FLORIDA ADVENTURE DAYS 4 & 5
(Sunday) Right now it's raining -- hard! I've seen more rain in the last couple of days than we'll see all year in Turlock. But it hasn't interfered with our trip.

Yesterday we drove back up the Keys and to the mainland -- staying at a hotel in the Palm Beach area. It's right on the beach and we had wonderful access to the sharks, pelicans and sunrise this morning. Unfortunately, the hotel was a bit of a dump. It was suppose to be a two star property in the priceline.com system but I'm going to have to write the priceline people. It has been the only disappointment in all of my priceline experience.

The other disappointing thing (which priceline can do nothing about) is to see the southeastern Florida coastline. There is virtually no open space comparable to what we have in California. They build high rise hotels right up to the sand -- miles and miles of high rise units all along the coast. I think the state of Florida dropped the ball on that one by selling out to the developers.

As we traveled through Miami yesterday we stopped off at an incredible place in the heart of little Havana (Miami) -- El Palacio de Los Jugos. Karina Whitmarsh had steered us to this little market -- absolutely packed with Cubans -- and we bought wonderful fresh mango juice. We also used one of Karina's suggestions a few days earlier, on the way south through Miami, and had a terrific seafood lunch at Garcia's Seafood Grille & Fish Market (NW North River Dr.). I'm thinking about bringing Karina on as our full-time food consultant.

Last night we ate at CiCi's Pizza -- the family pizza buffet we had to give up when we left Texas. This morning we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then worshiped at Lighthouse Covenant Church in Tamarac. It's a small (50 people), friendly congregation, about 3/4 senior citizens. Then we took off across the alligator highway to the west side of Florida and arrived in Naples (the Carmel of the Gulf -- beautiful beaches, beautiful homes, beautiful rich people...) a few hours ago. Still, the only alligator I've seen has been road kill.

The rain has stopped! Bye!

ADDENDUM: We went back to the beach to watch the sunset from the Naples pier -- too much cloud cover in the west to see much of the sun go down. But it was fun to watch the dolphins as they were competing with the human fishermen for their supper around the pier. Cheryl and I went on to Cheeburger Cheeburger for our grub -- another winner. (Why do I feel like we've done nothing but eat since last Tuesday?)

There are a some more surprises about Florida:

1. There is hardly any wave action on either the Atlantic or the Gulf coasts. The water is sooooo calm -- even more so down in the Keys. For obvious reasons no one surfs -- but I think everyone owns a boat of some sort.

2. There are a gazzilion different Florida license plate designs. It's almost as though everyone designs their own. (Actually I looked it up online and there are currently 54 different designs available.)

3. I expected a bit more humidity -- and even that distinct musty smell I remember from Houston and New Orleans. But it's not here.

3. I expected more inspects. Right now we're staying on the edge of the Everglades and I've yet to experience a mosquito.

4. Cars don't sport as many bumper or window stickers as they do in California. I have not seen a single annoying decal of a urinating boy (They seem to be on every third vehicle in Turlock).

5. We've only encountered a few people with a distinct southern accent -- some Caribbean accents, some French, and lots of Spanish (just like home!).

6. New construction looks a lot like the Mediterranean style homes you'd see in Turlock -- except they are built here with concrete blocks.

7. Unlike other places we've traveled, Florida, like California, seems to have a smoke-free policy for public buildings and restaurants.