There follows a complete and accurate account of Anne and Bill's excellent excursion from Matawan to Florida and points in between. The writer has not relied on what small amount of memory remains to him, but has written notes of the trip contemporaneous with their happening, or something like that.
April 30, 2020, Pembroke Pines, FL
Every time I come to Florida I think it is the perfect place to live. We used the pool at the complex today, a beautiful day. Not many people at the pool in the early afternoon before school lets out. Not that many after school lets out either. Of course, I'm thinking how nice Florida is while sitting on Pete and Roxanne's screened (roof and three walls) patio looking at the accordion type metal hurricane shutters on each window and the 12' patio doors. I haven't experienced the Sunshine State during earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes or volcanic eruptions, so I can't speak to its pleasantness during these events, but there is something exotic about the palm trees all about.
At dinner tonight on the patio, we were learning (trying to learn) Spanish from Santos and Jorge, Roxanne's parents. Anthony was chiming in frequently with various words. We have been here in November and now in April and in both months the weather has been seductive. The cares and concerns I seem to feel at home in New Jersey seem to fade from my mind. Why is that? My life is still my life and nothing has really changed except the geography.
The ride down here wasn't as arduous as I had supposed. [The return trip proved more tiring.] We spent the first night with Anne's sister, Peggy and her husband, Greg in Annandale, VA. The second night in Florence, NC and the third night in St. Augustine. The longest part of the trip, in my mind, was between St. Augustine and Pembroke Pines. That was about 5 1/2 hours driving time plus a little more for rest stops. [As I learned, this was as nothing compared to the nine and ten hours days on the way home.] I think that was because on the first two days we got started in the morning. In St. Augustine we started the morning with a half hour walk on the beach. We then toured Our Lady of La Leche shrine, the Fountain of Youth and the Castille de San Marco National Historic Site with 1,000 color coded elementary school children. Each group had on a different color tee shirt, the varieties of which were amazing. We got on the road about 1:30 p.m., so I was already getting tired by the time we started out.
I drank from the Fountain of Youth a cupful of the fable water, but as yet I cannot perceive any retardation of the aging process.
Friday Night at the Cigar Store
Peter likes his cigars and Roxanne has bought him some very nice ones and found out that there was going to be a man rolling cigars at his favorite shop starting at 6:30 p.m. We didn't get there until close to 9:00 p.m. and I though they would be closed. Not so. When we arrived the son of the owners was outside and greeted Peter with a hearty handshake and embrace. He remembered me also from our visit in November and greeted me warmly also. I didn't get a hug from him, but I did get a hug from his mother who also remembered me. I didn't even buy anything the last time.
In addition to selling cigars, they have a selection of fine wines and this night, as in November, they were offering a free wine tasting. They had a representative of the distributor pouring and explaining the fine points of the varieties offered. She poured enough in our large glasses for a fair taste of each wine and was ready with another selection as soon as we were ready. When she left, around 9:30 or 10:00, the owner lady took over and filled our glasses half full. I bought two bottles of wine and Pete bought several cigars. They gave him several extras as well. The people there know and respect what Peter has done in Haiti. I think he is also a good customer. I would be too if I smoked cigars. I don't remember a store where I was treated so nicely. We left about 10:30 p.m.
First Communion - May 1, 2010
St. Maximilian Church is large and is usually filled when we have been there. Although there was a First Communion Mass in the morning and two more on May 15th, the Mass at 1:00 p.m. was filled to capacity with people standing all along the sides and in the rear of the church. The children (and therefore us) had to be there at noon. The Mass lasted one and a half hours, so it was a lengthly time.
Alex announced in the morning that he didn't want to make his First Communion and kept saying it until his mother and father told him that he was getting dressed. We never know what Alex may do, so after he got dressed, he wanted to practice receiving communion so Anthony acted as the priest and pretended to to give give communion to Alex who dutifully bowed, said Amen and then pretended to spit out the host.
During the homily, the pastor asked for second and third grade volunteers to come up to answer a few questions. Alex wanted to go, but Roxanne discouraged him. The questions were "What is your name?" What is your favorite food? and If you could eat as much of it as you wanted to without getting sick, how much would you eat?" Those were simple enough questions and Alex could have handled them easily, but he could also start asking his own questions. When we attended his first reconciliation (penance), the pastor told the children that Jesus was going to be there with them that afternoon. Alex was sitting in the front row and, not being shy, asked every priest who came in to help with the service, "Are you Jesus?" Well, what do expect a third grader to ask?
Mass went along swimmingly until just before the Lord's Prayer, after which the communion was to start. We were about two rows behind Pete, Roxanne, Alex and Anthony and to their side. When the congregation rose, Anthony remained seated and was obviously in distress. Peter walked him out of the church as we started the Lord's Prayer. "Our Father, who art in heaven." What would happen if Anthony was sick and was unable to participate? "Hollowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Still no sign of them. "Give us this day our daily bread." Then they walked back in and Anthony resumed his place and was smiling. "Deliver us from evil." The procession started and Alex followed Anthony and did exactly as he was supposed to do. We were so, so proud of both boys. They were so handsome in their suits and white ties.
We returned to Casa Kolshorn after I got slightly lost coming back from the church and shared a wonderful bar-be-que of skirt steak, Bubba Burgers, salad, a bakery cake and a cheese cake made by Roxanne with a number of Roxanne and Pete's friends and Roxanne's parents.
