I moved to Ann Arbor, MI, another great college town, nine years ago from San Diego. After nine years, I’m still torn between the twain. Ann Arbor is a great town for raising kids. There’s lots to do. It’s totally safe. People are friendly. It’s very family oriented.

But, weather is a huge thing that impacts so much. Seasons are great. I don’t mind the snow and cold in February. But, this year we did our Easter egg hunt in the snow. We had a good nine inches of snow on the ground Easter Sunday. That gets old.

Yesterday was my nephew’s high school graduation party. My sister had 125 people over, without electricity or water! The thunderstorms the night before took care of that. We had three generators going so were able to get by.

When you live in a place like Michigan, you always have some kind of weather. It keeps things interesting, but it gets old. We may have five days that are San Diego nice with blue skies, sunshine and mid 70 temps. The summers are hot, humid, full of mosquitoes and bugs. The winters are long. The big thing is having kids and not being able to do things outside with them. Cyphire, a big house is a good thing. You need lots of room so everyone has their space, because you’re inside for a very long time.

Sure San Diego has its faults, but having the option to step outside any given day adds a lot to quality of life.