How do you like Florida?

Derick Freese wrote: In reply to Karl La Follette: Is that yours?

Yes and i want to sell stuff

CLik For Dope and and Strange

I have lived in Gainesville for six years now, and I really like it. I am currently a student at the University.

As far as what to do, Gainesville and its surrounding areas have a lot of public parks in just about every direction. Gainesville itself has good restaurants, city parks, quality museums, a good library, community theaters, etc.. UF has a lot of neat things that the kids will like, including its own small lake that your family will have access to if she attends. The Gulf coast is just over an hour to the west, and the Atlantic is about two hours to the east. St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city, is two hours away. If you don't want to drive to the coast, Florida also has a lot of inland water; there are plenty of springs and rivers within a short drive. If you want to see The South, you need to check out Bob's River Place, a redneck waterpark that some guy constructed on his riverfront property.

Gainesville is probably one of the more left-leaning cities in the state, surrounded by very conservative small towns, if that means anything to you. Recognize that Gainesville revolves around the university, both politically and geographically. Most everything is Gator this, orange and blue that. If you are into sports, it's fun to watch the place transform on gameday. However, if you live on the outskirts of town, you probably won't notice much.

If you look at a map of Gainesville, the city center is about the intersection of University Avenue and 13th Street (the northeast tip of the main UF campus). The farther away from this point that you live, the harder that getting on campus will be. The easiest way to get to campus is by bus or by two wheels. The city bus system is surprisingly thorough for a small town in the south. The ratio of scooters to cars will make you think that you are in Vietnam. The closer you are to this center, the harder it is to find a place with a garage, and the more expensive the place will be. We live just a few miles from this point, and our 3/2 historic house is $750/month.

One last thing, take "towing zone" signs seriously. Towing is big business here.

Gainesville is nice. Locals prefer the NW and W side of town for better neighborhoods and schools. North Central FL has lots of springs and lakes and there are some really pretty drives in that neck of the wooods - from Gainesville down toward Ocala horse country, for example. Dunno how old your kids are but there is an IB program in the Alachua County Public Schools if you're still there in Middle or high school for them. No state income tax in FL, so there's that. Yeah, Florida rednecks are a special people. There are still some good country folks too. Oh yeah, it's been said already, racing 11 months of the year if you want. Most clubs take December off for the holidays, and some don't hold events in July or August to miss the hottest months. There are plenty of clubs between Jax and Orlando: SCCA, NCCC Corvette clubs, PCA, Martin Sports Car Club, etc.

Florida rednecks are a special people. There are still some good country folks too.

Truth. I prefer "White Trash" to really distinguish the two though. "Redneck" ain't all bad.

How did I not see this sooner?

In 1972, I was sent (by the Navy) to Jacksonville, Fl. I grew up in a small town (5,000 residents) in Pa. but did spend 3 or 4 months in Pittsburgh before joining the Navy so I had some largish city experience. I really fell in love with Jacksonville and was lucky enough to stay nearly 5 years. During that time, I did make a few trips to Gainesville and quickly realized I/you don't want to try to drive there on the weekends the football team is playing home games. Other than that, I really liked Gainesville.

In the mid '80s, I was transferred back to Jacksonville (I all but begged for it) after 12 years travelling the country. I lived on base near "Silicon Valley", and lived on the outskirts of a small Texas town...as well as going overseas a half a dozen times. Jacksonville had changed in the 12 years I was away, but this time I decided to buy a house and stay. Unfortunately, the Navy transferred me one more time (to Memphis, Tn.) where I stayed for 23 years.

Just about 2 years ago, I moved back to Jacksonville....and what a shock. There had been an explosion of growth in this area that bordered on the overwhelming. After a few months, I made my way down to Gainesville. Yes, there had been quite a bit of growth there, too. But the area was GENERALLY the way I remembered it.

Florida, as others have said, is warm nearly 10-11 months a year. I turned my furnace on about 2 weeks this winter, and used a small room heater other times. It is "muggy", but coming from Memphis, it wasn't much worse. Bugs? When I lived here in the '70s and '80s there was an annual infestation of what are called "love bugs"...I'm not sure why, but I have seen maybe 5 or 6 love bugs in 2 years. Palmetto bugs on the other hand, well, they are a big nuisance, and your wife will probably mistake them for roaches.

The people? Well, even tho I'm over 45 years old, I'm still struck by how many older people there are ...EVERYWHERE you go here. People here in Jacksonville are nice/courteous (sp?) and there is a mixture of ...tastes? to be experienced here in contrast to Memphis where all you run into are ribs/wings/BBQ. Fruit and vegetables can be bought right off the farm about 30 minutes from downtown Gainesville, tho the people selling them sometimes come across / or are? "rednecks. Gainesville is LESS than 2 hours (depending on route and traffic) from a Gulf or Atlantic beach. Consequently, fresh seafood is available year around.

BUT, as another poster here pointed out...Florida's schools are ...."hit or miss", no thanks to Gov. Rick Scott. Find a nice house near a very good school when / if you move here and everything else will fall into place.

BTW, the traffic "thing"....it's bad if you are trying to head the same direction everyone else is on a weekend (that is, to Disneyworld or a beach.) I drove SOUTH of Jacksonville on the Labor Day weekend....it was bumper to bumper while the road north was empty.

cwh wrote: Another thing a lot of people don't realize is how BIG Florida is. It is an 8 hour drive from Jacksonville to Miami. Oh, our racing season is January to December.

