Farewell, Florida

April 29 was a lazy day. We just went to the Hollywood Beach for a few hours and ate lunch at a great pizza place on the boardwalk (which was bricks) and did some shopping for the grandkids. T shirts for all. We washed the truck on the way back to the condo and found a place where we could have a snack and Loni could have her last piece of Key Lime Pie. She shared and it was delicious!
Today is a day to work cleaning up the condo, washing and packing to go home. We will be leaving here to go to the airport via taxi at 4 p.m. Which brings up an interesting incident (which Jerry and I completely slept through). Loni called a taxi company yesterday to reserve a time for them to come and take us to the airport, forgetting to mention that it was p.m. not a.m. As you can probably guess, the taxi honked this morning at 4 a.m. Then called on their cell phone to find out why we didn't come out. Oh, the difference a little thing like a.m. or p.m. can make. One peeved taxi driver and perhaps others who were wakened by his persistent honking. Should be like us - we even have slept through earthquakes!

Vacation in Florida coming to a close

Not much time left in Florida. It has been a really great vacation, but is rapidly coming to a close. Today we spent on the water taxi in Fort Lauderdale. For $11 apiece we could get on and off at any of 13 stops, spend time and then get back on. We rode from 1 to 9, while listening to a narration of the fabulous homes and yachts that are all along the waterway. We got off and spent several hours snooping through shops and having lunch at Mango's Restaurant. We went to an art gallery with many beautiful sculptures and art pieces that were incredibly expensive. However, we said that if a person here can afford a 47 million dollar yacht and a 20 million dollar house, certainly they can afford 65,000 dollars for an elephant sculpture or several thousand for a painting or beautiful bowl to decorate their home. Another interesting thing we learned was that a 47 million dollar yacht would cost about 10% a year to maintain and run, which would run at leat 4 1/2 mil a year. Wow! The woman at the art studio said that the slump in the economy has not affected her business because her clientele have not felt the effects - but of course not! What is a few million less a year when you have that kind of money. Interesting to see another section of life.

Bahamas, I think, et al

Well, Monday was a long awaited day to take a day trip to the Bahamas. Beautiful, sunny, warm Grand Bahama Island. About 5:00 a.m., I awoke to the sound of rain. Well, that can't stop us - maybe like last week, we will have a few showers. NOT! It poured rain all the way to Port Lauderdale, while boarding the ship, during the 5 hour cruise over, the 4 hours there, and the 5 hour cruise back. Actually, it did stop raining on the way back and we saw a little sunset peeking through the clouds. Also, it was so cool and windy along with the rain that Jerry and I stayed on the ship while Loni and Allen bought ponchos and waded through puddles to see a few things on the Island. What a disappointing day! We did get to play cards with a cute little 8 year old girl, who had also stayed on board with her grandmother. We watched Blind Side (for the second time) on the way back. We didn't get back to the condo until midnight and we were all exhausted. Life sometimes gives us days like this - not at all what we expect or want, but you make it through them all the same.
Ironically, today was a gorgeous day with not a cloud in sight. We went to Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, which is a 35 acre estate right in the middle of the busy city. When you are in there, you are taken back in time to early 1900's to a slower, calmer, more beautiful time in this tropical land. The home and grounds tour was so fun to see, and so eclectic. Frederick Bartlett was an artist in Chicago whose second wife was given these acres by her father, when she married him. He planned and decorated it in several styles. No pictures were allowed inside, but I took several pictures of the courtyard and grounds, including the ponds. In the garage was a 1941 Cadillac that was in pristine condition. It was purchased new by the Bartletts. The home and grounds were willed to the historical preservation society when the third Mrs. Bartlett died at the age of 109.

Saturday & Sunday

Saturday April 24 was kind of a lazy day. We just hung around the condo in the morning and then went to the Hollywood Florida beach. We ate pizza on the boardwalk and sat on the beach and read and people watched. Wow, what sights we saw - some that should never have been seen. We stopped at a grocery store on the way home to buy a few things and came home and had soup for dinner and watched a movie on TV (Sweet Home Alabama).
Today we got up and made a lunch to take with us to Church. We went to the same ward as last week, but made it in time for all of the meetings. What a mixture of members - a very interesting group of people. There was a confirmation of a convert, which we never see in our ward in St. George. The talks in sacrament meeting were on music. Both were excellent. They didn't need me to play the piano this week, but the lesson in RS was very good.
After church, we ate our lunch and drove to Broward Community College to attend a concert. A talented community orchestra performed several pieces and the conductor gave us a little history about each one and the composer. It was very enjoyable.
We hope to find a post office to mail our postcards - hoping that they will get to their destination before we get home.

