Well, I dunno. Up here in Washington State, we have nice warm summers, but not too warm, and somewhat rainy winters, but not too rainy. If it isn't the boating capital of the world, it's pretty close. I don't know what the statistics are lately, but it wasn't long ago that, in Seattle, one family out of seven owned some kind of recreational boat (opening day of yachting season looks like a gathering of the fleets of the world). Puget Sound to the west of Seattle and Lake Washington to the east. Lake Union and Green Lake within the city itself. In winter, some of the world's best ski areas are within an hour's drive of Seattle. Verdant forests abound, resident pods of orca frolic in Puget Sound and California grey whales stop over to visit on their north and south migrations. Almost never any forest fires or brush fires in western Washington.

A veritable paradise on earth.

('Course we do have a couple of tectonic plates that try to shove each other around from time to time, not to mention a volcano or two. . . .)

Don Firth