Done Snowbirding?

I’m not exactly done with being a snowbird, but pretty darn close. What I am done with, at least for now, is driving from New Hampshire to Florida for the winter. Last winter my lovely wife and I spent some time in the San Franscisco Bay area. The main goal was to visit family but we found the climate to be a lot more comfortable than Florida. Too bad it’s so darn far away. We aren’t going to do that every year. 

The other day in the grocery store I met someone who used to do the Florida snowbird thing all the time. In fact, we’d sometimes meet up while down to Florida. Like my wife and I, her and her husband are spending the winter in New Hampshire. They are enjoying themselves with friends and family. 

In recent videos from Florida I see a lot of campground vacancies. Campgrounds that normally fill up 250 sites are hard pressed to get fifty. That’s not going to be sustainable long term. So what gives? In this economy a lot of people can no longer afford to do it. Then there are all the International travelers who feel very unwelcome in the US and Florida in particular. 

Personally, I’m really enjoying time spent with friends and family. Now that my health is improving I’ve discovered how much I miss winter sports. We live on a lake and I want to do more ice fishing. There are top notch cross country ski trails just four miles down the road. Snowshoeing is right outside my door. All these things are easier on my budget than a trip down south.

It doesn’t help that a lot of the people I used to visit have either died or moved out of Florida. (Okay, Spud, we do miss hanging out with you and yours). I’m not saying I’m never going to do the snowbird thing again, but it’s not in the near term plans. 

-Sixbears