Why Sac-town is Better than O-town.

I started this a while ago, but just never got around to publishing it. Recently though, someone who we know from Florida (but now lives elsewhere) mentioned having a potential opportunity to move to the area asked me what I like about it. So here is the answer.

For all of you who live in the Orlando area, I apologize for criticizing your hometown. Maybe to be fair I'll also post a blog soon about the things that are better in O-town, although don't be surprised if it is much shorter.

• Climate:
• We actually encounter seasons, with colors changing in the Fall (the leaves are just starting to turn colors now), and lots of blooming in the Spring. While the Winter is chilly, it's not brutal (no snow/ice). Summers are as hot as O-town, but with...
  
• ...No humidity!
  
• The temperature drops 20-30 degrees at night, making Summer evenings much more enjoyable.
• The weather is much more predictable. If the forecast says it isn't going to rain, you can reliably leave the top down on a convertible.
  
• Nature and Sightseeing:
  
• A large variety of foliage (not just Oaks, Pines, and Palms).
• The topography rises in three directions (North, East, West).
• Flowing water vs stagnant water. Florida has an abundance of lakes. Here though, rivers and small streams are much more common, probably because of the runoff from all around us.
• Plenty of trails and parks, both locally and regionally.
• The ocean to the West.
• Snowboarding/skiing to the East (Tahoe).
• We can get in the car and drive in any direction to see something interesting and new. Not that Florida doesn't have things to see, but because it's a peninsula, you're much more limited to how far you can go and what you can find.
• Sports:
• NFL : 49ers. Raiders
• NBA : Kings
• MLB : Giants, A's, River Cats
• NHL : Sharks
• Arena Football : Sabre Cats
• People here seem to have more passion for the home teams, perhaps because the population isn't as diverse in its origin (in Florida, almost everyone was born elsewhere, then moved South). For example, River Cats games are almost always packed, even though they're a minor league team.
  
• People:
• Stronger sense of community here, probably in part because of the large population of tourists and snowbirds in Central FL.
• Both have similarly conservative political climates (inland anyway).
• Both are similarly friendly and family oriented.
• The City:
• OK, the downtown area of Orlando is much cooler for single people, with a much better centralized strip of bars, clubs, restaurants, etc. than the city of Sacramento. I'll grant it that much. Lake Eola is pretty nice too.
  
• But then again, our downtown area is much more family friendly, because of the following, right in the heart of downtown and within walking distance of each other:
• A really impressive Capital building, not to mention the extensive and impressive park land that surrounds it.
• The Westfield downtown plaza (an open-air mall).
• Old Sacramento, right on the American River.
• Numerous museums, including ones specific to art, history, trains, and cars.
• Misc:
• The traffic here is nowhere near as bad as Orlando. It is extremely rare for me to be stuck at a light for more than one cycle. Sure, the main highway (I-80) can get a little slow during rush hour, but it's leaps and bounds better than I-4. Not only that , but carpooling solves the problem almost completely, because there is a separate carpool lane for the busier parts of the highway, and they take it seriously here (very few violators).