Natural features that don't really "wow" you (required, location)
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Well, the Atlantic and Gulf are different, and not in a good way. But going out west, a close family member recently bought an oceanside condo north of San Diego and he even admits that he is paying about $400K extra just for the ocean view. Not for me. The view is the same everyday and the salt water can be irritating, as do the cool, cloudy summers. However, winters are heaven on earth for the most part in this region.
I lived in a house with an ocean-view in San Diego (sunset cliffs, just outside the famous neighborhood, OB). Yes the view (especially sunsets) are spectacular, but the best is going to sleep to the sound of crashing waves and smelling the salt sea.
The weather OTOH, is probably some of the worst in San Diego county. You mentioned the summers being cool and cloudy, but you praised the winters ... The winters during the day suffer from much of what they do in the summer - clouds, cooler (than inland days), and sometimes foggy. The silver lining were the nights, sometimes in a valley my car would tell me it was in the 20s and by the time I came back to my house, it would be solidly 40s, if not flirting with 50.
However due to the dampness and wind off the ocean, it felt colder than 50 that's for sure. So I'm not sure I'd give seaside living the props even in the winter.
One last thing, 50s off the ocean feels cold. Whether in San Diego or Miami, and I know it's not just acclimation (though in Miami I try to sleep with my balcony doors open). But for me it's easier to sleep with the doors open in the summer than in the winter-time when some of our nights fall below 60. Every time our night falls below 60, I have to close the balcony doors.
I don't know what it is about ocean living, but I just checked the current temperature here in Miami Beach, it's 70F at 10:10pm and I feel cold. 50s feels positively bone-chilling. That may sound ridiculous but that's the affect of the ocean.
I lived in a house with an ocean-view in San Diego (sunset cliffs, just outside the famous neighborhood, OB). Yes the view (especially sunsets) are spectacular, but the best is going to sleep to the sound of crashing waves and smelling the salt sea.
The weather OTOH, is probably some of the worst in San Diego county. You mentioned the summers being cool and cloudy, but you praised the winters ... The winters during the day suffer from much of what they do in the summer - clouds, cooler (than inland days), and sometimes foggy. The silver lining were the nights, sometimes in a valley my car would tell me it was in the 20s and by the time I came back to my house, it would be solidly 40s, if not flirting with 50.
However due to the dampness and wind off the ocean, it felt colder than 50 that's for sure. So I'm not sure I'd give seaside living the props even in the winter.
One last thing, 50s off the ocean feels cold. Whether in San Diego or Miami, and I know it's not just acclimation (though in Miami I try to sleep with my balcony doors open). But for me it's easier to sleep with the doors open in the summer than in the winter-time when some of our nights fall below 60. Every time our night falls below 60, I have to close the balcony doors.
I don't know what it is about ocean living, but I just checked the current temperature here in Miami Beach, it's 70F at 10:10pm and I feel cold. 50s feels positively bone-chilling. That may sound ridiculous but that's the affect of the ocean.
Thanks for that, a good post. All I know when I visited my sibling last June, it struggled to get up to 70 during the afternoon, and mornings were cloudy and cool. My final day actually brought in a light rain. But my brother just emailed that the past week (mid-February), was mid-to-upper 70's! Yes, anecdotal, for sure.
The one negative about the Florida coast during the warm season, is of course, the humidity, though somewhat diminished by the seawinds. Yet, the summers in Florida are notoriously cloudy and rainy and humid.
I don't care for arid places. Even when we are in a drought and not supposed to water I don't like it. There is something that feels life-giving in water, the rain, a river, an ocean, a lake, especially a waterfall. I can not see me living in a place like Arizona.
I grew up in the NorthEast where all the trees lost their leaves in the winter. I'd drive along and see miles and miles of trees with no leaves, looking like dead sticks. Even though I knew those trees were alive inside, I didn't like that view at all. Evergreen forests, well they are beautiful because they look truly alive.
Funny, I live in a flat terrain and don't really mind it. But if we vacation and see hills and mountains (preferably wooded ones) I feel refreshed. Never get tired of seeing them. Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia is beautiful. Beaches, well, nice, but maybe it's the heat, I don't know but a little is enough for me.
