Scottsdale Questions from a Minnesotan

[CheyDee]

1. Does a person feel really "dry" at first until they get used to the weather difference, as in skin, hair, dry mouth, etc?

IMO, yes, you feel really dry. I don't know that one ever really gets used to it, you just deal with it and don't think about it much. I use a lot of lotion, hair conditioner and lip moisturizer, but most importantly, I have two humidifiers running in the house. The humidifiers are a huge help. (One is a large, "whole house" humidifier and the other is a room humidifier. I use the room humidifier in the master bedroom, since it's the farthest point from the other humidifier. I keep them both running around-the-clock.)

2. Is it sweater weather during the day in the winter? If you go walking in the mid-morning is it pants and jackets or what? Do people wear fall/winter clothes?

My "winter coat" is a waist-length, lightweight fleece jacket that I almost never zip up. I wear it when there is no sun, i.e. very early in the AM and in the evening. It is only occasionally I feel I need it during daylight hours. I've worn my leather jacket, which is heavier, exactly three times in the 6 years I'm living here. I haven't worn gloves or a hat at all. (I do wear gloves to drive in the summer, but that's another story.) OTOH, I see some others wearing real winter jackets, (nothing extremely "heavy" like down though and not full length winter coats), and I actually saw someone wearing ear muffs and mittens last winter. (I was LOL at that one!)

Some people do wear fall/winter clothes. They wear dark colors, not so much heavy, turtle neck, bulky sweaters and vests or corduroy pants. A few even wear shorts and tees. Nothing really looks out of place here, (except for those ear muffs!) I am very cold tolerant and usually wear short sleeve shirts with low, open necklines, long pants, closed shoes, (usually backless slip-ins), and no sox.

3. Do folks swim during the day in the winter? Do most people heat their pools? Are salt water pools common there?

As another poster said, it's very expensive to heat a pool in the winter. Since it's so dry and ambient temps can be relatively low at night, much of the heat you put into it you lose right away - even if you cover the pool when it's not in use. (Solar doesn't heat it enough in winter, so one needs an additional/different heat source.) Many community pools are heated in the winter and some people do indeed swim. I don't think as many private pools are, but it is certainly an option. As was also posted, many people have spas, (even those with pools), and the spas are usually heated in the winter.

Yes, salt water pools are common here.

I do not live in/near Scottsdale, so I have no input re your last question.

[Minnetonkamari]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful.

[R_Cowgirl]

See my responses below

Originally Posted by Minnetonkamari

My husband and I are considering Scottsdale as a winter home location.
Having only been there a couple times myself (hubby goes there for business sometimes), I have some questions about what it's like to live there in the winter. A little about us, we are late 40s/50s, no kids, 3 little dogs and would want a house not a condo, possibly gated community, budget up to 1M'ish. We don't golf, but we don't mind living in a golf community if that's the place we end up liking he best.
We like to walk our dogs, go out to lunch, shop, go to movies, swim and hang out on our patio/yard and read. We would not use the house in the summer as it's really nice here in MN during that time, so I'm not too concerned about the periods of extreme heat.

Okay, questions:

1. Does a person feel really "dry" at first until they get used to the weather difference, as in skin, hair, dry mouth, etc?
I'm from South Dakota and Hawaii. Yes. You feel the dryness always. I've been here a decade and still not used to it. I humidify my home, I carry a little spritzer bottle with me, I make sure I only use organic hand and body cream because the chemicals in most will dry you further, and I mix my own face stuff out of pure organic oils (using recipes from an aromatherapy book.) Some days I think the humidity is in the negative numbers and the trees are sucking the air from the humans so they can survive.

On a brighter note - your towels, hair, and clothing dries really really fast. And there IS truth to the "dry heat" statements. Although I do imagine hell has dry heat as well. And it moves here in the middle of July.

2. Is it sweater weather during the day in the winter? If you go walking in the mid-morning is it pants and jackets or what? Do people wear fall/winter clothes?

This has been a weird winter. We've had really warm days followed three days later by extreme cold. I think in January the temps varied from -27 to 85. Some mornings are just delightful now. You just don't know. Deserts have always been like that - extreme temp differences in one day.

3. Do folks swim during the day in the winter? Do most people heat their pools? Are salt water pools common there?

I elected not to have a pool. I travel too much to worry about taking care of one. My neighbors are in their pool all the time year round. Their pool is heated, some aren't.

4. Is Scottsdale dog friendly? Are there any dog parks?

I think it's the law that you have to have a dog in S-dale
They have dog parks everywhere, doggie salons, dog cookie factories, doggie clothing boutiques. People carry pictures of their dogs on their blackberries... like that. My dog sitter makes a very good living just taking care of people's pets in their homes. Also - if you live in the right area, you can have horses in the middle of town and there are horse paths around the developments. (Shea, Cactus, around 40th to 56th street.) That part is actually Phoenix, but you may find Phoenix taxes more agreeable than S-dale's, so you live right near the S-dale border and enjoy all the S-dale-ness, but don't pay as much in taxes.


Thank you in advance, I know some of these questions might seem silly, but just stuff I'm wondering about. Please don't bash me for any dumb questions.

Thanks!
MM

[Minnetonkamari]

R_Cowgirl,

Thank you for your helpful info. I've never lived in the desert, but being a Midwesterner born and bred, I do find FL (our current vacation home locale) humidity really annoying sometimes. There are days in FL when I take at least 3 showers and sometimes more, change clothes numerous times and everything weathers/deteriorates so fast and just needs so much constant upkeep. I live in a baseball cap because my hair is otherwise a frizzball ! The other thing is the constant fear that a bad storm will damage your house, we're not right on the beach, but we've had bad storms that push rain thru any venting and damage drywall, etc.

We have a lot of acquaintances who have winter homes in Scottsdale and just love it so thought we might check it out. I also like that it's a "real" city and not just based on tourism alone. Houses have come down so much that it seems the next year or so would be a good time to get a wonderful house for a great price.

Thanks again!

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Minnetonkamari

R_Cowgirl,

Thank you for your helpful info. I've never lived in the desert, but being a Midwesterner born and bred, I do find FL (our current vacation home locale) humidity really annoying sometimes. There are days in FL when I take at least 3 showers and sometimes more, change clothes numerous times and everything weathers/deteriorates so fast and just needs so much constant upkeep. I live in a baseball cap because my hair is otherwise a frizzball ! The other thing is the constant fear that a bad storm will damage your house, we're not right on the beach, but we've had bad storms that push rain thru any venting and damage drywall, etc.

We have a lot of acquaintances who have winter homes in Scottsdale and just love it so thought we might check it out. I also like that it's a "real" city and not just based on tourism alone. Houses have come down so much that it seems the next year or so would be a good time to get a wonderful house for a great price.

Thanks again!

You'll be able to find a great house in Scottsdale.

I'm going to mention another area for you. That is Las Sendas in northeast Mesa at the base of the Tonto National Forest.

There are homes in your price range in gated communities there that are high enough to have a view from the patio of Red Mountain and the lights of the city (Phoenix). The homes are probably less expensive in price per square foot than in Scottsdale.

It's a golf community, but it also has other amenities. There are walking trails all around Las Sendas, plus trails that lead up to the Tonto National Forest Trail.

It's right by the north 202 loop and you can be in Old Town Scottsdale within 20 minutes.

[Minnetonkamari]

Thanks CB,

Las Sendas looks really nice. We'll definitely go there and take a look.

MM