Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’ve been a resident of Sebring Florida for a few days shy of 7 months. Actually – the main entrance to my neighborhood is about a mile north of the city limits of Sebring, but that’s close enough. I’m not quite a full-timer yet – more like a 75%-timer, but that’s close enough.
As a new resident of Sebring – I’ve learned how to speak Sebring. Those of us who live here year-round are known as “survivors” or “warriors” – because we’ve survived the long hot summer and any tropical systems that came this way. Everyone else is a “snowbird” – whether they are here for a couple of months, or up to 6 months out of the year. (We’ve already had some snowbirds return from the great white north. The license plate colors are changing.)
U.S. 27 (or “Highway 27”, or simply “27”) is our main thoroughfare through the commercial (western) part of the city. The survivors believe that the snowbirds cause all of the accidents along 27, but the fact of the matter is that we have accidents every day of every month – even in the dead of summer. If anything – the snowbirds actually slow down the speeding traffic up and down 27. As a speed limit obeyer – I appreciate them.
So far – no day here in Sebring have I encountered traffic as heavy as any day down south in Homestead. The survivors frequently complain about the traffic on 27. I don’t know what they are complaining about.
So we have some unique neighborhoods here in Sebring. If one says that they live in “The Fish Streets” – then they live in the neighborhood right behind my neighborhood up in North Sebring. All of the streets are named after types of fish. We also have “The Indian Streets”, “The Tree Streets”, “The Irish Streets”, “The African Streets”, and “The A Streets”. Two of the largest neighborhoods are adjacent to each other west of 27 – “The Car Streets”, and “The Bird Streets”. Everyone in Sebring knows what you mean when you say – “I live in the bird streets.”
These are the birds of Sebring (in alphabetical order): Barn Owl, Brant, Cardinal, Caspian Tern, Chickadee, Condor, Crane, Darter, Dove, Duckling, Dunlin, Eagle, Egret, Grosbeak, Heron, Hummingbird, Ibis, Jay, Kite, Lark, Limpkin, Loon, Macaw, Meadowlark, Mockingbird, Nightingale, Oriole, Parakeet, Parrot, Partridge, Peacock, Pelican, Pheasant, Pigeon, Puffin, Quail, Rail, Raven, Road Runner, Robin, Sandpiper, Scrub Jay, Sparrow, Spotted Owl, Starling, Sunbird, Swallow, Swift, Tanager, Tern, Thrush, Vireo, Woodpecker, Wren
Those are “The Bird Streets” – collectively known as Sebring Hills. The elevation of this neighborhood ranges between 160 and 170 feet above sea level – higher than much of the rest of Sebring to the east.
Next #TravelThursday – I’ll tell you all about the cars of Sebring. Let’s keep traveling together.
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