Day 3

Alarm goes off pretty early again; I want to be fully awake when EZ Ride Surfschool calls to let me know if we're on for this morning.

When they calls it's bad news: no waves today. It really sucks, but that's surfing for you. On the plus side, we actually have a really nice phone call about surf spots around the world ... oh well, next time!

Meh, I'm pretty mopey now. No surfing has thrown a wrench in my plans. We hang around the hotel for a while trying to decide what to do, before heading out for breakfast.

Bit cool this morning so we have to wear our polartecs, but that means it's so quiet we get a nice spot against the rail at The Deck restaurant. The food is nothing special, just your basic bacon, egg & homestyle potatoes.

We sit and watch the water .. and a gentleman jogger -- quite literally -- streaking by wearing nothing but a THONG! Wow. Just wow. There he goes between the two umbrellas:

 

 

Cute dolphin statue out front

When we get out on the beach I spot a dark shape in the water that seems to have changed locations when my attention lapses for a few seconds. Yep, it's definitely moving!

 

It's a manatee and her baby!! The lifeguard says they're on their way to the (warm) water outflow of the water treatment plant.

Baby coming up for air.

One of the reasons we decided to stay at the Winterset was its proximity to the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park where you can rent canoes and paddle on their canal. Of course I get a bit lost trying to find it at first, luckily my phone gets us back on track.

 

After paying $2 a piece, we're off to explore the park ... although with my luck today there are no canoe rentals because there's a school trip in the park that's using them. Also, the park turns out to be more of car destination, with mostly paved roads and few walking trails.

At least there's another cute caution sign!

The lagoon we wanted to paddle on :-(

We walk along the side for the road for a while, eventually finding a small trail that dead ends almost immediately -- backtracking, and then having the paved road dead end too. Ugh, it's getting warm to be walking around in our polartecs now and we sit down in the grass by the side of the road for a few minutes .... not a very scenic spot.

Frustrated we head back to the hotel. Not how we'd imagined our last day on vacation at all and time is slipping away from us so quickly. Noooo I'm not go back to reality just yet!!!

Sandy has the brilliant idea to call the rental office and ask if they rent SUPs (i.e. stand-up paddle board) to take out onto the ocean and they do!

This time we drive to the park and even though we've only paid $4 earlier and it's $6 when you come by car they let us back in without paying the rest. Yay, things are clearly looking up!

We drive straight to the parking lots closest to the beach and walk to the rentals, but a family of five is just getting instructions on how to ride a Segway; a nervous teenage boy is clinging to the handle bars with a death grip and we realize .... this, might take some time; we'd better amuse ourselves for a while.

We take the tunnel to the nearly deserted beach and spread out next to the lifeguard tower. I've brought my book, but it feels so good to just lie down in the sun and relax. Sandy actually has to remind me to get the paddle board before it gets too late cause I could've easily stayed like that for a very long time. 

I almost get just an hour rental for $20, but knowing myself, change it to a four-hour one at the last second ... except there's less than four hours until closing so would I like to rent it for three hours for only $40? Ha ha ha. Would I ever! What a steal ... he even lugs it down to the beach for me!

Unfortunately, the lifeguard comes over to tell us that we can only use it to the left of the lifeguard station and there's a strong current to the right so we should probably walk one or two stations to the left before getting in the water. If you've never walked with a SUP (heavier and bigger than a longboard) and paddle before, let alone on sand with the wind blowing, let me tell you ... it's not easy!!

The guy that rented me the board is super sweet and offers to get his car to drive us up there, but I think we can make it and he's also been so generous in bringing it out to the beach for me. So instead he tells me it will be easier going if I just walk it through the water. Ah yes! Except there's such a steep drop off that I manage to instantly soak my shirt and the sleeve of the polartec wrapped around my neck. There goes my only piece of warm clothing ... too late now but I pass it to Sandy before it gets any wetter.

We walk about 2/3 of the way to the next station before we decide we're far enough -- I can always walk it back and forth, but it seems such a long way to go all the way over there.

I've only done SUP on a calm river before so this is completely different. Just getting out past the breaking waves is complicated; definitely easier sitting on my knees, but that way the waves are suddenly up to my chest and the force of them hits you like a ton of bricks and pushes you way back so you have to paddle like crazy in between waves and keep a firm grip on the paddle --- learned that one quickly after getting clobbered by it once!! Ouch.

 

Ok, this is pretty awesome! After a while I start to figure things out a bit better and I even manage to ride a few waves ...woohoo. Only pictures of whitewater waves, but I rode a couple of green waves as well :)

 

 

Not sure what was wrong with Sandy's camera but it just wouldn't focus right.

Definitely having fun!

