So we have now been in Sierra Vista for three+ days, and here are some initial impressions:

  • It already feels like we’ve been here a lot longer.
  • The combination of cool air temperatures and direct sunlight from cloud-free skies is unique. Mornings have been cold (around 30°) and afternoons have reached into the 60 degree range. You have to dress in layers so that as it gets warmer you can peel off a layer, and as it gets colder put a layer back on.
  • The neighborhood is very quite, oddly quiet. We seldom see people on the street. There are few children in the area as far as we can tell.
  • We are older than the city itself, which was incorporated in 1956.
  • We have gone to a farmer’s market, a food coop, Dutch Brothers Coffee, and a Scholtsky’s. The city has every store that makes up the ubiquitous American landscape, but it’s new for us to be so close to this kind of suburban shopping region.
  • People are friendly so far. We have seen few out-of-state plates (one from Quebec this morning, a tall Class B RV). The city’s website says it welcomes snowbirds, but I don’t know how many are actually here. To us, that’s a good thing.
  • I took a Spanish brush-up class on Wed. evening at the local library. I actually learned something!
  • The houses here are all ranch houses, and they are all some variation of brown or sandstone in color. It blends in with the landscape, which is devoid of most greenery. The local park has no grass, just open brown space.
  • Houses have no lawns, and as a result I don’t think people walk their dogs much here in the neighborhood.
  • Surprisingly, we have seen little homelessness. I would have thought with the weather being as good as it is here that there would be many more houseless people than we have seen. Perhaps we have not been in the right places. There really is no “downtown” in this city, or at least not one we can identify as such.
  • I’ve only seen one person packing a sidearm. He was dressed like an “old timer” cowboy, and his sidearm was a holstered 6-shooter.
  • I’ve seen three roadrunners.
  • The AirBnB is in an excellent location, and is quite comfortable. However, for old farts like us, the furniture on the whole is not the best. We are used to recliners, and the furniture here is just one large U-shaped couch and a dining room table with high chairs. They’re a little tough on our backs. We have our outdoor zero-gravity chairs as backup.

Of course, the major difference is the weather. Every day has been sunny, and sunlight is what we’ve been after. I look at my security cameras at home and see a foot of snow in the driveway and gray skies, and I can’t imagine how I’d be feeling if I were still there. I’ve been out every day here running errands, and it’s been great. I also feel slightly guilty for being able to get away from winter in this fashion. Being a lifelong Northeasterner, this is way out of my experience, but I gotta say, it feels terrific. I have the unsettling feeling that I could live here full-time.

A single-story house with a two-car garage, a car parked in the driveway, and a few palm trees and shrubs in the yard under a clear blue sky.A glazed donut sandwich filled with a fried egg and melted cheese is placed on a white plate.Two hands holding Dutch Bros coffee cups inside a car.A sunny suburban street features tall trees and houses with mountains in the distance.A backyard features a covered patio with furniture, a grill, and string lights, overlooking a gravel yard with a palm tree and a distant view of houses.A black car with a bicycle mounted on its rear is parked in a driveway in a suburban neighborhood.A road curves alongside dry brush and shrubs, with a backdrop of distant mountains under a clear blue sky.A road stretches towards distant mountains under a clear blue sky, flanked by trees and shrubs.