Ooooh, fun!
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Let's see:
Vermont -- too picket-fence-ish.
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Also, *serious* winters. And the humidity's not that low.
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, and southern Colorado are all pretty similar, climate-wise -- either high desert or mountains. Taos is the most "artist colony" of the bunch.
Northern California -- beautiful but not that dry. And not that diverse, either, I suspect, altho I could be wrong.
San Miguel de Allende and Escondido -- I would check 'em out, as long as you don't mind living in a place where you don't speak the same language as any gummint officials you might come in contact with. The climate is going to be similar to NM/CO, I think. I don't know anything about Escondido and all I know about San Miguel is what I saw on that website.
Northern Washington State -- SO not dry. But you'll have friends nearby.
Lagos, Portugal -- I know you love Portugal.
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Dunno much about the climate. Again, if you're comfortable living in a place where the gummint folks don't speak English....
Montana -- No, no, no. Crazy people move there to become hermits -- remember the Unabomber?
Can't speak to Scotland at all.
When it comes to retiring, I keep thinking about practical considerations.
As my parents got older, they needed better medical care than they could get in my hometown (population 30,000 or so), so they ended up having to travel to Chicago. Watching them, I decided that I did *not* want to end up old, sick, and two hours from a decent doctor.
Also, Mom got to the point where she was too old to drive, and our neighborhood had no bus service -- she had to rely on family (none of whom were nearby), friends (which dwindled as she outlived them), and the county van service.
Good docs and good public transit = at least a medium-sized city. That's why I'm looking at cities like Denver and Albuquerque. Unless you're figuring on living in "paradise" 'til you get too old to do for yourself and then move into assisted living or something. Personally, I want to retire, move, and plant myself.
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