What is it about Florida?

What's so much about Florida anyway?

The climate? The beaches? The ocean? The people?

Well, three out of four ain't bad.

And it's not the people: it's the crush of people and traffic, all seeking only two things: a place to eat and a place on the beach. Preferably both at the same time.

For anyone who has been to the running of the bulls at Pamplona (and I haven't), the only thing lacking in the Florida beach scene is "thee bool". Along the roads of Clearwater that parallel the Gulf shore, any place that has public parking is, by definition, full. Every other place has a private property sign, rife with the numbers of local ordinances that condemn the violator to a life of perpetual payment and pariahhood. People circle the block or doublepark (with engines running and the A/C/ on of course, because it's hot in a car) while waiting for a parking space to become available.

By contrast, if you are fortunate enough, as we were, to drop your air mattresses into someone's spare bedroom, you can suddenly find yourself, as our host frequently remarked, "Livin' the Dream." Even if only for a couple of days.

The future of Florida is uncertain, as it is with any near-sea-level outcropping near the great oceans. If global warming doesn't slow down or reverse, all the beach-front public parking areas will be part of a huge involuntary marina.

The only other place I've been to where access to Paradise is comparably restricted is San Juan, PR, and that was a few decades ago. I don't know how much things have changed, but at the time, the island was full of junker cars. These old crates were imported by the shipload from the mainland because there was a prohibited import tax on anything that was less than a couple of years old. It was said that in PR, there was only room to park a third of the cars. Thus, two-thirds of the cars had to keep moving.

Of course, certain times of the year are more congested. We know this. Events, however, conspired to make us take the trip or not go at all. And to our host and hostess who saved us the cost of accommodation and let us be who we are, we can only say,"Thank you so much." With friends like these, who needs beach-fronts?