Technically a Dade County resident, although most of my time is spent overseas. It’s definitely a Trump-majority area but not overwhelmingly so. The local Representative, Gus Bilirakis, had a recent moment of stupidity/confusion in a recent town hall meeting in claiming that he’d seen proof of ACA death panels (he probably meant the Independent Advisory Board, but whether he was genuinely mistaken or lying his ass off is difficult to say).
Non-politically it’s a nice enough area and within easy driving distance of Tampa and Orlando. A little dull, to be honest.
I will honcho a Floridope in any of Dade, Broward, or Palm Beach counties if I get a couple takers.
Y’all folks smack dap in the middle and way up in the top part are on your own. Although I might attend if you’ll have me, south coastal trash though I am.
As my friend singer/songwriter Richie Lyons intones, “It’s people, people, people, people… I hate.” Pretty much the same here as anyplace else, like several folks have said already. Some people are nice, more not so nice, and there’s a strong dose of the crazy.
I sleep in St. Lucie County, my office is in Martin County, and on a random day I might have business anywhere from the Keys to Gainesville, sometimes farther. Like a couple of months ago when I delivered a bald eagle to Dollywood. I didn’t realize there were so many other Dopers in Florida! I’d consider attending a Floridope, although I’m not reliable enough to entrust with waving the baton to create one.
No, it’s literally true. Dollywood is home base of the American Eagle Foundation which trains and exhibits birds of prey. We (the organization where I work) had a surplus Crested Caracara that AEF really wanted. (But if I had said “…delivered a caracara…” nobody would have commented.) I also had a surplus Bald Eagle that I really, really wanted to place elsewhere. Basically I suggested that placing them together would save making separate trips and make the whole deal more attractive, yadda, yadda, wink, nudge. So I ended up driving to Pigeon Forge with two big cardboard boxes full of raptors in the back of the Explorer.
Now I remember, there was really tense footage of them preparing to evacuate during the fire last year. I can’t imagine how overwhelming it must have been for the carers to worry about the animals as well as their human families and personal well-being. I hope they all came through it unscathed.
I’m a fan of World Bird Sanctuary in MO, they have an armadillomy dad’s inordinately fond of thanks to videos on the internet.
Thank you for taking care of those beautiful but intimidating birds.
That evacuation occurred just 2 days after my delivery/visit. There were already fires in some surrounding areas and everyone was on edge. Things did turn out fine for AEF, but not so fine for plenty of regular folks in the vicinity.
Thanks for humoring me through this little hijack! I don’t tell many ‘first person’ tales here, but it’s fun when it happens.
I lived in St Augustine for years and thought it was pretty nice. I’m not saying that Florida doesn’t have any of the problems you mentioned but who doesn’t.
I miss the warm weather!
I don’t tell many ‘first person’ tales here, but it’s fun when it happens.