I love how clear the water is, but it's also a bit deceptive when you're not used to it; at one point I fall off the board firmly believing I'm not all that deep but I can't feel the bottom even though I did the perfect pencil dive. Oops!




Brrr it is pretty cold standing up there even with my wetsuit vest on, but there's no way I'm coming in until my time is up so I just paddle in, paddle out, paddle in, paddle out ... quite the workout!

Wow, time goes fast when I'm in the water and all too soon Sandy signals me it's time to go back. Which, btw, is 2/3 stations over because amazingly I can steer the board where I want it to go .... ugh, should have had more confidence in my own abilities before trekking all that way haha.

See, does this look like fun to carry around?

My knees are scraped, red and swollen and look; I cut my hand! It seems it's not vacation until there's blood ...

Brrrrr! Even my lips have turned purple. After returning the board we walk over to the parking lot that has mostly cleared out by now. There's a grassy boarder to the side and we sit in the late afternoon sun for a while trying to warm up, but it's really not warm enough anymore -- or maybe I'm too cold? So we decide to drive the park loop with the heat blasting.

There are some really nice spots along the intercoastal waterway.

Fancy yachts -- sorry, phone doesn't zoom that well. Las Olas Boulevard is lined with some very fancy homes so it's only fitting that the marina is filled with boats bigger than our house.

Cute little lizard back at the hotel, where the hot shower feels soooooo good. There's even a blowdryer!

What to do for our last dinner in Fort Lauderdale? Why, visit Las Olas!!! 17 blocks of quirky boutiques, fancy eateries and cool architecture makes this boulevard one of the Fort Lauderdale's top attractions so it seems wrong to skip it.


It's a bit further than expected and we're not sure where to start so we just pick a random spot and check out Tripadvisor to see what's nearby, which turns out to be a wealth of restaurants of all imaginable cuisines. Choices, choices ... such a cute place to walk around with all the lights!

Cool breezeway leading to the off-street parking lot.

We decide on a place called Mangos, where singer "Not so loud, Bob" (Gatewood) is scheduled to play. He's playing mostly 50s & 60s songs while we're there, promising to move up a decade later in the evening (we missed that) and he's pretty decent.

Sandy gets the chicken pot pie and immediately gives me a scalding hot piece of chicken. Yowza! There goes the roof of my mouth lol. And yes, it would have looked more appetizing if I'd taken a picture before we started eating.

My salmon BLT, good, but could have been a lot better if they'd used the cucumber dill sauce more sparingly. We have a quick glance at the desert menu, but I was looking for something special to celebrate another great trip and this is not it ... of course, I already have just the place in mind!

It's just a short walk to Café La Bonne Crepe where start with creamy hot chocolate served up in large mugs with sugar crystals and it only gets better for there; Sandy gets the strawberry and vanilla ice cream, while I have the nutella and bananas crepe. Yum Yum!

Great service, great décor and the best food on all our trip!

There's even a Wyland gallery on the way back to the car -- makes me think of Hawaii and I'd love to walk around but with four eager sales assistants hanging out at the desk we think the better of it or they might never let us leave without buying something.

Another cool alley.

Funny, we never saw this welcome to Fort Lauderdale sign until our last night

And that's it! But no tropical holiday would be complete without the hugging of a palm tree, so here's the obligate palm tree-hugging picture

 
Breakfast: left-over munchies
Lunch: breakfast at The Deck
Dinner: Mangos @ Las Olas
Desert: Café La Bonne Crepe
Hotel: The Winterset


 

 

Day 2

Note: forgot to charge camera battery overnight so only cellphone pictures today.

Wow, vacation time is lazy time! I set the alarm for 9am -- thinking I'd long be up before then -- but it's not until after ten that I finally manage to drag myself out of bed.

My rash has not done well overnight, showing up in places it wasn't before and the old spots have gotten red and raised. Must resist urge to scratch. Must resist urge to scratch. Must resist .... arrgh!

Check out my neat surfing scar where I caught my leg on the fins. Gnarly!

By Florida standards today is not the best weather-wise; a bit rainy and mostly overcast, but at least the temperature is holding steady in the low to mid 70s. There's a bit of a breeze and it actually feels a bit cool when we step outside ... so much for going to the beach :-(

We start of the day with an easy walk before breakfast. There's sporty Mary-Lou, our rental Mazda:

 

Since we walked to the right yesterday, we head in the opposite direction today with the park on our left and the beach to our right.

Those are some angry looking skies over the ocean! At least it feels comfortably warm while we're walking.

 
There's an opening between sections of dune grass and we hop over the seawall to explore the mostly deserted section of beach. Hmmm now I'm regretting wearing sneakers and not putting on my bikini under my clothes ... the water looks so inviting and it's really quite nice out! Maybe today will be a beach day after all!

