He has spent time in better parts of it (which, to be honest, is pert neer all of it,) having done HS in Central TX and college at A&M. I DEFINITELY take your point though; after growing up in Houston, Austin seemed like a virtual desert (sorry, Austin, but the bushes you refer to as "trees" would not pass muster anywhere else, ) so I cannot imagine what the Panhandle is like. I do remember moondog telling me that, as a kid out there, they would regularly go a month, or even two, with NO rain, then get a little 30 second shower when the air could not hold any more water, then another month or two without rain. I would go insane in that climate.

In that respect, Norways towering firs, coastline, seafood, gulls and frequent heavy precipitation remind me more of home than Austin did. Except, of course, that too much of that precip is too often solid. It was anomalous even for here, and brief, but we actually had a snow flurry on the first day of JUNE last year.