Okay, okay, I know there are those of you who would question a Canadian setting foot in the USA these days given the current political climate, but after much reflection I was not willing to sacrifice a holiday we loved, that had been a large part of our family history since Bob and I honeymooned in Miami Beach in 1969. (Holiday Inn, right on the beach, $12.00 a night in those days.) So, after much discussion, and consultation with our son John who always likes to come with us, we decided to go as usual. For the record, Bob didn’t want to go but knew that John and I did, so in the end he reluctantly agreed to make the trip. Part of his reluctance had to do with thought of the two-and-a-half-day drive, which we have done scores of times but which he really does not enjoy any more.
So, to save that drive we decided to fly this year. Porter Airlines out of Pearson was great. Right on time at 7:30 AM, ample room in the seats, lots of leg room even for our 6’4” son, a delicious breakfast served gratis en route…the best flying experience we have had in years. The “Porter Reserve” class even allowed two free checked bags each, which was more than we needed. I had been a bit nervous about crossing the border after hearing horror stories about how some people were being treated, but there were absolutely no issues. We were quickly through security, through US customs, and on our way.
There was something magical about being whisked out of this land of cold, gray February days and mountainous snowbanks, to that land of blue skies, palm trees, and flowers. I felt like Dorothy must have felt, opening her black-and-white farmhouse door and finding herself in dazzlingly beautiful Oz. The weather was a bit cooler than usual for February/March, ranging between 15° and 24° C, but I didn’t care as long as the sun was shining. We stayed in our usual condo, in a resort in the Kissimmee area at least an hour and a half from either coast. We are not beach people who sit on the beach all day, and all we wanted was sunshine, warmth and no snow.
That holiday turned out to be one of our best. A highlight was a Blue Jays pre-season game in Lakeland, Fla. at the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers. The woman sitting beside me was from Detroit, there to cheer on her Tigers, and we engaged in a friendly rivalry as the game progressed. It ended in a 4-4 tie, no extra innings in spring training games, so we were both reasonably satisfied with the outcome. We also did several day trips to nearby pretty little towns and drove over to Cocoa Beach one day to get a glimpse of the ocean and a walk on the beach. A distinct non-highlight was a flat tire on our rental car, which had no spare tire and which took most of a day to sort out with the rental company.
A second non-highlight was an ill-advised seven-mile bicycle ride, on a trail in and around the beautiful little town of Celebration. Seemed like a fun idea at the time. What were we thinking?? Well, let me tell you, riding a bike was not as easy as it used to be! In fact, it proved to be very difficult for me, involving traversing many boardwalks over marshes, whose side rails my bike kept doing its best to propel me into, sometimes succeeding. And seven miles is a lot farther than you might think. Took us two hours, from which I was thankful to emerge unscathed with nothing more than a few scratches and a very sore behind.
But what I really wanted to share with you is the attitude of the Americans we met along the way. To a person, they were warm, friendly, welcoming – and often apologetic.
Some examples:
- The lovely woman in Aldi’s, one of the few Florida grocery stores that requires a coin to release a shopping cart. Not having any coins, I joined the queue at the cash register to get some change, when the woman in front of me handed me a quarter. I offered her my dollar bill, but she refused to take it. When she learned I was Canadian, she said it was the least she could do.
- The couple we met in Mount Dora, with whom we had quite a lengthy chat as we ate our picnic lunch. Their primary home is in Florida, but they own a cottage in New Brunswick and spend five months there every year to escape the Florida summer heat. Sort of reverse snowbirds. They love Canada and apologized profusely for their government’s behaviour toward us.
- The elderly shaggy-haired and bearded fisherman, sitting on a bench beside Lake Dora at the end of the day, looking tired and hungry after a less than productive fishing trip. We approached him and struck up a conversation. His last words to us, totally unprovoked, were, and I quote, “There are a lot of idiots around here. Unfortunately, many of them are running the country.”
There were others, too. Several people at our resort also apologized for their country’s behaviour and told us how happy they were that we had come. All of this in Florida, the very reddest of red states.
Experiences like that restored my faith in the general good will of the American people and strengthened my hope that one day, all of this will be over and our good relationship with them will be restored – although it may take years to repair. We are not sorry we went. Even Bob, who didn’t want to go in the first place, by the end didn’t want to come home to face the rest of the winter.