Jacksonville is home to a great medical facility and is about a forty five minute drive from St. Augustine. St. Augustine has great shops, restaurants and is relatively dog friendly. I think it sounds like a good fit for you if you can find something in your budget. It isn't quite as consistently hot and humid as Orlando. Lots of lovely sea breezes. I would consider anything along A1A between Jacksonville and St. Augustine as a nice option. Happy travels.

I am sorry for your loss and wish you much success in your hunt for a great location for you and fur friend but PLEASE PLEASE! Fifty-two is actually young, not just "young at heart." You know, it's the new 35. I hear you that don't want to be in a town of everybody two decades younger than you, but you want to steer a wide berth from the permanently retired Florida too.

Forget about age and focus on the opportunities you need for continuing work life.

Naples, FL . Many of our ilk there. Ilk=older folk.

I'll give you a link to a job that you and your dog can do.
http://www.1800gotmold.com/blog/author/admin/
I got to know Jason Earle quite well before he founded Mycellium Holdings dba 1800GOTMOLD.
He was once listed in the Guinness Book as the youngest stock broker ever licensed in the US.
If your dog can be properly trained to sniff mold, you can get a franchise and work as much or as little as you want.
I heard that he moved his corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Oldsmar Florida (Tampa Area).
I met him in October 2001. On 9/11 he was late to work at the brokerage firm in the WTC. Nearly all of his friends died that day.

If you really REALLY want to be more or less insulated from the cold (depending on how you define that term) in the winter I would NOT live in Central Florida. Admittedly those temp drops "up north" as we say in Fort Lauderdale don't happen often but they DO happen.

The dog on the beach thing can be problematic I know. In FLL for example there is only one stretch of beach in the city where dogs are permitted and then only with a permit and then only at certain times.

Perhaps your daughter could do some of the driving when she visits YOU. Good luck.

Many (most?) beaches in Florida are not dog friendly, especially in season. Some of the less friendly ones allow dogs after 5 PM or in summer. If this is a deal breaker for you, explore carefully before you jump. Even in a place that now allows dogs, before I bought, I would stop in the town offices and ask what kinds of pressures there are to ban dogs so I would know what might happen in the future.

We were at St. Augustine's North Beach 4 years ago and at that time leashed dogs(we had two labs) were welcome on the beach. I looked on the internet and New Smyrna Beach has a doggie beach with showers etc. (Smyrna Dunes Park). New Smyrna would certainly be considerably closer to your daughter.

We welcome you & your pooch to FLA! If you are looking at the Jacksonville area....I'd recommend taking a look at Atlantic Beach & Neptune Beach....lots of charm, beach towns...not sure of the dog situation but I'm thinking I saw some dogs on the beach...? I also love the area near the University of North Florida....awesome shopping/dining complex...Town Center? I do not care for downtown J'Ville tho...

If you decide to go south of Orlando...we are in Jupiter area & have lots of dog beaches...its a big thing here. It is a great area to live, work & play. Plenty to do & less than 2 hours to Miami & about 2.25 to Orlando. I LOVE it! One of my other favorite towns that comes to mind for you is Delray Beach....tons of restaurants & shops & a festival or antique fair almost weekly. Tons of dog friendly restaurants, etc. I would say from there the drive to Orlando (depending on which part of Orlando...) would be about 2.5 hours.

Good luck in your new endeavour & if you have any specific questions about these areas, feel free to drop me a note...