I went home...

Feb 26, 2004

So, I went home to Orlando for Valentine's Weekend and it was special for a number of reasons, not the least of which was my traveling companion, RJM -- a BIG thank you for a GREAT trip!

It was wonderful to wander the streets of Winter Park, even though I did experience a moment of sadness when we went by my old house, and discovered it had finally met its destined fate with the wrecking ball, and was reduced to an expensive sandlot on Lake Virginia. Amazing, I've been gone for 5 years, and as much as things have changed, most have stayed the same. I'm still homesick, as usual.

And while the weather was at least 80 degrees out when we landed Thursday night, (it never seemed to rise above 75 the entire weekend) we really only had one sunny day (Sunday)-- but, as most folks know, a bad day in FL is better than a good day virtually anywhere up North. Here's a quick summary of my time spent in Florida:

My whirlwind trip included much time spent in WP, Finally took the WP scenic boat tour Ate at my fav little Park Ave eatery, the Briar Patch Strolled and window shopped along Park Ave Tried to have a "blend-in" at Thomas Sweet's, but had to settle for a lemon sorbet Shopping for vinyl at Rock & Roll Heaven on Orange Avenue

A quick (2-3 hour) excursion to Daytona Beach to: Be stuck in I-4 traffic during speed weeks for almost all of the 49 mile trip Drive on the beach (and see if we could get the Ford Escape stuck in the sand- we couldn't) Play a round of putt-putt golf at Congo River Adventure Golf, where the golf shark (that would be me) crushed RJM with a stunning 2 - count 'em 2 hole in 1's in a single game, for a 51-66 victory. Ok, so the par was 46, but who's really counting -- we had a schmabulous time -- see my golf shark pix -->

A slightly longer excursion to Oldsmar for

• Valentine's Dinner with Susan, Brian & Nicholas
• The di-riguer trip to Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks
• Wistful trip back to Orlando for a last night in town

All in all, it was a wonderful, albeit, short trip home. Here's to many more!