Actually you might be surprised. For years I swore I'd never want to live here. I always pictured it as a bunch of old people and tourists.

Nothing like that in most places.

I moved here 20 years ago. (I'm 46 now, so I guess I'm one of those old people now, but I wasn't then.) I was totally shocked when I "discovered" the real Florida. The state has some amazing wildlife, cities based on things other than tourism, areas that freeze every winter (even get snow now and then), and even places that aren't flat. Now, yes, there are some tourist-based areas like Orlando and some of the better known cities, but there are also cities like Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Gainesville, etc., that get very little tourism.

If you do want to "discover" Florida, but don't want to be caught up in throngs of people spending lots of money on cartoon mouse trinkets, I'd recommend researching some of the TONS of non-mainstream things here. The Intracoastal Waterway, where this photo was taken, is actually a nice way to do it, here in the northeastern part of the state... if you follow along (US1, or A1A tend to run parallel, but if you can take a boat it's even better) you can see some really interesting local "flavors". St. Augustine has its touristy areas, but it's worth a visit - 500 years old is "ancient" here in the US and their beach is really nice. The Everglades, waaaaaay south, are a very diverse habitat (including the only place in the world where both alligators and crocodiles coexist) and you stand a good chance of being able to fill an SD card with photos of wildlife.

The "left coast" has some interesting stuff too, but I really don't get over there so I can't speak about it much - but that's where the state is probably least known to most people, therefore probably has some of the most to be "discovered". I know that Sanibel Island, Venice, and some of the southern areas are nice, but there's also the classic Florida fishing villages of Cedar Key and others towns further up the west coast.

I should work for the department of tourism - except I'd steer people clear of Orlando and Miami.