I survived my week in Florida, visiting one of my best friends and her estranged mother. The mother and her constant nagging and Wal-Mart trips aside, the vacation was a wonderful respite from the daily grind of working my mundane job here in Indiana. The weather in Florida was beautiful, the beaches I visited were beautiful, the people in Florida were beautiful. The women with their flowing sundresses and the men with their board shorts and toned surfer's abs.... tanned skin everywhere!
Tourists could feel tropical and exotic and the locals feed off our esteemed admiration for their sculpted beach bum bodies and sun-darkened skin. I could get used to vacationing in Florida. I never did so as a kid, and my first trip to Florida didn't happen until I was eighteen. Four years later I still wouldn't want to live in Florida, but taking week-long vacations there seems to strike my fancy.
I stayed in Palm Coast, which is conveniently only a half hour drive from both St. Augustine (the nation's oldest city) and Daytona (one of the tourist capitals of the world). St. Augustine is full of rich history and vibrant museums and Daytona has that beautiful world-famous beach! I enjoyed both cities very much, and wish I could have spent more time in both of them.
If you're curious to know more about my trip, visit my Picasa web album here, and sift through the pictures I snapped along the way.
Although every vacation always feels like it's never long enough, I am glad to be home. Sleeping in my own bed (despite the excruciating pain of my sunburn) was comforting and felt like home. It's nice to know where everything is when I need it, and being in my own surroundings feels so nice after being so far away from it all for a little while. I am not looking forward to work this afternoon, but then when am I ever looking forward to work?
The good things I have gathered from this vacation was my relaxing times at the beach, the learning experiences on the many tours and museums I perused and getting to wear my new bathing suit and sundress and shorts in public and not feeling like a beached whale. Spending time with my friend that I haven't seen in a few years was icing on the cake, and despite her mother's efforts to keep us working for her as opposed to vacationing, we managed to get in good laughs and good stories in between her indiscriminate cries for Elaine's help doing various (unnecessary) tasks.
I also met a really nice woman on the plane ride home, and got to hear her stories of traveling to Australia to meet a man! It was uplifting and inspiring to know that I am not alone in such endeavors and that some turn out so successfully! I joked that we should start a club, and perhaps a shared blog will be the result of our meeting. I'll keep you updated on that.
The only cons of the trip is the sunburn I now have on my back that is so painful it's hard to move at all, let alone put on clothes! I also gained a pound, but that's a lot better than how much I felt I was gaining. (We only had home cooked meals twice, and ate out at restaurants the rest of the time. I was so worried I would come home ten pounds heavier, so I am super relieved to have only gained one pound.) The last con is how much money I spent, but I could afford it and it didn't break me, so I should be fine.
I really enjoyed the trip over all and loved seeing my friend Elaine and spending that time with her. I'm glad to be home, but I'll be drifting back to those sandy beaches and tourist trap shops and museum hallways in my mind when my boss gets on my case too much at work... I can hear the ocean now....
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