Florida, March 2008

In March I visited friends at various locations in Florida. I only went for just over a week because I began my job at EMC the week before. But I crammed a lot in (so what's new?).

You can see the photos from this trip at
http://picasaweb.google.com/royyem/Florida2008

I visited Leta, one of my earliest Massachussetts friends, and her cairn, Riley, in Royal Palm (near West Palm Beach). We had a lot of catching up to do, so we mostly just walked the dog and talked, and went to a couple of nice dinners.

Our big event was my first-ever spring training game, between the Marlins and the Cardinals. I found it pretty boring. I don't get spring training's popularity. Just a bunch of ballplayers who are out of shape and don't really care whether they win. Of course, some of you will claim that baseball in general is boring...

I next drove across the state to the Sarasota area to see Carol and Ken, friends from my Philadelphia days, for a lovely, relaxing reconnection. We visited Spanish Point, a pretty park on the water. It featured prehistoric burial mounds and lots of detailed history of the earliest European settlers.

Carol and I also spent a morning in Sarasota, visiting an excellent sculpture garden on the waterfront (see the photos!). That ended another too-short visit.

Then back across the state to Ft. Lauderdale, where I visited my high school friend Ruth and her husband, Larry. Again, we mostly hung out, walked and talked. I took a few tennis lessons from the wonderful teacher I used a few years ago. Unfortunately, I've barely played since and my game is atrocious.

That Sunday I went to the last day of a music festival called Langerado, presented at Big Cypress, the Seminole Indian reservation where I experienced Phish's millenium concert. I spent the day with Alexandra's son, Nick, who attended all four days.

We saw a number of good performers: Martin Sexton, Funky Meters, Keller Williams, Government Mule, Blind Melon, Ani DiFranco, and Phil & Friends. I'd never heard the Meters before, and they were excellent. Government Mule, on the other hand, was unexpectedly blah. Phil played a remarkable first set, but his second set was dreadful and we left before the encore. Odd how that happens...

It was a strange, eventful day, beyond the concert. We walked the grounds searching for an ATM and they were all removed. We returned to the one in the campground with the long line and it was out of money. So Nick was broke! Then, the woman he went with but didn't get along with, dumped him, so I gave him a ride back to Ft. Lauderdale after the show.

Obligatory vacation foot mishap: During our ATM search my feet were attacked by a swarm of fire ants. Throughout the evening the burning sensation periodically returned and each time it felt as though I was being attacked again. It resulted in a series of ugly blisters that lasted a few weeks.

Stranger yet, during the show a rather sizeable lady went careening naked through the audience, exploding at angles that only she could see, talking wildly at everyone she met. She threw her arms around Nick, toppled him over, and hurtled onward. She rebounded to a nearby blanket and collapsed. People attended to her and I saw she was conscious, but I focused on the concert and missed the denoument.

I had a final day in Florida - another tennis lesson and walk with Ruth, then headed home. Fun vacation, and I loved reconnecting and enjoying the warm sun. It was a welcome respite after a tough first week of work :-).