The Absolute Best and Worst Florida Has to Offer - Part 2

For this week’s blog I’ll continue sharing my thoughts on the absolute best and worst that Florida has to offer. Let’s talk weather, food, critters, traffic and drivers, and hurricanes!

THE WORST: The Weather

There’s a reason almost nobody visits Florida from June through September – it’s because Florida becomes the largest outdoor sauna in the world during those four months (and often during May and October as well). Starting in mid-May, the daily high temperature is almost always 90 or above, and that continues through early October. Worse yet, the relative humidity enters the uncomfortable range then and doesn’t leave that range until the fall. That means the “feels like” temperatures during those 5-6 months are usually at least 100 degrees, except for a few days here and there where we get a bit of relief. I’m kind of surprised to admit this, but once you endure these summers a few times, it’s actually true that you really do acclimate to the heat and humidity, and it becomes pretty easy to deal with it. That doesn’t mean you learn to like it, but you do find ways to accept and embrace it. Having a pool makes everything bearable, and Laurie and I actually enjoy and look forward to hanging out in our pool pretty much every day during the summer. Also, in the spirit of always finding a silver lining in anything, the summer is also the time when we get daily thunderstorms which I absolutely love, and they do often cool things down enough to enjoy an occasional evening out on the lanai! As I’ve said before in this blog, the temperatures down here have never gotten as hot as they did in the DC metro area (in the three years we have lived down here we have never had a daily high above 98 degrees), but the heat and humidity do persist much longer than they should!

Yes, it’s friggin’ hot here in the summer!

THE BEST: The Weather

There’s also a reason why Florida is considered one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world – the weather! For six months, from November through April (barring the occasional late season hurricane in November, that is!), the weather down here in Florida is absolutely sublime! The daily high temperatures drop down in the low mid-70’s, with the occasional highs in the 60’s. The humidity also goes away, as does the rain. What’s left is day after day of perfect temperatures, low humidity, and constant sunshine. The mornings and evenings are cool and oftentimes even “crisp” with temperatures in the low 60’s/high 50’s. The snowbirds start arriving in late November and fill up our rentals, hotels, restaurants, and beaches until they start departing after Easter. We love all our visitors, because they pay tourism taxes that replace state income taxes (yes, we pay no state income taxes, although we do have the normal local, property, and other taxes that everyone has to pay). Laurie and I live outside from November through April – I nap on my hammock most days, enjoy a dip in our pool, watch the sunset each evening from our lanai, and frequently dine al fresco as well. We absolutely love it!!

A beautiful rainbow on my morning walk in Lakewood Ranch!

THE WORST: The Critters

Before I start this one, I need to define what I mean by “critter”. I don’t mean the wildlife down here in Florida, which is captivating and amazing! What I AM talking about are the unwanted critters that seem to be everywhere in Florida – snakes, spiders (including particularly nasty ones like black widows), fire ants, mosquitoes, gnats, weird worms, and a host of other creepy crawlers. There’s a reason why most everyone in Florida who has a pool and outdoor patio has a lanai cage – these screened cages keep out most (but not all!) of the critters so you can enjoy your time outside. The only “critters” we welcome inside our lanai cage are geckos, small lizards that eat the small insects that invariably find ways to get in the cage. But as everyone knows, critters find ways to get into houses too, so almost everyone in Florida also pays a pest company each month to manage the critters and keep them under control, both inside and outside the house. That’s the price you pay to live in a tropical paradise!

The dreaded fire ant – don’t step on one of their hills or you’ll end up in the emergency room of the nearest hospital!

THE BEST: The Wildlife

One of the things we love best about Florida is that we have our own “Mutual of Omaha Wildlife Kingdom” show going on in our backyard every day, with visits by bald eagles (on our roof!), blue herons, wild parrots, ospreys, sand cranes, and alligators. Laurie is in heaven since now all she has to do is step outside our lanai cage to take her wildlife pictures. In addition to all the wonderful wildlife we have in our neighborhood, there’s even more to see across the state and the Sarasota area. Want to see a manatee or dolphin? Just go to the beach or the bay and they’ll be hard to miss. Want to get up close and personal with the more exotic wildlife that lives in Florida? Just go to one of the hundreds of nature preserves or the everglades to see wildlife you never even knew existed! If you are outside, you are almost guaranteed to see a bird or mammal you haven’t ever encountered – it’s awesome! And it’s (usually) safe as well, as long as you don’t do something stupid like wade into a freshwater pond or go “off trail” in a preserve.

An alligator attacking two sand cranes that were taunting him in the lake behind our house – photo by Laurie Geis

THE WORST: The Drivers

The Washington DC metro area has some of the absolute worst traffic in the nation, with rush hours lasting 3 hours or more in the morning and evening, and roads clogged even on the weekends. So, Laurie and I were really looking forward to moving to a city that wasn’t in the “top 3” for worst traffic in the United States! But besides the traffic in DC, we also developed an intense dislike for drivers from Maryland. That’s because they are absolutely the worst drivers in the country. When we lived in Virginia and saw a driver doing something stupid, Laurie and I always automatically looked at the license plate to confirm it was a driver from Maryland, and 9 times out of 10 it was! What we didn’t expect was that Florida drivers, as a group, might be even worse than Maryland drivers, which is really saying something! I don’t know what it is down here, but Florida drivers are absolutely horrible! They routinely either go 20 miles over the speed limit and tailgate you if you aren’t doing the same, or they are crawling along at 40 miles per hour in the left lane of an interstate where the speed limit is 70 mph. They frequently simply ignore stop signs and blow right through them, and they couldn’t successfully navigate a traffic circle if their lives depended on it. Maybe it’s the elderly population down here, or the fact that we have so many visitors that are unfamiliar with the roads. But for whatever reason, the drivers down here are the worst, period! Also, the traffic here can be horrendous when all the snowbirds show up for the winter and increase the local population two-fold – only thing to do is grin and bear it!

THE BEST: The Food Scene

The fact that I write a weekly food, wine and spirits blog should convince you that Laurie and I take our “foodies” moniker seriously! Not only do we love to cook at home, create our own recipes for dishes and cocktails, and host friends and family for wine tasting dinners, we also love going out to eat and exploring the thriving and exciting Sarasota food scene. The number of great restaurants in the Sarasota area is mind-boggling, and the range of cuisines available to explore is surprising as well. Whether it’s Italian, Cuban, Peruvian, Spanish, American, German, Korean, Japanese, French, or Middle Eastern fare, Sarasota has it all. In fact, the only thing that Sarasota doesn’t do well is Chinese and Thai food, which is a huge disappointment for Laurie and I since we love both. We also love that regardless of how fancy and upscale the place might be, everyone is still welcome dressed in shorts and a nice Hawaiian shirt – no need to get dressed up! In the three years we have lived here, Laurie and I have tried over 140 different restaurants, and that’s just a small sample of what Sarasota has to offer. Even better, there seem to be new restaurants opening every week and we keep adding more to our list to try. We thought we couldn’t beat the Washinton DC food scene when we left there, but Sarasota’s definitely gives it a run for its money!

Downtown Sarasota Main Street, filled with great restaurants!

So, there you have it – the best and the worst that Florida has to offer! I’m anxious to hear whether I have made you more excited or less excited about visiting our retirement home based on this list – let me know!!