Vacation images - a society's priorities

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a keen observer of the little things that most people miss. Just after we got into Florida, our little guy announced - for the zillionth time since we had left home - that he had to pee. Since four-year-olds haven't yet evolved the holding-it-in gene, an immediate lane change to the right was initiated, followed by a rapid search for the nearest exit.

We ended up at a BP station which gave us our first taste of Florida weather. Wind warnings had blanketed the state that day, and the rush of air through the abundant palm trees in this hillside location served almost as nature's welcome to the state. It was almost too pretty a scene for a gas station.

Then I read the sign more closely. The fact that cigarette carton prices figured so prominently struck me as absurd. I'm not so much a non-smoker as an anti-smoker. I've written about the hypocrisy of the tobacco-driven economy in the past, and the sign's message just begged me to take out the camera and shoot it. Which I did. Judge - or don't judge - as you wish.