Finding the Fantastic Four in Florida

A little vacation is better than none, so my partner Jerry and I took a five-day trip to Florida in the midst of one of the worst winters in recent memory. We were scheduled to leave on a 7 AM flight on thurs. morning Feb. 3. I made the mistake of covering the opening night of Nixon in China at the Met the night before. The John Adams modern opera was three hours and 45 minutes. I got home by 12 which only left me about five hours of sleep. Fortunately, I was able to sleep on the plane; it was Spirit Airlines where they pack you in like sardines and the seats don't recline. Plus you have to pay extra for your seats and each piece of luggage is another $15, even your carry-on. I dozed in an upright position for most of the three hours.

The weather was lovely. We visited friends who have a condo in Hillsboro Beach which is near Fort Lauderdale. The best part was walking on the beach thinking of our car under a foot of ice and snow. While having lunch on Los Olas in Ft. Lauderdale, our young waiter, a transplant from New York, asked if there was anyting we were looking to see. Jerry asked if there were any used CD stores for himself and comic book stores for me. The waiter said he would call his friend who was a comic book fan. He recommended a store called CJ's Comics which wasn't far. What the hell, we thought, and drove there. It was a little place in a tiny strip mall. It appeared closed but there was a handwritten sign in the window reading "Back in 5 mins." We waited until CJ showed up and I bought five issues of the Fantastic Four from the 1990s. I finally found the one where it's revealed the Human Torch's wife Alicia--who was previously in love with The Thing--is really a Skrull. That's a whole story line I thought was a bit farfethced even for a comic book. But it turned out to be a pretty good issue with unexpected twists. I'll have to find the rest of the story arc.

Our hosts were wonderful, especially considering that on our second day, they had gotten a phone call informing them the roof over their inside pool at their home in Massachusetts had collapsed from the weight of the snow.

We spent the rest of the time with Jerry's sister and brother-in-law who have a home in Lake Worth. While we were there, we swam in the pool and soaked in a hot tub. We also saw Capitol Steps, a touring musical political revue.

Our next big trip will be a cruise to Alaska with my parents and brothers, then we stay over in Vancouver where Jerry has a conference to attend.

A Peacock in Florida

Last week, we spent a three-day weekend in Winter Park, Florida which is a suburb of Orlando. Weird being in humid weather just as New York is entering the fall. We took a hour-long boat tour through the chain of lakes which is connected by a series of canal, running through the backyards of the residents. Everyone has a boat and these little boat-houses. At one point we had to back up so a resident's boat could get out of the canal. Egrets flew around. It was raining and we got a little wet, but not soaking. The guide told us a scene from the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon was shot in one of the houses on the lakes.

The peacock in the picture is from when we took a drive through a nice neighborhood in Orlando. This beautiful bird wandered out onto the road, evidently it was someone's pet. On Sunday, we drove to Smyrna Beach on the coast. A tacky little beach town with sandy little shops selling suntan lotion and shades. I got a bad burn on my shoulders, but got in the ocean water which was bath temperature but the waves were choppy. Cars were allowed to drive on the sand. After laying on the beach for a few hours, we had lunch in a diner. At the next table, some Smyrnans were talking about their taxes and who was running for city council. I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer to walk around--I love tacky little beach town where the people are relaxed and wear shorts and Tshirts all year round--but we had to get back and catch our plane. I always like to buy a postcard to every town we visit no matter how briefly, but we didn't have time. I did get a postcard for the boat ride. I would like to go back to Orlando and visit Universal and Disney again, I still haven't been to Sea World or Cypress Gardens.

We also visited a museum in Winter Park which had a lovely collection of Tiffany glass--lamps, windows, and a cathedral altar which was designed for the Chicago World's Fair. One strange thing about this town--very few bookstores, new or used. There was one used called the Bookworm which I would have liked to explore, but we didn't stop there. We didn't go to any of the theme or water parks since the weather wasn't particularly sunny.