De Santis policies still winning on COVID

[ajax18]

As someone who has lived in Florida for the past 18 years,

You mean you didn't die of COVID?

[Kishkumen]

I lived in Orlando for roughly 7 years. Florida is riddled with sink holes due to porous soil and most of the state will likely be under water in the next couple of centuries. If you take away the beaches, the state is mostly swamp/everglade, and quite ugly. It is the luck of the draw that Florida has more miles of beaches than California. That is what drives revenue for the state, from out of state tourism, which is the only reason they can afford not to have a state tax. Florida has more hotel rooms than the next two states combined. Constant road construction makes life miserable there and seems never ending. Every time I go back to Orlando I'm amazed how they're still doing construction on I-4.

Also, I was there September 2004 when Orlando was hit by four hurricanes in September. It was literally back to back to back one after the other, each hitting the state from different angles and Orlando got pummeled. My grandma's house had these huge trees that were hundreds of years old, completely wiped out.

Yeah, I would not want to live in Orlando. Neither place I have lived in Florida has suffered much from the storms, but there is a "luck of the draw" factor here.

[Kishkumen]

You mean you didn't die of COVID?

Nope! My town is what you would call a blue dot in a sea of red. Most people wore masks everywhere and got vaccinated as soon as possible. Still, the hospitals were jam-packed with COVID patients. I have friends who work in these hospitals who said it was horrible. A lot of the patients were being brought in from Trump country. The smaller surrounding towns.

[Kishkumen]

I may have painted an uglier picture than I should have. I have some great memories of the several times we took our daughter to Florida for Disney and the rest. I just remember that I hated the drive. The most important part of any road trip for me is the scenery.

I suppose my comment to my wife was more about how when you take away the amusement parks and a child to take them to (she's an adult now), there's not much to draw me there any more. This conversation happened in the context of places we still want to go for vacation.

I don't think Florida would win any awards for scenic drives. Maybe it has just grown on me. I like the feeling that I am driving into what could easily be the set of a zombie movie. There is a real creepy factor in the small towns of Florida.

[K Graham]

Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando and Miami are college towns. Higher education tends to lean blue.

[Kishkumen]

Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando and Miami are college towns. Higher education tends to lean blue.

Yep! Thank goodness. These days, I wouldn't want it any other way.

[ajax18]

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

“I think the problem with Conservatives is they pretty much have a sort of monolithic view of Dems or Liberals because they themselves have a sort of monolithic view to their ideology. Here in America free market deregulation is GOP capitalism. Republicans worship that form of capitalism …”, and it’s their God. And their God is hungry for more, more, more until It’s consumed everything, even the consumers themselves. Sad.

- Doc

[canpakes]

The alligators are damned cool. The birds too. In my neighborhood I see and hear hawk, owl, deer, the occasional sandhill crane, ibis, bats, etc., etc., etc. I really like nature, and there is a lot of great nature all over the world, but Florida has some nifty stuff. The beaches on the opposite coasts are quite different, and each version has its charms. The giant freshwater springs are stunning. The manatees are a favorite of mine, but they are abused and probably not long for the world.

Hey, you didn’t even mention the jellyfish, including the tiny, adorable blue bloblets on the Gulf Coast side that want to gang up on and sting you when you least expect it.

[Kishkumen]

Hey, you didn’t even mention the jellyfish, including the tiny, adorable blue bloblets on the Gulf Coast side that want to gang up on and sting you when you least expect it.

LOL! Ouch. That sounds awful. I haven't experienced those.