Hi Lucy, Welcome to the RMG Forum. I live in Thornton, just east of Westminster/Broomfield and I like it up here a lot. But it is DEFINITELY not lush! If you fly out for a visit, get a window seat and watch how drastic the change is shortly after you cross the Mississippi River. If you truly love the lush greenness around you, you may not like our dry, high plains desert climate. I LOVE it out here! I've lived in Denver since 1964 and wouldn't even consider moving back to a humid area. Grew up in Illinois, and when I get back there now the air feels like it's too think to inhale! And I hate being sticky all the time. Don't like soggy cookies and crackers either! ;-) We have been in a drought condition for several years now. Last winter we got a LOT of snow in the mountains which filled up almost all of the reservoirs, but then we had a very dry spring and summer, so they're back down and there are watering restrictions in much of the Denver metro area. Mostly the restrictions apply to lawns though. You can usually water veggies, flowers, trees, bushes, etc. whenever you need to, though, depending on your town, you may not be able to water some things with an overhead sprinkler except on your watering days. It just depends on each municipality. You really do get used to it, though it would be a bigger adjustment for you, where I'm guessing you almost never need to water your lawn now. In Thornton (this is the first year we've had restrictions--depends on what reservoir each city gets its water from) I can water the lawn 3 times a week--which is more than enough since a properly watered, established lawn only needs a good deep watering about once a week. Also, most areas allow more frequent watering of newly sodded or seeded areas (seeding grass is difficult out here because of the low humidity and most people put in sod.) Learning to garden out here would definitely be an adjustment, but it's very doable. If you don't want to have to water a lot, there are lots of xeric plants--trees, bushes, perennials--you can put in that will require very little watering once they're established. I have lots of different perennials, not just xeric, and they almost all look great. There's a couple I have in too much sun--the sun is much hotter out here--that I need to move to a little more shade, but moving stuff is part of perennial gardening. And I have a small (only because that's all the space I have) veggie garden, and it's doing really well too----and I expect it to do even better each year as I keep improving the soil more. If you move into a new house, or one where there hasn't been much gardening, you will need to add a lot of organic matter to your soil when you're planting things. The one thing I do miss from growing up in Illinois is the LONG thunderstorms we'd get back there. I love to lay in bed at night and listen to the thunder. We do get thunderstorms out here, but they usually move over very quickly, so I have to enjoy them very quickly! And they almost never happen after dark. (And we do get hail with the thunderstorms pretty often. That's one of the cons!) But there are SO many positives that lack of thunderstorms is a trade off that's well worth it. The low humidity is a primary one. We're supposed to get some, possibly heavy, rain in the next couple hours and my humidity in the house right now, with all the windows open, it 50%! It most often runs around 20 to 30-some percent. And because of the low humidity, we almost always cool down into the 50's or 60's overnight--even on the hottest summer days. My house is air conditioned, but I've only used it a couple time his summer--and it's been a hot one. I leave all my windows open overnight, then close them in the morning when the house is all cooled down and reopen them in the evening. If it gets too hot in the afternoon I turn on the AC for a couple hours until I can open the windows again. Sure saves on electricity, and I don't like being in a closed up house all the time anyway. And lots of people think we're buried under snow all winter! We don't want too many people to find out that that's just not true! Because of the high altitude, the sun is much hotter, so when we get snow--even if it's lots--it almost always melts off within about 48 hours--on the roads at least--and on the grass within a couple more days. We almost never have "dirty" snow because it just isn't around long enough to get dirty! And then there are the mountains! Need I say more! Next week I'm going out to spend a couple nites in a secluded cabin on a stream I found near Bailey just southwest of Denver--can hardly wait. If you're ever feeling too stressed, you can head out to the hills and walk or sit in a quiet place for a while---and it all goes away! Anyway, you can tell that I'm prejudiced in favor of Denver, but if it turns out to be your kind of place, I think you'd love it too. I lived in Manhattan for a year back in '63/'64, and while I wish I were rich and could afford to fly in for plays and stuff, I would never want to go back there to live. If you move out here, I think you'll see an amazing difference in the people too. Very laid back and friendly for the most part. VERY different from the east coast. Anyway, you get the idea! Let us know what you decide, Skybird

