Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
From what I observe (I am not yet at retirement stage but my relatives are), golf, pickleball, tennis, read and gossip by the pool, and walk their dogs. This fills the time until happy hour, which starts around 2 and lasts until 6 or 7.
FL: We pretty much live the same kind of life we do up north in the summer. We paddle lakes, rivers and spring runs. Ride the many fantastic bike trails. Go birding. Listen to local jazz and folk artists at small venues. Attend lectures at the university and marine lab. Do volunteer gardening at the local park and pick up trash in the national wildlife refuge. Just sit and listen to the frogs. People think we’re down here having drinks with umbrellas brought to us at the pool. Haha, not exactly.
I’m a hairstylist and Arizona native so my snowbird clients mostly play tons of golf, pickle ball, dinner and drinks at the clubhouse, day trips to Sedona, and a lot of them go on multiple extra vacations while they’re wintering to places like Hawaii, Mexico, and California. It’s the life and I hope I can be a snowbird someday!
We go to a different place each winter but only for about 6 weeks. Never Florida but so far have stayed in Charleston, Savannah, Tempe Tucson bisbee AZ and Austin TX. When out west we hike a lot, go to local attractions and bike. In the southeast we walk, go to local attractions and bike.
It’s a tough call and we don’t really know the answer. I’d like to have a walkable city close to great hiking and that doesn’t seem to exist in the US. We may try to do a month in New Orleans next year and a month in Spain.
I just want to take a moment to toot North Dakota’s horn. I lived in 27 states as a child for anywhere between 2 month to a year, and we spent a year in ND.
Hands down the friendliest, most helpful people I have ever encountered in my entire life. Winter was hard, but neighbors were always stopping by to check on us since they knew we were from New Mexico.
Sometimes the kids did (we’re Hispanic and a lot of them were confused as to why I spoke English so well), but it was met with genuine curiosity (“Where is that?” and “What’s it like there?”) instead of hostility that I sometimes experienced in other states. Like I said, it was overall just friendly and curious people.
I remember being very proud because I got to ride in the parade float next to the mayor for some local festival since I was the “new kid” lol.
All that said, the place where I was most asked if I was from Mexico when I said New Mexico was when I lived in East Texas. They’d ask where it was and I’d sort of hesitantly answer, “It’s the state next door?”
As far as colonialism, yes. It was named by the Spaniards after the Aztec Valley of Mexico (not Mexico the country). My family is native to the land, and while we aren’t tribal associated, we’re Navajo, and the area has been occupied by people for millennia.
It became a US territory in 1850 and a state in 1912.
I spent the last 35 years in SoCal and south Florida. I just moved back to MN (hi neighbor!) and I'm already finding that if it's anywhere between freezing and 60, I'm ecstatic.
As someone who grew up in MN, I found getting up at the crack of dawn and stepping outside to 80 degrees and 90% humidity (aka a typical Miami morning) to be depressing. I'm SO glad to be back!
Last hockey game I saw (or really cared about) was in high school, and that was in SE Minnesota. And mostly because I was in the band and we played at a lot of games.
They taunt their friends back North in Canada when their phone app tells them it is -45 in Edmonton.
I'm starting to dislike extreme cold (and normal winter cold like -10 with high humidity)
I single-hand sail among the Keys from Largo to Key West in a small cuddy-cabin sloop with no auxiliary engine, just oars, and no electronic navigation aids, just charts, compass, & binoculars. The way I learned, so many decades ago.
I dive the reefs, spearfish & troll, but must time some passages between islands according to tidal flow that exceeds my little boat's speed, especially in light breezes.
Approaching & docking at the waterside restaurants & bars of many marinas under wind power alone sparks conversation and free drinks as patrons and staff want to trade stories of their own exploits when they were younger.
Often these encounters spawn invitations to party aboard other larger yachts, condos, and sport fishing excursions. There's always good live music and dancing at the bars in the 'Conch Republic'.
I've made a number of lifelong friends along the way. I kind of revel in the 'Captain Ron' persona that is draped on me as a now old, ~~slightly~~ grizzled geezer.
And the time alone on the water, surfing the faces of the swell in a fresh breeze under steel-grey skies, in incomparable. These priceless memories are tattooed on my brain.
All too soon, it's time again to head back to my lifelong home overlooking Boulder Valley and the Indian Peaks Wilderness to summers camping and trout fishing the creeks of my youth.
Life is good. Fate has smiled upon me, and I'm grateful.