You must drive slow.

Ya'll want to abuse our highway safety regulations here in Florida? Well, we have ways of dealing with that, Mr. Yankee!! Yeah,try to run I-95 and you will hear something similar to this. Airplanes, roadside radar, laser, overpasses, unmarked cars, and probably more tricks I have not seen yet.

from a purely visitor stand point i like the merritt island area.. maybe cuz of the ocean.. i just think if i went there to live. that would be my choice. we have a condo in celebration, and if my wife said yes.. i would sell it even at a loss to be around merritt.

Schools are hit and miss in Fla. Choose your school district first, then find a home in it. Everything else is secondary with your kids of school age, and your home values will follow anyway, so it makes financial sense as well. G'ville has a top IB high school - so it should have some quality elementary and middle schools feeding it. You can use the Florida school grading system as a rough guideline, but be careful: a majority of a school's "grade" is based on improvement over the previous year's test scores, so a more stable program with consistent high performance is actually less likely to earn an "A" grade. Check FCAT scores for the real picture.

Good luck, and don't mind the palmetto bugs. It's actually the giant grasshoppers that are most likely to freak you out.

Margie

It's actually the giant grasshoppers that are most likely to freak you out.

Dude seriously. I never berkeleyed with fluffy animals, or any weird dahmer E36 M3, but holy crap, the once every few years big yellow grasshopper plague??? We'd do some pretty sick E36 M3 to those evil berkeleyers.

poopshovel wrote:

It's actually the giant grasshoppers that are most likely to freak you out.

Dude seriously. I never berkeleyed with fluffy animals, or any weird dahmer E36 M3, but holy crap, the once every few years big yellow grasshopper plague??? We'd do some pretty sick E36 M3 to those evil berkeleyers.

Injure/imobilize them them with a machete and then throw them onto a fire and mound?

BTW, you do know that the little black and yellow-orange ones are the ones that grow up to be the nasty big ones http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

JoeyM wrote: Injure/imobilize them them with a machete and then throw them onto a fire and mound? BTW, you do know that the little black and yellow-orange ones are the ones that grow up to be the nasty big ones http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

Thanks, interesting link. So are these native or not? I was under the impression they were not and to squish away.

Those don't look like the ones I remember. They were yellow and red with a touch of black, and hung out near the water. Even the fish hated those berkeleyers. Couldn't catch E36 M3 with them.

Keven wrote:

JoeyM wrote: Injure/imobilize them them with a machete and then throw them onto a fire and mound? BTW, you do know that the little black and yellow-orange ones are the ones that grow up to be the nasty big ones http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

Thanks, interesting link. So are these native or not? I was under the impression they were not and to squish away.

Wiki says it is an indigenous species....still a bothersome species, though, and not one that I mind killing.

Poopy, they come in lots of colors....

.....but the young nymphs are black with yellow-oragnge stripes

In reply to JoeyM:

Between elephant sperm and young nymphs , you sure know how to get a thread off-track!

SVreX wrote: In reply to JoeyM: Between elephant sperm and young nymphs , you sure know how to get a thread off-track!

Check your PMs

Wonder why I see so many Florida plate vehicles in the summer up here, almost like mass migration.

iceracer wrote: Wonder why I see so many Florida plate vehicles in the summer up here, almost like mass migration.

Snowbirds. As long as you live in Florida for 6 months +1 day each year, one can claim FL residency. And that means no state income tax. So folks live here just long enough each year to be a FL resident, and spend the rest of year somewhere else.

If we didn't have young kids, I'd do that in a heartbeat. 6 months here in FL and 6 months somewhere like the mtns of NC. Best of both worlds!

when I win the lottery that's what I'll do

Mitchell said " If you want to see The South, you need to check out Bob's River Place, a redneck waterpark that some guy constructed on his riverfront property. "

Super nice place with a real local flavor

THAT'S the one. And yeah, I remember the little guys being black. Man, there would be bushes just covered top to bottom with 'em. Big ass glass jar turned upside down with one of those guys, a couple spiders, and a mess of fire ants was pretty awesome free entertainment.

As a car guy, it doesn't get much better than Florida. Year round events, year round racing, year round wrenching. Public schools, culture, and politics are another matter entirely. Stick to coastal towns/cities, and communities with real state universities and you'll be okay. Gainesville is still very much a college town in many ways, but its also outgrown that in other ways, plus it's only an hour or two from major cities and entertainment/cultural centers.

I've been living back in beautiful Sarasota for 3years now, and I'd still move back to Seattle in a heart beat given the choice. Just sayin'.

One thing about Gainesville is it doesn't have a large body of water going through downtown. With the exception of Orlando, you don't get much bigger than Gainesville and Ocala in this area without a river flowing through it or being at the coast. An oddly high proportion of our economy is tied to our waterways in some manner. Between the recreation and seafood available at the coast, it's not a surprise.

I grew up calling those bigass bugs "Georgia Thumpers" for some reason. It's what everyone here calls the things, but I think that's a Palatka thing. As has already been well established, Palatkians are an odd bunch, myself included.

Thanks everyone for the great info and experiences. I showed the thread to my wife, and she's getting freaked out by all the bugs None the less, it hasn't stopped her interest and an 11 month season sure beats the 4 auto-x events in a year that we have over here. So I guess we have some homework and a visit to do.

fanfoy wrote: she's getting freaked out by all the bugs

don't let her know that the lubber grasshoppers do get to the size of the pics