One of the most wonderful things about being in Europe was the fruit.  The fruit actually tasted like fruit.  I had a couple of peaches in Italy.  The were mind-blowingly good.  I haven't had a decent peach in America since I was a kid.  I'm sure the peaches in Georgia are good, but the ones that make it to Michigan are rock hard and then they "ripen" into a mealy, dry ball.  I had some cherries in Spain (I am nuts for cherries) that were the size of apricots.  The flavor was wonderful, the inner flesh was white which is something I had never seen before.

The only difference between fruit in Europe and here, at least the only difference that I know of, id that fruit here can be genetically modified.  I wonder if the tastelessness of our fruit has anything to do with that.

That popped into my mind as I was sitting here at my desk, spitting cherry pits into the garbage can.  The people who sit near me must just love me.

My car lease expires at the end of the month.  So, I popped down to my local Ford dealer to get another Focus.  Turns out that there are so many incentives on a Taurus that I can get one of those for the same price as a two door Focus.  Because I am eligible for the Ford Employee discount (through my father), I thought that the only decision to make was Focus or Taurus.  I have only ever driven a Ford, and my parents have always driven Fords (except that my mother defected to Saturn after they got divorced).  It never once occurred to me to comparison shop (the discount is a set percentage over invoice, its the same at every dealer).

Leo suggested that we check out an Olds dealer that is a friends of his family.  I also get a GM discount, but its the supplier discount, which is not as good as employee.  I think I'm still in shock that I may end up with a non-Ford product car.  The realization that I could actually buy a different brand was like learning that the Earth is really flat.  Mind blowing.

And speaking of pissing off my father...

We are still undecided as to a honeymoon destination.  We were all pumped up about Belize, but the South Americans we met weren't impressed by the country.  We have worked through many, many scenarios: various Caribbean locales, Hawaii (big island, Maui, or Kauai), Costa Rica, Malta, Indonesia, Thailand, and even Vietnam.  Basically, every country nearish the equator that isn't currently embroiled in military turmoil. 

My sister and I had very vague plans about 6 or 7 years ago about going to Vietnam.  I believe the extent of our planning was saying something like "hey, maybe we could go to Vietnam".  My dad heard about this and absolutely lost it.  He is not a Vietnam vet (he conveniently went to law school during his only period of draft eligibility, btw he's not a lawyer) but he is convinced that the entire country is armed and lying in wait for American tourists.  I'm sure that if my 22 year old (at the time) daughter told me she was going to Iraq on holiday, I would have some reservations.  But dad lost it.

So, I have to admit that a Honeymoon in Vietnam is appealing on many levels.  Plus, I could make a t-shirt that said something like "I'm so bad I got married in Detroit and honeymooned in Vietnam".  It looks like, once you fly there, the country is very affordable and they have many golf courses (I wonder what role Agent Orange played in the creation of the courses).  The major drawback is the 30 hours it takes to get there (Detroit-LA-Tokyo-Ho Chi Minh). 

Or we could just stay in the US.  If we end up driving around California and looking at vineyards, we can eat at the French Laundry, which I've always wanted to do.  They have a 30 something course tasting menu that takes 6 hours.  Mmmmm....large quantities of food....