Left Coast of Florida

The Gulf of Mexico is a shallow, warm and placid sea that draws millions of Yankee tourists and retirees to Southwest Florida. The tourist industry counts on warm winters and placid waters. Tourists from all over the world imagine they will soak up the sun on sand white beaches when they make their Florida reservations. 

Left Coast of Florida

But perception is not always reality. This month the weather is cool enough (near freezing at night) to send residents into their bottom drawers for long sleeved shirts and sweaters. Only shivering tourists run around in short pants and shirts these days.

Still Yankee tourists laugh at annual residents for our thin blood and December sweaters. But I've spent a lifetime shivering in Minnesota's cold and I contend that Florida summers are a real test for true grit. If you can make it through hurricanes and heat and humidity for a few Florida summers, you will keep your sweaters handy and you will be welcomed by the rest of us wearing long pants in December.

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Old Florida Time

Lenny & Maude visited Florida in 1995. It was summer and motel prices were at their lowest of the year. Lenny drove to Sarasota and, to save a buck, found a cheap hotel somewhere on the North Trail.

And that was the problem; Neither Lenny or Maude could remember where they left their suitcases.

From Work on the Beach Portfolio, 1995.