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I'm one of those who did move upon retirement. Born, raised, and lived my whole live in SoCal, pre-retirement. Upon retirement, I moved to North Idaho. It gets cold here in the winter, but nothing like the mid-west. Cold by California standards, pretty mild by Wisconsin standards.
I keep pretty busy in the winter, both outdoor activities and indoor. Tennis switches to the indoor courts, but the bicycles are put away for the winter because I don't want to take the time and effort to "bundle up". I love being outdoors this time of year because there are no tourists out and about. More times than not, I have the "place" to myself and the pups. I can let them off leash without worries because nobody is around.
Sleep patterns are changing. This winter, I've been staying up until midnight or maybe even later. Sleep in until the dogs get me up around 8:30 or so.
Funny enough, we too moved NORTH for retirement. We like the cold, and wanted a lot of land where we could spread out and work outdoors for three seasons. The activity keeps us in great shape.
We're now both age 70, and active year round. The only problem we briefly had up here in winter was snow-mobiles running full-tilt up hill next to our house at 3:00am. Last year I installed cedar fencing around the areas at the top of our property where our house and studio are and that issue went away. Now we enjoy watching them race around further down on our land- it puts a smile on my face to watch people having fun! Also, since I still have a motorcycle (not off-road anymore, age kinda put a stop to that), I understand the joy and freedom that riding these vehicles can offer.
I do spend some wintertime in Alaska, however. My exercise routine is similar to rest of the year, mostly consisting of indoor tennis and trail running for 45 minutes to an hour. (quite a bit more challenging with snow and ice). Also, a bit of nordic skiing replaces hiking into the high country during warmer months.
I'm quite thin, so low temperatures aren't real comfortable for extended periods of time outdoors. My hands and feet especially don't tolerate the cold for very long. We're usually not very cold though, along the coast. Within a few degrees of freezing in either direction is typical.
Our hot tub is used more regularly and my appetite is even greater during this time. Sleep pattern seems to be about the same all year.
I have a funny story about summer in Wisconsin. In 2019 I rented a Airbnb apartment on a farm about 20 minutes from Kenosha. They had a pond to swim, fish and boat on, walking trails, fire pit to sit outside etc. We had a husky/shepherd mix and they were dog friendly so I thought it would be the perfect place to have fun when we weren’t visiting friends.
Being gone for 22 years I completely forgot about mosquitoes if they had a wet spring. We arrive at noon and the host comes out with a hat with a mosquito net). The mosquitoes were so thick that you had to run between the car and house. The big guy who loves the outdoors would run out to pee and right back in. Then my friends in town mentioned that spring was very wet and they couldn’t even sit outside during the day because of the mosquitoes.
The statistics are that it is primarily early retirees with higher incomes that move - they are the ones with the resources and desire for a better place - lower costs, lower taxes, better weather and more choices.
Those that retire later tend to remain where they lived before they retired due to less resources, familiar location and family are there.
I don't know about that. We retired at age 60-61 and are no way high income. We retired overseas for a much more advanced QOL for a much less COL. It was mostly financially-motivated combined with a lifelong desire to live oceanfront.
We kind of hibernate too, when the sun is out half the year. The other half is cloudy. But we both had skin cancer scares so have to adjust to being out in the sun, or stay in. Right now we're doing the latter. We can sit by the pool in the shade or of course on our own balcony. You don't really "feel" it, but the sun is much more intense at the equator.
I used to LOVE winter in MN---but I was almost 20 years younger. Ice-sailing, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing---I would be out all day. If I could still do that, I'd probably be in snow country. But DH can't stand the cold with his thin frame and Reynaud's Syndrome. This is a nice compromise....
(I too, have an elliptical and exercise bike positioned under the a/c unit, lol. I do them every day.)
I have a funny story about summer in Wisconsin. In 2019 I rented a Airbnb apartment on a farm about 20 minutes from Kenosha. They had a pond to swim, fish and boat on, walking trails, fire pit to sit outside etc. We had a husky/shepherd mix and they were dog friendly so I thought it would be the perfect place to have fun when we weren’t visiting friends.
Being gone for 22 years I completely forgot about mosquitoes if they had a wet spring. We arrive at noon and the host comes out with a hat with a mosquito net). The mosquitoes were so thick that you had to run between the car and house. The big guy who loves the outdoors would run out to pee and right back in. Then my friends in town mentioned that spring was very wet and they couldn’t even sit outside during the day because of the mosquitoes.
Even in CO, wet springs or even wet late winters will do that. The flies even are around in winter, though not abundant.
We eat a little earlier, go to bed a bit earlier (I usually just read), but still go on hikes and walk the dog and such.
I never nap.
More indoor hobbies, still exercise for about an hour a day.
So overall, not much different.
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So-so reviews of "Wintering." I have a little book called the Scandinavian Guide to Happiness" that I recently purchased, and it discusses Hygge, Lagom and other Nordic 'art of happiness.' I do alot of these things already...
Not retired yet, but we continue to try to get out and enjoy the winter. That being said, March up here is winter and it often starts around Thanksgiving. This time of year we are ready for spring. We hope to snowbird.
Of course, I don't mean truly hibernate, but do you find yourself going to bed early, sleeping in, and taking more naps than you do in other seasons?
And if you don't "hibernate", what do you do to keep active?
As about 75% of business in our part of the county are closed from January through April, most of my time during those months is just spent reading and writing with just two short walks a day. What about you?
The same for me. I have spent the last two winters and part of several before in a rural part of Ontario. I often woke up and rose at dawn to observe the spectacular sunrises, then would go back to sleep for a few hours. Did a lot of reading, some writing, too. Was doing some post-retirement part-time work remotely up there, as well. Took long walks several times a week, over the frozen lake or on the road to the frozen swamp. I loved winter in that setting.
But yes, a certain degree of hibernation sets in. Reading, listening to more music than usual, too. But it's a time to do those things.
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). The mosquitoes were so thick that you had to run between the car and house. The big guy who loves the outdoors would run out to pee and right back in. Then my friends in town mentioned that spring was very wet and they couldn’t even sit outside during the day because of the mosquitoes.
