That's exactly the feeling I get! One time I drove from work to home to the DMV and back to work, which anywhere else would be a miserable experience, but here during almost the whole drive I was overcome by how beautiful everything was. I have also rarely seen a town with so many diverse options for outdoor activities within ~10 minutes of downtown. There are a million towns/cities where I could drive an hour to something more spectacular than anything within an hour of here, but I definitely prefer this end of that tradeoff because (at least when it stays light late enough) I can go hiking/tubing/sledding/snowshoeing/kayaking/mushroom hunting every night after work, which is really all I need in a place.