Trip to the Florida Keys

Thursday we got up - not too early and drove South to Florida City. We went to two places in the Everglades where we walked and listened to a Ranger named Karen give lectures on the habitats and pointed out different birds and animals that live in that area of the Everglades. One walk took us to a large wet area where I counted thirteen aligators. We also saw many other aligators and birds along the way. We also went to a mahogany hammock and walked through that thick and dense vegetation on a boardwalk. It was amazing to see. These areas are in the Everglades, but are about 18 feet or so above sea level. It is so amazing to see the Everglades because I had always pictured it as a swamp, but it is actually a very slow moving river that flows from Lake Okachobee to the Florida Gulf. We are here at the very end of the dry season. In about 3 weeks, the wet season will start and then it will rain almost every day.
We stayed in a motel in Florida City and then got up early today to drive to Key West. Again, the keys are so different than what I had pictured. Many islands connected by Route 1 - Now we can say that we have been to mile 0 of the Atlantic Coast Highway that goes from Key West to Maine. We had lunch on the pier in Key West and met a cute server from Poland that has been here for four years. We walked partway down Duval street and looked in shops and stores, listened to a guy singing in a bar and then walked back to the truck. It was a fun and interesting day. We drove all the way back to Fort Lauderdale and arrived here a little before 8:00 p.m.
It is great to see so many things in this different part of the world!

Relaxing Day

Today was a day for r and r. We were able to get our laundry done, read, walk on the beach and snoop around shops in Fort Lauderdale. I bought a kitty for my collection and we stopped at an ice cream shop. We ended the day with a great dinner at the Bombay Restaurant (Jerry's pick). It was a really good Indian cuisine - either buffet or from the menu. Jerry, Allen and I chose the buffet and Loni ordered from the menu. It was spicy, but not too hot and the Naan was really good. We are now planning our trip to the Keys, which starts tomorrow. We must get reservations, hopefully in Key Largo, but likely in Florida City. We plan to drive to Key West and come back Saturday.

Catchup day

Sunday, April 18th was a busy day. Allen got up and went to get the tire repaired so we could drive to Orlando after Church. When he got back, it was too late to make the 10:00 meeting at the closest church, so we headed South to a different building, arriving in time for the 11:00 meeting block. Well, to our surprise, the only vehicles in the parking lot were large construction types. Apparently they are remodeling that building! So, as fast as we could, we headed back to the first building and made it in time for Priesthood/Relief Society. It was good and we met several very nice people. They even had me play the piano for RS. We will attend there again next week.
After church we came back to the condo and had lunch, packed up and headed for Orlando. By the way, Allen had to buy a new tire for the truck as it had a hole on the inside sidewall.
We arrived at our motel in Kisimmee (near Epcot) late evening and ate at a Perkins Restaurant (not so good) and went to bed.
Monday, April 19th we got up early and went to Epcot, arriving by 9 a.m. after stopping by a grocery store for yogurt and granola bars, fruit, etc. for breakfast. It was a memorable day with many many things to see and do and weather from warm sunshine to sprinkles to absolute downpours. Loni's pedometer said we walked over 20,000 steps. By 7 p.m. we were soaked and footsore and hungry. We left after a fabulous time in spite of the rain! We went to a seafood buffet to eat and back to the motel.
Today, April 20 we got up and had a breakfast buffet at the Sizzler for only $3.99 apiece and then went to the Temple. We took some pictures and made the 11:00 session. It is a beautiful Temple with a gorgeous chandlier in the Celestial room. We then drove to the Church-owned Deseret Ranch. This is a for profit Ranch of over 300,000 acres south east of Orlando. We went in and talked to one of the missionary sisters (from St. George). The CPA who is over all the Church owned ranches of the Church was there with his wife and he gave us some amazing statistics. It was so interesting to hear about that huge ranch and how it is operated.
After leaving, we drove back to Fort Lauderdale, eating at a mexican restaurant in Melbourne on the way. It was great food - which more good luck than anything when you just see a place and say that we should stop there. We arrived at the condo about 7:30 or 8:00 to conclude that part of our journey. Tomorrow - another day!

