Florida would be the better option imo. During that time frame it won’t be tourist season, so those beaches won’t be over crowded either. Florida beaches get kind of nuts at spring break time. The flipside of that is that not everywhere will be open. I visited Destin in Feb before and some of the more tourist spots, like Shed BBQ for example, were closed.
Chili is short for chili con carne, not chili con carne y frijoles. I understand competitions demanding a certain “purity.” That said, I will put beans in my chili because that’s what I like.