Lost in the Green (Part 1)

Sorry for the gap between postings, I haven't been able to get to a bloody computer with Internet access for almost a week! Talk about withdrawal symptoms...

Anyway, quick run down on where I've been.

Tuesday 2nd Oct
When shopping at various places in Vero Beach. First stop was the "mall" area where we went to:

Circuit City
Some of you guys will have heard of this but just think of it as a Dick Smith powerhouse but much, much bigger. Managed to pick up a prepaid phone that I can just toss away when I'm finished in America for $30. Mum picked up one of the new 8GB Ipod Nanos as well as a cell phone charger that will actually work while we were there.

The "Mall"
Big sprawling area with a big sprawling single level mall. Stopped by a surf shop and picked myself up some new boardshorts and a new rash vest. One thing I worked out is that over here it's probably much cheaper to buy a single massive tract of land and build a single level mall than to buy a smaller area and build multi-storey behemoths.

The "Outlet Mall"
Kinda like DFO in Sydney except with parking... And things that will actually fit me. Picked up two new pairs of Rockport shoes, some socks and a couple of other miscellaneous things for about $140 which is less than you'd be able to find one pair of Rockports for over in Aus. And everything I tried on that actually had in my size! Nice change from how it usually is in Sydney.

Did some grocery shopping and had some dinner and generally chilled out for the rest of the day.

Wednesday - Thursday
We went down to Key West in the Florida keys on these two days. It's quite a drive from Vero, about six hours or more each way in good weather and traffic. On the way down we actually went via Miami's South Beach which was absolutely stunning.

What really surprised me about South Beach though were my own memories about GTA Vice City and how the guys at Rock Star had so closely mapped Vice City's map to Miami's down to the road closest to South Beach itself and the dingy little alley that runs parallel to it along with all the Art Deco buildings.

Let me just say that South Beach truly puts Bondi to shame, miles and miles of clean sand and clean water...

After that we went non-stop to Key West which is the last island in the Florida Keys and the most Southern point in continental USA. Now if anyone gets the chance to go to Florida I would really, really recommend going down here, especially during the late summer / early autumn. The weather is marvellous and the atmosphere is very laid back and friendly, the architecture is very interesting as well in the historic area. The drive down is also really nice with all the bridges that you have to cross as you hop from Island to Island, one of the bridges is seven miles long.

We arrived there and checked-in in the late-ish afternoon and we hadn't had lunch so we were all hungry by then. We had appetizers and a cocktail at the Hogs Breath Saloon (not in anyway associated with Australia's Hog's Breath Cafe chain) then went to dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville ( http://margaritaville.com/ ) which reminded me that I don't like Margaritas but was nice all the same. After that we just poked our heads into Sloppy Joe's which was Hemingway's favourite watering hole in Key West.

The next day we went on a little tram tour of Key West which was well worth it as it covered most of the historic area and more than we would have possibly been able to do otherwise. Once that was completed we picked up some souvenirs then headed back on the long drive to Vero.

To be continued (when I've got a bit more time before I have to check out of a hotel -_-'')...

P.S. If you're wondering about the title of this post it's to do with the landscape of Florida. One of the big surprises for me was how unbelievably green Florida was, trees everywhere with thick lush growth, creepers etc, long grass and not a blade of dried grass or leaf anywhere. Probably has something to do with the fact that the humidity level never seems to drop below 70%.