Exploring the Sunshine State
September 2004
My daughter and I embarked on yet another road trip; this time we set out to explore the east and west coasts of Florida. I was looking for a sunny and warm locale in which to retire; and as much as I had loved California the year before, I knew that I could never afford to retire there. The cost of homes and the staggering income tax were well beyond what my retirement income would be able to afford. We decided to take the entire month of September to do our exploration of the Sunshine State. The summer and early autumn of 2004 had turned out to be a very active hurricane season in Florida. We were somewhat trepidatious about traveling to Florida during the height of hurricane season, but this was when my daughter had off from school. Category 4 Hurricane Charley had just done tremendous damage to Punta Gorda on the Gulf Coast of Florida on Friday, August 13th, shortly before we began our journey. As we traveled south along the Gulf Coast, we were shocked to see street lights bent in half like toothpicks from the sheer force of the hurricane winds. What were we getting ourselves into?
Our first stop was Clearwater Beach on the Gulf Coast. We had first visited there in 1990 when we visited there with my parents. I loved the beach atmosphere there, but found housing to be extremely limited and expensive. I would need to find somewhere in Clearwater to live to locate anything affordable, and I wasn’t all that thrilled with Clearwater. It was very busy and wasn’t all that interesting. I promptly crossed Clearwater off my list of potential retirement towns.
Our next stop was Sarasota. This beautiful city had been recommended to me by a dear friend and former co-worker who had moved here herself when she retired. Shortly after we arrived, I could understand why she recommended it; it was a magical place! I immediately fell in love with Sarasota and just “knew” that this was where I wanted to retire to someday. I loved each of the barrier islands: Lido Key, Longboat Key and the world-famous Siesta Key with its magnificent quartz sand beach. There were so many wonderful shops, restaurants and cafes throughout Sarasota, yet it had a casual, laid-back feel to it. And there were reasonably-priced housing options, as well. Sarasota was “IT” as far as I was concerned, but I knew we had to visit the other towns on our itinerary to make a fair assessment of all that Florida has to offer.
We reluctantly left Sarasota to travel to Fort Myers Beach. I was reluctant to leave not only because I had fallen in love with Sarasota, but because there was the threat of another hurricane on the horizon and I didn’t want to be out driving in it! We started out for Fort Myers and about twenty minutes into our trip, the sky suddenly turned black and it started to rain. The skies looked extremely threatening; I couldn’t believe how quickly it had all changed from clear skies to sheer darkness. My daughter and I were both terrified! We thought the hurricane was going to swoop down on us at any moment! We had no choice but to keep driving and pray that we reached our destination safely. Thankfully, we did reach our condo rental safely and the skies had cleared considerably. We felt it was safe enough to venture out to the nearest Publix Supermarket and stock up on every conceivable food item that we thought we would need to hunker down for whatever was headed our way. Luckily, no hurricane (or thunderstorm, for that matter) ever materialized so we felt safe to do some sightseeing the following day. We were shocked to see the piles of debris that lined the streets of Fort Myers Beach thanks to the recent hurricane: mattresses, large appliances, furniture and clothing. It was a mess! We traveled to nearby Sanibel and Captiva Islands and it looked like an atom bomb had gone off there! There was substantial damage to many of the homes and a considerable number of streets were barely passable due to the heavy tree limbs lying in them. Most upsetting was seeing the vast number of trees that had been snapped in half by the hurricane’s ferocious winds. I knew it would take months, if not years, to restore these islands to their former beauty. The city of Fort Myers itself was unremarkable; I didn’t find anything there that really stood out for me. Perhaps at a different time, I would have had a more favorable impression of Fort Myers, but with all of the destruction, it was impossible to give it a fair and favorable review.
Our next stop was Naples; one of the wealthiest cities in Florida, topped only by Palm Beach and Miami. Naples was busy and had a newly manufactured feel to it. It didn’t seem to have the charm that I was expecting to see here. I found it to be fussy and rather pretentious. It didn’t have the glorious beaches of Clearwater and Sarasota, and I found the housing options to be quite expensive, as well. It would not be my first choice for a retirement destination, or second or third if you’re on a tight budget.
Our next stops were scheduled to be on the East Coast of Florida: Coral Gables, Boca Raton, Palm Beach/West Palm Beach and Daytona Beach. This relentless hurricane season was determined to interrupt those plans, however. A couple of days before we were to leave Naples for Coral Gables, the National Weather Service gave notice of another potentially severe hurricane headed for the Miami area——exactly where we were going. After the terrifying ride from Sarasota to Fort Myers and witnessing all of the damage that the hurricane had wrought, I was pretty much shellshocked and done with Florida at that point. I discussed the situation with my daughter. She was adamant that we continue the rest of our trip. I, on the other hand, was terrified of what we might be driving into!! I felt I had no choice but to make an executive decision to cancel the rest of our trip. To say that my daughter was disappointed and angry with me would be a vast understatement, but she eventually realized the wisdom of my decision . . . I think. We returned home; and I realized that as much as I really loved Florida, I didn’t know if I could live there with the threat of hurricanes hanging over my head.