[daniellefort]

Beaches:
N.H. are rocky, pebbles not very soft of the toes, freezing water at 60 degrees but feels so much fresher

FL very smooth, soft sand, warm icky feeling water when it reaches 80 degrees. Look close and you might see a Dolphin jump.

Heat/cold:
N.H. Never used A/C in N.H in the summer. 80 degrees was a hot day up there though very rare and it always seems to rain all the time.

FL Use A/C as much as used heat in N.H. Too hot down here. 90+ mixed with the humidity is just too much sometimes. Rains every afternoon in the summer time due to the humidity and sea breezes colliding.

Seasons:
N.H. Had all 4 seasons. Beautiful foliage.
FL Summer and Winter. A couple months before winter and after winter where i don't need A/C or Heat on. no change in colors.

Society:
N.H. and FL i guess i just make peace with everyone and mind my own business and don't make their business my business. Never really had any problems with neighbors or anything in either state. Know most of my neighbors and we look out for each other.

[memoriesbre]

Florida is a relaxed State. Nothing is ever done right. Ever. The commissioners of each County do studies and then more studies only to waste the taxpayers money. They put in roads then rip them up because they didn't do the study right.
The weather is HOT. Look at the weather on the news. It's all the same, day after day. Unless a hurricane is coming. Watch out for those brush fires too. Burning up the everglades right now as I type. Ash falling on cars in Weston. That sounds like paradise for the devil.

HOT HOT HOT.

There are more than 2 seasons in Florida

Snowbird season
fire season
hurricane season
turtle nesting season
alligator mating season
rainy season
winter
summer
summer
summer


Florida is for vacation and for the birds, snowbirds that is.

People move down there thinking that things are going to be beachy all the time. "Ooh, I am wearing shorts all the time!" Big deal that you can wear shorts all the time, you'd better watch out for skin cancer too.

I lived there and have made a decission to get the heck out before the state is swamped with water. That's another big problem, the water from the gulf is creeping up closer and closer to the cities on the west coast.

I can go on forever. You can all come down from Boston, NY, NJ, but be prepared to battle with the people from the Midwest not liking you. They actually look down at the New Yorkers and Massachusetts and NJ folks.

Crime is another big thing. You have a bunch of people that could care less about anything. Living in Florida is not like Disneyworld where you see all the pretty flowers, trees, and happy smiling people.
Go and drive through some of the slummy parts of Florida, there are plenty.
It's a melting pot of too many different ingredients. It makes for a bad taste in your mouth after a while.

I say stay close to your roots. Too many people are running away from what is important. Stay close to what you relate to. America is falling apart, don't you see this?? What ever happened to neighborhood's filled with generations of families knowing each other?
Stay put!

[jaxcurious]

Originally Posted by memoriesbre

I say stay close to your roots. Too many people are running away from what is important. Stay close to what you relate to. America is falling apart, don't you see this?? What ever happened to neighborhood's filled with generations of families knowing each other?
Stay put!

You can stay put but what happens when your family moves away? We are a transient society. We educate our children (hopefully) and bring our them up (hopefully) to be independent. Live your life wherever you are happy. The family will visit. Besides, all this moving around the country makes for some good diversity in ethnic restaurants!

[memoriesbre]

Originally Posted by jaxcurious

You can stay put but what happens when your family moves away? We are a transient society. We educate our children (hopefully) and bring our them up (hopefully) to be independent. Live your life wherever you are happy. The family will visit. Besides, all this moving around the country makes for some good diversity in ethnic restaurants!

There is no stability anymore. People need to realize that all this moving around will eventually ruin this great country. Family will visit but for maybe a few days. After missing out on 7 years of family holidays it gets to a person. Even when somebody gets sick, you have to pick up and get there fast. Plane reservations, driving 1,000 miles, or worse. People need to be there for each other. Getting together for Sunday dinner. I remember those days well and I am so happy to have them back again.
Make believe family is what alot of Floridians have. It doesn't compare to real family, period.

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by memoriesbre

I say stay close to your roots. Too many people are running away from what is important. Stay put!

