What A Year (Part II)

On the craziest year of our lives. Get ready for a bunch of photos!

Dec 23, 2025

This is part II of a three1 part series where I wrap up 2025, which has been a doozy of a year. You can find the first post here. Seeing as how we have less than two weeks left, expect the last post near the end. Happy New Year!

The other day, my daughter said, “2025 has been a crazy eventful year.” She got that right! It has been a wild year, and most of that was due to a major, life-changing big decision that my husband and I made together: to move to Florida.

So why did we move all the way across the country? After all, it wasn’t for a job. It wasn’t for family. And certainly not for education — not really. The true answer to this question is reserved for when (and if) I ever write a book about the whole experience. Most likely, it will happen. And when it gets published, you’ll be the first to know.

Meanwhile, I will answer a question that may be lingering in some of our friends and family members minds: are we ever coming back? Was this a good idea? I consulted my husband the other day and we both came to the same conclusion: no, we’re not coming back to the Pacific Northwest, at least not for a while, and yes, this move was a good idea.

Not everyone likes Florida. It’s hot, especially during the summer. The drivers are terrible. The traffic sucks. So does the job market. Certain things are very pricey. Housing is not that affordable either. The tolls are a killer. Lots of people own guns. It’s mostly Republican. There are lots of bugs. Worst of all: salaries are low by comparison to other states.

Now that I’ve unleashed everything that’s wrong about Florida, let me tell you about all the things that’s going right, things that make us want to stay. And we are staying.

Weather

When we arrived here in early July, the humidity was ramping up and oh boy, we felt it immediately. A short walk (15-20 minutes) resulted in us sweating as if we’d just ran a 5K nonstop. It trickled down our sides and felt very uncomfortable indeed. I’m not even going to talk about driving in the summer. Our steering wheel felt like the entrance to hell.

Orlando has some of the most unique architecture I’ve ever seen. For example, this building here located in a senior community called Village Walk, is just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.

However, as soon as October rolled around, things became very pleasant…and remained pleasant for months. As I’m writing this, it is 79 degrees outside with no humidity whatsoever. A morning walk that once felt oppressive now feels like the most pleasurable thing in the world. The breeze hits at just the right spot and the lakes and palm trees and flowers (all thriving) are still there, waiting to be admired.

I should note that in September, the weather begins to cool down; however, it is also the season for storms, and we did have a few crazy ones. No hurricanes, fortunately. Nothing that warrants closures.

When we lived in Oregon, there was seasonal depression that occurred every year on schedule. Between Halloween and New Year’s, one, if not all of us, will inevitably get a cold and/or a flu; and every year, we get depressed as soon as we see the looming gray skies and persistent, unrelenting rain. Suddenly, everything that seemed promising no longer mattered as we all battled the skies, the awful roads, and the bitter cold.

Here, we do none of those things. We keep going as usual. So far this season, no one in our household has been affected by any colds or flu.

LEFT: 5' tall cactus is normal here. I do not recommend touching it as they are very large and prickly. RIGHT: Spanish jasmine (?) that's still blooming outside our window and smells heavenly.

Education

I said that we didn’t move here for education, but that is only partly true. We didn’t move here for our education; instead, we moved here for our kids’ education. Florida is known for K-12 education quality and it shows through their school reports. My kids attend public school; both are rated A schools. The evidence is clear — the schools themselves are in better physical condition, things are well coordinated, the PTA is very active and so are the teachers and administrators.

Take, for example, on my son’s first day of school, I received a call from one of his teachers asking me if he made it home okay. It was his first day walking home by himself and he was confused about the exit process. I was floored by this, as I did not expect a public school teacher to care that much.

Aside from that, the state is big on data and rankings. Thus, the students do a lot of testing but it’s more like progress testing, to see where they place throughout the year in their knowledge base so teachers can focus on where they can help students the most.

Nature

While it seems like Orlando is just a vast, development-driven city known for tourism (and there is some truth to that), that’s not really the case. One thing that I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find is the access to nature around here. You don’t have to go too far to find a hiking trail, a wilderness area or access to some kind of outdoor activity, whether it’s golfing, tennis, swimming, biking, camping, fishing or boating. You can get to many of these activities in under an hour. As someone who enjoys being in nature, this is a welcoming side effect to living in a large city.

We are surrounded by water. There are lakes everywhere — most are beautiful to look at just by themselves. But the city (and I assume the state as well) has made environmental conservation a priority as state parks and wildlife areas are well-maintained. A few good options include Black Bear Wilderness Area and Moss Park.

