I’m a native Floridian that moved to the Midwest for economic reasons. I learned to love the Midwest because of the four seasons. My family back in Florida thinks that the Midwestern winter is glorious though, and ask every year if they can come up to “see snow”. What they don’t understand is that winter is dreary here. Very few days are sunny, and when there isn’t snow on the ground, it’s muddy and gray. Sometimes it’s super cold, like -10 for days at a time. They romanticize it, but truthfully, they would do well to stay where they are. I don’t think they can cut the “harsh” winters here. Being a sun lover, I know I have difficulty with the lack of sunshine in the winter months. That being said, I don’t think I could ever move back to Florida anymore. It’s a nice place to visit.
We have officially moved to Florida last year. It was nice to fill out my state tax forms this year.
Floridians, be it newcomers or old timers, take it all in stride. Palmetto bugs? Ick, even though I hate midges more, and if you venture out onto a mangrove trail you better be wearing industrial strength insect repellant. There is a botanical garden up in Vero Beach that was used for jungle warfare training in WWII.
All bodies of water contain alligators. I’ve never seen one here, actually, but I don’t dip my toes in anything other than salt water. Then I worry about sharks. They closed a local mountain bike trail because of an alligator run-in. How cool is that?
Typically I change shirts three times a day.
However, I go fishing at least three days a week; I walk my dog on the beach about the same; this area (Stuart) might be the most conservative place I’ve ever lived; my last kayak fishing trip I bagged three Jack Crevalle, two mangrove snapper, one snook and a mangrove tree with a couple of Atlantic croaker.
I grant you this: Christmas here is weirdly depressing.