Even though the gardening season is only two weeks on each end (spring and fall) longer than the Denver area, I can grow things like okra and yams that didn't have enough warmth or time there. There's not that much temperature difference, either, except for less snow and ice in the winter.
We are somewhat protected here in the Appalachian foothills from the wild and scary weather some of you in the Midwest go through. We live in a holler, meaning a narrow valley with steep hills, so tornados are unlikely. I don't know whether there's ever been one here.
Years ago, a friend lent me a book that so inspired me that I recently ordered a copy for myself to re-read. It was by Barbara Kingsolver about her family's year of eating only locally grown food. That would be spelled the same as starvation in Colorado with our seven month winters; but how envious I was of all the stuff she could grow. In reading it again now, I had forgotten that they had moved to a farm in the Appalachian foothills of Virginia when they started the experiment. Their farm is actually just over the mountains from us. Maybe it was that desire that moved us here? I didn't want to leave the West, especially this far away; but its lack of water, high altitude, and temperature extremes make gardening a legendary challenge.