Wood is good. Decks out back are sensational. Cedar is expensive as in any type of wood. The Bar-B-Q's and the parties out back are times to remember. Lounging out back under the gazebo with a cooler full of beer and the races in front with the TV you brought out are a sweat deal.
Move forward a few years.
Wind and rain and snow and ice and a blistering sun take a toll on your deck. Constant maintenance is important - dry rot, wet rot and other strange afflictions attack your wood.
At the age of 69 this is the last spring that I replace planks and go gasping with a cover that makes the deck look like it's in good shape. I don't mind getting into 70 - the piss off is that I get beat down physically by labor that I enjoyed as a young man.