Key West, May 3, 2010
I finally got to Key West. It is someplace I have heard about and read about for a long time and now I have done it. I'm glad we went and I found it interesting, but I believe that I would not want to live there. To be fair, we only went for the day and didn't stay overnight which had been recommended to us. We were tired from walking in the 90 degree heat. If we had stayed overnight we could have proceeded at a more leisurely pace. However, Pete and Roxanne were amenable to a one day trip. That allowed Pete to spend all day Sunday with the boys since he is only home for a little over a week. I felt that our visit to Key West was something like an orientation trip.
Key West is not a place that I would describe as kid friendly. It is more of an adult party town with many bars and restaurants and restaurants and bars. They are everywhere. One of the most popular nighttime activities is bar crawling. Anne and I are not big drinkers and while there is live music at most of the locations, it is not something that we wanted to do. We did stop in a bar called Fat Tuesdays and I had a drink called "Swamp Water" the main ingredient of which was rum with an additional shot for a buck. I drank about a third of it when I had pains in my stomach like severe indigestion, so I stopped. I had the same experience on Saturday when I had two double Margaritas, after two beers. I think I should stick with my Scotch. No such problems when I drink that.
When we arrived at Key West around 1:00 p.m., we were hungry and decided on a Cuban restaurant. I had a Negro Modelo beer and a Cuban sandwich. Anne had a fish sandwich. Either one would have been enough for us both to share.
I bought a fedora hat and a shirt that I had a dye transfer put on the pocket that said "Key West." When I went into the store selling the shirts, I asked how much they were. The lady pointed to a small tag on the rack that said $34.95. I had been in another store where the same shirt was $14.95, but they didn't have my size. I said "$34.95?" The lady said that was correct, but that I was lucky because they were on sale today for $20.00 and any logo of my choice was free. Sometime you just get lucky.
We visited Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West where he lived for seven years. After his death, his sons sold it for $80,000. The people who bought it (the Dicksons) were so continuously disturbed by people knocking on the door that they decided to move out, turn the place into a museum and charge a righteous admission fee - a good money maker for them.
It was five o'clock somewhere, actually, right there about the time we were in the Margaritaville store and bar. The habituants, however, had started their toasts about 3:00 or 4:00 and were likely to continue until 4:00 a.m.
I think that some of the other Keys would be interesting as they offer snorkeling, glass bottom boats, fishing and other water sports with a less congested environment than Key West. Key West reminded me of a cross between New Orleans and Ocean Grove, New Jersey. It takes about four hours straight driving from Penbroke Pines. On the way back we stopped at a McDonalds for a light snack and got home around 10:30 p.m.
Alligator Alley and Alligators in the Backyard - May 10, 2010
We took Peter to the Fort Lauderdale airport for his flight back to Haiti and then proceeded West along I75, Alligator Alley which runs from Ft. Lauderdale to Naples, Florida. We didn't see any alligators this time, but had seen some along here the last time we were in Florida.
When we arrived at our friends, Rosemary and Bob's house in Trinity Communities (New Port Richey) we learned that the water level in the lake behind their house had risen and now is about 50 feet behind their screened pool enclosure. From that point waterward there is thick vegetation about ten feet tall with about a dozen trees much taller with Spanish moss clinging to the branches and bending them over. In the late afternoon and evening you can hear them grunting, the alligators that is. They sound something like pigs. Then there are bobcats, water moccasins and mink all walking or slithering through the back yard. We were safe, of course, because nothing could get through the fiberglass bug screening that surrounds the pool.
Bob and I walked to the edge of the bushes with my binoculars to see what we could see. We didn't see any alligators, but only a large rabbit.
We all went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. It is very large with many interesting exhibits. My favorite aquarium, however, is Jenkinsons in Point Pleasant. Okay, the aquarium in Monaco was better, but is far, far away.
Charleston, South Carolina - May 13, 2010
After we left New Port Richey, we drove and drove and drove to Charleston. The city is about one hour east of I95, but that road seemed like a five hour journey. The Tom Tom led us into town. We had used the street address to find our motel and when it said "You have arrived at your destination," we were next to a dilapidated building with a sign that read "Jesus Saves." The GPS should have told us to turn right instead of left and then we would have truly arrived at our destination.
We used the afternoon and evening to walk around Charleston and to eat pulled pork bar-be-que at Sticky Fingers on Meeting Street. The next day we toured Magnolia Plantation which included a house tour and a boat ride. We saw plenty of alligators on the boat ride.
We left Magnolia Plantation at about 1:00 p.m. and decided to drive until we got tired and stop for the night. A few hours later we stopped at a practically deserted South of the Border and bought a sub sandwich. We drove and drove some more until I felt that we had probably traveled enough. We stopped at a rest stop at which I bought a bottle of Mountain Dew. That rejuvenated me with vim, vigor and vitality so much so that we drove to Peggy & Greg's in Annandale, VA, riding through a prodigious thunder storm and arriving at 11:00 p.m.
We visited with Peggy & Greg until 1:00 p.m on Saturday and then headed home. Of course, the Beltway turned into a parking lot almost as soon as we got onto it. It seemed like forever, but we only lost about 20 minutes. We arrived home very tired, but glad to be here. There's no place like home and that's because that's where all my stuff is. Our next trip of any significant distance will probably be by air.
Anne asked if I didn't feel like it was time to go back to work since we had returned from a trip. I said "No, I don't feel that way." She said that she felt like that. I said "I'm not going."
