They need to take this ad off TV

[jdray]

Florida is just fine. Other than hurricanes, heat, and an absurd number of poor drivers, it's a nice place to live. Lots of stuff around, beautiful beaches, low cost of living, and a nice blend of Hispanic, Southern, and Yankee cultures.

And not to mention the copious numbers of the snook, the reds, the specks, the permit, the snapper, the grouper, well - the list could go on and on!!!

And even without hurricanes, the weather does change from one phenomena to the another just about every day in the summer - I like that!! Nothing like a tropical downpour on a hot August afternoon!!

And the best is when you get a good seabreeze collision. On a good day during the summer the collsion can lead to a nice line of strong storms over the state which produces some of the best lightning displays in the united states! I love being on the coast, seeing the collision happen inland, and then watching the storms drift toward me (especially at night). It is quite a peaceful experience. The best place for these summer collisions is Central Florida where you can expect them nearly daily between late May and mid September.

I get that daily during the summer, right over my house. I live far enough inland that all the seabreeze does is create those nice thunderstorms over my head.

Awesome sight with respect to thunder and lightning.

[MGC]

I love Florida. I go as often as I can. Yes, a bad day in Florida is better than a good day in many other places. The target audience for this ad are the folks up north during the winter. Where would you rather be in? In the Florida warmth or up north freezing......MGC

[angelwing]

Up north

[Rainband]

I somehow cant buy this Florida tourism ad, "A bad day in Florida, beats a good day anywhere else."

Tell it to the people who live there

I agree with the ad

[Jim Cantore]

Up north

ditto I love the snow

[yzerfan]

Snow is nice in limited quantities, and a white Christmas holiday does have a genuine charm. However, I definitely do not miss Michigan's annual seven months of slush and not seeing the sun between October and March every year.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Personally, I think it depends on how bad the day was in Florida... and how good the day is somewhere else...ahh but hyperbole is the stuff of which ads are made!

Having lived in the Big Windy before I came back down to New Orleans, I know what "cold" is... and perhaps it's why to this day I can't understand jackets and overcoats in 45 -50 degree weather... maybe a light windbreaker... I like the "cold" weather here, mostly because it'd be downright tropical in Chicago in mid Jan.

Ahh, but I, too, miss the white stuff... we had a few flurries and a VERY brief snowfall last year on Dec. 25, (honestly I think it didn't amount to .25 in. if that much) and the folks down here were screaming "White Christmas!!" and, for them.. doubtless it was, albeit very little stayed on the ground for more than an hour or two unless it was sequestered in the shade, and that was mostly frozen precip, and not snow. ... still it was VERY nice to see--especially down here!

A2K

[Patrick99]

I love Florida, but hate all the development. I wish they could have stopped it for good 10 years ago.

I agree on loving Florida but hating the development....except I think it should have been stopped for good 25 years ago. There's just way too *much* here now. South Florida has become way too much like LA, and it just continues to get worse. You'd think all the hurricanes would start a migration in the other direction.....but if 2004-2005 couldn't do it....

I'm afraid it is going to take a Cat. 4-5 Miami-WPB doomsday scenario to finally clear some people out of here....and even then it will be only temporary, as people around here tend to have an inability to think long-term and/or learn from history. They'll vow "never again," but will all be back, building and rebuilding condos and housing developments, plus some, when the temperature is 75 degrees in January.

There is going to come a day....and I hope it's not in my lifetime....that we will build clear across the Everglades to Naples. We don't care in the slightest about environment or quality of life here....this place is all about making the quick buck, sadly. My family has been here an awful long time, and it is my home....but I wonder how much more of it I can take.

If I eventually leave, it won't be because of the hurricanes.

[jasons2k]

I lived in Tampa during my first 11 years, from 1973-1984. I LOVED it. It was a great place for a kid to grow-up. It didn't even compare to other places I've lived - where else can you take field trips to NASA, canoe in the swamp, see manatees and pelicans at a nature center, then on the weekend go to Disney or the beach? Or driving over to Plant City and eating enough fresh strawberries to make you sick. There is a lot I took for granted and didn't realize how special Florida was until after I left.

It's too bad the "old" Florida is almost gone. The days of getting out of the city, getting lost in miles of orange groves with the occassional roadside fruit stand, bait shop, or seafood shack with a "Fresh smoked mullet" sign and gator head above the door are numbered. Heck, I'll bet most transplants in the last 10 years don't even know what smoked mullet is.

I think for the most part, the east coast is ruined (was a long time ago) and the west coast is well on its way. I hope it can retain some of its charm - someday I'd like to go back - but after being in Texas for almost 20 years, and seeing how much my home state continues to change, I don't know if it will feel at all like I was going back "home". In a lot of ways, Texas is "home" now and Pat Green rocks!