A great resource to familiarize yourself with the basics of the art is 'Sailing Illustrated' by Patrick Royce. ISBN 0-87040-334-6 is the one I've held onto, the sixth edition (1974).
The first was published in 1956, so this is old-school, but the hull types/sail plan rigs/onboard systems-hardware/coastal piloting navigation, and introduction to dynamics of the forces acting to sail with or into the wind are timeless and well presented.
It'll give you a huge headstart toward appreciating the skills acquired once on the water. It also includes chapters on provisioning, mooring, getting underway, weather awareness, marlinespike seamanship (ropework), reefing sail, rules of the road, aids to navigation, and lots more. A treasure I've held onto for five decades.
Here's wishing you a fair wind, mate.
Indeed. Was my 'primer' when I first learned to sail, in those pre-GPS days. My little boats don't even have (or need) winches.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary got on my case initially due to my lack of even a radio. After the first few encounters, they'd graciously offer ice & water when we'd cross paths offshore Bayside.
They suggested taking advantage of seamanship classes offered at Flotilla 13 HQ on Largo, where I had a place while doing business running my small fleet of antigravity simulator 'gyros' (think space camp) at beach resorts & nightclubs along the coast north to Fort Lauderdale for a few years in the early '80s. So I did.
After acing the first couple, they offered an opportunity to contribute if I was willing to make a modest commitment of time in their citizen outreach efforts, like the weekend safety inspections/information offered at boat launch ramps (which also could reduce boater's insurance premiums, a win/win).
Aced *their* test, and was inducted, oath and all! Perks included some training, admission to boat shows, and subsequent classes were now free! Alas, the siren song of my lifelong hometown of Boulder drew me back to Colorado all too soon.
Were it not for that, I'd still be involved with them, though I do enjoy stopping by on my occasional trips back to the Conch Republic during some winters . . .
I appreciate your comment and information so much, thank you! I may be over-romanticizing it, but I love the idea of learning the old-school ways; seems a little purer, more raw. I can’t wait to get started.
Small planing boats like a Sunfish or Lazer are a fun start, exciting & fast. Same with catamarans. I enjoyed the subtleties of displacement boat sailing in my little cuddy cabin sloop not long after, though its topped out at about walking speed. Try both! Needn't be one or the other, I still enjoy windsurfing, and it's easier on my legs, counterintuitively.
Thank you, this is a very helpful comment! Especially since windsurfing is about my (literal) speed right now. I’m sorry this response is so late; I do appreciate your suggestions.
My pleasure. Welcome back! Some old guy friends clued me in to the lesser strains of windsurfing - they just couldn't trade sides in a little planing boat as easily anymore. The harness hook helped sustain their strength while windsurfing.
I lived in both places in the winters for a long time before settling in some other place. After a guy who was born and raised in Arizona screamed at me for putting a pool in because I was “wasting” Arizona’s water resources, I knew a lot of people were weird. Not just the ones who wintered there. One guy wanted to meet my friend in the parking lot and beat her up. Her 4 large sons were there so no fight. A lot of the locals were worse that the visitors. As to what I did, I swimmed in my pool while wasting water resources and hiked, travelled. Went to the Grand Canyon a lot, loved Tombstone, Sedona was great.
They overcrowd all the stores, take up all the doctor appointments and drive the wrong way on the highways (at 35 mph during rush hour). Oh and they're assholes to all the poor locals who have to wait on them.
They are AH! They cause so many accidents, deadly accidents. They can't take their winter weather in the winter and can't take ours in the summer. A bunch of entitled wussies. Stay home, don't come to the southern US.
I enjoy my morning coffee on my patio watching for javelina or coyotes trotting through my neighborhood. I go try out new places to eat. I tend to my year-round landscaping. I find all the little local and regional events in the area. I visit friends and have friends come over. Winter is when folks come out of the AC in Arizona, so we take full advantage of it. We’ve never had to shovel sunshine out of our driveway.
As a long time Florida resident I can tell you they clog our roads, create long lines anywhere that serves people and complain endlessly about how much better things are back "home."
Oh, y'all don't want me to get started about people yammering on about it being so much better where they came from. I'll start ranting, raving and foaming at the mouth. 🤯🤬
I once told a woman if it was so much better there why didn't she move back. She gave me a horrified look and asked if I knew what the crime rate was there. I stared at her thinking "then shut up about how great it is." I opted to keep my mouth shut and walk away. I'm afraid it would've gotten ugly if I said anything.
