I can't believe you have to ask. Who the F goes to Florida besides people who just want to get drunk and lay on the beach all day? Clear answer, Cali has Mts (skiing, longboarding, crotch rocketing the canyons...), desert, good surfing, Mexico nearby... Florida has a bunch of haggly old people and orange girls
but to the engineering part, I may be biased from my time spent there but I would think you'll have a better time getting an engineering job in Cali too. Active oil industry, and my friend from MN got an engineering job and he spends a lot of his time working in his companies California office
good luck, I wouldn't mind finding myself back in L.A. again. BIg Bear and Mt. high aren't good for snow it's like skiing most places in April, but park everywhere. You can ski with someone who doesn't do park but you don't have to split up from them because it seems like almost all the runs have features=THE WAY IT SHOULD BE!