Heading to Florida for the winter!

[whitehall]

Unless you are a winter sport enthusiast Florida beats Maine in the winter and maybe the rest of the year. Thinking about it myself in my old age.

 

[DGS49]

One downside of going to Florida in Winter is the high proportion of old bastards (like me). While I often find kids irritating, having them and younger adults around is a good thing. Doing everything with old farts gets boring, even when they are individually very charming and friendly.

 

[Care4all]

Unless you are a winter sport enthusiast Florida beats Maine in the winter and maybe the rest of the year. Thinking about it myself in my old age.

Maine is the prettiest place in the world, late spring thru early fall...paradise, no question, where I am!!! Weather is in the high 70s daytime and high 50s at night....great sleeping with windows open....

We are not Mainers, but our friends born here are chomping at the bit, for the first snow, so they can go skiing, sledding, snow mobiling, and can't wait till January February for ice skating and ice fishing....kids love ice hockey on the lakes too!

Kids play outdoors here more than in Florida...where I live, internet service is still not broad band, so computer gaming and Tik Tok are too slow to be fun....so outdoors they go!

 

[Care4all]

Getting ready to board!

It's very windy, yuk.....i truly hate to fly, so does matt!

 

[DigitalDrifter]

The day will come for me, where I hope to never see snow again for the rest of my life.

 

[Care4all]

Well, another adventure getting here....plane took off an hour and a half late....didn't get to my sister's home until 2:30AM! BUT, any safe landing is a good landing, so there is that positive!!!!!

 

[sealybobo]

Can't wait to see my parents and sister and visit Matt's parents graves....

We have to be back in Maine by April 2 nd doctor's appt!

You are so lucky. I have been in FL all month and I have to leave March 1st. It's still going to be cold in March back home in MI.

I wanted to say that Florida is the greatest but I have to remember I'm here during the best months. 4 months are good. The rest of the year it's too hot and I've never been here during that time.

But for 4 months a year, Florida is the greatest state.

1. Miami
2. Fort Lauderdale
3. Naples
4. Tarpon Springs

My god the money that is down here. Rich people from all over the world come to Florida December-April. These are the 4 places I know of and I know there are probably hundreds of other great cities in this state where rich people live 4 months a year.

One day I'm going to buy a small condo. Right now I stay free at my brothers condo but when I retire I'm going to have the money and need my own place so I can stay 4 months.


Yesterday my buddy took us out on a pontoon in Naples. The Venice of Florida. And we went out onto the Gulf of America. First time seeing it. I've seen the Gulf of Mexico years ago but never the Gulf of America. Dolphins swam around us!

 

[sealybobo]

My parents live in a gated community about 35 miles north of the Villages...1 acre lots, and it is quite a bit, quieter with lots of wildlife....likely half of which my sister feeds...!

My friend lives in a gated community in Naples. My brother came last year and visited his former boss. He lives in a gated community that is within a gated community. So you go into one gated community, drive to the back of it, and then there's another guard who you have to get past. The 2nd gated community is for multi multi millionaires. This guy was the CEO of a fortune 500.

My uncle said the CEO's wife was Asian and acted more like a Geisha girl than she did a wife.

 

[initforme]

Gated communities have homeowners associations. A list of by laws one must follow. It's weird and eerie.

 

[Care4all]

You are so lucky. I have been in FL all month and I have to leave March 1st. It's still going to be cold in March back home in MI.

I wanted to say that Florida is the greatest but I have to remember I'm here during the best months. 4 months are good. The rest of the year it's too hot and I've never been here during that time.

But for 4 months a year, Florida is the greatest state.

1. Miami
2. Fort Lauderdale
3. Naples
4. Tarpon Springs

My god the money that is down here. Rich people from all over the world come to Florida December-April. These are the 4 places I know of and I know there are probably hundreds of other great cities in this state where rich people live 4 months a year.

One day I'm going to buy a small condo. Right now I stay free at my brothers condo but when I retire I'm going to have the money and need my own place so I can stay 4 months.


Yesterday my buddy took us out on a pontoon in Naples. The Venice of Florida. And we went out onto the Gulf of America. First time seeing it. I've seen the Gulf of Mexico years ago but never the Gulf of America. Dolphins swam around us!

I've lived on both coasts! I lived in Ft. Walton beach as a baby and near my grandparents who were living there for a job my grandpa had....they both are Alabamians, and my father got stationed there, then off to Myrtle Beach SC shortly after. When I first came here to visit I was in high school, living in south Jersey (NJ) and about 10 of us came down together and all crammed in to my best friend's parents condo in Pompano Beach for Spring break, until they showed up, then all 10 of us crammed ourselves in to a hotel room on the beach in Ft Laud! I came down every year for the next 4 years after high school for Spring break....

Then after I finished school I came down with another girlfriend whose cousin lived in Miami and we stayed there....then I decided I wanted to live there and got my first full time job, and found a place to live, which I shared with two other girls I worked with....then the company I worked for moved their corporate office to Ft Lauderdale, and I ended up buying a townhouse in Davie which was close enough to work.

Lived in Miami, Ft Laud for 10 years....that's where I met my hubby who worked for the same company....then the company merged with our West Coast division in Tampa, and they moved me there...my hubby originally worked for the company in the Tampa division and ended up back in Tampa in the nick of time to spend time with his dad, who had gotten terminal cancer and died less than a year later.

