Retreat '08

Last year, I took Green Monkey on retreat and showed the insider's view. This year, I wanted to talk a little more about our location.

First of all, it's a good idea to have a good idea when it comes to eating dinner. Some wanted fish, some wanted anything but fish, and that's why we ended up here:


The food wasn't all bad, but as you can see by the wall behind us, food is not the first priority of this place! From L to R: Anne, Julie, Laura, BA, Stacie, moi.

For some odd reason, I found myself alone on Saturday. The posse in the photo above was going to hit the beach once again. Since I was facing an operation the following week to have a pre-cancerous mole removed from my back, I opted out of baking in the sun.

I decided to hit the downtown area to "see what I could see."

This is Daytona Beach. I should emphasize, this is Daytona Beach in the day time, and not during Bike Week or Biketoberfest. If you've never been there, allow me to show you some of the sights from main street.





This place had loud music playing as you walked by. It was kind of clever, but be warned! They take their auto racing seriously. After all, Daytona Beach, on the actual beach, was the birthplace of the Daytona 400.

Here, I'm heading west down Main Street. To save all you parents some serious headaches, just know this: Do not take your children down Main Street in Daytona Beach. Especially, do not take them into any of the stores! If you think you'll be able to find cute souveniers, you may. However, you'll have to plow through a lot of downright nastiness in order to do so.
The bikers were friendly enough, probably because they'd had a few shots under their belts. Main Street is the street where the bikers gather. It's designed specifically for them and to them.

One has to remember that most bikers today are doctors, lawyers, mortgage brokers, etc. In other words, they have some coin to drop. Well, maybe not the mortgage broker.

I'm wondering how old these signs actually are and whether they're as vital today as they would have been in the 70's and 80's:
I can understand no drugs, but no attitudes? Awww, come on! It's kind of great to know you don't have to wear your shirt until 7 pm! NO MC Club shirts though, which I'm guessing stands for Motorcycle Club. I could see how a doctor with a few shots under his belt would get offended by someone else's club shirt and you know that never ends well.



Here's some real-live bikers. It didn't hit me until later that perhaps I wasn't in the safest place. I think dressing like a middle-America church lady may have offered me some protection.




The only thing more disturbing about the following photo is the fact that it requires a sign stating it's not for sale. Meaning, so many people have wanted to buy it, they posted a sign.








I moved off of Main Street and headed toward a type of outdoor mall with a movie theater. I found these two guys playing the blues in front of Sbucks:
They were quite good! They actually laughed when I mimed that I wanted to take their picture. Sorry I didn't have some bills to toss at them!


This mall opens right onto the beach, which is so cool. I took my church-lady-dressed-self and decided to put my toes in the water as I made my way back to my vehicle.


I was dressed, and I looked weird.
What do you expect at a beach? I didn't dare get closer to these guys, but not only did they have identical poses, they had identical tattoos.

I guess it's their way of getting around the no MC Club shirt signs. Just print it right on the skin and have at it until 7 pm when, of course, shirts are required.