Trivial

 5/29- Bolton

   I just thought I would throw out some more tidbits to keep everyone from having to read some actual news over their coffee. Reflecting back on our trip there were many new experiences. Many such experiences happened in grocery stores. We went into a host of new and different grocery stores. We went into Publix, Harris Teeter, Winn Dixie, and even a Piggly Wiggly .Who names their store Piggly Wiggly and expects to taken seriously? There was an Aldi's, a Save A Lot, Food Lion and some weird store with a German name. Of course there were the ubiquitous Dollar Trees and Walmarts. It was amazing that we were never more than a day away from a Dollar Tree on the whole trip.

    We did a lot of shopping at Dollar Tree as they had supplies that were much more expensive elsewhere. This included things like toilet paper and almond milk. Walmart was another store that was almost always just around the corner. I really liked the grocery only Walmart in Vero. Publix was by far the most expensive but again they were almost every where we went. Winn Dixie was another nice store and I would go there over Publix when I could. I only went into one Aldi's and it was certainly cheaper but the fresh produce and meat departments were lacking. I know you are wondering how the prices compare. Food here in Vermont is considerably cheaper than any of the stores we went to. Meat prices were quite the shock for me. One disappointment was the lack of seafood available. I went into one grocery store a mile from the ocean to find no fish at all. When I was able to buy seafood it was usually more than I could afford. Most of the seafood we ate we ate at restaurants. 

    It was good to see how people in other parts of the country grocery shop. It was also interesting to see how uniform all these stores were. The aisles all contained the same things and a lot of the products were familiar.

   Another area where we had interesting experiences were in bathrooms. When traveling you sometimes have to use many different bathrooms. If you are shy about using public bathrooms this life is not for you. As you may remember we have ranked the showers in these facilities. Well for the final accounting the best showers on the East Coast were.....

     We found all sorts of conditions in showers from beautiful marble showers with rainfall heads to cinder block walls and skimpy curtains. The best showers was at Osprey marina in SCarolina. It had a large walkin marble enclosure with perpetual hot water. The absolute worst shower was Casper marina in Swansboro NCarolina. The water was never warm enough to actually get in.

   People would often ask us if we had a favorite place. Our answer was always yes; right where we are now. The whole experience was such a good one that it would be an injustice to single any where out. Home is, as ever, a favorite place.

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