Does the popular View of Florida match the reality?

In some ways yes. Depending on where you live in Florida, the reality does match what people think about it. I live in a tourist town on the beach and when people think of Florida and its beaches, Sarasota is one of the more popular places for vacation destinations. The majority of my family lives up north and they have always assumed that as Floridians we go to Disney and the beach all the time. This is not the case however, yes, I do go to the beach, and I have been to Disney, but it is not something that happens often. But not all of the views of Florida are positive; hurricanes are a large part of Florida and are a reality for many people. During hurricane season my family constantly worries about our safety when a hurricane hasn't hit Sarasota since 1921. People worry about going on vacation and a hurricane hitting their hotel or ruining their vacation with rain. While rain is a large part of Florida (especially in the summer), it is just like any other state where it rains.

Florida is a beautiful place to vacation, and for the very lucky, to live, but it is just another state. It has its idealized areas like Orlando, Miami, and Tampa and its places where tourists would never want to travel to like Myakka, Plant City and Tallahassee. These latter cities are not idolized and not what is promoted when the state markets to tourists.