Saturday in Florida

Wow, Saturday was an amazing day. We started out by traveling back to Miami to the tour office. Allen had hit the wrong address on the GPS and even though the area didn't look very familiar, on we went! When "Bunny" said we had arrived at our destination, there we were at a turquoise house - certainly not one that belonged to the rich and famous - and we had a good laugh. After resetting the GPS to the correct address, we drove to the tour office. This is the place that had cancelled our City Tour on Thursday and we were trying to get either the tour or our money back. Because they didn't have a tour going until afternoon, we are hoping to get a refund on our credit card. We have other plans and other things to see and do today.
We then drove to the Shark Valley National Park and went on a tram ride into the Everglades. That is where we saw many aligators, birds, etc. The guide was fabulous - an amazing fount of information about this area. One thing I learned is that the Everglades is not a swamp, but a slow moving river that flows southwest to the ocean and is mostly covered with sawgrass, but has little hillocks of vegetation, some are where aligators live, some where other mammals live. We saw many aligators and birds.
After leaving the park we drove a short distance on Highway 41 to the Miccosoukee Restaurant, owned by that Indian tribe. Allen had aligator tail, and froglegs-daring man that he is-and the rest of us had just the usual boring fare-soup, sandwiches,etc.
We drove to Everglades City to see if there was more to see or do, but it was after 4 when we got there and the next boat ride around the thousand island area was at 5:00. We decided to call it a day and head back to Ft. Lauderdale. However, that was not the end of the adventure.
The GPS took us north to I-75 and then East toward Ft Lauderdale. As we were driving on I-75, Loni exclaimed, "my cell phone, I can't find my cell phone". After I called her number twice with no sound of ringing, we concluded that we left it at the restaurant. At the same time this was happening, vehicles were signaling that we had a problem and so Allen pulled over to check. A Flat! So our time was filled with phone calls to AAA for help, phone calls to 411 for information on the restaurant, looking for the spare and jack, a wonderful Florida State trooper who stopped to help us. The end result was that Allen, Jerry and the trooper fixed the flat, Loni and I had no success calling the restaurant, but we decided to try her phone again and lo and behold we heard a faint ringing from under the front seat - whew - there it was. All was right with the world and we got back to the condo safe and sound !

Yesterday, April 15,2010, was a fun and exciting day in Florida. We got up early and drove to Miami to the tour office to start our day. We stopped in front to ask where we could park, but it was locked. We were glad that we got there early as it was a bit of a task to find the parking garage. One of the problems was a meeting they were having to help people who were in threat of losing their homes. They were lined up clear around the block. It was a sobering sight to see all of the people who were looking for help. After parking, we went to a McDonald's to use the restroom before our tour and found another lineup. The people in that huge line had been there since the middle of the night and were also looking for a restroom. We then went across the street to the tour office and started the tour at 9:30.

We were driven in a tour bus to the Everglades where we were given a number (6) and taken on an airboat with a guide to take us around a small section of the Everglades. We saw aligators, turtles and some very beautiful and tame birds. I was taking pictures and when one aligator came right up to the boat, I snapped six or eight pictures of her, only to find out that the camera had shut down and no pictures were to be found. Ah, well, we were able to get other pictures of aligators because afterward there was a demo with several small aligators. Some even had their picture taken with one. The picture of that aligator is shown on this blog.

We were then driven to another location that connected us with a boat tour of the river and islands of Miami Beach, including Star Island where many of the rich and famous have homes. In fact, this was the day that Obama was coming to dinner with Gloria and Emilio Estavan and when we went by there home, you could already hear the music and see the added security started. This was early afternoon and was the last tour because of his visit. It was fun to see some of these homes, including a 74 million dollar estate owned by the pharmaceutical mogul who markets viagra. There were 32 palms along the shoreline of his property that were brought from Africa at a cost of $5,000 per tree. Unreal!

We ate dinner at the Bonefish Grill - which was good food - Jerry had Shrimp Pasta and I had grilled Salmon. It was delicious. Our server at Chili's the night before had recommended it.

We had a great day!

Today, we have so far had a lazy day. We got up late, had breakfast, went to AAA and tried to go to a fish festival. We found out, after putting quarters in a parking meter for an hour, that it didn't start until 5 p.m. So it was to our condo for a lunch of leftovers and tonight is our dinner cruise on the river which includes entertainment. I may add a note after returning.

The dinner cruise was fun and the food was absolutely delicious. We saw many fabulous homes with boats of every size from small to huge yachts. The area is built on canals that go around peninsulas so you look down "streets" of water with homes that all seem to have a boat moored in front.

The river cruise took an hour and when we arrived at the island, a delicious dinner was ready for us. It consisted of beans, rolls, cole slaw, ribs, chicken, shrimp, potatoes, and topped off with chocolate cake. All was absolutely delicious! The way back after dark was also fun to see all of the homes with lights and the ability to see some of the interior decorating.

Florida

Today we spent our first day in Florida with Loni and Allen Hackworth. We had a great time getting situated in the home where are staying, shopping for groceries and going to the beach. We ate at Chili's, which was my choice and very tasty.