I live in the suburbs, more rural county then the cities I am so close to. Grew up and lived all my life right here within 100 miles, except for one year I spent in SW Minnesota. Now that was a place, LOL------very rural by my standards, and I spent my year on a chicken farm working and living in an old abandoned farmhouse (WITH permission) that had no indoor plumbing or electricity. - all gravel roads around us. Quite an adventure, I was just barely 20. But aside from that I am here by chicago. 4 seasons, no major wildlife unless you mean the people and rat race. Or the traffic.
IIRC one winter late 70s or early 80s, the wind chill did go down to something like 80 below? maybe? and yes on rare occasions the heat could have been maybe 115 if you factor in the heat index? SO yes we do get a little of both. Our humidity is high in summer often, but not like say New Orleans etc. We get snow but not like say Colorado? We have had floods....I lost my first brand new car to a flood in 86. I am maybe an hour-2 hours from Mississippi River, and I love to drag any one of my kids off to go sit and watch that flow when they are having difficulties. One year we did travel a little bit, not too far, up north over the river up in Wis en route to family in MN and out in MN that year it was VERY dry and fires were a huge concern. Another year up north the river was not really flooded, but then back down to ST Louis Missouri, and yikes the river was quite flooded. I live in an area called "chain of lakes" and we have a couple of smaller rivers nearby, Fox River and Rock River. And one of the Great Lakes- Lake Michigan is very close, as well. IL is rather flat. and up north here is rather populated, so I say "rural" but we are not as rural as some states. We do get tornados, some years are worse than others. One year when I worked at our county nursing home, we spent almost the entire summer with our patients in tornado evacuation and let me tell you they HATED it. I was caught once in a tornado, but it was in Minnesota during a visit, and I had my raging bipolar nephew outside- me on top of him on the ground while huge chunks of concrete whirled around us. I watched a trailer subdivision get blown up and around and crash back to the ground while I laid on top of him. (we were in town)
But we really do not have many wildlife or mother nature dangers, not really, not here. Oh we have a huge population of deer that run into the roads and that is a problem occasionally..and we have "brown recluse" spiders, but they are nothing at all like other areas have. Our biggest fire danger is when someone overloads their electrical and the neighbors houses are so close by. See, I am in a single family house, in town, my town has 20,000 people, and our yards are all one fifth an acre. North and west of me is more rural, and east of me is solid city. When I am driving my son to eye docs or dtr to psychiatrist or either to neuro etc- I am driving in city traffic the whole entire time, and I am not driving on expresssways cuz...well, LOL to me THOSE are brutal. (I can drive expressways other places, just not here to chicago)
I really am fascinated with water......ocean, rivers, lakes. Heck streams and creeks and ponds, even. I only visited ocean once. :-( I find mountains beautiful, mother in law lived on top of a mountain near a resort in Bath County, VA (but she died 12 years ago and I only got to go there twice)
As a kid I was in scouts and for 7 years I spent a month way north Wis camping in tents, (not yerts) and one summer spent a month in a canoe. I have also tent camped in winter (as a kid)
I have always wanted to build a sun roof room or all glass room, becuz I absolutely love to watch storms etc.
I also love to watch it snow.
We moved here 18 years ago to this house in this town, and we are no longer near OHare airpoort, but I grew up much closer and would lay and watch airplanes for hours on end. Now when we go into the city, I am always staring out the window and getting all excited watching planes at OHare and Midway (we go right past both on way to eye docs) but, my kids do not share my fascination. BUT I have never been in a plane, have never flown. I also have always lived in towns serviced by commuter trains to chicago, and I love to watch trains as well. We used to use the train to go to chicago, until I needed a scooter and it was complicated to me trying to figure out how to do so. - since I did not ride very often back then.....I never got the hang of using public transportation. Where I am right now is the end of the line for the train, and our service is very limited.
I am a very warm person- I mean I am always too warm. Today it is 7 degrees right now and I took my dtr to school in a tank top. (and jeans and boots) no coat. My bedroom window is wide iopen and I have a fan on, pointed directly at me. I took off the jeans and am sitting here bare legged, bare feet, thermostat set on 60. (My door is closed to keep the rest of the family rom freezing, LOL) In summer, I can get miserable.....so often will be in a shower, a bath, or a pool. BUT I do not enjoy winter sports. Never did. well, no as a kid I did. skated on the pond outside and sledded daily.....
and I enjoy sitting riverside with a bamboo pole dangling in water watching fish swim. or floating in a simple rowboat. No skiing for me, no fireplaces for me. LOL. a fav pastime of mine as a kid and with my own kids is walking alongside the creek, watching crayfish, minnows, frogs and turtles. I also liked to shove a hot dog on a stick and hold it over a fire, alas, there is nowhere anymore here you can have an open fire to do so. - and most of the water now is private owned and inaccessible.
Knowing me, first off, LOL- I would not be able to afford to go elsewhere, and LOL- I am now afraid to try flying.....but even if by magic I wound up somewhere like SYdney, where it sounds so lovely- I would prolly do somethning really dumb and get hurt, bit or stung or whatever. But gosh- you make it sound so wonderful, so beautiful, even with it's dangers. I suppose I have been happy enough right where I am, with my "modern convenineces" all to my east right there not even 1 minute away and our pretty ruralness 1 minute to the north. And our quaint Town Square blocks away with its brick roads and town gazebo etc. and our waterpark just a couple miles away at the other end of town etc.
But driving on ice? It does stink, and slush? YUK, slush and mud are both YUK. LOL. and driving on ice in a blizzard in rush hour Chicago traffic? LOL- well, I guess it does keep the adrenalin flowing. Especially when you can open the window and reach out and touch the 18 wheelers whizzing past on all sides - 3 or sometimes even 4 lanes of traffic going each direction and with train yards below the bridge or train crossings full of commuters or El trains overhead....and airplanes all around you trying to land. as you speed along 60 MPH with your windsheild wipers trying to decide if they want to clear the sludge so you can see and the ice under you (no chains on your tires) and the stoplight turns red and the guy behind you is sliding on the ice so even if you do stop, he might not. and last week a peice of an airplane DID fall onto one of the houses by the airport by RMH. ANd everytime I do turn on the news or read the paper etc.....I keep reading that our RMH where we go is the worst neighborhood in chicago..and theres me and my lil guy------traipsing from the parking garage to the House at all hours. Yeesh. LOL.
As for my son, yes, I am hoping they figure out just how they are gonna conclude this whole issue soon. I think they kinda did last week, they FINALLY set the next appts for a couple months away-------altho we do have one more that had already been scheduled for a couple weeks from now. Right now we feel like the cash cow or guinea pigs, we are not sure which, or maybe a lab rat? Even my son asks- mom do they have us come back so they can send a bill? (it is $400 per visit) Or mom, are they holding me for research for the artificial vision? Are they experimenting on me or are the holding me for future experiments? I don't know, I ask and get no answers. I am immensely grateful he is an easy going child and resilient and goes with the flow so well. ANd last week him and I did go to the museum of science and industry and went into the submarine there and used that for our homeschooling. ANd in Nov we went to brookfield zoo on one of our doctor visits. Watched the dolphins. Used that for our homeschooling, too. We wanted to go in the coal mine at museum last week, but we were too late.
But yes, you are right- east west home is best, and we are always glad to go home, too. Even when we do enjoy visiting and running around. (although I REALLY liked the ocean in New Jersey by Cape May, and my son keeps telling me he will become rich someday and buy me a home there, LOL)