January 16th, 2024

Welcome to Florida, the Sunshine State!!!

I imagine the conversation went a little something like this:

Cold Place Person (CPP):  "I've had it with the snow and cold already this winter!  Let's go somewhere warm and thaw out"

Friend/Partner  (F/P):   "That sounds wonderful.  Let's go somewhere with a beach.  Sun and sand and margaritas!!"

CPP:   "Excellent!  What beach tho?"

F/P:  "Let's go to Florida.  Winter there is supposed to be paradise"

Later:

CPP:  "I did a little research and I found this little town called Venice. It's an island! Beautiful beaches, an adorable downtown,  a lot of history and, according to what I read, there always seems to be some sort of outside entertainment, music, festivals, outside dining"

F/P   "Wonderful!  Book it"

And then they arrive and find:

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Disappointment R Us!  

I somehow feel as if I must apologize to all of our tourists right now.  I see them huddled under umbrellas, shivering in their beachware as they wander our downtown (which is indeed adorable).  We see them at the jetty sitting in their cars looking at the ocean and the beach wistfully from inside their cars.   A few diehards go ahead and walk the beach regardless of the rainfall and the temperature. I suppose if you were planning to swim you would be getting wet anyway, right?   

At the museum this year, we are seeing record numbers of visitors from all over the world.  All of them remarking/complaining about the rain and the chill.    Sometimes it is in a jovial sort of way, "Hey where are you hiding the sunshine?" .  Other times in a grumpier sort of fashion, "I spent a lot of money for a beach vacation and now here I am in a boring, dusty old museum"  (By the way, our museum is neither dusty nor boring)

A lot of guests ask us on the way out what else there is to do in the area  that in Inside since all of the outside is wet  which means some of our usual events have been cancelled.  I had to put my thinking cap on the first few times that question came my way but I managed to cobble together a small list.  A few of us docents and the boss have since come up with a couple of other thoughts which we happily share.

I would just like to take this opportunity to remind Florida Visitors that us Floridians have no control over the weather.  We aren't making it rainy and chilly just to spite you or keep you away.  And frankly we are as surprised and disappointed right now as you are.  The best part of Florida Living has always been October through June.  Those of us who are full-timers here manage to survive July- September by staying in the Air Conditioning as much as possible, drinking gallons of water and remembering how beautiful our state is the rest of the year.  This year, not so much.

I suppose I should just be grateful that we have no snow, the temperature has only once ever dipped below zero (it was Tallahassee in 1899 and the temp was minus 2), and the only ice is in a glass.

It probably has happened to everyone at one time or another that a vacation didn't turn out to be exactly what you anticipated.  And now it has happened to you here.  I am officially apologizing, even though it's not my fault.  I'm sorry that you are disappointed.  I'm sorry that you ended up doing a Walmart run for warmer clothes.  I'm sorry that instead of dining al fresco, you are inside the restaurant looking through rain swept windows  at the grey and drizzly outside.  I'm sorry that instead of playing volley ball on the beach, you are in your hotel room playing Crazy Eights with a complimentary deck of cards.

I'm seeing a lot of cranky folks who do not seem to know how to pivot.  If you cannot be outside, get out your magical mini pocket computers that we all have on our person at all times anymore, and find inside things to do. They exist, I promise.  It's not the beach, but it's not bad.

Because Honestly, we have NO control over the weather.  Sure, sure, this time of year, some full-timers grouse about the increased traffic and longer lines and occasionally questionable behaviour of our visitors.  Here abouts if you listen closely, you might hear the word 'snowbird' or 'tourist' occasionally spat out as if it were a swear word.  (gasp!)  But honestly, most of us love our visitors, guests, tourists and seasonal folks!  We do!  And none of us are happy about the miserable weather.  And we are Sorry that you are unhappy, disappointed, bored, frustrated or angry. We are sorry.  But it's not our fault.

Seriously, if we could do anything to control the weather, would there EVER be another hurricane?  Think about it.