Swampman is correct about Florida. I'd chose anywhere else before Florida. It's a cesspool of criminals and things that bite. I've been there too many times. South Florida in August is absolutely unbearable. Both coastlines of Florida are an endless city from the north end to the south. If you drive anywhere off the Interstate along the coast, you are in city traffic. The only way to escape city chaos in go inland where there's no wind and the humidity is killing. The swamps are useless unless you like snake and gators. The dry parts of inland Florida are a flatland of endless nothing. A cow needs many times the grazing area of a cow anywhere else, because it's all sand and palmettos and little grass. That said, Florida has turkeys, deer, bears, panthers and fishing unlimited. My brother lives in south Florida near the Gulf. I do not visit him anymore due to the unimaginable population of criminals. He lives in a gated community, but still they cross the fence. One other good point about Florida: It has the cleanest ground water of any state. Pure and clear. Lots of crystal springs and lakes. Lots of healthy edible fresh water fish. I would have like to have lived in Florida 150 years ago, but lordy, lordy, not now.
I'm certain I don't want to live anywhere but the mountains of Virginia. I understand the people here, and I understand the wilderness places. I like the snows of winter and the clear trout streams of autumn. I like the 4 seasons. Not too cold to get out in the winter, and not too hot in the summer to enjoy a float trip down the river.
I suppose every state has it's downside. We do have tics and mosquitos and chiggers. And snakes. We have Richmond, which was not so long ago the murder capital of the nation. We have VA Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake, a metropolis to compete with any. And then there's the Northern VA (the Fairfax area) area where a man can't breath without inhaling someone's exhaust. The retail businesses in that area are owned and staffed by foreigners. The few times I've had to go there, I couldn't even have a conversation with them. Had no idea what they were saying.
So, it might seem that VA ain't all that. But you get out into the unpopulated areas on the western end, and you are in paradise, IMO. The counties of Craig, Floyd, Botetourt, Alleghany, Bath and some others are clean and simple. I've read that Highland County is rated evenly with Idaho in elevation and wildlife population. Due to the elevation, they have sugar maples that produce syrup like any extreme northeast state. The Shenandoah area has a higher population of black bears per acre than any place on earth. The whitetail deer is overly abundant. Grouse and turkey and fox squirrels and bobcats abound in the mountains. A great percentage of western VA is national forest or game commission land. We have native trout streams (not big fish but wild) and thousands of miles of stocked streams in wilderness areas. We have the flatlands where SHOOTALL lives that's alive with quail and rabbits and deer. We have the Great Dismal Swamp, an area of untold size teeming with fish, but crawling with cottonmouth snakes. 20 miles north of my house is a mountain with more bears than chipmunks. Very difficult to access, but worth it if you make it. Not that I'd shoot a black bear, but it's a thrill to see them. Fox and owls and whippoorwills and mink along the mountain streams.
But best of all, the good decent southern people. The country folks of VA with their love of mountain music and home recipes are the life of where I live. Been here 65 years and hope to stay a few more.
