Thank you COcheesehead for your post. My DH and I have tossed around the idea of moving to a new city and perhaps different state. We currently live inner city in a huge metroplex and also have a farm almost 2 hours away. We thought we'd want to move to the farm post retirement but it'll be 3 years retired this October and neither of us is sure that is a good idea for a variety of reasons.
We would love a walkable, vibrant city and a smallish home with a large yard. One thing that has held us back is starting all over with friends and life long social contacts.
We are in hotter-than-hell Texas but I don't see myself moving anywhere that has a long or harsh winter season.
We moved from Northeast Houston to Reno when I semi-retired (worked online halftime for 5 years) in 2015. Never regretted it, but with caveats.
Reno isn't "walkable" per se, but I walk from our house down to the Truckee River, to two parks with a walkway by the river, and back--3.5 miles, usually 4 times a week. We do have to drive to the grocery store or restaurants.
Reno gets snow, but that's part of the attraction. This winter was one of the coldest and snowiest in the last 15 years, but I just had to shovel 3-10" one or two times a week at worst. Most winters, it's more like every 2-3 weeks.
We hit 100 degrees over the weekend, but it's nothing like Houston summers. Even in summer, most early mornings Reno is 60 degrees or even mid 50's (but not last weekend). I'll take some snow. From May to September, frankly, Houston sucked. If you aren't outside, of course, it's fine.
We like to hike and I like to fly-fish and down-hill ski. Reno is perched at the edge of the High Sierras. I can get to Mt Rose ski resort in 40 minutes. Reno/Tahoe is a hiking Mecca. the number of hikes within an hours drive are simply incredible, and if you are willing to drive 2-3 hours south or north, the options are exponential.
Our oldest son, the winemaker, is in the Cali Central Valley 4 hours drive, and he and his wife have had 3 grandkids since we moved (as we suspected but weren't sure). We drive over and babysit a lot, although you need an all wheel drive and good tires going over Donner Pass in the snow (we do).
We've made a lot of friends, most hikers and we are both introverts.
I'm not trying to sell you on Reno, just to explain why we moved there from Houston. Houston had a lot of things to offer, but for outdoors/hiking, skiing, obviously it sucked big time.
In sum, you have to give a lot of thought of what you are moving TO and why. I knew Reno since I went to grad school in Riverside, CA and the parental units moved to Western Colorado. Most times I would drive through Flagstaff to see them, but a few times, I drove to and stayed in Reno overnight. Of course Reno was about 70% smaller back in the 80's but I liked it. We looked at houses and MrsRobj really liked Reno. The only downside is that her brother and sister are on the East Coast, but then Texas was also a long way away and they are more attracted to the Sierras. My 90 year old mother is southwest of Ft. Worth, so that's a haul; I go back 4-5 times a year to check on her, but my wife's brother is in North Dallas, so that helps; his daughter loans me her car.
We probably should have had more fear and loathing about moving, but it all worked out fine, and I love the high mt desert (Okie granddad built a cheap summer cabin at 7500 feet below Aspen west of Carbondale, which I always considered Paradise. If we were up another 1500 feet, I would be even more pleased but we couldn't afford that.)