Not wanting to chance the notoriously crap weather in Michigan over Memorial Day, I headed south for the long weekend, this time to Florida... I went with some friends down to Delray Beach, which is sandwiched between Boca Raton and West Palm Beach, on the lower east coast of the state - quite a scenic spot. My friends have a place overlooking Highland Beach, which is gorgeous and remarkably, still quite untouched. At this time of the year, the snowbirds have all flown home, so it's a good time to go, if you don't mind the humidity and warmer temps (which, of course, I don't!) I was surprised at how few people were ever on the beach or in the water. I loved it though - you can walk for miles without ever seeing another person - and it's especially nice first thing in the early morning calm, when the ocean's surface is like glass.. very peaceful.
Delray Beach is about 10 minutes down the road and quite a happening place - complete with it's own Elvis Impersonator, which is something to boast about, I would guess. It's a lively town with a good variety of decent bars and restaurants and pretty affordable, compared to the rest of southeastern Florida. Of course, you can't really escape your fair share of Lawng Islanders, who either live here or just like to hang out and complain here, but there are fewer at this time of the year, than during the winter months, which is a good thing. I always think that the "What not to Wear" team needs to move their show down to Florida and do a little helpful intervention on some of the fashion disasters roaming the streets down there. First of all, there is a huge trend of wearing velour or lame track suits with gold or silver visors and too much bling... then, there is the whole boob fetish, that is really unavoidable - too much boob and not enough clothing, in most cases.. particularly on the ones who paid for theirs..
We did go to this really great bar one night, featuring duelling pianos - I guess it's quite famous in this area - Hugh Jorgans is the name of the place and you can work out your own play on words, because it seems to be the theme of the place once the show starts. I guess if you donate your bra to the bar, you get a free t-shirt, so the entire ceiling of the place is covered with hundreds of bras hanging down. Interesting decor.. and more than a few willing bra donors that evening... Anyway, there are a trio of musicians, who play mainly the two pianos, but also other instruments, and they sing - everything under the sun - it's a really great time and by the end of the evening, things get pretty wild - let's just say we had seen more than we ever wanted or needed to of this out-of-control birthday girl in the front row... she apparently thought she was a stripper that night.. all 300 lbs of her!
Anyway, it was a good trip, but I always think Florida is a bit of an odd place to visit - and maybe it's just because I only ever go there for a quick vacation and really never experience "FLorida" It seems like the place you go to Walt Disney World and to golf and that no one actually lives down there, everyone is from somewhere else and just hanging out, driving Cadillacs and playing bridge.
However, I'll take the sunshine and warm weather any day... I got my yearly dose of Vitamin D - I'll just have to bottle a little for those 268 cloudy days in Michigan the rest of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment