Vacation, Day 3

Today was a day of frustration of varying degrees. Much of the frustration doesn't need to make an appearance here, but I will say that the weather in particular has been disappointing thus far. Just when we think the sun is going to come out and stay out, the skies open up and it rains for hours. If you were expecting pictures of sunny beaches and seagulls and such, you'll have to find a new blog.

At my mother's behest, we visited another behemoth mall today. Perhaps I should change this to a blog about malls? I'm sure this schtick is getting old, so I will refrain from a long commentary on this mall experience. Suffice it to say, if you've seen one mall in Florida, you have pretty much seen them all.

Later, we waited out a Tropical Storm Fay-related thunderstorm and then headed out on what we hoped would be a scenic tour of Palm Beach, home to some incredibly wealthy individuals, including this guy who fires people and also my archenemy who gets hit in the face with pies during her public speaking engagements. No, we didn't see anyone famous while on the island of Palm Beach; in fact, we saw little more than rain, clouds, and palm trees. See, for example:


Our sightseeing excursion wasn't a total wash, however, as we did see some interesting architecture and see a side of Florida very different from most of the touristy areas. CP snapped a nice picture of this church, built in 1925:

Yes, that picture is full of raindrops. What can you do?

Next, we spent some time on the Rodeo Drive of Florida, where we saw many upscale boutiques including John McCain's favorite cobbler. The architecture and landscaping on Worth Avenue are actually quite beautiful, but it's hard not to feel overwhelmed by the grotesque display of wealth and consumer excess. You can put a dress on a dog, but it's still a dog, if you know what I mean...

Now, I'd love to show pictures of our trip down Worth Avenue, but as I said, it was a day of frustration and the camera died mid-scenic tour. So as not to disappoint, I am going to shamelessly steal (borrow?) from Wikipedia so you can get the full visual experience:

This picture is misleading, however, because we have barely seen sunlight since arriving in Florida. But Worth Avenue was almost this desolate today; summer is the quiet season on the island, so other than us and a few hundred lawn maintenance crews, it was fairly empty.

The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and getting organized for the next leg of our trip. We had a good dinner out with the family and now are listening to the Red Sox on satellite radio. Since this is probably not a photo-worthy development, I leave you with a picture of my mom's new guide dog, Joey:

Of course, it wouldn't be fair to exclude Paul's guide dog, Fido (I know; he came with the name), who is not new but who is also quite cute:

I think that's it for now....updates to come tomorrow from Orlando, where (we hope) it might not be raining.