We lived in Tampa for another 10 years, changed jobs when our parent corporation went in to chapter 11. Then I got an offer I could not refuse from a company in Massachusetts....Matt was A okay with quitting his job and moving there because he was a huge Boston Celtic fan!

We both decided we wanted to get the neck out of Dodge after 9/11....(we both had jobs that brought us to NYC a couple of times a month), it took us 5 years to slow down our careers, and sell our house and we moved to Maine....bought a small cape with the money we made off the Massachusetts home, and I have not worked since, and Matt got a nothing job just for the healthcare insurance for me....he's a disabled vet so he got his healthcare from the VA.

SO, pretty much, that's our story of how we ended up in Maine, 3/4s of the year paradise...A much much slower way of living, away from the fast lane we were both in! He's retired now too.... As in my pictures threads, we have more deer and other critters as our friends than neighbors...we can smell the roses.

Here at my sister's and parent's area the traffic is scary....I've been in Maine so long now, I've forgotten how crowded it is here in Florida....and my parents/sis supposedly live what is considered rural! Tampa and Miami driving would be a nightmare!!!!

 

[sealybobo]

I've lived on both coasts! I lived in Ft. Walton beach as a baby and near my grandparents who were living there for a job my grandpa had....they both are Alabamians, and my father got stationed there, then off to Myrtle Beach SC shortly after. When I first came here to visit I was in high school, living in south Jersey (NJ) and about 10 of us came down together and all crammed in to my best friend's parents condo in Pompano Beach for Spring break, until they showed up, then all 10 of us crammed ourselves in to a hotel room on the beach in Ft Laud! I came down every year for the next 4 years after high school for Spring break....

Then after I finished school I came down with another girlfriend whose cousin lived in Miami and we stayed there....then I decided I wanted to live there and got my first full time job, and found a place to live, which I shared with two other girls I worked with....then the company I worked for moved their corporate office to Ft Lauderdale, and I ended up buying a townhouse in Davie which was close enough to work.

Lived in Miami, Ft Laud for 10 years....that's where I met my hubby who worked for the same company....then the company merged with our West Coast division in Tampa, and they moved me there...my hubby originally worked for the company in the Tampa division and ended up back in Tampa in the nick of time to spend time with his dad, who had gotten terminal cancer and died less than a year later.

We lived in Tampa for another 10 years, changed jobs when our parent corporation went in to chapter 11. Then I got an offer I could not refuse from a company in Massachusetts....Matt was A okay with quitting his job and moving there because he was a huge Boston Celtic fan!

We both decided we wanted to get the neck out of Dodge after 9/11....(we both had jobs that brought us to NYC a couple of times a month), it took us 5 years to slow down our careers, and sell our house and we moved to Maine....bought a small cape with the money we made off the Massachusetts home, and I have not worked since, and Matt got a nothing job just for the healthcare insurance for me....he's a disabled vet so he got his healthcare from the VA.

SO, pretty much, that's our story of how we ended up in Maine, 3/4s of the year paradise...A much much slower way of living, away from the fast lane we were both in! He's retired now too.... As in my pictures threads, we have more deer and other critters as our friends than neighbors...we can smell the roses.

Here at my sister's and parent's area the traffic is scary....I've been in Maine so long now, I've forgotten how crowded it is here in Florida....and my parents/sis supposedly live what is considered rural! Tampa and Miami driving would be a nightmare!!!!

We started coming to Fort Lauderdale when we were kids. My grandparents moved here. Bought a really nice condo with a pool and shuffle board 3 miles from the ocean for dirt cheap. Even now you can get a fixer upper for $100K. $130 if it's nice. My brother has an end unit on the bottom with 2 bedrooms. They are the most sought out units. He can get $180K. And the neighborhood we are in the homes go for almost a million dollars now.

I'm starting to hear people in Florida sound a lot like people who live in California. They can't afford to live here. May have to move. Taxes, insurance, etc. So much for Florida being the shiny example of how Republicans run a state.

But I love it. You have to have money of course. Or in my case, know someone who has money. I will be able to afford something when I retire but for now I come when my brother isn't using the place. He said next year he can't wait till March to come. So I'm going to have to come in January probably next year. That's fine. I prefer towards the end of summer but January is better than nothing.

I was saying Florida is the best state 4 months out of the year, IF you can afford it. But that's true for California too. And I'm sure Cali has just as many beautiful places as Florida. Let's just say those are two of our finest states. Two that everyone wishes they could afford to be. People here may trash California but Florida isn't much different.

People say it's cheaper if you move inland but who wants to live there? LOL

So you know Fort Lauderdale. I love Los Olas all the way down to Boca. I can ride the entire thing both ways on my Ebike. But usually I go from Commercial to Los Olas and back. Going down to Deerfield is a long ride.

Tell me more about what you know about Fort Lauderdale. Favorite restaurants. I've been to a lot of nice restaurants and I know there's hundreds of other good places.

 

[Care4all]

Heading back home to Maine after 3 months in Florida visiting my parents and big sister...

We bought a new car while here so we are driving home.

We left Friday afternoon and only made it to south Carolina that day, and to Virginia just south of D.C. the second day.

Today from Va. through DC, and maryland, Delaware in to N J, and are now on the NJ turnpike heading towards NYC, hope to make it through Connecticut and in to Massachusetts by this evening, then NH, and home sweet home to Maine tomorrow!