1. The Great Salt Lake: First it smells, and second much of what surrounds it is not very attractive. Now the Mountains to the east of Salt Lake City are beautiful, but the Salt Lake itself is nothing I care to see again.
2.Yellowstone: Its just not that pretty and it smells even worse than the Salt Lake. Right down the road from Yellowstone is Teton national park. The Tetons are far prettier.
3. The Everglades: miles and miles of swamp. Yes its an ecological treasure but its not my thing. Anywhere that has 20 foot snakes is not high on my list.
But my brother just emailed that the past week (mid-February), was mid-to-upper 70's! Yes, anecdotal, for sure.
When I lived there the pattern was a very cold/rainy and chilly December, but in middle of January we would have a freak week, if not 2 weeks, of nice 70s, and even flirting with 80s. By February it would cool back down into the 60s, and stay that way until June. Though as you pointed out it's a bit chilly even in June.
From speaking to my friends back in San Diego, this winter saw a very chilly December/January combo and this "freak week" came in February. But it's worth to point out that even then, San Diego gets cold at night. Even if it becomes 80, it falls right back into the 50s, which to me means I have to close windows, and probably sleep with heat.
It also means the temperature drops very fast in San Diego, I do remember how a nice pleasant winter day would start to get very chilly by 3-4pm. It's definitely a necessity in San Diego to keep a light jacket handy every single day of the winter. Some winter days you can take it off for a couple hours, but that's about it.
Not a big fan of swampy waterfront areas. There are these beachfront bargainhunt shows that depict families buying property along the water. Sometimes they are in a swampy bayou-style waterfront home and they remark how beautiful the water is. I just don't see it. No desire to live on an inland bay area like that, that has no hills, no waves, etc. I look at that and just feel the bugs crawling.
That said, I also much prefer oceans to gulfs/bays off of flat land. Bluffs or cliffs declining into a beach are so much more appealing than hundreds of miles of flat land that just happens to end in the ocean. I love being in the water and looking back toward the land that actually has something to see.
Not a big fan of swampy waterfront areas. There are these beachfront bargainhunt shows that depict families buying property along the water. Sometimes they are in a swampy bayou-style waterfront home and they remark how beautiful the water is. I just don't see it. No desire to live on an inland bay area like that, that has no hills, no waves, etc. I look at that and just feel the bugs crawling.
While not as good as being on the open ocean - if you own a boat, they have absolute utility. You can safety dock your boat and take it out to the wide open ocean at your leisure.
I don't know about other areas, but here in Miami, if your house has access to just a canal (that leads to a bay) it will run you over a million dollars much of the time. So there is not much of a bargain to be had.
Also, mosquitos need fresh water to reproduce, salt water dries out and kills their eggs. So provided the bay is sufficiently salty, and there are no other standing/fresh water sources, you won't have a mosquito problem. Now there are other bugs besides mosquitos, but mosquitos are definitely the biggest nuisance.
The Southeastern forests (especially along the coast) take on an exotic, tropical-like aesthetic that you wont find in forests anywhere else in the CONUS; lots of wild lianas, evergreen broadleaf trees, wild palms, even some tropical animals.
This is now the third account you've created right Yh0tn0a?
I may be wrong about your username, but biodiversity doesn't really make a place more interesting. Insects and smaller plant species play a huge role in that, which isn't really something that's abruptly noticeable.
Also, to debunk your earlier post, the entirety of the Great Plains states have a little over half the amount of plant species found in the Sonoran Desert. So no, they are not relatively lifeless compared to other places.
I may be wrong about your username, but biodiversity doesn't really make a place more interesting. Insects and smaller plant species play a huge role in that, which isn't really something that's abruptly noticeable.
Biodiversity in insects and small plant species is definitely noticeable, unless you left your glasses at home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NativeOrange
Also, to debunk your earlier post, the entirety of the Great Plains states have a little over half the amount of plant species found in the Sonoran Desert. So no, they are not relatively lifeless compared to other places.
The Great Plains is completely covered with flora (albeit in the form of grass), the desert is barren scrub in comparison. At least the Great Plains can actually yield fruitful agriculture naturally; the desert can't even do that. Also, the Great Plains is fruitful enough to support large, majestic animals, like the bison, or the pronghorn antelope; the desert is too dry to support the amount of vegetation required to feed such beasts.
Such an odd question to pose, with many equally baffling responses.
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