What DO you like about living in FL?

As I said in the other FL post I live in Pensacola and the main thing I like about it is the relatively warm climate and the beautiful white sand beaches.

What part of FL do you live in and would you recommend it to a friend? Is there another part of the state you'd rather live in?

What part of FL has the most autocross opportunities?

What part of FL has the most karting activity? What SCCA regions allow karts to run in autocross?

Does anyone live in the Lakeland area? I've never been there, what's it like?

I have lived in Gainesville for 7 years now. As a student, it is an excellent place to be. Great food, lots of nature and "cultural" things to do, supposedly good public schools, and among the least conservative areas in the state, if you're into that sort of thing. Lakes, rivers, and springs are just outside of town.

The large percentage of recent grads that don't want to leave pushes the payscale down. I would recommend securing a job before moving here.

I live in Plant City which is on the Tampa side of Lakeland. I'm happy here, I grew up in Tampa but the older I get the less I like people. Good thing about this area is I'm roughly an hour from Serbring and 2 from Daytona. Hour and a half to go fishing in Boca Grande or 30 min to fish Tampa bay.

As far as karts, Anderson is 30 minutes, Ocala is 90 min, Orlando is 45 min, and Palm Beach is 2 1/2 hours

Graefin10 wrote: As I said in the other FL post I live in Pensacola and the main thing I like about it is the relatively warm climate and the beautiful white sand beaches. What part of FL do you live in and would you recommend it to a friend? Is there another part of the state you'd rather live in? What part of FL has the most autocross opportunities? What part of FL has the most karting activity? What SCCA regions allow karts to run in autocross? Does anyone live in the Lakeland area? I've never been there, what's it like?

I live in Tampa, but grew up on the east coast in Jupiter. I would most definitely recommend. Never plan on moving anywhere else but back to Jupiter, and even then Tampa is a great place.

Things I love:

Weather Beaches Boating Sailing Scuba Fishing Wakeboarding Surfing Quick trips to keys/bahamas All kinds of food Camping State Parks

I live in the state that everyone wants to visit. No state income tax, and vehicle registrations are reasonable. Never a need to swap to snow tires. At least in my part of the state, there are plenty of opportunities for offroading.

• state parks ( some of the best in the nation. for the last few years, I've gotten an annual pass)
• canoeing/kayaking
• not shoveling snow
• the fruit (oranges growing in the back yard, starfruit at the neighbor's place, being close to the strawberries in plant city)
• close to my family
• year round autocross (although I haven't taken advantage of that in a while)
• being within an hour or two of lots of potential motorsports venues (circle track, drag racing, road racing, karting, mudding, etc.)

Personal fave? Underrated, easy to catch (hell, catch 'em in a crab trap if you're lazy like me,) deep fried, pand fried, beer-battered NOMNOMNOMNESS.

I should have mentioned that it is fun to watch people from out of state get their panties in a twist about snakes and small alligators. (Yes, I respect the big ones, but you don't need to get riled up when you see a 5' gator that is half tail.)

Year-round everything.

No state income tax and low property taxes.

There's just barely enough culture if you're willing to drive a couple hours for it.

Being a popular destination, travel from here is also pretty reasonable. We're within three hours of three major cruise ports, and within 90 minutes of two major airports and a surprisingly good regional airport.

Three pro football teams and two MLB teams within four hours. Two NBA teams, two hockey teams, arena football, bigtime colleges, golf, Sebring, Daytona, SPGP, Homestead. It's a good place to live if you like sports.

Although we do not take advantage of it as much as we should, there's something liberating about living near the coast.

jg

Everything about florida I love even the crazies. I plan on being back by xmas.

in a beach town, i'd imagine the steady stream of "what happens at the beach" poontang would be nice.

Keep in mind Florida is a big state---- The Jacksonville area is nothing at all like the Daytona area, which is nothing at all like Miami or South Florida.

Since I live on the coast in Central FL (Daytona):

Beach--- Daytona Beach is still a fantastic place (surfing, fishing, and people-watching) And yes, Pat, plenty of poontang in regular rotation-----we also host the National Collegiate Cheerleader Championships which makes for a very, very pleasant week! The nightlife is also always entertaining!

Tomoka State Park--- About 10 min away, trees form canopy over road, lots of twists and turns opening up to marshland----- great motorcycling road. (I rode it yesterday, and will again today)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoka_State_Park

Weather--- yes, it's hot in the Summer, but your body does adjust. (95 degrees and humid is actually no longer a bother--- but now I'm a sissy under 50 degrees) However, from Oct--- May the weather is nearly perfect.

cheap, cheap cheap--- Nice homes sell regularly for under $80K within walking distance to the beach. Food and drink is cheaper too---- beer is regularly $3-$4---- entrees usually $10-$15 at decent places. Also no state income tax.

laid back living---- the pace of life here is more relaxed and easy-going. Central FL also isn't overrun by retirees, so the roads are less dangerous than say the Gulf side of FL.

water everywhere---- if you like to boat, fish, kayak, or just enjoy water FL is hard to beat. This is the one thing that drove me from CO to FL---- I missed the ocean and having water everywhere

year round motorsports / motorcycling------ self explanatory

I've been here 11 years now. I like it a lot. The bugs aren't bad as long as you are near the ocean--- same goes for the heat (always a breeze). I've seen exactly 2 snakes in the 11 years I've been here, and we've had one year where hurricanes were an issue. I travel extensively throughout the U.S., and bang for the buck Central FL is very hard to beat.

I'd especially recommend the New Smyrna Beach area---- all the good stuff of Daytona, without the seediness.

poopshovel wrote: Personal fave? Underrated, easy to catch (hell, catch 'em in a crab trap if you're lazy like me,) deep fried, pand fried, beer-battered NOMNOMNOMNESS.

Sheepshead ftw. Another underrated yumminess is Grunt. (To the OP, just go ahead and put those as 2 of the reasons I love Fla.)

Margie