Oh Florida.

I haven't had the means to post in quite a while due to lack of internet at the new place. We've been trying to find a provider that isn't out to rape our bank accounts, but it seems that we've been living in a fantasy world because in the great USA, internet is probably going to cost us more per month than electricity...FUCKED UP.

Anyhow, during my absence I took a long overdue vacation. Destination: Florida.
I think I was just about the only New Englander over the age of 20 left that hadn't been before.

While I had rather low hopes for Disney World, turns out I loved it. I can't understand why the progression of mankind hasn't lead to the entire world being something along the lines of the Magic Kingdom. Think about it...Disney is pretty much like the Vatican. Only much more fun, with water rides, beer, churros and no talk about eternal damnation. If the Vatican is a country, I think Disney should be too. Although they might have an illegal immigrant crisis, I think they've definitely got enough money to figure something out.

Policecop and I took about a billion pictures during our trip. Unfortunately in addition to lack of internet, I'm having pc hard drive space problems and can't upload them all. But here are a few for now, and the rest I will post on flickr once I get this crap sorted out.

And to close, here is my Florida Top Ten List, in no particular order:

1: The Sunshine: It rained for about 20 minutes the entire week I was there. I'm pretty much as tan as I can get (down from level 10 to level 8.1 alabaster, with freckles).
2:The Smell: There were real honest-to-god jasmine patches all over Disney. I'm sure that the hbic's in charge of things there knew that this would add to the general sense of magic. They were correct. But even greater than the jasmine were these strange trees with giant white flowers. After some google research, I'm thinking that they might have been magnolias. Either way, they smelled so beautiful that it was hard to walk away from one after you found it. If it were possible for me to uproot one of these trees and bring it home I would have done so.
3: Epcot World Pavilion:I've decided that this is the only place for me in this dark and dreary world. Every 100 steps that you take you arrive in a new country...Morocco, Italy, France, China, JAPAN. With a mini-mock Mitsukoshi department store...I spent at least 45 minutes deliberating over which snack to buy, settling on kasugai peanuts...which Policecop hated. (More for me).

4: Alligators. I was anticipating extreme gator action from the moment the plane touched down. Every time we drove by a swamp-ish area, I was on the lookout. So Gatorland was an extra special treat for me.

5: Palm Trees. I was just down right fascinated, regardless of having seen them in Guam before. Also, I was fully expecting to be on the look-out for falling coconuts...but apparently Florida isn't quite as tropical as I had hoped.

6: Seafoooooood: The best mahi mahi and coconut shrimp I've had in this lifetime.

7: The Possibilities of Tropical Fruit: On my last day in Orlando I had chicken with a passion fruit creme sauce...I will die if I can't duplicate this recipe. Also fresh pineapple, mango, whatever...I'm suddenly in love with fruit all over again.
8: To Each his Own Kidney Bean Shaped Pool: There is nothing as good as coming home after a terribly hot day and jumping in your very own pool. At night. With a built in porch around it so you don't have to worry about alligators or mosquitoes. Good stuff.

9: Spanish Moss. Creepy looking stuff. For some reason it kept making me think of New Orleans and how much I'd like to go there too.

10: I almost held a peacock. And did manage to hold a butterfly. I'm running out of specific things, but it was all just really, really good.