True! I live in the very climatically mild far north, "behind the redwood curtain." It's beautiful country, but still has CA land prices...just less access to services.Always a shortage of every stripe of medical professional, which isn't great for those of us with chronic health concerns. I grew up in the hot and dry central valley of CA, where temps routinely get in the triple digits in summer, so I'm not too concerned about wilting... though of course humidity is a different beast altogether.
What about the culture? I know we can get along wherever we go, but I haven't ever lived in the South. Bluntly, I'm a California liberal and I don't know how much of a challenge that will represent. I don't want to rely on stereotypes. With that said, we're both friendly and open-minded. We like to talk to people and learn. Hopefully that means the adjustment won't be too difficult.
As I said before I live in the Piedmont Triad. People are polite here, except when they are driving it seems. From a sociological/ political perspective it's just like everywhere else, everyone's got an opinion. I have never heard an accurate North Carolinian stereotype though. I vaguely remember years ago realizing that people often think North Carolinians are undesirable; to the effect of extreme redneck/hillbilly esq, but people like that are rare, at least where I live in North Carolina. The generational gap may be closing a little slower here compared to elsewhere as far as people not getting all bent out of shape about changes that don't effect them personally, but we are making the same progress as the rest of the world.