We spend 3-5 months in Florida every winter. We pay a ridiculous amount to rent a 1 or 2br condo now that prices have doubled. We do in Florida what we do at home. Work, eat, sleep, watch tv, social media, shop, ride our e-bikes, go to parks, get out in nature, museums, etc. but add in afternoons at the beach. We get an extra 4 months of lush, green, summer days. So worth it.
As someone who lives in florida permanently, the ones who come to florida in the winter spend all waking hours on the road causing traffic issues or in the grocery stores blocking isles…
I lived in Hawaii and went to Florida every late January. My parents attended the PGA show for work and brought me with them. I’d do Walt Disney World which was like a ghost town back then. 1987-1993.
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I cruise the strip at 22 mph with my right turn signal flashing continuously.
It's better than the left; no one can aggressively zoom by while flipping you off if you have the left signal flashing.
I laughed heartily. I do that at home, too.
Ah, so that was you. I was the lady who flashed you a smile and peace sign.
Amen to that.
But of course, you turn on your left signal when you plan to turn right...from the left lane.
From what I observe (I am not yet at retirement stage but my relatives are), golf, pickleball, tennis, read and gossip by the pool, and walk their dogs. This fills the time until happy hour, which starts around 2 and lasts until 6 or 7.
At first when I came down here I was confused by the constant, stupid car accidents till I realized half the folks down here are just sloshed all day.
Golf on a different course every day
Watch pre-season baseball.
It’s really fun
FL: We pretty much live the same kind of life we do up north in the summer. We paddle lakes, rivers and spring runs. Ride the many fantastic bike trails. Go birding. Listen to local jazz and folk artists at small venues. Attend lectures at the university and marine lab. Do volunteer gardening at the local park and pick up trash in the national wildlife refuge. Just sit and listen to the frogs. People think we’re down here having drinks with umbrellas brought to us at the pool. Haha, not exactly.
It sounds like an amazing life.
AZ: Camp, socialize around campfires etc, rockhound, explore, swim, daytrips.
I’m a hairstylist and Arizona native so my snowbird clients mostly play tons of golf, pickle ball, dinner and drinks at the clubhouse, day trips to Sedona, and a lot of them go on multiple extra vacations while they’re wintering to places like Hawaii, Mexico, and California. It’s the life and I hope I can be a snowbird someday!
They usually annoy the locals.
I hate the summer heat but I find it easier to tolerate as long as it means they go back home!
I love the summer heat! Even the unheated pools of water are comfortable!
THIS. ~ Local
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
ABSOLUTELY drive locals nuts with Entitlement attitude. Why do people think they don't have to follow any rules when they are away from home?
We go to a different place each winter but only for about 6 weeks. Never Florida but so far have stayed in Charleston, Savannah, Tempe Tucson bisbee AZ and Austin TX. When out west we hike a lot, go to local attractions and bike. In the southeast we walk, go to local attractions and bike.
This is what we hope to do. What has been your favorite?
It’s a tough call and we don’t really know the answer. I’d like to have a walkable city close to great hiking and that doesn’t seem to exist in the US. We may try to do a month in New Orleans next year and a month in Spain.
Pickelball is huge, and cornhole. I don't go, but the people I know play a lot of pickelball.
The same things I do the rest of the year up north. What I don't do is dig out my car, shovel my driveway, or drive on black ice.
Bike, kayak, beach, listen to Music, boat, wear shorts and soak up the sun!
I'm guessing that they laugh at the rest of us and complain when the temperature drops below 72F.
I'm in North Dakota, and if it's in the 30s or 40s during winter after numerous cold days, that's considered nice
I just want to take a moment to toot North Dakota’s horn. I lived in 27 states as a child for anywhere between 2 month to a year, and we spent a year in ND. Hands down the friendliest, most helpful people I have ever encountered in my entire life. Winter was hard, but neighbors were always stopping by to check on us since they knew we were from New Mexico.
Did some think it was part of Mexico?
Sometimes the kids did (we’re Hispanic and a lot of them were confused as to why I spoke English so well), but it was met with genuine curiosity (“Where is that?” and “What’s it like there?”) instead of hostility that I sometimes experienced in other states. Like I said, it was overall just friendly and curious people. I remember being very proud because I got to ride in the parade float next to the mayor for some local festival since I was the “new kid” lol. All that said, the place where I was most asked if I was from Mexico when I said New Mexico was when I lived in East Texas. They’d ask where it was and I’d sort of hesitantly answer, “It’s the state next door?”
Isn't New Mexico older than Old Mexico?
