Valentine’s Day is this weekend, which is my unofficial start of spring in Florida. While we had a record cold start to the month, Valentine’s is usually the date that the weather turns very nice here and the flowers go into full bloom. With the arrival of ideal weather, we have a lot of overnight visitors queued up over the next two months. It is … Continue reading Florida Busy Season ♥️
If you spend any amount of time in Florida, one thing jumps out almost immediately: lawyer ads everywhere. On TV. On billboards. On the sides of buses. “Been in a car accident? Call now.” It’s hard to drive five minutes without being reminded that someone is ready to sue on your behalf. That observation stuck with me when I started comparing car insurance premiums between … Continue reading Florida Car Insurance
I took Monday “off” this week from posting. I’ve kept a pretty tight schedule of posting on Mondays & Fridays for years, but I figured I’d just post once this week. The reason is that we were simply enjoying early retirement. There’s something about the winter in Florida that makes retirement feel more real and enjoyable. If retirement is like “permanent vacation”, it feels especially … Continue reading No Responsibility January
When we’re at our vacation place in Florida, it’s hard not to think about what the weather is like back home in Minnesota. Our son is there, our families are there, and our friends are there. Right now, the weather in MN is brutal. This morning will be -22° F. The afternoon high will be -10° F. Saturday will be only a little bit better. … Continue reading Snowbird ROI
Since this is the week of the Vice Presidential Debate, our Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, will be in the media spotlight. While he was just picked by the Harris campaign in July, it has seemed as if he was campaigning for a bigger office for some time. He and Florida Governor & former-GOP Presidential Candidate, Ron DeSantis – who we also have a first-hand view … Continue reading Sparring States
We’re off to Florida this morning. It’s been 3 months since we visited our new vacation condo. I’ve never traveled so carefree before. We drove our SUV down on Memorial Day weekend – with a big load of things. This time, I don’t have anything to bring. We went to the airport without a suitcase. We’ll only be down there a few nights. The purpose … Continue reading Fly The Carefree Skies
We’re shuffling home to cold Minnesota today from our new vacation place in sunny Celebration FL. We’re heading from a place you can walk through a tropical paradise – sunny & 80-degrees – to a snowy landscape with temperatures in the teens overnight. We’ve been gone a full 74 days, so we’re excited to get home. Everyone is asking us when we will be back … Continue reading Two State Shuffle
Last year, I wrote a post on the rising cost of home insurance premiums. In the post (LINK), I included a link to the cost of insurance across the 50 states. No surprise, the state that we are buying a condominium in – Florida – is the highest in the country. As we prepare for closing next week, I’ve learned a lot about Florida’s unique … Continue reading Florida Home Insurance
In Celebration, Florida – not far from where we stay in Margaritaville resort – there is a great looking Italian restaurant. We have never eaten there. For me, Italian food is perfect for cold weather, not the Florida sunshine. I can think of a number of good comfort, food restaurants like that in Florida. Never been to any of them. For me, the four food … Continue reading Florida Four Food Groups
Our friends and us sometimes debate the “vibe” of snowbirding in Florida versus Arizona. I would guess that about 2/3rds of our friends opt for Florida and 1/3 opt for Arizona. We were undecided until a few years ago when my wife noted that although we’ve been to both many times, when we’ve chosen Florida over Arizona at about a 3:1 ratio for vacations over … Continue reading Sunshine State Snowbirding Vibe
MrFireStation 