My younger son, Frank, is visiting me for 13 days. Yes, he is catching some sun at the resort pool, but he is also seriously looking to leave Massachusetts, where he has lived for 41 years, and relocate to south Florida. His criteria for a new home:
- It be warm year-round (almost all of Florida qualifies on this one)
- It be “near” the ocean. The definition of “near” is somewhat flexible.
- It must have public transportation (he doesn’t have a car and isn’t planning on getting one in the short term).
- It must be “affordable”. The definition of “affordable” depends on the job he gets.
- It must be far from his brother (currently in Ft Myers). He loves his brother dearly but knows that hanging out with him leads to trouble.
Primarily due to that last one, the first week with me was spent traveling to distant cities – Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Miami. Each of those cities is two hours or more from Ft Myers, so we spent about 27 hours in the car, getting to/from the destination and driving around looking for neighborhoods that would offer affordable housing, good bus service and some employment opportunities. And a good beach.
The winner of this first round was Ft Lauderdale. He is very interested in working at the Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood airport (FLL) as a baggage handler. There is some excellent bus service to FLL and some beaches not far away. But FLL is also served by the Tri-Rail system, so housing near Tri-Rail stations in both the Miami and West Palm Beach areas is also feasible.
The trip to West Palm Beach cuts right across the middle of Florida, skirting Lake Okeechobee. I have often driven by Lake Okeechobee but had never seen it due to the high dikes that line its southern shore. On the return trip I decided to stop and get a photo. I expected to see a lot of water – not Lake Michigan but large, with a broad expanse of open water. What a disappointment! It looked more like a river than a lake.
On the return trip from Miami I took US 41 – the “old Alligator Alley”. You can actually spot alligators along this route. We stopped at the visitor’s center for Big Cypress National Preserve where a lot of alligators can be seen close up.
Tomorrow we plan on making a return trip to the Ft Lauderdale area, this time focusing on the areas to the south of FLL – Dania Beach and Hollywood.