2011 – Fort Lauderdale

Sunday Night

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale around midnight on Sunday night. We took a 20 minute, $30 cab ride from the airport to our hotel – which did not offer an airport shuttle. We got checked in quickly and went to bed.

Monday Morning

We got up after 8 am to get dressed and have breakfast at the hotel. The hotel had small cafe-type tables and even a few taller pub-style tables with stools. The sun was blinding in the back dining room, so we sat out front in the lobby.

I had known ahead of time that there would be something particularly exciting about this breakfast, but hadn’t told Kendra. Anyone that knows her can guess how happy she was when she saw IT. It was black and shiny and beeped every two minutes. It was the waffle maker.

Kendra was so excited she could hardly wait to get her hands on the machine. She took the pre-measured cup of batter and poured it onto the sizzling waffle maker. She closed it and watched the batter ooze out the sides of the machine. She flipped it over and watched the tw0-minute countdown to waffly goodness. The waffles were crisp and hot and delicious. The rest of the buffet was carb city! Cereal, toast, bagels, muffins… The drink options were juice, milk, and coffee. Or other hot drinks if you like that sort of thing on a hot Florida day.

Picking up the Rental Car

After our very satisfying but high-calorie breakfast, we headed outside to walk to the car rental place. I had booked us a car with Avis located by Sears in the mall behind our hotel. We walked over to the mall and headed into JcPenney’s to cut through the mall. Sears was on the opposite side of the mall from our hotel. Unfortunately, the mall didn’t open until 10 am, and it was only 9:30. So we got a nice walk around the mall. Even for 9:30 am, it was already sunny and warm. We were pretty hot and sweaty when we got to Avis. The door was closed and locked and there was a number on the door. We called the number and the guy was there within ten minutes. At least the shop was air conditioned. I provided my papers and coupon and got our car for $165 for 4 days for a midsize car, including taxes and everything. We picked up our white Nissan Altima and got our electronics settled in the car. Since it had an auxiliary jack, we were able to listen to our iPods in the car.

Grocery Shopping

We then headed to the local Publix to get some groceries. Unfortunately, Google Maps seemed to think that an apartment complex was a Publix, so we got a nice scenic trip around the area before we found a really nice Publix and got some groceries. We got lunchmeat, cheese, bread, bottled water, crackers, cookies, chips, plates, forks, paper towels, sunscreen, and contact solution. Since the room had a small refrigerator and microwave, we planned to eat in a few times. We also got some turkey bacon and blueberry syrup to compliment our breakfasts.

We then headed back to the room to have sandwiches for lunch.

Swimming and Sun

After lunch, we were a little tired and took a nap. Then the plan was to sit by the pool, get some sun, and swim.

The pool area wasn’t big, but it wasn’t crowded, either. When we got there, a family of four was there in the shade and we headed for some lounge chairs in the sun. The chairs were nice and we had brought extra towels from the room. The bottom of the pool was very rough and hard on my feet. Kendra somehow managed to trip and scrape her foot. That required a bandage that the front desk kindly provided. The pool could also have used some skimming. There were lots of leaves and flowers in it from the landscaping, though the landscaping was nice. We even saw several lizards living under the shrubs.

Relaxing

I had planned the day after our flight and the day before the return flight as relaxing days. After swimming, we didn’t feel like going out to dinner, so we rented a movie in the room and ordered pizza from Pizza Loft. We ordered Garlic Rolls with Mozzarella, a side of marinara, and a small thin crust pizza. Everything was good. It didn’t knock my socks off, but it was better than eating a chain. That’s something I stoutly avoid while on vacation.

Once the movie was off, it was bedtime since we had to be up early the next morning.

On Tuesday, we woke early to head to Key West.

Breakfast

Once again, we had the yummy Belgian Waffles in the hotel. This time with the blueberry syrup that we had purchased at Publix. We also cooked our turkey bacon in the microwave in our room so that we could have some protein with our breakfast. The only protein on the breakfast bar was a boiled egg. After breakfast, we hopped in the car and headed to Key West.

Driving to Key West

We got on the road pretty early – around 7 am. We wanted to miss rush hour driving through Miami and get to Key West pretty early. The drive was gorgeous, though slow going. Most of the drive through the Keys was 2-lane and a lot of it had no passing zones. And for some reason, it seems like everyone in South Florida wants to go 5 miles under the speed limit. My theory is that most drivers are either old people or tourists. Neither know much about where they are, where they’re going, or appear in any hurry to get there. Fortunately, there was a great view to enjoy as we drove.

Once there, we parked on Truman Ave by the Catholic Church. Parking is free on the East side of Duval St. (I did research to find that out before going.)

We then walked to the Ernest Hemingway House and Museum.

Kendra was particularly excited about this museum. She has been learning about Hemingway and is about to start reading A Farewell To Arms in class. The house was lovely, though it lacked air conditioning. The day we visited, the temperature was around 85 degrees and very humid. Though that was a moderate to cool day in Key West, that was pretty hot for us.

We saw The house, the gorgeous chandeliers, several 6-toed cats, the urinal cat fountain, Hemingway’s studio, the pool, and more. The bookstore/gift shop was air-conditioned, and I bought Kendra’s book for class and my vacation Christmas ornament there.

