I could have easily gone with a picture of Gandalf over there, but the prompt for today is: Where would you fly right now if you could hop in a plane? If it was that plane, I could definitely be in Florida that much sooner.

First thing’s first… I feel no draw to the state of Florida because of the actual state. In fact, it’s way too hot and humid for my liking (as a general ‘place’). Only one reason I would be headed there… for a woman.
As you may know, I live in an area of the country where we get 4 actual seasons. The temperatures are usually pretty mild, with some years that leave us wondering if Mother Nature is either playing a cruel joke, or is on some kind of pissy rampage. We’ve had temps jump into the triple digits a few times in summer… and had ourselves a good ‘ol ice storm or 2 in the winter.

Neither of those would keep me from moving away, though. It’s just way too beautiful up here. The little town I live in, sits on a prairie encircled by mountains and forests. We have gorgeous lakes and rivers to go fishing in. Only a few minutes drive, either east or west, and you’re in a ‘bigger’ city to do all your ‘city’ things in. Seven miles east, there’s the second largest city in Idaho, Coeur d’Alene… definitely a tourist town. ~20 miles west lies the second largest city in Washington, Spokane.

We don’t get very many earthquakes up here. While Yellowstone is geologically active, there’s not much in the way of general earth action here. Once in a blue moon, someone will see a tiny tornado or funnel cloud… but I’m not sure they are actually classified as tornadoes. I’m pretty sure anyone from Oklahoma or Texas would laugh their ass off. Storms are generally of the rain, or lightning, or snow variety. We’re too far inland to get tsunamis or hurricanes. Sometimes, a huge storm off the coast of Washington or Oregon will slide over to spit on us occasionally.

During rush hour, we can still reach the speed limit on the highway. Every once in a while, there’ll be an accident that stops/blocks traffic… but you can get that anywhere. The closer you get to those cities I was talking about up there, the more likely you are to get into some kind of traffic snafu. Cd’A, for example, has traffic lights that make you wait 2 whole minutes before they change. Sheer torture.

Florida is flat. Any elevation change seems to be human made. It has 1 general temperature: HOT! The humidity dial seems to have been twisted and broken off at the 11 setting. The weather seems to be one of 2 extremes: bake your brains out, or blow your head off monsoon (and they’ll trade off many times a day in a matter of minutes). Traffic is frightening and downright dangerous (I’ve never seen so many people playing leapfrog lane changing in my life). etc… etc…

But I would fly to Florida first if I had a chance to hop on a plane… because Karli is there. She makes all of the bad things about Florida seem nice. Everything I could complain about the place, makes it worthwhile when I’m sitting next to her.  It makes the ‘mostly’ 3 years we’ve been apart, well worth it when I get to hold her hand, or hug her, or give her a kiss. While we can (and do) write along with each other across the country over Skype, it’s not the same as when we can sit next to each other on the same piece of furniture.

I’m pretty sure the prompt would have assumed I’d say something like a foreign city I’ve always wanted to visit, though. Where would you go if given the opportunity to fly somewhere?

See you tomorrow.