Free of Florida

I apologize to anyone reading this from the state of Florida. I've decided that for the most part, I just don't like your state.
Sure, Disney is fun.
The keys themselves are beautiful and worth the trip.
The Gulf Coast beaches south of Tampa have a bit going for them.
I'm a space nut so Kennedy is always a good thing.
Other than that, I can't come up with much good to say.
Your drivers scare me. (And that takes some doing with living in PA where most people drive like NASCAR drivers.) Admittedly a good portion of them are out-of-state tourists and are lost, so random lane changes and sudden turns could be expected. I think I can take the stairs twice as fast as your speediest elevators. Your weather is freaky. The humidity, even back in April a few times, was enough to almost kill me. And you're infested with attack mosquitoes and sand fleas.
Yesterday was a somewhat frustrating morning. I did eventually get my act together and out the door. I stopped and had breakfast in the hotel's lobby before heading out. I talked briefly with an older couple who were there about some of the interesting places they've seen and been to. (I believe they're retired and spend most of the time driving around the country, sounds like fun to me...) I looked at the map and figured out how to get to the Miami Beaches and figured if I pulled it off, I might get an hour or two on the beach.
Luck was still not on my side.
I was stupid enough to try and take 1 all the way up. (I should have bit the bullet and taken the turnpike at least partway.) I eventually got to South Beach on A1A. It seems to be a very pretty beach town, reminded me of a few I'd seen in California. And, since it was now just about 10:30, there was no parking to be found. The sky was blue and a few puffy clouds off to the west, but a nice looking day. I end up driving north for quite a while through most of the Miami Beach towns. At one point, seemingly at random, the skies just opened up and poured. I knew it would only last a few minutes and it did. I eventually found a public lot that was open. Unfortunately, it was a flat rate of $6 for the day. Ewww. That and the skies were about to open up again, and this time it looked serious. As pretty as it might have been to be on the beach in the rain, I really didn't need to get soaked to the bone and I really didn't want to spend the $6 either.
I decided that I might as well just give in and go to the airport. I still don't like the Miami airport. It's not in a great part of town to begin with (what airports are?) and there's construction going on. They also don't have very good signage to let you know where you're going or anything like that. Or, the signs would be better if they were big enough you could see them from 1/2 a block a way instead of having to be right on top of them. I eventually get the car returned. I need to call Hertz, they recorded the initial mileage wrong. Somehow I don't think I could have wracked up 1100 miles in less than 48 hours. I would have had to done nothing but drive at least 34 miles per hour for at least 32 hours (or 18 hours at 60 miles per hour), and done nothing else. In 1100 miles, I could have been almost home.
The flights weren't anything spectacular. My planes were full but not crowded. There was about a 10 minute delay in Charlotte and Miami, but nothing too earth shaking there.
I'm just glad to be home. I'll be home until a week from tomorrow when I head out to California for my cousin's wedding. That should be an interesting event. Mom's going with me, so I'll be traveling with someone for a change and someone I like traveling with too! I'm looking forward to it.
Peace to all and may the rest of your week be good.