Today is Tuesday, January 31, 2023. This is my first blog since Wednesday, January 18, 2023, when Elliot and I flew to Florida on Thursday, January 19, to spend about 11 days at our cousins’ house in Boynton Beach to watch their ginger cat Tommy. We had a totally fun time interacting with this very vocal orange tabby who was way more talkative than our domestic shorthair, Jocelyn. He let us know when he wanted us to feed him, when he wanted a treat or two, or when he wanted us to cuddle him. At times, he would position himself on Elliot as he sat in the couch watching television and fall asleep in his lap. He often slept with both of us at various times. However, toward the end of our stay, I began closing the door to the bedroom so as to keep him outside since he would come in and jump on the nightstand beside the bed wanting to throw something off the top. One night, he positioned himself on my chest and fell asleep. Our cat never did these things. She would sleep with us but not on top of our bodies. Tommy couldn’t care less where he positioned himself, as long as he was comfortable.

One main complaint with the Sunshine State that stayed with us this time as well as the first time we went down last December was the abysmal record of drivers down there. On this go-round, we encountered some of the worst drivers there who reveled, it seemed, with their recklessness. The many times we were we cut off, where so many drivers failed to signal before changing lanes, is uncalculable. The speeders were everywhere: on local roads and highways. Thank God, we didn’t have an accident in our rental Kia Soul. That is the reason why I didn’t want Elliot to use our cousins’ car to drive us anywhere in Florida. I preferred to take our chances in a rental car instead.

During the week we were in Florida, we had a news blackout since I couldn’t navigate the two-remote system that toggled between the streaming services and regular cable television, so we watched Netflix or Hulu instead. That was fine with me. I could stomach a week’s hiatus from the news since I was on vacation.

We were busy during our time in Ron DeSant-ASS’s “unwoke” state, visiting Elliot’s Margate cousin on Monday, who took us to a very elegant restaurant in Coconut Creek called Cooper’s Hawk that is noted for its selection of wines. There I tried the pistachio-crusted grouper that came with Mary’s potatoes and asparagus. We shared an appetizer of crispy Brussels sprouts that was delicious.

We also spent time with my son “Joshua” the first weekend where we took him to Hobe Sound which is centrally located between Jupiter and Stuart along Florida’s Atlantic Coast and is home to some of the most beautiful nature spots in the state, according to Google. It is also a predominantly wealthy community whose residents have included such celebrities as “Tiger” Woods, Celine Dion, and Burt Reynolds. We had lunch at some neighborhood seafood spot.

On the last weekend we were in Florida, we drove to Naples, Florida, to meet Joshua at Tin City Waterfront Shops, which is home to over 30 boutiques, two waterfront restaurants, an ice cream parlor, and a variety of water and boating adventures that attract people of all ages. We preferred to be landlocked rather than be on water since I’m no water enthusiast. There we had lunch overlooking the marina where people boarded boats to take rides on the Gordon River leading into Naples Bay. We browsed the shops that abounded in the waterfront area.

One of the other highlights of our trip was going to Lion Country Safari, located in Loxahatchee, Florida, located about 45 minutes away from Boynton Beach. That day, we woke up early to have breakfast in the clubhouse and drove to the safari park, arriving there about 9:50 a.m. This attraction is a drive-through safari park as well as a walk-through amusement park located on over 600 acres in Palm Beach County. It was founded in 1967 and claims to be the first “cageless zoo” in the United States. Here we paid the $45 admission fee and drove gingerly through. I was a little nervous about having an ostrich peck at our window, but that didn’t happen. It was baboons who have been known to jump on and scratch cars, pull at antennas, or remove windshield wipers. The lions that you see are found behind a fence now; they used to roam freely, but not anymore. I wonder why! We didn’t see these animals or had any other animals stop in front of the car. We did see a certain kind of antelope cross the street on its oblivious way to the other side. From the drive-through part of the attraction, we then parked the car and took the walk-through which consisted of seeing more animals in their natural habitats like tortoises, macaws, and various types of snakes. We also watched a “critters show” at around 12:30.

So that is a little of what we did in Florida, and we are glad to be back home in “pedestrian” New York where you don’t need to drive to a supermarket or a nail salon. But we will miss Tommy and his loud chattering.

Stay safe and be well.

Here is one of the lion residents of Lion Country Safari. Do you see “Leo the Lion” in this proud specimen?

Not sure the name of this cutie, but isn’t he one anyway?

Here are several antelope grazing together.

Imagine seeing this animal get close to your car. Not!

Here is a lone zebra on the road.

They all seem to be looking in the same direction, no?

We all know the name of this tall fellow, don’t we?

These two huge tortoises we saw in the walk-through park.

This is the backside of some sort of porcupine at the walk-through park.