I think claiming the crime levels in Chicago as the reason for the move is clearly bullshit; how much crime is a billionaire exposed to? (Aside from tax fraud and such.)
Our family vacationed there a few times, decades ago.
When I was very young, it wasn’t so crowded and I had the time of my life on the white sandy beach. The bags of oranges, the pecans, and little plastic oranges filled with Orange Blossom Cologne…A bit later, Sanibel Island and Captiva Island, for strolling on the beach looking for shells. Heaven on earth! - except for the gridlocked traffic going around and around and around Sanibel in an endless circle. (Captiva was much more ‘wild’)…It took well over half an hour to drive 5 miles to a restaurant from our hotel room…I liked staying at Disney World, the Polynesian resort, and doing Disney, also many years ago. I have relatives there who live in St. Augustine, they have some money. They’ve been through three or four hurricanes with little damage, sold the house, and live in a condo now. I don’t have ‘some money’ any more, and I don’t think I’d like to live down there even if I could up and leave. The heat, the politics, the homeless, the ‘Florida Man’, and drugs and traffice… What I hear from friends who also don’t have a lot of money is just awful.
The Badlands are in South Dakota. There’s really nothing in North Dakota, as far as I can tell.
I got ND crossed off my list last summer - my granddaughter moved to Fargo to go to college and I took a couple of weekend trips up there to help her move.
Supposedly one of his executives was mugged in Chicago recently.
But I agree, it is a bullshit reason for him.
So now they’re in Florida where they are guaranteed never to be mugged, shot or assaulted.
North Dakota has its own badlands. There’s also Theodore Roosevelt National Park. So at least a stopover in that part of the state could be worthwhile.
Florida is kind of like hell, as far as I can tell. Flat, wet, crowded, ugly, and hot. Also I prefer my oceans to be cold. There is a large contingent of humans who prefer soporific weather. I am not one of them.
I wintered in south Florida for a number of years in the 90s, mostly Naples, on the Gulf Coast, which at that time was a small town with big town restaurants, etc. I loved it – the sunshine, the beaches, the Everglades, South Beach energy, the wonderful diversity of Miami, etc. Key West was boring – too small & not really much to do other than drink. And I don’t think I would like inland or the panhandle. Given the growth, I might not like the Gulf coast anymore, but the Miami/South Beach area still has appeal.
Tim Dorsey, but yeah.
The only reason I would ever set foot in Florida is to check the state off my “been to” list (3 to go!) And at that it would probably be stepping over the border for a minute because I was in Biloxi and it was close.
There’s no Florida there, so that’s a point in its favor.
Randy Wayne White is also pretty good.
I’ve road tripped in Florida 3 times in the last 20 years and enjoyed myself immensely. I visited in early May, after spring break and before Memorial Day when the crowds aren’t quite so bad. I’ve avoided the Orlando theme park complexes and Miami–the main draw for me has been the natural springs, national and state parks and the remnants of the “old” Florida and it’s classic attractions. I love the beaches too, especially on the Emerald Coast.
There a bunch of fantastic museums like the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola (sadly still closed to the general public) to the James Museum of Western Art in St. Petersburg to the Showman’s Museum in Riverview–just to name a few.
But like any populous/popular area, the shopping/strip mall-ization continues apace, expanding further into rural areas and unique quirky places are disappearing all the time. Driving through the 'burbs with miles of stoplights to get to a place like Litha Springs got to be a real drag on my last trip. I don’t know that I’ll ever go back, but I sure had fun when I was there.
I did not know that! TIL… 
Many people here are saying they don’t really care for Florida but they go there anyway to escape the Northern winter and sit on hot, sunny beaches.
What I don’t understand is why these people don’t vacation in California instead and skip the MAGA, palmetto bugs, and humidity.
Hush, you! Traffic in LA is bad enough without adding tourists to the mix.
“Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded” – Yogi Berra
Seriously- some of the best beach weather in southern California is after Labor Day.
LOL One time I was visiting a friend in Montana and he picked us up in Spokane to drive us to his house in Missoula. Along the way we passed a few turnoffs with signs that just said “Canada.” I asked if we were that close to the border, and he said, “No, we’re about 300 miles from the border; there’s just nothing between Canada and here.”
Seriously. There is nothing here. Nothing to see. Move along. Move along…
California is much more expensive, for one thing.
Florida is also much more accessible if you’re in the eastern part of the continent, which most residents of the USA and Canada are.
If you fly it doesn’t make any difference except a slightly higher fare. Which is worth it because you don’t end up in Florida.
Not to most people (and time counts, too.) Most folks have a limited budget, and Florida is just wildly cheaper.
Many people who winter there drive, too, a vastly more difficult thing to do to California if you’re starting in Buffalo.
Personally I’d rather go to California, eight days a week. I love it there. But the economics are going to tilt a lot of people’s minds on this one.