The Reason I live in Florida

The wife & I just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and we did what all good transplanted Floridians do on such occasions- drove a whole 15 minutes and found a little place on the beach for a 1-day paradise getaway.

The place we found was a beach house converted into a B&B-style inn called Granger House, located at 610 Gulf Blvd. on Indian Rocks Beach;it's like a little slice of the Keys amidst all of the big-time developments and high-rise condo towers popping up along the Gulf coast. The owner, Beverly Granger was extremely accommodating of our requests for a beachfront room and 1 night stay. She set us up in a little efficiency that was a 2 minute walk to the shoreline, where we spent the better part of Friday sipping adult beverages and getting scorched by the still-intense late September Florida sunshine. Then we took in a spectacular Florida sunset, something that you can never tire of no matter how many times you see it.


After an Anniversary dinner at the wonderful Guppy's sea food restaurant (a mere 5 minutes from our room) and a re-enactment of our wedding night I went back to the shore and spent the next few hours in the dark listening to the waves, watching some spectacular heat lightning and smoking a stogie while basking in the glow of another night spent in paradise.

Thank you honey, for 10 terrific years of marital bliss. Thank you Beverly for enabling us to enjoy our short but sweet stay at your place. And thank God for the tropical paradise that is Florida's Gulf Coast. When you only need to drive 10-15 minutes to completely get away from all of life's problems and lose yourself in a sun-drenched haze you know you're living in the right place. At least I do.


Boston you may be my original home, but Florida is the place I will spend the rest of my days.

Also, special birthday wishes for my sis, Meliss. Sorry we seem to overlook your day because it falls the day after our anniv. Happy 30... sis. We love you and hope you and Paul had fun and we'll see you guys at the wedding.