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On the right in the picture I am

A friend of mine that I used to work with (he passed away) had bought a small fixer upper in Clearwater, Florida.  He spent a few years, Vacationing there a couple times a year fixing it up the way he wanted.  I remember looking at his pictures of the complete renovation, he documented it well.  He had that place SO nice, complete with a dock and a lift.  And he got Cancer and died very quickly about 6 months before he was planning to retire.   Definitely a tragic ending, but it put things into perspective for sure.  Life changes fast.  Enjoy every second. 

rasbury said:

PickleRick said:

In, I think, '76 Tampa and Miami both got snow. 

Don't know about Miami but orlando did! We have not had many hard winters since. 

January 19 1977 was the only time in documented history it snowed in Miami.

mbnarney said:

Mount Dors up in central fla. Small town living at its best

I think that is mount Dora,  which is a nice little town and it's on a nice chain of lakes- depends on what your looking for with regards to water....it's everywhere in fl and around it- property is just crazy, at least compared to 10 years ago. There are lots of nice towns along the st johns river- I live in sanford which is the southern end of navigable water with a 270- smaller can go much further south and them it's dumps into the Atlantic around Jacksonville to the north.  I have no experience with southeast FL Miami areas but I'd love to do some boating down that way
 West coast gulf is really nice but you have to go out 50 miles to stop hitting the bottom- intracoastal is nice- east coast inlets are pretty ruff however.
Lots of different choices depending on the lifestyle your looking for!

Have you considered L.A.?  (Lower Alabama  ).  We liked Fairhope AL on Mobile Bay.  Great sunsets, easy Gulf access, prices not horrible.  

LaRea said:

Have you considered L.A.?  (Lower Alabama  ).  We liked Fairhope AL on Mobile Bay.  Great sunsets, easy Gulf access, prices not horrible.  

I'm still 8 years away from Retirement, I'm not ruling out anything yet.  I just know I want to be out of the snow for Winter, and somewhere peaceful, with good weather, that doesn't cost a bajillion bucks haha.   
I appreciate all suggestions, I've got lots of time to research!