I am actually wanting to retire to a cold weather/snow state for those reasons. I was born n Brooklyn and was up there for the blizzard right after Christmas this winter, and absolutely had a blast playing in it, but I owuldn't want to have to commute and be forced to go out in it. While it's fun to show our weather forecast to the snowbound peeps, I absolutely get tired of the year round heat and humidity, and would like to live in a 4 season state (although not necessarily a state like Colorado where you can experience 4 seasons in one day