Red California with humidity. Both are disqualifiers for this native Californian.
California has mountains, deserts, vineyards, etc.
I just mentioned somewhere else today, I spent the first 15 years of my life in Florida. I’m very nostalgic about it. I loved the beaches when I was growing up and I miss Cuban food. I love all the tropical flowers and I really miss rain.
If I were not 66 and poor as hell now, I’d head that way for a bit. I’m sure I’d regret it though. You can never go “home” again and I bet the heat and humidity would kill me these days.
Florida has a “mountain”.
A major detriment to living in Florida is likely to manifest itself by the middle of next week in the form of a major hurricane expected to develop in the Caribbean and head for the Keys and Florida peninsula.
Hope they’re wrong…
From this Clevelander’s perspective…
Jan 8 - Jan 14
Airfare for 3 ppl:
CLE-MIA: $490 (Spirit) or $891 (United). Flight Time - 3hr.
CLE-LAX: $712 (Spirit) or $862 (United). Flight Time - 5.5hr.
I’m not inclined to fly Spirit, just quoting prices. Not a huge difference in United, but longer flight. Both are nonstop at least.
Vacation rentals (reasonable distance from beaches):
Miami Beach: $90 - $177 per night
Los Angeles: $170 - $350 per night
Miami beach is a clear winner here, price wise.
January Water Temp:
Miami Beach: 71F
Los Angeles: 57F
Not even close. Does anyone actually swim in the Pacific Ocean? When we go to the beach we actually get in the water. Miami is a clear winner here.
There’s lots more I would actually take into account if I had to decide between LA and Miami for a week in January, (avg meal prices, cultural attractions, public transportation, etc.), but price-wise I’d already be leaning significantly towards Miami.
Yes, but aside from the mountains, deserts, vineyards, beaches (“surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon”), low humidity, lack of hurricanes, tolerance, etc. is California really all that different from Florida?
Florida still has Man.
Earthquakes vs. hurricanes.
Yeah, it’s supposed to be 96 today. Usually our highs this time of year are about 6-10 degrees cooler than that.
Hurricanes happen every year in multiples. And there are no small hurricanes.
Whooooboy. I’ve refrained from chiming in because just thinking about all the hate I have for this place gets me worked up and also I don’t have the time to list all that is wrong here in The Wang. But this question cannot go unanswered. Aside from both being states with large coastlines, they’re like night and day. The people, the politics, the climate . . .no comparison.
That being said, I’m sure it is a nice place to visit, especially if you’re coming from somewhere cold; living here, not so much.
Very true. The last damaging earthquake (there are many small ones every day) in CA was in 2019 in Ridgecrest, out in the Mojave desert, with one fatality (poor guy was working under his car when the quake struck). The last damaging hurricane to hit FL was…next week.
Could always take a detour to Wall Drug. Only 800 miles out of your way!
Well, next time you’re in South Dakota, pop over to Vermillion and the Shrine to Music (now the National Music Museum). It is an oasis of culture in the vast pointless Dakota wastes.
OP is from Ohio. I’m from Indiana. Winter sucks in both states!
My aunt and her family used to live on the beach in Florida. When I was a kid, the whole idea of having the ocean in your back yard AND warm weather through the winter sounded like pure heaven on Earth. We went for a visit when I was eleven. The only disappointment was Disney World- I wanted fun rides! King’s Island opened up near Cincinnati the next summer. That was a much better experience!
I now live in south Georgia (since '84) so I pretty much have the warmer winters, but not the beach.
Miami is trying to make itself the next Silicon Valley. Here’s an article from Wired:
I didn’t know this.
Three years later, after a shooting, not at the museum, by a guy (actual terrorist) they invited in (!) the rest of us still can’t access the museum. They’ll probably never reopen it. Funny thing, to live in fear.
Glad I saw it when I did.
Very much a personal choice, but I just LOVE beaches. I find something so “romantic” about the coastline, with the water explorers sailed off into/in from. I have no interest in lying in the sun, but I will walk for miles in all kinds of weather, seeing what washed up, watching birds, and just enjoying the intersection of water and sand.
For my taste, the Gulf Coast of Fla has some of the longest stretches of beach for walking. For a while, I lived 20 mins from the IN Dunes. Every afternoon I’d take my dog to the dunes and walk for a couple of hours thru the dunes and along the beach. Not for everyone, but sure appealed to me.
As others have mentioned, yeah, the majority of South and Central Florida tend to be a whole damn lot of Meh separating small pockets of visitor attractions —South Beach rocks, but it is to me an example of “love to spend a long weekend, wouldn’t want to live there”—. There is an absence of character in so much sprawl, much of which was quite slapdashedly done (see: Homestead in Hurricane Andrew; Champlain Tower South in 2021), and the general dingyness once you are away from the fancy strips was mentioned in an earlier post.
Meanwhile, though, I agree much of the Gulf coast, Keys, and Northeast FL are quite more agreeable.
I lived in St. Augustine for well over a decade. I like living in Maryland better, but I enjoyed Florida as well.