Moss Park in south Orlando has campsites as well as a boating area and a picnic area…all 10 mins away from our house with easy access to the freeways.

On a similar note, I’m also floored by the variety of nature that exists here. Everyone knows about alligators, but it’s not all about the gators. A wide diversity of animals can be found in or near Orlando, including geckos, deer, bears, flamingos, geese, owls, snakes, bats, turtles and more.

These guys just hang out in the neighborhood.

Food & culture

One thing I liked the first time I visited Orlando was the diversity of its people. Coming from Oregon, where over 72% of its residents are white, it’s refreshing to see evidence of diversity as it is an opportunity to learn more about other cultures. It’s not uncommon to hear Spanish being spoken as often as English here, followed by Portuguese.

The other evidence of diversity is in its foods. Whatever cuisine you may want to try, there’s a place that serves it, whether it be Cuban food, barbecue, sushi, or fusion. Orlando is not big on food carts though. It’s more chains than anything, but even if it is a chain (such as Wendys) the quality of the foods themselves are higher. It costs roughly the same as it does on the West Coast but tastes better. And if you know where to look, you can find the best bang for your buck. Some examples include: a whole sandwich at Publix, which are so big that it’s enough for two meals, for $9; sushi at Wal-Mart for $10, which are made fresh in house every day; or a large bowl of steaming hot pho at Anh Hong Restaurant for $15. All these are options I’ve tried, and all are very delicious.

I gotta say — Asian supermarkets in Orlando cannot be beat. Lotte’s here is a perfect example. They have everything you can possibly want in Asian cuisine, except for maybe a bigger deli.

Fun activities

After being here for about a month, I realized that I could do one of two things for fun: 1) I can go to “touristy” places, the ones that are talked and written about online (i.e. Disney, Universal, etc.) or I could seek out the off-the-beaten path places myself by paying attention to signs while driving. I prefer to do the latter, both because it’s better for my wallet and because it’s more fun to discover unexpected things.

The vermicelli noodle bowl with grilled meat at Pho 54 inside Lotte’s Supermarket is SO, SO GOOD.

That’s how we found Phoresh, a hole-in-the-wall pho restaurant that serves a delicious and affordable bowl of pho along with Pho 54, located inside Lotte’s Supermarket’s food court. Also, how we found Lukas Nursery, a gardeners’ paradise with a beautiful butterfly sanctuary, and The Showcase of Citrus, a farm/animal sanctuary/family attraction all rolled into one. In general, there are lots of things to do around here. You just have to pay attention.

LEFT: butterflies at Lukas Nursery. RIGHT: look a little closer and you'll see an armadillo.

The roads

I may have griped about Florida drivers and its tolls and I’ll add that public transit is extremely lackluster here BUT it is offset by the fact that the roads are very nice. It’s smooth, wide and easily accessible. There’s always a road crew out and about fixing up potholes, bumps, clearing out debris or just general maintenance, which tells me that the tolls they collect are going somewhere. This is a privilege that I do not take for granted, as it makes driving just a little bit more enjoyable.

And while we’re on the subject of driving, I can’t not mention the gas prices. When we were driving through Georgia, we were floored to discover the number 2 as the first digit of a gas price. “$2.69?!” we hollered. “That must be a mistake.” Then we came to Florida and discovered that yes, gas can be under $3 per gallon here. It hovers between $2-3 but has never gotten up to $4 since I’ve been here, and that’s a bonus, especially if you have to drive everywhere. As of this writing, the price per gallon is sitting at $2.98.

Have I covered everything? Probably not. But I’m guessing that if you’ve made this far, you probably skimmed through my words, which is fine. Really. The short version is this: Florida is not perfect. It’s not a paradise. Not really. Are there things that could be improved? Yes.

But for what it’s worth, Florida, especially Orlando, Florida, holds a lot of promise. It’s where I finally feel safe enough to allow my kids to take the school bus and walk to school by themselves. It’s where I have access to all the amenities and fun activities and the outdoors without having to travel too far. And it’s where I’ve seen nature at its best — sunsets and sunrises, in particular, are stunning and jaw-droppingly beautiful. Beaches are also incredibly beautiful. The diversity of animals and plants cannot be beat. It’s where I hear more languages being spoken, and where I see more cultures being represented than my previous hometown. Lastly, it’s where I can have year round sun and pay very little taxes. That is perhaps the biggest perk of all.

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