by Susanna Perkins

Created on: August 13, 2009   Last Updated: November 14, 2009

Florida is a beautiful state, with lots of sunshine, beaches, cities, and communities available for every warm-weather lifestyle. We have small, friendly cities like Tallahassee, population just under 175,000, and glamorous nightlife in Miami, population 415,000. There are rural towns like Newberry, near Gainesville and famous beach towns like Destin in the Panhandle. If you like outdoor activities, you can do pretty much anything in Florida except snow ski and mountain climb.

We have lakes, rivers, streams, Atlantic oceanfront and Gulf of Mexico oceanfront. Professional sports teams include the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (football), the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat (basketball), the Marlins and the Devil Rays (baseball), and the Panthers and Lightning (hockey). You can attend live concerts in venues across the state, and you can even find drama, Broadway musicals, opera, ballet, and symphony performances if your tastes in entertainment are more traditional.

Many of us dream of living on or near the beach, but unless you're retired or independently wealthy, that might not be practical. If you are still in your working years, and especially if you are raising a family, head to the Orlando area, specifically, Winter Park. For the widest availability of family activities close by, jobs in a variety of industries and overall quality of life, Orlando is the metro area and Winter Park is the town to be.

Atlantic beaches are less than an hour away in Cocoa, Melbourne and Daytona. Cape Canaveral and Cape Kennedy are easy to get to as well. To the west, Tampa Bay, Clearwater and St. Petersburg are an easy drive down Interstate 4, or I-4 as it's referred to locally. Miami is less than a 4-hour drive, and Jacksonville is only a couple of hours to the north. If you're going farther afield, Amtrak trains go up the east coast through Washington, DC and points north and west, and you can fly out of Orlando International Airport to anywhere in the world.

Orlando Metro Area

Entertainment

You'll never run out of things to see and do in greater Orlando. As a resident, you can enjoy significant savings at all the Walt Disney World parks, including Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center, water parks, campgrounds and resorts. Universal Orlando has two adjoining theme parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. At Sea World, you can experience dolphins and whales up close, and Busch Gardens is just a short drive away in Tampa.

The Outdoors

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