costs), just to avoid extreme heat for a few days. Renting for a month, or the whole summer makes more sense.
That’s a link to Utah State U’s summer citizens program where you can stay in Logan, UT and participate in the summer program for those 50+ in recreational and educational classes and activities. We enjoyed our summer there. Many people have been going for 20+ years. Nice people. Lovely cool weather. Welcoming town. Very affordable. Free local bus in town. Great live theatre — very reasonable.
That’s a link to Utah State U’s summer citizens program where you can stay in Logan, UT and participate in the summer program for those 50+ in recreational and educational classes and activities. We enjoyed our summer there. Many people have been going for 20+ years. Nice people. Lovely cool weather. Welcoming town. Very affordable. Free local bus in town. Great live theatre — very reasonable.
That looks very interesting! Have you done it before? Do you know if any other college campuses have something similar?
That looks very interesting! Have you done it before? Do you know if any other college campuses have something similar?
We did it for an entire session in 2016. Very lovely and met some great people we still stay in contact with. We’ll return again, just have been busy the past 2 summers.
I hear there are a couple of other campuses that do this. Here’s one in Minnesota.
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