Hi Everyone!
We made it down here just fine, the trip was a bit long, but you can’t beat the price. My family is from Florida, so at least once a year we have a built in excuse to get some sand and sun. This is our first real extended family holiday with brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents and even one great Grandma. The kids are arranged neatly from ages 18 months up to almost 6 years. 3 boys, 3 girls, plus the occasional visitor. They are really enjoying each other, but one of them is almost always crying. Just part of the group dynamic.
The weather has been very accomodating, it’s been around 80 F everyday (~23C), blue skies with light wispy clouds. There have been two trips to the beach, and we really should make another today, but we’ll probably just stay around the house. The water is just warm enough to still go in a bit, perfect for wading and building sandcastles. It’s not like this here every year at this time, sometimes its too cool for the beach, at least for us semi-native Floridians. And occasionally it’s much warmer.
We are staying in an affordable hotel since all of the rooms at my folks are taken, and the one extra room at my sister’s was reserved for my brother on a tighter budget. We were going to stay on or near the beach but my mother talked us out of it, saying it was too cool for the beach. She’s definitely been here too long. Aside from my sister and her daughter, the rest of us have moved away. We’re now back in the 'Nati, my older brother lives with his family in Pittsburgh, my younger brother and his family are in Virginia Beach. The older of my two younger sisters lives in Kodiak and just had a baby girl, so she didn’t make it down. Her husband is with the Coast Guard and will rotate somewhere south in the next 6 months or so.
Coming down to Florida is different for us than most folks. It’s more about family and reminiscence than it is about theme parks. We do get to the baech, but really more for the kids. For the elders the beach is for sunsets, boat drinks and grouper sandwiches. My parents try to make it down to see the sunsets as often as they can now. I think it’s partly a realisation of their impending mortality; they are finally around retirement age although neither is retired. They see retirement as something old people from up north do; they’re already here, why do they need to retire?
When I get in the area I start to crave foods I haven’t had in a while. A truly good, fresh grouper sandwich is in my opinion a physical impossibility north of here. Frenchy’s is our local favourite. They done very well and now have three locations, the original is the best. There is a Chicago style hotdog place just down the road with great hotdogs where I always make a pilgrimage. A touch ironic to come south for good hotdogs, but I rarely have an excuse to get to Chicago. Then there are the Cuban sandwiches. The best place for these is a little shop across the street from St. Pete/Clearwater airport. It used to be a gas station which also sold cuban sandwiches and deviled crab pies. They no longer sell gas, just the sandwiches. Their sign is currently broken, but they still are hopping with business. So I guess it is only for locals.
We’ll be flying back up tomorrow. It was a short trip this time, but we were just down in August and we don’t want my daughter to miss too much school. I hope we get down again soon, the kids really love the beach. Maybe in early summer when the water is warm enough for swimming again.
Miss you,
ShibbOleth
