Florida holiday diary #2

I know this second installment of my Florida diary has been a long time coming, but in my defence it’s been a bit of a stressful week. After a few days of frantic paperwork arranging, Su has finally moved to Colchester and started working for Archant Suffolk. The upheaval has been fairly emotional and there’s still much to do, but we’re slowly getting there.

Anyway, we arrived back from Florida last week. 21 days in the humidity with a mountain of books, good food and family certainly made for a relaxing break from our stresses in the UK. We tried to spend as much time as we could at the beach, which was harder than we expected – we arrived in Florida during the rainy season. Still, when the curtain of clouds finally opened, revealing marble blue skies, we got to enjoy some of the most puritanical beaches I’ve ever witnessed.



We celebrated Independence Day on 4 July. It was a strange day. In Scotland we don’t tend to celebrate St Andrew’s day with any bluster, so to see the star spangled banner raised aloft from ever rooftop was disconcerting. In all honesty, the day seemed to be purely about food and fireworks – never a bad thing. There was little singing of the national anthem, even at the fireworks display we turned up to on downtown Fort Pierce, but the sense of pride was absolutely palpable. We Scots could do well to take some lessons from our trans-Atlantic cousins.






After the day of patriotically-induced gluttony, we rented a behemothic SUV (it’s the only way to travel in the States) and headed off to Miami. A truly international city, Miami felt like a world away from the small towns of the South. We spent a lot of time walking around South Beach, soaking in the cultural smorgasbord as well as the beating sun. I can honestly say I’ve never been checked out more than when I was in Miami. Sure, it was by men - but, hey, it all counts!




After a night of food and wine in Miami, where I devoured a plate of snapper at South Beach’s finest fish restaurant, we made our way to the Everglades to chase some ‘gators. It was a pretty bleak, rain sodden day - not particularly conducive to scoping out our fresh water friends (they prefer the sun, apparently) – but we managed to catch a few alligators taking respite from the storm. I was surprised to find just how docile they are. At one point our guide even petted a ‘gator they’d worryingly named ‘Jumper’. A brave man.



From the Everglades, we ventured across to Homestead to visit the fabled Coral Castle. Now, coming from Scotland, I’ve always thought the States lacks any mistique when it comes to history. The Coral Castle doesn’t exactly dispel my belief, but it’s such an intriguing tale it will surely become American legend in centuries to come. Essentially, the castle is the work of a Russian man called Edward Leedskalni who single handedly built the coral-made structure in ode to a lost-love who he was trying to win back. Admittedly, his efforts sound a bit psychotic, but the castle is a remarkable and fascinating testament to the unwavering belief of mankind.




With only a few days left in the States we made sure to visit our favourite eateries. Su’s restaurant of choice is Dale’s, a redneck barbecue joint famed for it’s beef sandwiches. I’m not a massive fan of the place, even if it did provide the food for our wedding, but as you can see from the picture below, Su feels differently...


My choice of food-house was Conchy Joe’s, a quirky seafood shack by the side of the Indian River. I’d been craving grouper since I arrived in the States and ordered the crispy grouper special. It was a beast of a meal – so big I could hardly finish it. It’s safe to say my grouper infatuation is now suppressed for another year, at least.




On our final night I cooked lasagne for Gregg and Jael, while Su made a delicious baked cheesecake . Given the platitudes given out on every bit, I can safely say our hosts appreciated our efforst. And then that was it, the end of our Florida excursion. There were a few tears at the airport, accentuatedby the knowledge that Su was going to be saying goodbye to both her mother and me in the space of 72 hours, followed by a laborious 12 hour journey home. I already miss the sunshine.

Florida holiday diary #1

We've been in Florida for five days now and I've still not got a tan. Don't get me wrong, it's insanely hot. So hot that on some days I've been the proud bearer of a bizarre, and fairly vast, sweat triangle on the back of my shirt - something which was caused by just purely sitting around. It's safe to say Scotsmen are not really built for such a climate.

But, as I was bemoaning, a tan has thus far eluded me. Basically, it's been pretty cloudy when we've been outside, which has more to do with it being impossible to be outside in the beating glare of the Florida sun, rather than the weather being no good. My freckles are coming out though and I'm fairly confident if they continue spreading at this rate I won't need a tan - I'll be one giant freckle from head to toe.

On our first Friday night in Fort Pierce we ventured downtown. There we saw an outdoor car show, which contained the most incredible old-school cars. Usually, in the UK, we'd refer to them as bangers, but there was nothing banging about the cars on display where we were. These were massive redneck mobiles; gigantic of engine and wheel diameter. I loved the fact the the guys showing off these gas guzzling monstrosities were chugging on beer after beer. It may not have been particularly wise, given the USA's fairly high road traffic fatality record, but it seemed particularly apt.

The Tikki Bar is one of Su's mum's favourite places to eat. It's down by the water and, predictably, has a really relaxed atmosphere, with some fairly tasty grub to boot. There was some dodgy hillbilly rock 'n' roll happening the night we turned up - which offered the added fun factor of the Buddy Holly-alike front man making eyes at Su - but it was the food we were after. I got my first taste of grouper - my favourite fish - since the last time we were there, which is always a meaty treat, while Su devoured a plateful of shrimp. The fish in the states is really remarkable, as is their fruit. Sometimes I really don't understand how the country can be so overweight with options like that.

Su's mum, Jael, and her partner Gregg are our hosts for the time we're in Fort Pierce. Their home is this idyllic little Florida bungalow-style pad to the South of the town. They've got a gargantuan back garden where you can usually pick your own fruit, but at the moment there's a drought which hasn't been great for the crops (although, I'm not convinced it's much of a drought, there's been an intense amount of rain here since we arrived). It's an incredibly relaxed place to be, as you can see.

Yesterday we 'hit' (Americans don't 'go to' somewhere, they 'hit' it) the Digital Domain baseball park, where the local team St Lucie Mets were playing the Bradenton Marauders. Now, I was led to believe the Mets were a fairly decent Minor League team - last week they picked up the 2011 South Florida Championship - but given the humping the Marauders handed out to them on Sunday I'm guessing they've gone on an early vacation.


As much as I enjoyed the game (which was well-aided by the $1 tickets, beers and hot dogs), it did feel a little flat, atmosphere-wise. The tribalism that's imbued within British sport (football in particular) was non-existent. Instead, it felt like a family occasion, with an array of mid-match entertainment (including hot dog sling shots) aimed at geeing up the attention spans of the young kids around us. For some, that probably sounds like a great day out - which it was - but it did lack the adrenaline of a testosterone/Tennents fueled fitba match on a dreich day in Scotland. But, hey, there were foam fingers to keep me amused!




Still to come I've got a trip to Miami, an airboat ride in the Everglades and the star-spangled banner flying, meat-munching festivity that is 4 July. No doubt I'll have some decentish tales to tell after those.