My husband’s idea was that he and I take a mini vacation to Clearwater, FL. It turned out to be a wonderful idea. We rarely get away alone. I have concerns leaving the home because I am a caregiver. We left our nineteen year old in charge and turns out that he did a nice job caring for his brother, the dog, and maintaining the house. 
                     The most fun I had was playing a few mini golf games with my husband. We walked over to the Congo River Golf, where alligators are part of the landscape, fully enclosed I might add. It was pretty cold so we visited the beach in our jackets and alone we stood on Clearwater Beach. Only on the last day of our visit, did it warm up to seventy degrees and my husband visited the beach with another friend while I visited with old friends from Portland who had relocated to Winter Haven. Clearwater was our destination because that is where my husband’s mom lives. We spent our vacation at the Japanese Gardens Trailer Park. She sold her home in Massachusetts to live part time in Florida. There are a few others from the same town in Massachusetts whom also live nearby. 
                     Usually in the early evening, we frequented the VFW on Hercules where most of the patrons are more like a large family. I met a few people, played bingo, not my favorite game, and played a trivia game as part of a fundraiser, sang some patriotic songs and mostly enjoyed some of our friends, whom I had traveled with years before when I vacationed in Ireland. There was a fellow named Carlos playing guitar with some canned music for accompaniment. When he played America the Beautiful, the patrons all stood up and held hands. The song continued into Glory, Glory Hallelujah and ended with God Bless America.  It was rather nice I thought. One fellow they called the Irish Cop told a story of how he stopped a man for speeding once back in Pennsylvania. When the man asked, ‘Why did you stop me?” The cop’s reply was, “Well It wasn’t because you were on your way to church.” He was quite the storyteller, or as they say in Irish, “Seanache”. What would life be with no storytellers?
                     We purchased a digital camera for my mother-in –law and the salesgirl had some very nice Chanel earrings. I remarked how lovely I thought they were and she told me where I could find them. So the following day, we had a mission to find this store. The name of it was Copycats Boutique on Indian Rocks Blvd. in Largo. I have a feeling I will be making a few more purchases there. We told the owner the story of the salesgirl who tipped us onto the store. After we left the boutique, we drove to Indian Shores to a bar called Mahuffers which was written about in a 2002 issue of GQ magazine. My mother –in- law had a copy of the article which was signed by the owner, John Susor. It is now owned by his grandson. The original owner was interviewed for the story at the age of 88. He was a man with a wild passion for life, being married 9 times and putting everything he had into raising his little girl. The place is decorated with wild undertones and undergarments, bold colors, rope lighting, old broken auto parts, rusted motorcycles and porcelain bathroom décor littering the outside area. A few old cats roam the inside as well as a parrot. The article was very interesting and the old man was larger than life. I was glad we stopped by to visit.
                     Some of the places we had dinner were Sam Seltzer’s Steak House, Carrabba’s, and a nice little breakfast, luncheon place called Olga’s. I enjoyed the beautiful landscaping especially the many different types of palm trees. Glad to be home, but enjoyed the visit with my mother-in-law and time away with my husband.