Exactly, we usually stear clear of all the touristy stuff. It is overrated and overcrowded so I avoid it like the plague ha ha.

Yes but do the folks in PA run around in flip flops during winter/spring? :) I know I don’t want snow, visiting it was ok. We really don’t get hurricane days because hurricanes don’t hit us as often as some think. 2004 was a fluke, to have 4 major hurricanes hit us is definitely not the norm. But a lot of our hurricanes that did come through were mild enough to play in. Besides, I’m sure you all have snow days way more often than we have hurricane days. It seems you must find some things “paradise”-like if you like living here right? :)

Always loved the lightning shows, the orchestra of frogs croaking in the distance after a summer rain, the crickets singing in the night, collecting various seashells along the beach and watching the coquinas bury themselves in the sand :), having the choice of going to an east or west coast beach in the same state, seeing the gators swimming in the rivers and all the Florida wildlife for that matter, our usually mild temperatures and beautiful days in the winter/spring months, picking oranges off our orange tree, the afternoon thunderstorms almost every evening in the summer, just to name a few :)

@ Alexis - the stingray shuffle is shuffling your feet on the bottom of the ocean rather than picking your feet up and stepping down so that if there happens to be a stingray in front of you, you won’t step on him and have him sting you out of reflex. Shuffling your feet gives you a chance to scare the stingray off instead of surprising him :)