Am I correct in assuming I can sit in house #1 with a Hubitat and use a dashboard to control lights, switches and other things in house #2 with a Hubitat? Would that be as simple as using a cloud dashboard or is it more complex?
That is basically it.
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Obligatory mention that you probably want to make the dashboard require a PIN for access, since it will be on the public internet 
yes and no. you will require a HE hub at house #2 and be connected through a web browser or the app too access that hub. if the hub is only in house #1 but you have devices in house #2, you will need to have a mesh set up to reach from house #1 to house #2 to control them on a hub in house #1
Not unless you share the access token (which is part of the URL, but not easily visible to others given that cloud dashboards only work over HTTPS). 
I would not do port forwarding or anything else that puts the hub itself directly on the Internet. But you may want a PIN, regardless.
It's possible to control devices in house 1 or house 2 from anywhere, with or without another Hubitat where you are. As mentioned a couple times above, a cloud Dashboard could do this. You can use the Hubitat app to get to Dashboards, but they are just webpages and can be accessed directly via the local or cloud URLs you can find in the Dashboard app (the "child app" for your particular Dashboard in the Hubitat admin UI, under "Apps"--not "Dashboard"). Then, you don't need the Hubitat app at all, which may be nice if you have two hubs, since you can only associate the app with one hub at a time (it's possible to switch but not convenient, and that would affect presence, notifications, or other features you have tied to that hub/app combination). You could use the cloud or LAN links for both hubs all the time and forego the app completely for Dashboard use, or you could use the app for one hub and the cloud (or LAN if you're present) link for the other.
If you want to control devices on hub 1 from hub 2 at the other house, then you'll need to set up some connection between them. HubConnect is a popular community option that has a Hubitat-to-Hubitat cloud connection option. If you do get something like this set up, you could use a Dashboard, local or cloud (depending on where you are), on hub 2 to control hub 1 devices--because they'll be devices on hub 2, shared via such an integration. Of note, the built-in Hub Mesh option will not work because the hubs most be in the same network (broadcast domain), at least not unless you have an unusual setup for a home user (site-to-site VPN?). But it's not clear that you actually need the two hubs to interact. And in that case, a cloud Dashboard link from the "remote" hub is probably the easiest option (or, again, the app, keeping in mind the above).
A final note is that Dashboard requires you to manually set up a Dashboard--nothing gets created automatically. A recent advantage the Hubitat mobile app gained over Dashboards recently is the "Devices" tab, which lets you see select devices (switches, bulbs, etc.--not sensors at the moment) you've added to the new "Rooms" feature on the associated hub. Kind of Dashboard-ish but with no configuration beyond Rooms on your part. This works over LAN or cloud. But again, I'd pick one hub to use the app with if you want to use the app, given the above, and you can entirely ignore this feature in favor or Hubitat Dashboard--or really any third-party option you want (HomeBridge, Alexa, etc.) that may ultimately get you what you want when away.
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Definitely true, guess it depends how you define acceptable risk. A token-bearing URL has a good chance of being saved as a browser bookmark, which has a good chance of being synch'ed with a cloud service account ... which could fall prey to a phish. [shrug]
After reading what everyone has to say about my situation I think I’ve come to understand what I need to do.
I want to have a Hubitat in house #1 that controls all my lights and switches etc. I also want to have a Hubitat in house #2 to control lights switches etc. so it sounds like I will need to have two different accounts and possibly even two tablets to run each one. I went to another town last night and could control house #1 just fine on my tablet. So I assume I can do the same thing on house #2 once it is set up. The only thing that sounds a little odd to me is that I don’t see a way to do that easily with one account and only one tablet. I reread your post and it almost sounds like I could accomplish what I need to do with the cloud URL but I don’t think I quite understand that part. I don’t want to screw up the individual habitats and I don’t need the switches and lights mixed between the two. The only remote thing I really am interested in doing is occasionally opening A lock or a garage door perhaps.
“ You could use the cloud or LAN links for both hubs all the time and forego the app completely for Dashboard use”
I like this idea but I’m not sure I understand now.
Hubitat Dashboard is an app you must add to the hub from the admin UI. This explains how to do that, plus what the local and cloid links I mentioned are:
https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=Hubitat®_Dashboard
Note that this is cloud access to the Dashboard app. It will not get you to the admin UI, but if you add any devices you care about to that Dashboard, it should do what you want. The admin UI is local only (and really not great for controlling devices anyway), but if you really do want that I suppose I shpis mention the new Remote Admin service for $2.99/month. But again, you don't need that just to view or control devices remotely.
If your phone lets you install two separate instances of the app (don't think iOS does, not sure about Android) or you want to use two different devices, then that also works and you wouldn't need thr links. But again, you don't really need the app at all; Dashboards are just web pages, and all the app does for those is make them a bit easier to get to.
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When I set up my dashboard last week I failed to notice that it did provide the URL to the dashboard. So today I went to my dashboard configuration and sure enough there was the local URL and remote URL. I copied the URL and pasted it in a chrome page and it all works fine. That remote URL looks a little strange to me like maybe it contains something more than just a URL. Are we saying that the remote URL on the dashboard will never change? So when I’m local at house #2 I can set up a dashboard and retain that remote URL for access when I am at house #1?
I am not able to use the app on my current version of iOS as the app does not properly function. None of the devices ever show up. It will bring up the dashboard and that works but I normally get to my dashboard by keying in my fixed IP address of my C7 in a chrome browser. So pasting the remote URL in a browser will work fine for me as long as that remote URL does not change.
The dashboard URL will not change unless you do the "reset access token" thing, which you would probably want to if you think the URL has been shared with an authorized party (as the access token in the URL is the only authentication, unless you set a PIN on the dashboard). This applies to both local and cloud, though I guess the local URL would change if your hub's IP address changes (but that would be the only part).
I'm not sure what isn't working for you on the mobile app ("Dashboards" or "Devices"?). "Devices" on the mobile app won't work unless you set up "Rooms" on the associated hub, but that feature is newer and also doesn't show you all device types (yet?). A Dashboard would give you the most flexibility--it just requires a bit more setup on your part.
I do have a dashboard set up And sometimes it works on the Apple iPad but sometimes it does not. Right now I just looked at it and tried to sign in but it says hub not available But it's perfectly available here on my Android Tablet. In my opinion the app on IOS is unreliable and I do not wish to use it. However accessing My HE using local IP works great So I have no issues.
