I can't quite explain the mystical duplicity of moving from one extreme climate to another in a matter of 12 hours. Like stepping into Dr. Emmett Brown's time machine DeLorean (ours, a Boeing 757) and launching into a climactic time warp.
We made our clandestine escape in the dark stillness of 4 a.m., cloaked in polar fleece, a duffle bag of American cash over one shoulder and passports authorizing us passage to places beyond the black hole of a late Winterpeg spring. We kept a low profile all of the way there lest we be discovered for the white-skinned aliens that we were and deported back to our frigid realities.  |
| Alexa, employing the "mysterious monk" effect - Jessie, the burrowing muskrat |
We arrived in a land of palm trees and hibiscus, exactly what we'd plugged into the time circuits. It worked. Shedding our outer wintery skins we took a step, ever so cautious, into the radioactive Florida sun, afraid to find it a mirage. Like discovering a water hole in a desert, we drank in the arid Southern air with avarice and mounted our rented steed (Chevy Captiva), soothed by the beguiling voice of our GPS tour guide. Her performance was nearly flawless - only one mis-step. Who can blame her? There must be dozens of Nectarine Drives in Kissimmee, Florida.
Rounding the corner, there it stood, majestic in all of its ivory-stuccoed, lime-doored, bourgeois beauty; our 1990-something bungalow away from home, complete with kidney-shaped pool (all the rage), orange trees, lizards, and blossoming shrubs.
Sleeping off a time warp delirium we woke to a temperature gauge needle pushing obstinately into the high 80's (America speak for 35 Celcius). A perfect day for our pilgrimage to a Floridian Mecca, Universal Studios. The two young ladies in our back seat had waited half a life-time to pay homage to the wizarding Harry Potter in his mythical land of Hogsmeade.
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| Butter beer and chocolate frogs - mmm! |
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| Other pilgrims in search of the Great Magician |
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| A weary sojourner |
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