Today, we drove from West Palm Beach to Naples; it was an easy drive. To make it more interesting, we stopped in Delray Beach and Boca Raton to visit our old haunts.

Our first stop was the house we bought when we got married; it took a while to find, because the approach streets had changed (I’m sure I would have remembered a Costco within walking distance!), and even after we got into the neighborhood, we had a hard time remembering where to go. But eventually, we found the place. Most of the other houses on the block looked more or less the same as when we’d lived there, but “our” house was completely relandscaped (huge coconut palms in the front yard, for example).

They’d also converted the garage into a Florida room (only appropriate!).

Then we drove to what used to be the IBM main site, where we spent the first eight years of our careers; IBM’s moved away and the place is now the “T-Rex” technology park. We wandered around for a while, walking by the pond in the middle of the site.

They’ve added a fountain since we left.

Then lunch at an old favorite — Jerry’s Pizza. The original owner had retired a few years before we left Florida in 1984 and his son was running the place then, so we were quite surprised to find Jerry himself back at the oven! He said he’d gotten bored with being retired and had come back…the food tasted great, too.

Finally, a trip to our second Florida house, this one in Boca Raton. It was easier to find, and easier to recognize (though they’d painted it a color we wouldn’t have chosen).

Then we drove to Naples and the Registry Resort, and we’ll be here the rest of the week. Tonight, we were supposed to have a poolside buffet…but it rained, so they moved it inside.

Tomorrow morning, we start bright and early — I have a breakfast meeting at 0700, but the rest of the day should be more enjoyable!

But Murphy is not to be denied.

The actual travel part of the trip has gone well so far — we got to the airport in plenty of time, we got upgrades on both legs, our flights left and arrived pretty much on schedule (in fact, it only took 10 minutes from pushback to wheels-up at DFW, which is amazingly fast), the luggage arrived quickly, and there was a rental car shuttle waiting as we walked out the door.

But Murphy is not to be denied.

I was waiting for the warm nuts to arrive on the first leg — but instead, the flight attendant handed out our choice of a packet of almonds or a horrible cheezy snack. And then, there was no choice of entree — the only option was pizza. And then they ran out of Diet Coke. This isn’t quite what I expect, even after 9/11. So I asked what was going on. It turns out that the airplane we were supposed to take to Dallas was going to be fairly late, so they switched us to a plane that was originally going to Vegas. A flight from San Jose to Vegas doesn’t need much catering because it’s so short…and they made the decision at the last minute, so they didn’t have much time to resupply the aircraft. So I guess I’m happy, since we made our connection in Dallas and might have missed it if they’d waited for the original plane.

Then, when we arrived in our hotel, we were greeted by a note telling us about the mandatory 72-hour “boil water” order because of a water main break. If I’d realized that it only covered a small area, instead of the whole town, I might have tried to change hotels, but I really wanted to stay at a Starwood property and get my 10th night in under their current promotion. So we checked in anyway.

Our room was on the top floor. And it was awfully warm. So I called Engineering. They came and said that the A/C was working, but that we might do better on a lower floor. So we got keys to another room, and, sure enough, it was a lot cooler. And here we are. We also have a large supply of bottled water, some of which will undoubtedly come in handy on our drive to Naples tomorrow.

But first, we’re going to wander around Delray Beach and Boca Raton and see what’s become of the place since we left nearly 18 years ago. I suspect it’s different.

Oh, and in case anyone from IBM expense accounting is reading this…it’s a lot cheaper to fly in and out of the East Coast of Florida than it is to fly in and out of Ft. Myers. Enough cheaper to pay for the rental car and the hotel.