It’s really going to be a shame to go home.

Dear Friends,

I’m still in the land of sunshine, absorbing a ton of Vitamin D and consuming all the seafood I can get my hands on. Witness:

My father taught me to love oysters on the half shell. And crab. And shrimp. And lobster. And all their fishy friends. I’ve already told you my mother was a beans and cornbread kind of gal, so I guess I have my father to thank for expanding my culinary horizons. Since I arrived in Florida two days ago, I’ve eaten shrimp (twice) and oysters and crab and scallops and ahi tuna. Clearly, I know how to seafood-load when pressed for time.

By the way, it was 72 and sunny in Naples on Sunday. 72 + sunny +  January = heaven. I feel like a complete moron that it took me this many years to figure out why people flock here. It’s the sunshine, people!

And what is it about the sunshine in Florida that’s so different, so sunshiney, compared to Missouri? They do not have sunshine like this in the Show Me State, which they should, you know, because we’re all so-show-me. I’m going home and calling whoever is in charge of sunshine and insisting they get up to speed. It’s the least they can do considering it’s 32 degrees back home instead of 72, like Florida.

Anyway, I’ve got to run. Literally. You can’t waste a day of sunshine sitting at your laptop in your hotel room.

With gratitude {for my final few hours consuming tasty sea creatures prepared every conceivable way and my father who introduced me to them all},

Joan, who has noticed they don’t seem big on sunscreen ’round these parts

I may have been a tad judgemental.

Dear Friends,

Here are some little known facts about Florida.

• It’s flat.
• It’s warm when the rest of the country is freezing.
• It’s pretty. Like, really pretty.

I’ve never been a big fan of Florida. We’ve only vacationed there once — at Fort Walton Beach, not at Disney World. And Parker, who was five at the time, turned up missing from the resort at which we were trying to have a good time with two small kids in tow (which is not that easy, despite all the cash we threw at the endeavor). Obviously, he was later found and survived unscathed. But I didn’t. I was scarred for life, and I think that trauma and the basic Jeb Bush-yness of Florida influenced my opinion in a not-too-flattering way. I kind of figured it was nothing but an over-commercialized playground for desperate parents, rich college kids, and over-privileged snowbirds.

But I seriously, ridiculously underestimated the allure of a Saturday morning run on flat terrain in 60 degree weather in January. Holy cow . . . I just didn’t know that Florida was, you know, so flat. And so warm. And so pretty.

Maybe part of Florida sucks. (Surely it does, don’t you think?) But not Naples, not the part I’m in. It may be over-privileged, but it is lovely.

And I intend to eek out every bit of enjoyment I can in the 60 hours I’m here.

With gratitude {for January junkets},

Joan, who feels deep remorse for talking trash about the Sunshine State

PS: You probably didn’t know this, but they have great seafood in Florida. I had crab cakes made with fresh crab for dinner last night. It was mind-blowing.