Well i'm the only one in my family who moved away 1500 miles but i had my reasons. sure family is important and i miss having them around but i have a special needs child that needed more attention than that area (or state for that matter) could offer which to me was much more important for her. I chose to move to FL because i already knew people who lived here and i thought that might help in my transition. Been here 13 years and my daughter is doing great in school because of that move so that's really a "general" comment about staying close to your roots and not running away from whats important. It doesn't work for everyone. In my case, my daughters education was more important than staying near my family and we all agreed on that.

[memoriesbre]

Originally Posted by daniellefort

Well i'm the only one in my family who moved away 1500 miles but i had my reasons. sure family is important and i miss having them around but i have a special needs child that needed more attention than that area (or state for that matter) could offer which to me was much more important for her. I chose to move to FL because i already knew people who lived here and i thought that might help in my transition. Been here 13 years and my daughter is doing great in school because of that move so that's really a "general" comment about staying close to your roots and not running away from whats important. It doesn't work for everyone. In my case, my daughters education was more important than staying near my family and we all agreed on that.

At least you are with your daughter and she is getting the special care she needs. You aren't alone, you are with her and that is a good thing.

[Margel]

I've seen some pretty scary threads on this forum, but this one seems to be one of the worst. The question is one of preference....do you like your weather to be colder or hotter? It's a preference!!! There is no right or wrong answer. If you like warmer or hotter weather, Florida will be a good choice for you. However, if you like it colder with periods of snow, etc., then you need to be up north. Simple, huh? What I can't understand is the needless bashing of other people's choices. I mean, if you like vanilla and I like chocolate, am I then to assume you are ridiculous, a red neck, a yankee, dim witted, a joke? Are you going to get that angry with me because of my taste buds? We need to share information, opinions, and suggestions without all the anger. It's not worth it and all the fighting that some people do, especially on this particular thread, really makes you look like the "bad guy" when all you initially intended to do was give an opinion. Say what you want, but please do not get totally p**sed when others disagree.

[luvthatmouse]

Don't plan on spending a ton of time on the beaches in Florida. We have been having a bad time with Red Tide especially when it is warm out (the summer.) In 2 and 1/2 years we have only been to the beach a few times. DH and I LOVE the beach-it was one of the reasons we moved to Florida. We have friends that live 5 minutes from the beach in Dunedin (near Tarpon Springs.) They could not go to the beach all last summer because the Red Tide smelled so bad and made them cough all the time. They love the beach too. Bought kayaks, dive, etc.. It is very hard for a beach lover to show up at the beach and see many rotting fish floating in the water. It makes us want to cry so we stay away a lot in the summers now Last year it was 90 miles up and down the west coast for several months. I imagine it will only get worse as time goes on and we keep polluting.

[OutaFL]

I am from South Florida, and I cannot take one more summer (which starts in April, ends in November if you are lucky) Horrible relentless heat and humidity, and now waiting for hurricanes, always keeping your eye on that tropical storm or hurricane path on the weather report. Big fat mosquitos filled with who knows what kind of blood, that splatter when you swat them, always getting in the house when you open the door. After 44 years here I am escaping to the North East where there are seasons, and frankly, more intelligent people. Wearing shorts all the time, sipping tropical drinks by a pool - YUK! Do you know how much it costs/how much work goes into owning a pool? Ive had 2 built and I would Never own one again.

I do not want my life to be a Jimmy Buffet song, and if it was, I'd be a lazy loser. I restaurant manager was recently ranting to me about how his restaurants in other parts of the country have much better workers, because the ones he gets in Florida are too concerned with going to the beach and that kind of stuff, and always late or not even bothering to show up.

I can understand how some people from colder regions get sick of winters - but it can work the other way around too. Summers in Florida suck. Take it from a native.

And here is another little known fact: people are leaving Florida. Alot of them. To quote a popular tourist t-shirt I saw in New Orleans a many years ago, "It's not the heat, it's the stupidity." This sums up the 2 main issues in Florida very well.

[john1963]

If you don't like florida then move. I have given up the rat race and high income to live the jimmy buffet song...life is too short.
If someone wants to freeze 6 months so they can see the trees turn colors then let them. If someone wants to roast all summer so they can wear shorts in janurary then let them. It all boils down to personal prefrence otherwise everyone would live in maine or everyone would live in florida.