Lunch at B.O.’s

For lunch, we went to the landmark B.O.’s Fish Wagon on Caroline St. in Key West. It was a LONG walk to lunch and we were hot and starving. Our first glance of B.O.’s was a little shocking.

It looks like a huge pile of junk floated into the restaurant and they just nailed it up on the walls. We walked into the restaurant and stood in line to order and pay at the counter. While Kendra got a table, I ordered the food. There weren’t many tables available at 12:30 pm. I ordered the local favorite: the Grouper Sandwich with Lime mayo. Kendra got a cheeseburger and we split an order of fries. We also tried the Conch Fritters that came with Lime mayo and cocktail sauce.While waiting for our food, we watched the birds fly into the open-air restaurant and scavenge for scraps like french fries.

There was a bird droppings concern. I was highly entertained by Kendra jumping around and glaring at the bird.

I didn’t like the Conch Fritters. They had too many vegetables. 🙂 I thought they tasted like stuffing. The Grouper Sandwich was very good, though the fish filet was kind of thin, especially for the thick Cuban bread. And the whole order cost $35. It was a lot of money for 2 sandwiches, 3 Conch Fritters, a small fry and 2 waters. But… we were on vacation and you constantly over pay for food on vacation, so we were happy. And the atmosphere was certainly entertaining, as you can see behind me.

If you ever go, make sure you check out the restrooms. There was a large painting in the ladies’ room, and an interesting set of instructions for washing your hands.

Being Tourists

We then walked over to the area around Mallory Square for our parasailing excursion. Though storms were supposed to roll in later in the afternoon, our reservation was tentatively rescheduled for a couple of hours later due to high winds. We had ice cream cones and relaxed on the pier watching the cruise ships. Take a look in the image behind Kendra.

We also did a little shopping. Kendra bought a new pair of sunglasses and I bought a wind-up caterpillar in a gift shop. Once relaxed, we decided to go to the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum. I had done research on that as well.

Outside is an amazing huge anchor. It boggles the mind to imagine the size of the ship that required that anchor. Inside is an interesting story of a treasure hunter. He searched a couple of decades and found amazing shipwrecks. The most interesting, but sad, exhibit was upstairs. A huge slave ship wrecked in the area and the museum educates the visitor on the history of slavery and lists a manifest of the slave ship.

When we left the museum, it was POURING outside. We ran across the street to a gift shop where Kendra bought her Key West t-shirt.

We then decided to take a ride on the City View Trolley Tour. We started at Clinton Square on Front Street. Along the way, we saw and learned the history of the Little White House, the Civil War Memorial, Margaritaville, Mile Marker 0 on Rt. 1, the Eco-Discovery Center, the Butterfly Conservatory, and then we got off the trolley to go to the Southernmost Point.

We waited in line for about 10 minutes to get our picture taken. There seemed to be a tradition of having the person behind you in line take your picture. I found that to be a courteous act.

We then hopped back on the trolley (that’s a feature of the trolley line) and saw the lighthouse museum, Hemingway’s house, and Caroline St. While waiting to turn onto Caroline St., our trolley driver was talking to a lady at the Key West Pretzel Co. stand. When someone walked by with a pretzel, it looked so good that we hopped off again and had a pretzel. It was shaped like a key. (Can you guess why?)

Kendra, who loves pretzels and has one on almost every vacation we go on, said that this was the best pretzel she has ever had. I have to agree. We watched the owner grill the pretzel to make it hot and crisp. She then dipped it in a pan of butter and sprinkled it with coarse salt. The lemonade was pre-made in a giant lemon-shaped vat. She put ice, lemonade, and a lime in the blender. It was the best frozen lemonade I have ever had and it perfectly complimented the pretzel.

20 minutes later, we hopped back on the trolley. We then learned about the Conch Seafood Company and Reef Relief, then went back to the first stop near the Maritime Museum. By then, the rain had stopped, and we got a ride back to our car several miles away.

Dinner in Key West

Once we had the car, we headed back over near the Key West Ferry to the Key West Pretzel Co. After that yummy pretzel earlier, we had decided to have the all-beef hot dogs in a pretzel bun for dinner. Sadly, when we went back, the stand was closed.

We then decided to go to Sloppy Joe’s. There was a crowd outside waiting to get in and there was no parking nearby. Kendra’s feet were blistered and hurting, so we kept driving until we found a parking spot on Whitehead Street across from the Banyon. From there, we walked to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.

We were able to get a table right away and I ordered a Margarita and we waited for our appetizer.

We ordered the Crab, Shrimp, and Mushroom Dip with crispy garlic bread. We enjoyed that (minus the burned edges) while waiting for the main entree. That’s right…

Though Kendra and I both wore flip-flops, we never had a blow out. Blisters during our 6.5 mile walk throughout the day, but our flip-flops were intact. Enough with the Jimmy Buffett references. We enjoyed our dinner.

Leaving Key West

After dinner, we had another ice cream cone – mine was peanut butter with chocolate sprinkles. We then headed for the car and the 3 1/2 hour drive back to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale. We got to view the sunset out of our back window. We were really tired and wanted to beat the traffic off the island, so we saw the sunset from the back of the car.

We walked a total of 3.3 miles on Day 2.

We walked 5.6 miles on Day 3.

We walked 4.3 miles on Day 4

We walked 5.8 miles on Day 5

We walked 5.8 miles on Day 6