Living in Phoenix in the summers was miserable for me.
I had moved to that city from the northern midwest so I could attend the University of Phoenix.
I stayed after graduation because I easily landed a good job in the sprawling metropolis. Phoenix is a fun city in some regards, but I couldn’t handle the summer climate in Arizona. The temperatures get into the 110s sometimes in the most intense periods and your only respite is indoor air conditioning if you live or work in a building that has it running 24 hours a day. I started looking for other jobs in my industry in states near Arizona in the hopes that I could move somewhere with better weather. This led me to a company in Albuquerque, New Mexico that had multiple job positions open that I qualified for with my extensive job history. However, I feared that Albuquerque’s weather would be similar to Phoenix because of it being a “desert city.” However, I quickly learned that Albuquerque’s elevation is over 5,000 feet! You can feel the difference in the middle of summer as the temperatures usually stay below 100 degrees in Albuquerque. And if for any reason you feel hot on a random summer day in Albuquerque, you can always drive out to the Sandia Mountains to the east of the city and enjoy cooler temperatures if staying at home in air conditioning isn’t your preference. Living in Albuquerque was a huge step up compared to Phoenix, despite loving many things about Arizona in its own right. On top of that, New Mexico has some of the most beautiful geography that I’ve ever seen in my life.