A1A Beachfront Avenue

Florida is awesome.  I never went to Disney World as a kid or Daytona Beach for Spring Break or anything, so I was not really acquainted with Florida.  I am used to cold Atlantic Ocean water.  When it's 75 degrees out, you usually freeze if you try to go in the water in late April in New Jersey or North Carolina.  Not in southern FL.  It's awesome!  You can just traipse on in there with no hesitation.  Yes, it's very humid, but if you're staying on the beach, you don't care.  The ocean breeze is refreshing, and you can just go into the ocean to cool off. 

We also had a fantastic pool that overlooked the intercoastal waterway between the mainland & the shore.  Again, the water was so warm, even in the morning.  I could've stayed there for the entire trip - especially considering that they served delicious fruity drinks at the tiki bar.  The kind that have maraschino cherries in them.  No umbrellas though.  But they are still sweet & dangerous.

The Keys were nice too.  Beautiful.  The water is different.  Still very warm, but a different color because of all of the plant & animal life.  Next time, we'd like to go farther south to Key West & stay longer. 

Somehow, we ended up going to 3 different casinos & a Jai-Alai (pronounced hi-li) betting joint.  We always end up at gambling places.  I swear to you, I don't really like to gamble that much.  I get mad when I lose $20.  I ended up breaking even.  Paul cleared around $100.  They didn't even have the table games he likes, but somehow we spent quite a bit of time there.  I can't explain it.  Maybe it's the bright & shiny lights or the sparkly money.  I do like sparkly things.  I have no idea.  Maybe it was the fact that I was carded at 2 of the casinos.  Yeah, that's right.  And my husband was not.  Both times, the 2 of us walked into the casino at the same time, and both guards stopped just ME.  One of them was even on the phone.  He interrupted his phone conversation to stop me.  And they both scrutinized that ID, let me tell you.  You blog followers know how I hate aging (see "What's My Age Again?!"), so that should give you a hint at how excited I was.  I made a big production of getting out my license & smiling broadly for the very serious security personnel.  I'm not gonna lie.  It was awesome.

  The Jai-Alai was fun.  I had no idea how the sport was played.  It took us a while to figure it out.  You watch it & bet on it kinda like it's a horse race.  It's really kinda cool & different.  Those guys are crazy though.  The ball moves at like 150 mph, and all they wear for protection is a little helmet.  No pads or anything.  Crazazy, I tell you.

It was a wonderful vacation.  Really nice to get away with my love.  I know I haven't been working for a while and that it might seem like I've been on "vacation," but believe me, it's not the same.  It's so nice to get away from any & all responsibilities, duties, worries, problems.  To just be.  To let the sun & water heal & restore.  To close your eyes & just hear waves & laughter.  THAT is a vacation.