NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

Welcome to Paradise. I was once driving my convertible well over 90MPH on Alligator Alley, when I realized there were two State Police cruisers coming up behind me.  I knew I was in for a giant fine and thought that there was a pretty good chance they would impound my car and detain me for some period of time.  It was really dumb for a bunch of reasons and as I was working on my apology which I intended to give the officers - both cruisers flew past me like I was at a stop sign. That's the vibe.  It's kind of a 'live and let live' or 'speed and let speed' vibe.  Hard to explain.  But we are all this way!  Recently, I was pulling my son behind our boat on his wakeboard in the bay and we got into heavy traffic.  I'm a weekend boater and focus on safety almost exclusively, however; somehow I got us between a sailing squadron of some sort and a jet skier.  There was too much boat traffic and if our son fell it would be tricky to u-turn and get him in ...

 Welcome to paradise. The answer is, kinda..... See for yourself

Welcome to paradise. In the 1700s the sixth President of the United States (while still a boy) walked past the lot I grew up on to watch the cowardly British shell downtown Boston.  It was a popular section of the city and once a local book seller defeated the most powerful military in the world, my neighborhood flourished.  By the 1800s there weren't a ton of places near me left to build homes on so, I missed out on seeing a bunch of fun construction when I was a kid.  Florida is different. I've seen developers get approval to modify or move lakes to help them develop property.  I've seen massive planned communities where there were once just cow pastures.  Right now, there is construction everywhere.  Our family actually owns a share in a commercial building which was built directly over a body of water.  On purpose. So, it's not surprising that you see a broad variety of different construction teams getting stuff done.  (It's less judgy in Flor...

Welcome to paradise. I once nearly cost my girlfriend's (now wife's) dog her life because of improper supervision lakeside.  This particular chain of lakes had a 16 foot 'gator who patrolled for large game with two six to eight foot assistants - one night we heard them take down a deer.  A solid 10 on the unpleasant scale.  So I vowed to never go near a lake again. Then our son was born.   Turns out, our son is a real Flo Grown (Florida Grown) boy.  He loves the water, and spends his time wake boarding in lakes or Rivers in the state.  We occasionally see 'gators, have never had a problem but it's still in the back of my mind.  So this past year we have been trying to wakeboard more in the ocean (almost no 'gators ever).  At the end of the day it's the best of both worlds - like most of our state. Sarasota Bay My Website       

 I do, now..... Our Website

Welcome to Paradise. I remember when I was a kid and a hurricane was coming up the east coast of the US and bearing down on Cape Cod.  I didn't own property and didn't even like traveling to my mother's hometown on "The Cape" so wasn't even super aware there was any danger involved.  Then we started getting news reports a few days before impact.  It was news - I had NEVER heard before.  The storm was going to drive warm water from the south so the ocean temperature at my beach was going to be 74 degrees. It seemed like a miracle.  I was used to the temp being in the 60s.   Of course, since then I moved to Florida and became accustomed gulf temperatures in the 80 degree range (and even the high 80s in the summer).  There is LITERALLY NOTHING better in life. Actually the best thing is when your first grader asks to go surfing;  on the coldest day of the year.  And you go. My Website

Welcome to paradise. It probably took me the better part of my first year in Florida to understand the difference between Keys, Islands, Shoals, barrier Islands and invisible islands. We have them all. Our son has named the state park formed by the ICW dredge after us, seems a little grandiose for my taste but we live just north of "10,000 islands" and the place he named is only an acre with a couple of trees and a lean-to (not too bad).  We go there a bunch and take friends, it seems like a little getaway.  Good fun right by where we live. And then we heard about one tree island in Clearwater.  So we headed there..... #Islandlife Search for Island Homes