[eweissenbach]

I for one, think the snowbird season "overcrowdedness" is highly overstated. Last year we came for Feb. and March, after having come in April the two prior years, and we expected, from having read posts on TOTV, to be inconvenienced in everything we did. We found it to be relatively easy to do everything we wanted to do. We usually ate around 6 to 7 and had to wait for a seat no more than a few times. Had to wait for an hour at Lopez on a Monday for the lobster special, but we expected that. Lighthouse, Codys, Redsauce, and City Fire were often a wait, but no big deal, maybe 20 minutes. Never waited at Mallory, Cane, Havana, Palmer. Tee times were denied three times out of forty tries, and we still got times out of our prefered zone three days out. The traffic was heavier than in April, but NOTHING like rush hour in any metro area any weekday. Almost always found open pickleball courts when we wanted, and the pools were well used, but not overly crowded. I think the overcrowding perception arises from people who live here year round and it seems so much worse than summer and fall to them. I have never been here in summer, but I would imagine it is very laid back with about a third or half as many people as in the winter using the same number of amenities, resturaunts, roads etc. Perception is everything and if you are used to 40,000 people and jump to 100,000 people you probably feel inconvenienced. If, you are used to living in or near an urban core and come to TV you will likely feel that you are in wide open spaces. Either way, it is a GREAT place to spend the winter, or I am sure, any time of year.