I remember visiting my grandparents’ house very fondly during nearly every summer of my childhood and teenage years. Me and my sister and our youngest brother would spend at least two weeks there, typically in June or July. My grandparents lived on a mountain resort up north. They lived at an elevation of well over 8,000 ft. This ultimately meant that it was surprisingly cool in the summer. I even distinctly remember that there would occasionally be light snow flurries coming off the mountain in the middle of June! Air conditioning was almost never needed while we stayed with our grandparents. I can only remember two summers In particular when grandpa flipped on the a/c In the heat of the day once or twice. Both times it was July and there was an unnaturally warm spell in the area. This was a stark contrast to the way me and my other two siblings were used to living in the summer back home. We lived in the southeast, where the summers can be downright brutal. There was no question on just about any given summer day whether or not the a/c would be running. My family couldn’t stand it whenever the a/c would go on the fritz for whatever reason. It was a top priority to call a repairman to fix it by the end of the day, for sure. I envied my grandparents for living in such a wonderfully cool place that didn’t need air conditioning. However, they would often tell me that the winters were absolutely brutal where they lived. I figured it would be worth it until I visited them in December one year, and found that they weren’t joking at all. The snow was pretty, but I’ve never been so cold!