Snowbird Stories: Jen and Morgan

We’re not ready to give up having the best of both worlds

Jen and I have been “flying” south since 2015.

After living in Metro Detroit most of our lives, Jen and I moved to a house on Lake Ann in Northern Michigan. However, Northern Michigan has virtually no sun during the winter, and I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Before we became snowbirds, I invested many hours researching warmer climate areas to consider in retirement. When we made the decision to be snowbirds, we committed to staying somewhere five years before either choosing to stay or move to another sunny locale.

We spent our first five winters Carrabelle, Florida.

Carrabelle seemed the closest route to our Michigan home which seemed like a priority because of our ever-expanding pet family. Our love of water and being near it was another motivating factor in our choice of Florida. Franklin County has dog friendly beach rules.

We drive a 28-foot Class B+ RV with multiple pets so we travel at the end of October and the end of April, depending on the weather. Traveling to Carrabelle took a day and a half with a five-hour sleep stop in Kentucky.

The Carrabelle area is very undeveloped with no high-rise buildings, is surrounded by national forest, and has one stop light in the entire county. Many wonderful friendships were made with our neighbors and volunteers me met at the local senior center where we helped prepare meals every Thursday.

After seeing the effects of Hurricane Michael in 2018 and then having a gall bladder incident in 2020 (with the closest big hospital being 1 1/2 hours away), Jen and I decided to move to Arizona.

When we decided on Florida, I hadn’t taken into account the availability of medical facilities in the area.

I would advise anyone considering becoming a snowbird to factor in access to medical care when making your decision on where to spend winters.

We always knew we wanted to eventually make our way to Arizona. Oracle became our second snowbird home in 2020.

It’s close enough to Tucson but being a smaller community, there is far less traffic and congestion. We are beyond lucky to have a friend in Phoenix and friends in the Tucson area. We’ve also made some wonderful lifelong friendships in Oracle.

We absolutely love the diversity of the Tucson area and the ability to find just about any kind of food we may be craving! There are many wonderful parks with amazing hiking trails along with a variety of galleries, museums, entertainment facilities. We hike at our local state park at least every other day.

Most importantly, there are medical facilities close by if needed.

We don’t totally avoid the snow in winter because Oracle is a higher elevation than Tucson. Unlike Michigan though, when it does snow, it’s gone quickly. The sun shines pretty much daily which makes us extremely happy.

Traveling with our pets can be a trying experience as it now takes us 3 1/2 days to arrive to Arizona or return to Michigan.

We routinely stop every five hours for potty breaks and snacks. At night, we sleep at rest areas or Walmarts (we check with management first).

Our Newfoundland Bronson, our largest dog, and our Great Pyrenees puppy Levi, the latest addition to our pack. Sweet Violet is peeking around the corner of the sofa.

Our pets love traveling and look forward to piling into the RV twice a year for the big migration. We’re all exhausted on arrival but believe the reward warrants the adventure.

We tend to entertain more at our Oracle home because there’s more room.

Our families live in Michigan, and we love seeing them in the summer. We spend many hours on our lake which satisfies our water love.

In Michigan, we entertain on our pontoon.

We’re coming up on our five-year anniversary of living in Arizona.

We both love living in Oracle, but we’re not quite ready to give up having the best of both worlds. We’re grateful to be able to maintain two homes.

If we decide to move here permanently, a pool is a must.

Morgan (left) and Jen (right) have been snowbirds for nine years, spending summers in Northern Michigan, their first five winters in Carrabelle, Florida, and now they winter in Oracle, Arizona.