LOL, Kim. I still remember that night. That was so much fun. Since my kids don't live there anymore, don't know when I will get back to OK, but if I do, I will definitely contact you. Thanks everyone for your well wishes. I almost have everything organized so I can leave on Thursday. Kids start school Monday/Tuesday and I fly out on Thursday. We did last minute shopping and picked up their books this weekend. DH will have to take care of the little things. Lisa

DH says the runway is long enough for small jets at 4000 feet. Jets probably won't fly over your house often; some may. Piston-engine planes will be flying a pattern over your house at times; it depends how tight a pattern they fly. Twin engines will not be flying very tight. Here's some info on the airport. Note the noise-abatement part at the bottom. Good luck! DH says if you're worried about engine noise you should probably look elsewhere; there's going to be some. Chandler Municipal (CHD) CHANDLER, AZ Publicly Owned, Public Use 3.0 mi. SE of city. N33-16.15 W111-48.67 Mag Var: 12 deg E Phone: 480-782-3540 Fax: 480-782-3541 www.chandleraz.org/airport/airport2.htm Guy.lennon@ci.chd.az.us FBO/Facility/Fuel Information Airport Diagram Taxi Diagram Kneeboard Format Member Comments US Terminal Procedures ASF Accident Reports Return To Directory Search Exit Directory -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Navaids: Type: ID: Freq: Radial: Distance: VOR IWA 113.3 243 8.30 mi. NDB CHD 407 On Field Communication Freqs: Unicom - 122.95 TWR - 126.1 N,W TWR - 133.1 E,S GND - 124.4 CTAF - 126.1 FSS - PRESCOTT 122.4 122.6 Approach Freqs: Phoenix:123.7 ; WX Contact: AWOS 128.325 480-814-9952; ATIS 128.325 ; FSS: PRESCOTT 866-226-3763 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Elevation: 1243 MSL Hours: 8 am to 5 pm Tower Hours: 6 am to 9 pm Fees: Tiedown Fee; Hangar Fee Charts: PHOENIX; L4 Traffic Pattern: Light Aircraft: 2200 MSL;Multiengine Aircraft: 2400 MSL;Nonturbine Aircraft: 2200 MSL;Turbine Aircraft: 2400 MSL;Rotorcraft: 1800 MSL; Runways: 4L-22R: 4401X75; asphalt; PCL; trees ry 4L 4R-22L: 4870X75; asphalt; PCL; H1: 100X100; concrete; ; Right traffic runway(s): 22R; 04R; Approaches: VOR; NDB; GPS RNAV; Lights: SS to SR 126.1 Med - 3 clicks in 5 secs. Notes: Intensive Flight Training Obstructions: wildlife & raptors in vicinity; 85' lighted twr lctd N of ry 22R short final. Special Operations: Aerobatics; Agricultural Ops; Banner Towing; Military Ops; Helicopter Ops; Fuel: 100LL; Jet-premix; Noise Abatement: Runway 22 L/R preferred; ry 22R no turns prior to arpt boundary/canal; ry 22L no turns prior to arpt boundary/road; propeller acft req to use AOPA "noise awareness steps": turbine acft req to use NBAA"standard noise abatement dep procedures;, heli avoid residential area W & use HAI "fly neighborly program" Metar KCHD 060147Z 33020G25KT 30SM BKN250 38/01 A2964 Click here for translated METAR and TAF

I would not expect Switzerland to be hot either - it's been quite cool here, in the low 70s. We'll be in Philadelphia the first week of August, but I guess you will be away at that time as well, and I do expect Philly to be quite hot at that time. I'm going to take a train one day to visit a friend in NJ (NYC suburb), but I don't think I'll go to Manhattan in August. I'm wondering why you did not fly on SwissAir. Friends of mine really like that air line, although they told me about it decades ago. Did you get good food on BA? A friend of mine asked me to go with him to Madeira and Portugal with him this October, but I think I'm going to be preoccupied. Madeira is very close to Tenerife, where Sharon (Canarybird) used to live. This is the friend who invited me to go to Brazil with him, and so he is fluent in Portuguese and lived in Portugal as a child. All the Swiss I've met spoke English fluently (as well as German and French plus sometimes Spanish and Italian). While I am fluent in German (my second language), I have a bit of trouble with Schweizerdeutsch, and I also have a few problems with the Austrian dialect of German, even though one of my German professors was from Austria. I'm sure you're having a great time, and I want to go there as well!