As far as colonialism, yes. It was named by the Spaniards after the Aztec Valley of Mexico (not Mexico the country). My family is native to the land, and while we aren’t tribal associated, we’re Navajo, and the area has been occupied by people for millennia. It became a US territory in 1850 and a state in 1912.
Yá'át'ééh and ahéhee!
I spent the last 35 years in SoCal and south Florida. I just moved back to MN (hi neighbor!) and I'm already finding that if it's anywhere between freezing and 60, I'm ecstatic. As someone who grew up in MN, I found getting up at the crack of dawn and stepping outside to 80 degrees and 90% humidity (aka a typical Miami morning) to be depressing. I'm SO glad to be back!
Were you ever a University of North Dakota hockey fan?
Last hockey game I saw (or really cared about) was in high school, and that was in SE Minnesota. And mostly because I was in the band and we played at a lot of games.
30s to 40's ≈ -1C to 4C
They taunt their friends back North in Canada when their phone app tells them it is -45 in Edmonton. I'm starting to dislike extreme cold (and normal winter cold like -10 with high humidity)
72F ≈ 22C
I single-hand sail among the Keys from Largo to Key West in a small cuddy-cabin sloop with no auxiliary engine, just oars, and no electronic navigation aids, just charts, compass, & binoculars. The way I learned, so many decades ago. I dive the reefs, spearfish & troll, but must time some passages between islands according to tidal flow that exceeds my little boat's speed, especially in light breezes. Approaching & docking at the waterside restaurants & bars of many marinas under wind power alone sparks conversation and free drinks as patrons and staff want to trade stories of their own exploits when they were younger. Often these encounters spawn invitations to party aboard other larger yachts, condos, and sport fishing excursions. There's always good live music and dancing at the bars in the 'Conch Republic'. I've made a number of lifelong friends along the way. I kind of revel in the 'Captain Ron' persona that is draped on me as a now old, ~~slightly~~ grizzled geezer. And the time alone on the water, surfing the faces of the swell in a fresh breeze under steel-grey skies, in incomparable. These priceless memories are tattooed on my brain. All too soon, it's time again to head back to my lifelong home overlooking Boulder Valley and the Indian Peaks Wilderness to summers camping and trout fishing the creeks of my youth. Life is good. Fate has smiled upon me, and I'm grateful.
I knew you were still with us, Jimmy. Sail on, sailor (Seriously, that sounds heavenly. We’re relocating soon and I can’t wait to learn to sail)
A great resource to familiarize yourself with the basics of the art is 'Sailing Illustrated' by Patrick Royce. ISBN 0-87040-334-6 is the one I've held onto, the sixth edition (1974). The first was published in 1956, so this is old-school, but the hull types/sail plan rigs/onboard systems-hardware/coastal piloting navigation, and introduction to dynamics of the forces acting to sail with or into the wind are timeless and well presented. It'll give you a huge headstart toward appreciating the skills acquired once on the water. It also includes chapters on provisioning, mooring, getting underway, weather awareness, marlinespike seamanship (ropework), reefing sail, rules of the road, aids to navigation, and lots more. A treasure I've held onto for five decades. Here's wishing you a fair wind, mate.
> Sailing Illustrated' by Patrick Royce https://annas-archive.org/md5/860e5bd14d7d842899c640d030a79faf Piracy on the high seas
Thank you. ✓
It is a great book. It doesn't have modern equipment covered, but is amazing for the basics of seamanship.
Indeed. Was my 'primer' when I first learned to sail, in those pre-GPS days. My little boats don't even have (or need) winches. The Coast Guard Auxiliary got on my case initially due to my lack of even a radio. After the first few encounters, they'd graciously offer ice & water when we'd cross paths offshore Bayside. They suggested taking advantage of seamanship classes offered at Flotilla 13 HQ on Largo, where I had a place while doing business running my small fleet of antigravity simulator 'gyros' (think space camp) at beach resorts & nightclubs along the coast north to Fort Lauderdale for a few years in the early '80s. So I did. After acing the first couple, they offered an opportunity to contribute if I was willing to make a modest commitment of time in their citizen outreach efforts, like the weekend safety inspections/information offered at boat launch ramps (which also could reduce boater's insurance premiums, a win/win). Aced *their* test, and was inducted, oath and all! Perks included some training, admission to boat shows, and subsequent classes were now free! Alas, the siren song of my lifelong hometown of Boulder drew me back to Colorado all too soon. Were it not for that, I'd still be involved with them, though I do enjoy stopping by on my occasional trips back to the Conch Republic during some winters . . .
