Leo

i visited woodbridge, new jersey on business when i first arrived in florida . in was nice, being able to open the door and walk outside again . i really liked parts of northern new jersey, the people were very courteous and friendly, and everything looked so green .

i love charleston and south carolina . visiting now is bittersweet for me: the older that i get, the more that i appreciate it . i wish that all of my old friends were stilla round to enjoy it with me .

i’m sure florida has its redeeming qualities, but in the seven years that i’ve lived here, i haven’t seen many of them . most of the fond memories that i have of florida were from visiting as a child . the panhandle, if you can get away from panama city beach and the country bumpkins turned socialites, can be beautiful, e.g. destin and fort walton beach .

my first real road trip as a young man was to athens, ga . i fell in love instantly, after driving past the georgia theatre . georgia is a place with so many fond memories for me: the people are genuine and wonderful . i think about moving to georgia at least once a year .

the sunset in alberquerque while you’re on the road traveling west is fantastic . there aren’t many sunsets like it in the world .

my parents separated a few times in my childhood: one time it led my father to leave his job at the community college in charleston and take a position with information associates in san juan, puerto rico . my mother and i went to visit him for two weeks . i remember everything being fun, like the beaches and the restaurants seemingly set up out of nowhere, and beautiful, like walking through old san juan . i remember everything being fundamentally different and the resultant culture shock that came with it .

my parents and i climbed into the car when i was about six . we drove four days, from charleston, sc to merced, ca to visit my brother, who was ( and still is ) in the military . everything was exciting then, the car games and the bill cosby tape that i wore out . i felt as if i knew his family as well as he did .

my brother and his then girlfriend sarah took me to disneyland, where i got my first and last set of mickey ears, saw the 3D movie ” captain EO ” and rode on the teacups .

canada is a beautiful country . i daresay that canadians are even more nationalistic that americans are, especially since most of the people that live in america that i know weren’t born here or are only first-generation americans .

back to canada . i’ve visited two cities in ontario, mississauga and oshawa . mississauga is a suburban town near toronto that is comforting in a sleepy way . oshawa is a working class suburb that is equally charming, yet a little more quiet . i’ve also been to niagara falls, but i didn’t really see what the big deal was . i prefer the cities and the towns along the QAW .

i haven’t been back since 1990, the year that my grandmother died . most of my memories of this beautiful country are coloured by that event . i hear the stories of how trinidad has changed; the stories lead me to believe that something more passed away along with my grandmother .

iceland is one of the most fantastic places that i’ve ever been to . there is so much culture, so much history, it is hard to visit and not fall in love . most of my time was spent on a dairy farm outside of the city of hella . i got to do many things i thought i’d never have the opportunity to do: climb waterfalls, long hikes in the wilderness, and even snowmobile to the top of a glacier . a visit to iceland can recharge your soul .