Relocating from Florida to Ohio

contemplations · Sep 8, 2016

Hello!

I am still only a student, so I cannot give you information on what nursing is like in Ohio. I can, however, tell you about living there!

** I am most familiar with the Cincinnati, West Chester, and Mason areas, but this will still be mostly relevant!

In Ohio (at least in my experience), we commonly joke about how we are the "fly-over" state--we are not typically considered for travel and vacation and are usually perceived as boring. My family has a vacation home in Florida, as well as plenty of relatives who reside there. So, I have had my fair share of experiencing Florida. To be completely honest, the majority of things you do on a regular basis in Florida can still be done over here--you just have to be willing to look for it.

Entertainment & Attractions:

Mason is a relatively new area. It is very clean, family-friendly, safe, and has an excellent public school system/district. The school district in Dayton that I am aware of is, unfortunately, rated poorly... It is only a short commute from Dayton (half an hour, or under an hour, but really depends on where exactly in Dayton) and is host to plenty of attractions:

King's Island (Mason, OH) - An amusement park with several thrill rides and record-breaking coasters. It also has an award-winning children's area inside of the park, as well as a connected waterpark featuring waterslides, a wave pool, and a lazy river among other things.
Main Event / The Web (both in West Chester, OH, but this is a very short drive from Mason) / Scene75 Entertainment (Dayton, OH)- Your typical indoor recreation centers... go-karting, laser tag, mini golf, gravity ropes, mini-bowling, zombie escape room (actually pretty interesting even for adults), and food.
Liberty Center (West Chester, OH) - Brand new outdoor mall with fairly good restaurants, stores, and a luxury cinema--Cobb Liberty Luxury 15 & Cinebistro. You can have dinner or dessert while watching your movie. Tickets are the same price as the average theatre; meals range from about $10-20+.
RiverScape MetroPark (Dayton, OH) - Beautiful park. In the winter, there is ice-skating. It goes along the Great Miami River and has a lot of fountains. Great to go to with children as well.
Museums (Dayton, OH) - If this is something you are interested in, Dayton has several of them! Cincinnati does, too.
YMCA of Greater Dayton

There are also several parks that offer paddle boating, kayaking, mile-long walks and biking trails, also including playgrounds for children and fishing spots--Five Rivers MetroParks, Orchardly Park, Winton Woods, and Voice of America, to name a few.

Shopping:

Since you are coming from Florida, I'm assuming you are familiar with Publix grocery stores. The equivalent to Publix in Dayton would be Kroger. There is also Meijer which is almost like Wal-Mart in size, but generally cleaner. Note: Wal-Marts over here tend to not be clean or friendly. I, personally, avoid entering them--Kroger and Meijer will pretty much be the same price with a better atmosphere.

The best mall that I am familiar with is Kenwood Towne Center. Very clean, a wide variety of stores in many different price ranges (from Aeropostale to Gap to Michael Kors to Nordstrom...), and is safe. It is in a better area of Cincinnati. Unfortunately, I think the malls in Dayton are dead.

Dining:

As far as eating out goes, there are numerous options, from fast food to upscale steak houses. This largely depends on your budget, but there are options for everyone!

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If you want to know anything else, or anything more specific, feel free to ask! I would love to give you more information, but it would help if I knew what you were looking for/interested in, or whether your daughter is a child, teen, or adult!