Is Florida all it's cracked up to be?

My old company used to rent the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami for several days each year for a big awards ceremony/trip. I was given several of these trips, over the years. We also spent a week in Orlando a few years ago, and caught a Space Shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral. Florida is great if a person is fed up with the cold weather...especially in the North East...but as the Snowbirds population increases, so do prices, and overcrowding. It would be nice to have a Summer home in the upper Midwest, and a Winter home in Florida or Arizona. I have relatives in the Phoenix area, and I would prefer that. Even when the temperature climbs to triple digits in Phoenix, is is not that bad except for a few hours in the afternoon. The Florida humidity seems to be 24/7....at least when we've been there.
 

I love living in Jacksonville, FL, city of miles and miles of rivers and beaches and parks.

Summers are hot but I stay indoors during the summer. Thunderstorms/drenching rain is common on hot days. Love bugs and alligators are mainly found in rural areas. I don't even notice love bug season when it comes around because I live in a developed area and don't travel interstates and rural areas very often BUT love bug season was hell on earth when I lived in a rural town 100 miles from here. Mosquitoes can also a problem depending upon where you live.

I do watch for snakes and spiders when walking nature trails. I do take trash out every night to prevent roaches from entering my house. Maybe two or three will wander in under the glass sliding doors each year, but that is about all.
 
We only lived in Jax for a year, then the company moved us south. My wife said her neck wasn't red enough and was glad to move. It was cooler than I liked in the winter.
 

When I flew for United as a pilot, I never liked the Chicago to Miami flight. I flew it because sometimes that was the only flight left that was longer than two hours. I always liked the longest trips I could get, but never wanted to fly international. I remember on one occasion, the east coast of Florida was expecting Hurricane Andrew. I believe it was in '92 or '93. I was flying the Boeing 767, which was scheduled to go onto Los Angeles, but I did not have the next flight. I was to fly back to Washington and then I would be done for the day. The plane seats just under 300, but because of the hurricane warnings that had gone out, we only had 70-some on-board. Andrew hit just south of Miami and devastated Homestead. I was glad as all get out just to leave before it hit. We had some high winds out ahead of the hurricane, which gave us some bumps as we landed and took off.
 
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