(Note: I am composing these closing entries to my blog from Wisconsin, where I have been for the last couple of months. I need to get these events down on paper before they escape my ever increasing feeble mind. Details might be a little sketchy at this point, but the main events are there, and will provide closure for this winter journey.)
Thursday March 29. Today is shopping day, and I have two places I want to visit: The Miromar Outlet Mall, in nearby Estero (just south of Fort Myers); and Dixie Liquidation Groceries, just a bit further south in Bonita Springs.
Miromar Outlet -- This is a very nice outlet mall, done in the newest sytle of "indoor/outdoor" style of architecture, with plazas and fountains scattered every so often to provide places to pause and rest or chat or whatever. Most of the restaurants (at least the sit-down venues) are conveniently clustered together in a central part of the mall. I buy a pair of jeans at the Eddie Bauer outlet store. And to my delight, I fit nicely into a pair with a 38-inch waist. I haven't been the "30s" since probably the late 1980s, so we're talking over 20 years here, folks. This was a good feeling, and I guess all that biking and working out have yielded some results. I also buy a nice button-down shirt at the Van Heusen outlet because I can't find anything I like (and that fits) at E.B. Isn't it amazing how much clothing sizes vary? And I know it is worse for you gals than it is for us guys. Anyway, E.B. has something they call a "slim fit" in a shirt. So I try on an extra-large shirt that is labeled "slim fit." And I'm just about bursting the buttons. Now, is it just me, or is there something inherently paradoxical about an extra large "slim fit" shirt? Fortunately, Van Heusen had something in an extra large shirt made with enough material to actually fit a person of normal proportions.
I follow that up with lunch at a place called the Waterside Seafood and Grill Co., where I have a delicious Grouper sandwich and an iced tea. I check out a few more stores, but I don't buy anything more, for I will just have to haul it back to Wisconsin at this point.
Dixie Liquidation Groceries (DLG) -- this is a very interesting store, located in a strip mall in Bonita Springs. It is not, as you might think, affiliated with the Winn Dixie chain of grocery stores, which are prevalent down here in Florida (although Publix is clearly the dominant grocery chain in these parts). Anyway, DLG is a completely independent store, and they act as "hub" for the various grocery wholesalers in southwest Florida who require an outlet to dispose of all their "seconds." This can include dent and scratched, closeouts, overstocks, stuff that's close to (or at) expiration or "best if eaten by" dates, and so forth. They just truck it all on over to Dixie, and Dixie sells it to the public. Some of it is a terrific bargain, other things aren't that much cheaper than if you simply bought them at a Walmart. A lot of what they have there is "experimental" varieties of foods that companies tried and (obviously) failed. Also, a lot of ethnic foods, for some reason. In any event, it makes for a VERY interesting shopping experience, perusing up and down the aisles and seeing dented boxes of corn flakes that might be next to pallet full of hot-pepper jelly, next to a large box filled with bison jerky, next to large stack of tinned oysters swimming in a savory mustard/dill sauce, and so forth. There's nothing fresh at this store, and nothing frozen. It's all stuff in boxes, jars, pouches, cans, shrink wrapped, etc. There is a guy outside the store selling some local produce, so he must have some type of arrangement with the store, because he's a freelancer. No fresh meat department, and no bakery, unless of course you count the packaged cookies, Donettes, etc., as "bakery."
The other big thing they have there is wine. Deeply discounted wine. Wine you never heard of. I don't spend very much time here, but it is obvious to me that this store is a final resting place of many a vintner's broken dreams of making it big in the wine business.
So anyway, I obviously couldn't load up on much of anything since I'm only here for a couple more days. But I do buy some Milky Way dark chocolate miniature bars (hand packed into ziplock bags, presumably because their original outer plastic bags have hemmoraged in what I can only imagine as some freak warehouse accident), some bison jerky, and some chewing gum, all for the road trip back home. I also buy a packaged noodle mix (chicken flavored with LOTS of sodium) for 50 cents that I am going to prepare with some chicken breasts tonight back at the condo. All in all, a very interesting experience, and I wish I would have explored this place earlier. It's not a place for people who like to eat "fresh" and/or "natural" stuff, because this store is a veritable temple to the processed food industry, and the amazing world of food additives and preservatives.
Back at the condo, I have an email/phone exchange with Carol and am asked to remain on "standby" for Friday night, as she will probably be excused from jury duty tomorrow. She would like to go to "Buckingham's" this little blues bar outside of Ft. Myers that usually has some decent music on Friday nights. She wants to go dancing, and she wants me to meet "Bucky" the official mascot of Buckingham's, who happens to be a mule. Well, Fred Astaire I ain't, but I tell Carol I will give it my best shot. And as for Bucky, I will bring him the remainder of my carrots from the refrigerator.
Bruce
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