Are we there yet?!?

Distance is different here. It takes the same amount of time to get somewhere, but you drive for miles and mile and miles. The other day, I forgot my ID in the back pocket of my jeans, and I had to detour back to the house to get it. It was a 15 mile detour! I drove over 30 miles for frozen yogurt yesterday. The first stand alone Starbucks I found is over 20 miles from the house. There is just so much open space. With all the hotels and gift shops, outlet malls and theme parks, there is still so much unused space. It is surprising that through all the tourism, you still have room to stretch.


The roads are all four lane highways with people making U-turns anywhere that the grass is even short enough to cut through. When you aren't used to it, you get completely thrown when the person in front of you 'U's it from the left turn lane. All of a sudden, you are miss judging where you are going and you have to go up a couple miles and u-turn back the other direction. If I don't plan it perfectly, I will be going 4 miles out of my way to find a place to turn around to get a cup of iced coffee. I have been taking to getting it at the end of my outings on my way back instead of at the beginning strictly because that is the side of the road it is on.


The neighborhoods are different here as well. Everyone lives in subdivisions, each with their unique catchy name, usually nautical. 'Caribbean Isle' or 'Center Crest' with a picture of a sail boat on the sign. These neighborhood are labeled "no outlet" with one main entrance/exit street for the whole subdivision. There's nothing wrong with this set up, it's just different than I am used to. You can't cut through a hole in the fence of someone's yard to get to the Wal-Mart parking lot. You can't walk to the Seven Eleven for a soda. There are the places that people live and the places that people shop. Two separate things. When you run out for something, you have to be committed to the errand, otherwise you won't even make it half way there before you are looking for a place to U-turn and head home. Even if you are committed to the task at hand, you find yourself saying aloud, "are we there yet?!?"