Quebec-Florida Strip-tease

From the Canada/USA border crossing of Lacolle, just south of Montreal, after the customs, highways 87 and then 95 take one slowly to Florida. This beautiful mid December morning, Brian, TouFou and I leave Plattsburgh NY very early. Between exit 26 and exit 22 in the Lake George NY area, the scenery is beautiful: the fog is rising, the Adirondacks are slowly emerging… everything is peaceful and quiet on the highway. Our snow boots, winter coats and woollen sweaters are on their way to Florida with us. The winter kits of thousand of Canadians experience the same treatment every year. Florida attracts Canadian snow birds like a magnet.

New-York is on the horizon already. Not only do we ignore the metropolis, but we bypass it, taking instead the alternative route, highway 287, no Big Apple for us during the winter. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington… gradually our woollen sweaters become a little heavy. It’s out of the question to get rid of them though. Imagine: arriving in Florida with a bad cold. The weather is pleasant in Virginia, so we put away the gloves and hats. Tomorrow, we will get rid of the snow boots in North Carolina. But it’s after South Carolina, that the strip-tease approaches an end.

Savannah, Georgia and then a little more to the South is the town of Brunswick. The weather is fine, and a small layer of clothing is now sufficient. Goodbye small jerseys! The onions that we were are set free.

Speaking of onions, in the Brunswick region, they have a variety of onions that is particularly delicious. Vidalia onions, typical of Georgia, are very mild and bigger than regular onions, but then again, it’s well known that everything is bigger in the United States…. With this kind of onions, Georgians make marinades and ketchups that are great with steaks and hamburgers.

The road continues: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach wre we deviate west on Highway 4 which takes us to the West Coast: Orlando, Tampa, Highway 75 South. Sarasota, Punta Gorda Charlotte, Fort Myers and then our destination, Naples. The town is wonderfully well located in close proximity to the Golf of Mexico, in the vicinity of Marco Island and surrounded by splendid parks and natural reserves such as the Everglades. Naples also has the largest number of golf courses per capita in the United States; it’s the golfer’s paradise. The weather is hot, the beaches are superb, and there are fewer freeways than in the Miami area and the atmosphere is less agitated than the south East Coast of Florida . That is why we selected Naples to establish our cozy little nest.