I went home…

by 26 February 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:

what's left of where I once lived: 550 osceola ave, #'s 4 & 6, WP FL 32789...

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 –>