Florida Mornings
I don’t miss much about Florida. Specifically, the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. What I do miss about Florida are the mornings. As a recently transplanted, unemployed 20-something who was about a month away from getting a job in the exciting world of selling paint and paint brushes, I had my mornings free and I’d spend just about all of them at the beach walking in the sand waiting for the sun to rise. I loved the smell of the early Florida beach mornings and I still miss them. I can certainly do without the rest of the Miami day, but I’d welcome those mornings again.
It happens only in the spring, and then for a very small window before our air takes on a thawing manure smell, but every once in a while we get an early spring morning that smells like Florida here in Minnesota. It’s not exactly the same because our air is a little earthier smelling and theirs is saltier, but there’s a certain smell to the cool, humid air coming in on an early morning light breeze that’s very similar to those Florida mornings and brings me back to a happy time.
This is the path I took to walk to the beach. You can see just a sliver of water at the top of the boardwalk. There were always lots of spiders in the bushes in the morning.
And here’s a wider visual. You can see Custer Street toward the bottom. The ocean is big, huh?
Thanks for the photos goes to Google Maps
maps.google.com
Michael B. Fishman
Michaelsfishbowl 
oh i know EXACTLY what you mean about florida mornings…and that smell in the air. I’m a recent florida resident so I have no idea how to accurately describe it. Perhaps a combo of salt air and citrus?
You don’t miss living here? I agree the weather is pretty difficult in summer but the other 9 mos are wicked nice!
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Part of me does miss living there because I loved the ocean and the salty smell to the air and I also liked that there was always a breeze (maybe warm at times, but still a breeze), but the traffic was horrible and it all seemed so congested and crowded. I think I’d maybe like northern Florida better, or the east coast.
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All these years I’ve known you and I never knew you used to live in Florida. Imagine that! Know what you mean about smells being a trigger for memories, I don’t find much around here to remind me about California except when I smell eucalyptus. I remember mornings in Anaheim smelling more like smog than anything else but it was during the evenings when I could smell the vegetation and it smelled so “foreign” to my Canadian nose. I DO miss the smell of the ocean though. Early morning scents here remind me of camping at the lake and that particular good smell of being around trees and fresh air in a wooded area. One thing both Minnesota and Manitoba are blessed with is clear, clean air. Smog just doesn’t happen here and the ONLY time our air quality drops is if there is smoke in the air from distant forest fires (or farmers burning stubble outside the city) and thankfully that isn’t often and it’s usually short-lived.
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Proof that we do learn something new every day! We’re starting to get some smog down here in the Twin Cities which is too bad. Generally the air quality is good, but once in a while it’ll sneak up into the moderate zone. I don’t camp anymore but I also like the smell of trees/woods. I also like the smell of a campfire the next day after it’s been out for a few hours. Not the smoke smell, but the wet wood smell.
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Oh, that looks heavenly! I wouldn’t mind walking there every morning as well Michael. Enjoy! 🙂
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When our kids were growing up, my hubby’s boss used to send the whole bunch of us to Florida twice each year. While I was always grateful for the built-in, paid for trips that didn’t count as his vacation time, every trip would make me wonder why people most to Florida–on purpose. That morning beachy smell really was nice, and far different from the lake smell I’d been used to, but not nearly enough to make me want to head south on a permanent basis.
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This looks beautiful Michael–all except the part about the spiders in the trees!! You lost me there!!! Keep on keepin on!!
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I have days where I walk out my front door, take a deep breath, and immediately think of southern California. There’s also something about the way the light gets filtered on those days. They are rare but they are appreciated for the nostalgia they invoke.
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I have lived in Florida for over 30 years and I love it here, I cannot imagine living anywhere else. I love it, love the weather, love the heat, hate/detest the cold. The sunnier/hotter the better. I wish I lived on or close to the beach.. my goal is to one day live on the beach or very close to it. .I love the smell of the ocean, the sound of the waves. I love the sunrise and/or sunset ( depending on where I have lived over the years). There are been moments where I have considered moving up north, it would or could potentially help my career, but I just cannot imagine living anywhere else, my family is here, the perfect weather is here….so many things to do here for fun- my only negative is the crazy traffic, but I cannot have everything
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