defend the indefensible: living in florida

You're kidding! I thought it was supposed to be a pretty neat thing to visit and see firsthand -- at least, that's one of the main reasons why I'd want to visit WDW. (I couldn't care less about Disney characters, really.)

I don't understand the Clearwater love expressed here, its a shithole.

Huh. I suppose maybe more of my friend's insistence that she MUST move from Tampa to Clearwater is due to her boyfriend's presence there than I'd suspected or thought.

And... florida.person? Yeah, I live in TEXAS. Granted, it's near the Hill Country and thus my part of TX is sorta hilly, but I do know what flatness is supposed to be about, and so flatness isn't going to kill me.

i don't think i'd ever seen my parents THAT SCARED in my life. i guess that dad had seen deliverance or something.

The thing which finally made them that Florida was not for them: We were driving down, and we drove through a small town in Northern Florida, and along the Main Street there was a big ol' KKK demonstration. They were standing on the street corners with signs, waving at the passers-by. My stepfather had to quickly talk my mother out of driving directly into the demonstrators.

When we got back home, they put the condo up for sale.

Palmetto bugs = euphemism for 3" flying cockroaches

The thing which finally made them that Florida was not for them: We were driving down, and we drove through a small town in Northern Florida, and along the Main Street there was a big ol' KKK demonstration. They were standing on the street corners with signs, waving at the passers-by. My stepfather had to quickly talk my mother out of driving directly into the demonstrators.

When we got back home, they put the condo up for sale. "

I don't know how far from Tampa "outside of Tampa" is, but this is mostly bullshit. Yeah Florida is horrible in the summer but winters are horrible up north, and your parents should have realized this before they moved here. There are dozens of excellent nonchain restaurants in Tampa - just drive a little bit up North Armenia and you'll pass at least 20. If insects are a problem screen in your porch/balcony. And as for the old "nothing to do", please - they probably put as much effort into finding "things to do" as they did finding good restaurants. Rural Florida is The South, true, which is why I live in the city.

All the anti-Florida stuff in this thread was just lame. For being supposedly smart hipsters, I'd expect more than some alligator jokes.

I guess we could have found more things to do. We could have gone to the Dali museum again, or perhaps drive an hour for some dinner theater. At least the lack of interesting things to do, the stiflingly hot weather, and the swarms of insects meant we got to spend some "quality time" together inside our condo.

Oh, also, all the beaches we tried along the Gulf were the pits.

But this is about defending the indefensible, so: Weeki Wachee is fantastic. Although last I heard, it was in danger of being shut down. And there were these egrets who lived in the parking spaces next to ours -- there were three of them, and they were there every time we visited, always in that same parking spot, and they were the greatest thing about the only state in the union that I have no interest in setting foot in ever again.

Actually, the thing I miss most about Florida (other than my parents) is the lizards, snakes and turtles you could see nearly any time. You'd walk by a bush next to the house, and there'd be this great rustling sound of dozens of lizards scurrying for cover!

My parents never had air conditioning the whole time I was growing up. The best we could afford was a large FAN. Today I absolutely cringe at the thought but back then I was fine! Of course, in Seattle I now wear t-shirts in 50-degree weather, when in Florida that temperature would have seen me in MULTIPLE sweaters.

for a minute there, i thought that you were referring to FL's governor and his extended family!

where i learned that alligator tastes like chicken

(xpost with Vicky's lovely photos)

-- Layna Andersen (layn...), October 29th, 2004.

we have these in South Carolina too!

i went to a friend's house once, and he came out of his garage with one on his shoulder. for a second i thought he had one as a pet! i asked him about it and he saw it and was like, "gah!"

to clarify, for a second i thought it was one of those huge hissing cockroaches they sell at exotic pet stores.

Season Tix to Diseny = cheap getaway to a land that is well designed and serves real alcohol. Epcot especially. Like an 82 world's fair that never went away...although they're slowly destroying it.

St. John's county beaches are pristine and barely discovered. 60's oldies radio sounds so good in that setting.

Classic 80's Miami Bass, of course.

Listening to my beloved Brazilian pop/jazz makes more sense driving down A1A than it does sitting in my shoebox apartment here in NYC.

And needless to say, in 20 years, I made a number of really smart really good friends, but it's pulling teeth to find those people.

Destroy the rest, which is an assload.

florida is straight up fucked huh? nytimes cover article today + nyer article last week made the state seem pretty much screwed for a long while.

sorry--not today--yesterday

what happan

I saw a picture of 1000 people lining up to fill in 35 job positions to be a firefighter in Miami on an NYT from last week. oy.

Those who would sacrifice culture for weather deserve neither.

http://gawker.com/5951314/used-enemas-resold-to-cvs-customers-after-being-resealed-and-returned

mugshot = O_O

story = O_*

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/wildlife-officials-ready-to-round-up-menacing-tegu-lizards-video/2190506

Yeah, Florida will never run out of invasive species to hunt.

usually they're called the sick and elderly.

Good news for Floridians: significantly less toilet iguanas in your future
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/22/toilet-invading-iguanas-invasive-species-banned-florida