is very dry - both the air and the water very "hard"...

The winds off the desert are very hard on the skin, breathing, etc.... and allergies, and they much of the time... also, the water (you may have heard the term "Colorado River Water" is very full of minreals and will suck the moisture out of your skin and hair - when I used to get out of this area for vists, espeically back East, noticed a difference almost immediately in how much softer my hair was, etc...) (and, as SS just said - no smog which is murder on the eyes and smoke when we have the fires)

I know you're looking around the country - as for California - even getting up the coast further from where you are (but not inland) - say Carmel area - its damp, right on the ocean, and beautiuful....

I did live at the beach here for a while which was wonderful temperature wise - and got a cool ocean breeze most of the time - but the water was still real hard... (one uses lots of hair conditioner and mosturizer around here!)

Keep those glasses on!