We lived in Jacksonville, FL for 10 1/2 years. We lived on the southern end, aka Southside. We got use to the humidity/heat, but it took awhile. During those years in the summer, we encountered some pretty heavy t-storms, with lightning galore, and even a few tropical storms. We were told this, "because of the location of Jacksonville, hurricanes don't hit here". Well, that wasn't entirely true, because Hurricane Irma came right over us in September 2017. We were in a "No Evacuation Zone", so we stayed in our apartment. We heard the wind and all electricity went out in the middle of the night. Trees were uprooted by the complex and some damage done around Jacksonville. Boats that had been tied up to private docks were crashed into bridges on the St. John's River. Our boat, the same one we still have, was in a Dry Storage and completely unharmed by this hurricane. But, part of the Dry Storage was completely flooded and a couple of docks broken away and just floating. So, have you ever lived in any part of Florida and left due to hurricanes or perhaps other things? We moved back to Colorado in August 2019. Even though we spent 10 1/2 years in Jacksonville and visited Key West, Orlando and Tampa Bay, there were things we really missed about Colorado. If you have never lived in Florida, have you ever considered moving there? We will never move back or visit, but it was an interesting 10 1/2 years we were there.
No, absolutely not. I've never even wanted to visit Florida. I just hate heat and humidity and don't want to live anywhere with that kind of climate. It gets hot here but the humidity stays low and it makes a difference.
My sister lived in Jacksonville in the late 60s and we visited once. I don't recall much except the mutant bugs & lizard. The only time I've been in Florida since then is catching a connecting flight in Miami (maybe twice.) I never left the airport.
I've been there a number of times, different parts: both coasts, the Keys, centrally. Not a fan, I wouldn't live there. Always felt like I needed a shower and the air smelled somewhere between Fritos and fried eggs. Gritty beaches that didn't have real sand, just something like rotten crushed shell. Everything overpriced. "Brown" people (Mexicans?) lurking in the shadows or cringing away as if avoiding abusers.
You reminded me of one thing I did like... Since there is no surf on the gulf coast, you can find lots of fully-intact conch shells, sand dollars, etc.
I love to visit Florida; I have been many times. I have family in Jacksonville and the Tampa area, and my sister has a summer cabin near Orange Lake (Micanopy). I have no desire to live there but I suppose I could if I had to. Since I live on the Gulf coast I'm familiar with heat, mosquitoes, hurricanes and crushing humidity, but without Florida's beautiful beaches.
I forgot about all of the Geico lizards. People don't pay much attention to them because they eat bugs. We had never lived anywhere that had lizards before. Believe it or not, the apartment complex we lived in had a fireplace in it. Woodburning, not gas. We'd open the vent smoke vent around October and a few dead Geico's would fall out. We also had the cousin to the cockroach, called a Water Bug. They would come up thru water pipes into apartments and boy could they run fast. Guess management knew about the Water Bugs, but definitely wouldn't disclose anything about them to a prospective resident. Jacksonville, from what we experienced, was the coldest part of Florida. During Florida's so-called "winters", we could see our breath and sometimes frost on the grass and light ice if it had rained during the previous day. On December 25th, 2010, we even had snow falling. Christmas morning we got up, I opened the curtains/shades in our living room and it was snowing outside. I grabbed our video camera and got video of it. Some upstairs neighbors were outside looking at it and stunned. Who would ever think it would snow in Florida??? But, after doing some research, I found out that Daytona Beach has had snow on the beach. We were told that Florida has more lightning than anywhere in America, however, Loveland, Colorado sure got its share during t-storms and we seen that. During the 10 1/2 years we lived on the Southside of Jacksonville, we only went to the beach (Jacksonville Beach) four times. We found out that we liked mountains more than Florida beaches. Now, what we did really, really like was the Air Show that both Jacksonville (Naval Air Station) and Jacksonville Beach put on. It was terrific!! And, another exciting thing my wife just reminded me of was the Christmas Boat Parade and Fireworks Show on the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville. Only other Christmas Boat Parade that we had ever seen that compared to Jacksonville was the Newport Beach/Balboa Island, California one and the one in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that we watched on tv. However, neither of these had a Fireworks Show after the parade.
My Parents were in Bradenton so we rented a place on Anna Maria Island while visiting. No surf! I used to swim out as far as I could, in the summer, flip over and float back into the beach, eventually. The water was nice and warm in July. My mom's birthday. But it was muggy and rained every day for about a 1/2 hour. I am not into muggy.
When I lived in Texas, it was common to find a gecko in the house, and they didn't bother me. It wasn't as if the house was overrun with them; I don't think I ever found more than one in the house simultaneously and had assumed it was the same one. As for Florida, the state has always been high on my list of places I didn't want to live but then I never thought I'd like to live in Texas until I moved there. I always figured Florida would have too many old people driving slow and complaining about stuff.
As far as I know, the only Geico lizards we have here in Florida are the little toy ones the Geico people hand out to kids during parades or festivals. Oh, and I did see a big inflatable one at a race. What we do have are geckos. Cute little dudes and you learn to live with them. I saw some BIG ones in Costa Rica but I'd prefer not to live with them, at least not in my hotel room like I had once. That thing clicked all night long and kept me awake. I've lived in Florida for over 46 years now. I like the good well enough to put up with the bad. People ask how I can put up with the heat and humidity. Well, I've never had to shovel four feet of heat and humidity out of my driveway before going to work. I've never slipped on a sidewalk covered in heat and humidity and broken my tailbone. My roof has never collapsed from too much heat and humidity. I have, however, worn shorts and flip-flops in January and gone to the beach year round. I've lived in houses here with fireplaces and I have used them....very seldom, but I have used them. One Christmas, we had to put the air conditioning on full-blast to have a fire going....but it was worth it. I've spent a total of 27 of my younger years in cold and even colder areas. Brrrr. No thanks. But to each his own. We all have to be happy in our own skins (and clothes). Some people will never be happy, no matter where they live.
Yep, Being happy where you live is very important. Sad when seniors are unhappy where they live and can never find a place that pleases them. I would chose Florida over many other places, especially the very cold.
So far as Jacksonville goes, when I lived there I formed the opinion that the Georgia state line should be at the southern border of Jacksonville. I lived in Georgia long enough to know how much I do not like any part of it and it follows that my dislike for Jacksonville was about the equivalent of its abutting northern state hence my aforementioned opinion. Otherwise, yeah. I’ve lived and worked all over S.E. Florida and for the most part, I liked it okay. I married and divorced my first wife in Vero, lived across the street from the National Enquirer in Lantana, met my 2nd wife in Orlando and spent a bunch of time around Boca Raton, Hollywood, Kissimmee, Jensen Beach, Ft. Laud, Ft. Pierce as a Food and Beverage consultant and helped with my dad’s construction company as well. Work in both of my secular fields was monetarily plentiful and even found time to teach/preach at a couple of the rescue missions.