One thing we have learned during all of our stays in Florida, and that is, the sooner we get out in the morning to do what it is we do the better things go. We try to take action early in the morning and then take a siesta in the middle of the day. And then get active again in the early evening, when the sun is setting. The Mexicans have the right idea in the heat. The second day of our trip we got up early and drove to St. Petersburg to rollerblade with the club in this fair city. We got an early start and the drive was nice. We met up with the group and we found ourselves rollerblading around the ocean here. The college in this town is right on the water which I found real nice. There were about thirty of us blading that morning. Like everywhere in Florida it is a beautiful place. We went past a small airport on the edge of town that had a lot of small airplanes. Seeing these planes makes you want to fly. There was one woman with what I thought was a German accent. Turned out she spoke Danish. Which is the language of the Netherlands. Home of Hamlet from Shakespeare. She was not too friendly but I kissed her ass anyhow because everybody always thinks Americans are so ignorant about the rest of the world. I dazzled her with my knowledge of geography. One guy in the blade had written on the back of his t-shirt “I skate to eat”. This sounded good to me. We went into some of the residential areas of the town which all looked pretty good. Florida is a place where a lot of people go after they have made their money. I don’t think I could ever live here but it is a nice place to visit. And there is no better way to see a town than from a pair of rollerblades. After the blade we drove back to Clearwater and hit the beach for the rest of the day. That evening we went to our favorite restaurant, Sea Sea Riders. There is nothing like sun all day. And then eating fish and drinking beer in the night overlooking the water. I had a mixed fish platter with coleslaw. Laura had sautéed mahi-mahi. After dinner we walked up to the Toronto Blue Jays minor league baseball stadium. Their triple team was playing. It was already the third inning by the time that we got there. We bought tickets and beers and headed to watch the game. These games are a lot of fun. And the price is right. Two tickets cost ten bucks. The crowds are always small and intimate. And there is always a lot of interaction between the crowd and the players. Its a lot more informal than going to a pro game. Laura who is not too into spectator sports really enjoys these minor league games, and I like them too. They even have a mascot who was playing with all the kids in front of the home teams dugout. When I told the mascot “you do nice work“ when he walked by, he turned around and gave me a backrub. The backrub felt so good, I thought that his day job might be as a massage therapist. Florida has a lot of massage therapists. I don’t know what’s more entertaining at these games the fans or the baseball games. This game was not too rowdy but a lot of single girls come hoping to meet the ballplayers. And the senior citizens are the main stay of minor league baseball. There were a bunch of high school kids at this game sitting together who were taking turns dancing with the mascot during the seventh inning stretch. The home team won in a dramatic fashion. The center fielder hit a home run to break a three way tie in the last inning. After the game we stopped off at a place called Jolimons, and we had a nightcap listening to a cover band playing Free Byrd. When we got back to the hotel Laura went to bed. And I layed back behind the hotel next to the pool looking up at the stars until I started dosing off….

We took our annual trip to Florida the first week of June this year. On the flight down to Tampa I had a dream that I was flying the plane, until the pilot came back and took over. I think that this dream had something to do with control issues. For us every vacation turns into an experiment of some kind. Usually it has something to do with how much physical exertion I can endure during the day. And then following this up with beer and big food in the evening. All year I am so regimented at work eating, working and sleeping. When I go on vacation I like to try different things. Like taking long hikes, swims and bike rides. I choose to get so involved in the new environment that I forget about food and drink for long periods of time. And Laura goes along with this. But she cannot go as long as I can without some kind of refreshment. This trip the lack of food came to a head the first day when Laura fell while we were rollerblading to Clearwater. She scraped her leg. So we decided to get a couple of pizza cuts from a pizza shop in Downtown Clearwater. They let us rollerblade into the pizza shop. We bought two large slices with pepperoni and sausage. We were famished but the heat for some reason keeps me from getting hungry. Anyhow we ordered the two cuts and Laura ordered a bottle of water. And I got a can of Sprite. We decided to carry the food and drink out to the tables set-up outside. Going through the door Laura dropped one of the cuts on the floor. Fortunately it fell on the floor crust down cheese up. So I picked it up and told her that I would eat that slice. And being the ex-Peace Corps volunteer that I am, I told her to beat me more, I love it. But she said no we will split it. So we cut both slices in half and we each ate half of the slice that hit the floor. Not too many things in my life ever tasted as good as that pizza. Ten miles rollerblading in the Florida sun gives you a pretty hearty appetite. We were the only customers sitting outside the pizza shop accept for a few customers coming to get pizza to go. Clearwater is one of those sun baked towns in Florida where people stay the hell off of the streets during the afternoon sun, except for crazy tourists like myself who are living up a little bit. I like the solitude the sun provides. It reminds me of when I was in grade school during the summer when everyone else went to the pool. And I went up to St. Bernard’s School to shoot basketball myself. With nobody around but the people in the cemetery out behind the school. And I would anticipate the two-a-day football practices that were coming in August. I trace my obsession with exercise to the agony of the football that I played in grade school. And I am sorry that Laura has to pay the price when she is with me. But I always try to make it up to her when the sun starts to set and we start to party. The beer is always better after having explored some territory without a car. This day we rollerbladed past fisherman along the water and we looked out for gators since they started getting aggressive. When we got back to the hotel we both decided to take a swim in the pool. We were the only two in the pool. I noticed since this pool does not get used too often the birds from all around the area use it as a birdbath and a place to get a drink. Throughout our stay there I noticed when nobody was swimming all kinds of birds would be drinking out of the pool. I saw parrots, ducks and coo birds. I even saw an osprey circling like it was looking for a drink. That first night in Florida we ate that night at a place called Sammy’s in a little town called Dunedin which is next to Clearwater. This restaurant is owned by a fisherman and so the fish is great. We had ocean perch. Mine was fried and Laura’s was baked. They had a really nice coleslaw and collard greens. All this and Kalik beer. We were in the vacation mode now. Ocean perch filets are so much bigger than fresh water fillets that we eat out of lake Erie. I ‘m not sure which one tastes better.