Sourdough, I don't blame you a bit for being skeptical about moving away from your tax situation, but putting up with all that cold and dark would be worse than any tax for me. In a way, I've had some of the same dilemma.
Before I retired, I had just about had it with our weather, so we started spending time in Arizona and Southern California. It's very easy to get used to the weather there, but not so much in the summer. After retiring, we spent a lot of time in Arizona and it was good for a while, but I guess even constant sunshine isn't everything. For the past couple of years, we've stayed closer to home here in the PNW and I've had a very good time. Either I've come to terms with our weather, or "global warming" has begun to bring the south a little further north. I dread that our weather will return to what it was for a time back in the Eighties, or Nineties.
Anyway, I guess there is nowhere that is perfect; you just have to pick the non-perfect that you can tolerate the best. Right now--all things considered--it's right here in the Great Northwest. Come on down here this summer, you'll love it.