Florida Introductions

It's been a torrid pace so far. We jammed a lot of good stuff into the weekend and have crossed most of the major 'must-do' items off the list already. I arrived to a nice 30C day on Friday, which is not meant for jeans and a sweater. My luggage eventually showed up and we were off down the highway. Past Trump's house, past Tiger's estate, and past countless other millionaires and all the way up US #1. We drove past gigantic strip malls and exotic fast food restaurants only seen on TV. Turns out there is a world that exists outside of the box in my living room down here. The sites and smells are amazing. But it's the heat that shocks the system, in the best way. I get a quick tour and receive some cursory instructions on the do's and don'ts of the double wide life. It wasn't long before we headed out for lunch. We chose the Steak and Shake as GRP had previously pointed out its virtue. It was good and it was CHEAP! A full meal was but $4.00. Mind you those are US dollars but still. I was shocked, but that would be a recurring theme, there would be much more head shaking and uttering religious comments under the breath to come. We crossed the parking lot to the Total Wines store. This is a full-on department store for alcohol. It had a all the key departments. More new, strange beer styles than I could have imagined. We wandered the aisles and started searching for a Canadian delicacy of  Clamato juice by Motts. In this and this alone we were denied. I grabbed a twelve of Miller High Life, the champagne of beer, which is generally my exclusive US brand. We made a few more stops including to buy water for 25c a gallon. Quite the operation. But the stops were necessary to procure the last few items necessary to prepare a surprise dinner for me. We had a cocktail hour and enjoyed the sunset before they made my absolute favourite meal, tuna casserole with my mother's recipe. After that was cleaned up we watched the Big Short. Not sure where it came from but we did it. It was a good film, very eye opening. That lead us to our early bed time. I have to admit, a guy could get used to this retired lifestyle. It seems to suit me. Where else can you have your favourite meal and six casual beers and no one bats an eye at you. Dinner at five and bed at 9:30 doesn't hurt either.