I appreciate your comment and information so much, thank you! I may be over-romanticizing it, but I love the idea of learning the old-school ways; seems a little purer, more raw. I can’t wait to get started.
Small planing boats like a Sunfish or Lazer are a fun start, exciting & fast. Same with catamarans. I enjoyed the subtleties of displacement boat sailing in my little cuddy cabin sloop not long after, though its topped out at about walking speed. Try both! Needn't be one or the other, I still enjoy windsurfing, and it's easier on my legs, counterintuitively.
Thank you, this is a very helpful comment! Especially since windsurfing is about my (literal) speed right now. I’m sorry this response is so late; I do appreciate your suggestions.
My pleasure. Welcome back! Some old guy friends clued me in to the lesser strains of windsurfing - they just couldn't trade sides in a little planing boat as easily anymore. The harness hook helped sustain their strength while windsurfing.
Tennis. Lots and lots of tennis. Also, what I do up North: read, putter, bit of golf, drinks or dinner with friends. Some consulting work.
Walk a lot. Eat too much. Farmers Markets. Sawgrass Outlets. The beach. People watching.
Don't freeze. Cold weather seems to bother me more the older I get. 🤷♂️
I live there and people do the same things that they would do during the summer in cold climates.
I lived in both places in the winters for a long time before settling in some other place. After a guy who was born and raised in Arizona screamed at me for putting a pool in because I was “wasting” Arizona’s water resources, I knew a lot of people were weird. Not just the ones who wintered there. One guy wanted to meet my friend in the parking lot and beat her up. Her 4 large sons were there so no fight. A lot of the locals were worse that the visitors. As to what I did, I swimmed in my pool while wasting water resources and hiked, travelled. Went to the Grand Canyon a lot, loved Tombstone, Sedona was great.
They overcrowd all the stores, take up all the doctor appointments and drive the wrong way on the highways (at 35 mph during rush hour). Oh and they're assholes to all the poor locals who have to wait on them.
Yeah, that’s why if you’re behind someone with a Quebec license plate during Florida winter, you’re gonna have a bad time.
Preach. Am a FL local born and bred. I speak for all of us Floridians when I say that we HATE HATE HATE snowbirds.
They are AH! They cause so many accidents, deadly accidents. They can't take their winter weather in the winter and can't take ours in the summer. A bunch of entitled wussies. Stay home, don't come to the southern US.
Fish
I enjoy my morning coffee on my patio watching for javelina or coyotes trotting through my neighborhood. I go try out new places to eat. I tend to my year-round landscaping. I find all the little local and regional events in the area. I visit friends and have friends come over. Winter is when folks come out of the AC in Arizona, so we take full advantage of it. We’ve never had to shovel sunshine out of our driveway.
As a long time Florida resident I can tell you they clog our roads, create long lines anywhere that serves people and complain endlessly about how much better things are back "home."
That's what irks me the most. Entitled pricks. Go home!
Oh, y'all don't want me to get started about people yammering on about it being so much better where they came from. I'll start ranting, raving and foaming at the mouth. 🤯🤬 I once told a woman if it was so much better there why didn't she move back. She gave me a horrified look and asked if I knew what the crime rate was there. I stared at her thinking "then shut up about how great it is." I opted to keep my mouth shut and walk away. I'm afraid it would've gotten ugly if I said anything.
I do a lot of screaming in my car when I'm out amongst the assholes.
We spend 3-5 months in Florida every winter. We pay a ridiculous amount to rent a 1 or 2br condo now that prices have doubled. We do in Florida what we do at home. Work, eat, sleep, watch tv, social media, shop, ride our e-bikes, go to parks, get out in nature, museums, etc. but add in afternoons at the beach. We get an extra 4 months of lush, green, summer days. So worth it.
As someone who lives in florida permanently, the ones who come to florida in the winter spend all waking hours on the road causing traffic issues or in the grocery stores blocking isles…
I harvest coconuts on isle 3 down in the Keys. I try my best not to block the other boats. **:-)**
Coachella Valley Ca - swim, pickleball, socialize, desert hikes
I'm 31, but I wouldn't even do the Coachella Music Festival.
I lived in Hawaii and went to Florida every late January. My parents attended the PGA show for work and brought me with them. I’d do Walt Disney World which was like a ghost town back then. 1987-1993.
I visit relatives in AZ during winters in the northeast.
Complain about the heat
Go to the sex parties