Holiday Road: TSR's 2008 Thanksgiving Vacation in Postcards

Ah, pack your Aloha shirts and sandals, my buddies, and break out that sunscreen-- because The Thrift Shop Romantic is headed to the tropics! For Thanksgiving this year, I'll be hitting the skies and flying to the Florida Keys to visit my dad. So I thought I'd take you all on a little preview of my travels, as through this pack of 1940s Florida souvenir postcards...


Because, ya know, my trips are exactly like 60-year-old tourism shots. In fact, you'd be surprised how colorized the world looks when I go on vacation. It's weird.


So here we are on the way to the Florida Keys, a string of islands right off the Florida peninsula. And because it's Thanksgiving, you know we'll be having the traditional Thanksgiving holiday feast main course--

Roasted coconuts!...

What, you mean you don't have to climb coconut palms to get just the right coconuts for the Thanksgiving table? You don't husk that coconut and then pop it in the oven for 7 hours to roast it just to perfection? You don't carve the coconut at the table, and have coconut dressing, and mashed coconut, coconut slaw and finely aged coconut wine?

You mean you don't finish with coconut cream pie?

Hm. I could swear everybody did that. Like, the Pilgrims, and just, well, everyone.

Strange.

Well, I bet after your big holiday feast, you all make sure you get in a nice bit of canoeing. We always do. A perfect way to work off those calories!


Then we go visit our neighbors...


As you can see, they like to canoe, too. You know, there's simply nothing like a little Thanksgiving fellowship, spending time with the people you care about.

If there's time, we'll all get together and help Farmer Joe nearby pick some of those ripe juicy oranges from his orchard...


Okay, so Farmer Joe doesn't exactly know we're helping him. In fact, it's best to keep an eye out for Farmer Joe and his men when you're picking... And don't forget to duck when the shotgun bullets whiz past your head.

But there's nothing like the feeling of helping your fellow man do an honest day of labor.

That's something to be thankful for!

Once we return home with our Thanksgiving oranges, we drop them off and head back out to peer in our other neighbors' windows and watch the football games...


Why, we don't have TV, but that never puts a damper on our finding out which college trounced the other. We like to keep informed, dontchaknow. This works out really well, as long as we don't accidentally lean on a window and trip the neighbor's alarms.

Darned ADT home protection! Well... lesson learned, right?

Now me, if I'm not delayed by the local law enforcement at this point, I always like to take a nice walk in the Everglades swamp just around dusk. There is simply nothing more beautiful than the sun setting over over mangrove trees, the palms, the three foot tall mosquitoes and the alligators...


Of course, for two years in a row, the gators ate the breadcrumbs I was leaving behind me, and I totally lost my way back to the fanboat. Who knew gators were so big on croutons? So, I found myself just wandering around lost at night, with only the stars to light my way.


Eventually, I ran into some Cuban refugees, who were just as lost as I was. It was really nice to have company, and I appreciated how Juan and Carlos beat off that gator from my leg. You were very brave Carlos. Juan and I still miss you. Rest in peace, hermano!


Ah, it was a beautiful dawn that morning. Juan and I stood on the shore, looking on the light of a brand new day, as the sun rose over the Atlantic.

Or perhaps.... just perhaps...

I've been making mountains out of molehills today.

Ya never know!

A note to my regular readers, due to the wonders of technology and the fact my hotel seems to have Wireless, I'm going to attempt to continue posting this Thanksgiving holiday long distance, and will try to respond to comments as often as I can.

Treasure Box Wednesday will be posted as normal, and barring technical problems, Sunday's post will be posted here at the Blogspot address only, and not on the Thriftshopromantic.com address. (I can't update that part of the system long distance.) That will be updated when I get back.

Sunday, I plan to share with you some photos of what I actually did over the holiday. And (ahem) yes, I'll give your regards to Juan.

• If you missed last week's Treasure Box Wednesday, click here. It was a massive Shiny Brite find!

And perhaps I'll see you all Wednesday!