Actually, the parts of Connecticut I love and remember and visit are
pretty much as they were when I was growing up there, in a suburb of New
Haven, and along the shoreline communities of Milford and Branford.
In fact, several of the beachfront cottages I recall in the Milford area
that were built 100 years ago have been beautifully maintained and
have sold in the last few years for a million and a half each...and
these are just cottages. Even the house my dad had built for us 50 years
ago is still in good shape, as is the neighborhood in which it is
situated. We did a drive-by a few years ago on the way to Providence.
We're pretty much Marylanders for the time being. My wife loves her job
in downtown DC and my handful of active accounts are in DC and
Baltimore. I don't have any issues with living in Maryland.
As I stated, Florida has nice beaches and good fishing...but from living
there for a few years, I can say, not much else. It's really backwards
politically outside of the SE area of the state and insanely religious
in the NE area of the state. Blech.
Oh, the topography and flora out Tallahassee way are interesting. I was
found of Tallahassee.
It sounds like you really do not have much actual experience in
Florida. Anyone who thinks SE Florida is attractive, must be a New
York or NY suburb person.
I agree the redneck riviera is a religious stronghold but it is really
just Baja Alabama. My daughter went to college in Pensacola and they
lived in Mexico Beach/Cape San Blas after that. We spent a lot of time
up there.
I am surprised you don't like the Tampa Bay area. It is urban enough
for you and still very blue. You can have the beach, the bay or lake
side up north of Tampa if you have the money. There is also a lot of
"horsey" country north of Tampa if you want to go that way.
SW Florida is not like any of those places.
We have been discovered and the developers are ****ing the place up
but I am pretty much isolated from all of that, living next to the
aquatic preserve. I spend more time in my boat than I do in my car.
We lived (winters only) in Jupiter, FL for three years. The coastal
areas were over-developed and busy but we didn't find it to be too bad.
Good restaurants and things to do. Our place was inland a bit, away
from all the traffic and congestion. There were areas further inland
that I used to go for motorcycle rides that were pretty much isolated
from any construction or even traffic.
I remember when we first started thinking about buying down there
(wife's idea .. I wanted to just live on the boat) some of our friends
up north warned us about hurricanes, so I did a little research. Turns
out the Jupiter, FL area had not had a direct hit for 100 years. I
realized that Florida is a big state and the chances of a direct hit in
any particular area is remote.
So, we bought. Actually, we bought two places within the same gated
community. In 14 months we were clobbered with three hurricanes, all
either direct hits or close enough to cause a lot of damage.
Oooops ....
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