Have you considered flying a glider?

Actually I've been there and done that. I went solo in a glider about 15
years ago, but fairly soon afterwards burned out on it in much the same
way that Ron appears to have done with powered flight. At that point I
switched to hillwalking, which was less weather dependent (if you didn't
mind getting wet) and allowed me to spend the entire day enjoying my
hobby instead of most of it pushing gliders around.

There are two downsides: there is no possibility of
performing a go-around if one screws up on the landing and
the weather plays a much larger factor.

Fortunately never had a problem with landing (but then I never went
cross country, things get a bit different at that point), but living in
Scotland the weather plays an even larger factor than in most places. It
was considered a pretty good day if you managed more than about 10
minutes in the air.

Having said that I'll never forget the day I reached almost 10,000 feet
in wave. That day alone made it worth all the time, money and glider
pushing.

I'd imagined that with powered flight you'd be somewhat less at the
mercy of the weather, but I guess it comes with its own frustrations.
Maybe Ron's right and I should stick to simming.

Colin