Sandy -- watching me edge closer and closer to the water -- wisely tells me to take off my shoes before my shoes get soggy. Yep, water definitely feels pretty good!

A bold seagull comes over to check out my stuff. He is so cute!



I love birds :)

 

 

I love the little spots on his tail!

 

Oops! Guess that wasn't his tail after all ...

Back at the hotel it's time for some more pictures of the grounds.

Stairs to our apartment; we're the second one from the top right

Really glad we picked this place

Cute little fountain on the way to the office

Rumor has it the food court at the Sawgrass Mills outlet mall is pretty good so that's where we'll have our lunch (yep, we missed breakfast by now).

The GPS on my phone takes us up Las Olas Boulevard, lined with some of the most luxurious canal front home imaginable -- of course, with matching monster yachts. This must be where the rich & famous congregate in Fort Lauderdale.

Very creepy sign for a flooring company. Not sure how being (half?) naked relates to flooring, but I think I'd prefer a full clothed handyman.

Through the windshield so sorry about the crappy quality, but you see my point ...

It takes a bit longer than expected to get to the mall, but it seems silly to turn around at this point so we just keep going. That's the nice thing about not having anywhere to be haha.

The parking lot, at the size of a small country, is a bit overwhelming and not to mention quite full! There's even a security post raised high above the ground to keep an eye on things. Again we question whether we should reconsider, but we've already driven all the way here so we might as well get something to eat while we're there.

After the long walk from the back of the parking lot, we somehow miss the mall directory and we find ourselves wandering around aimlessly. Sandy begs me to please remember the way out lest we can't find our way back. Maybe we should leave a trail of breadcrumbs?

It's not long before we pass a sushi place where you can pick your sushi from a moving belt coming past all the tables. This is so fascinating! I've only seen this stuff on TV and it is so appealing but Sandy is a bit leery of trying something like that in a mall. Ok, true dat.

Ack, now the "avenue" (that's what they call it) forks to make things even more confusing ..

Now we've been in some pretty big malls back home, but this one takes the cake! It is composed of multiple avenues and as we discover when we finally locate a directory, has multiple food courts in addition to several standalone restaurants. I guess you work up quite the appetite trying to navigate from one end to the other.

The Garden Court is closest so that's where we'll have lunch. I'm a bit disappointed at the size of it ... for a mall this size I'd have expected something a lot larger and more diverse but we'll make it work. First, we start with the obligatory run of the options during which several places offer up samples of bourbon chicken, Cajun park and some kind of steak ... none of which really appeal to me. In fact, we make it all the way to the end without finding anything that justifies driving all this way.

But wait, did I just totally miss this place?! Ok, it looks a bit weird and I'm a bit worried that it'll be super greasy but this might actually work.

Whoa, that is really tasty! We split an order of cheesy bacon friezz and a deluxe club sandwich that is bursting with crispy veggies and non-greasy fried meats. Peach lemonade with real fruit pieces is yummy too.

I've been eyeing the Haagen-Dazs stand ever since we came in, but there's a Italian ice stand with brightly colored flavors right next to Charley and I'm a big sucker for unnaturally colored ice cream and they have passion fruit flavored ice cream. Can't beat that!! Incidentally, I thought it hilarious that the Italian ice store is run by a heavily-accented Japanese family. They have amended the menu a bit to include more exotic offerings like bubble tea and tapioca balls, even doing some of their advertising in what I assume are Japanese characters. All good stuff I'm sure, but I'm not feeling that adventurous today.

Sandy gets a scoop of chocolate and -- at my suggestion -- a scoop of forest fruit, while I decide on pineapple and, of course, passion fruit. Supposedly they are kiddie-sized, but these are very ample scoops. Sandy is gushing about the amazing forest fruit (you're welcome!) and I love both of mine. So far we're two for two!

Unfortunately, our cute crescent-shaped booth is taken and so are all the others, as well as the tables ... except for a tiny toddler table. Guess that's what you get for having kiddie ice cream!

We walk around the Polo store for a while and they have some decent sales going on, but I don't much feel like trying things on with my itchy rash everywhere. Just feeling my polartec brushing against my arm is starting to drive me crazy.

OMG Pretty Little Liars display at Aeropostale! This is so cool! We didn't get into this show until it was well into the third season, but I love it! Not the clothes though ...

Whew, we made it out!! I should get a medal or something for leading us back to the car safely.

Zzzz. So sleepy all of a sudden. I've actually noticed this before; I almost always get inexplicably sleepy when I get a weird rash. This lazy day is about to take a turn for the lazier yet!

Sandy reads while I nap and when I wake up there's a message on my phone from the local surf shop I've been trading messages with. Lori sounds really sweet and I'm bummed I missed her call, but luckily there's still someone at the shop when I call back.

Marcello, the head instructor, who as it turns out will be my instructor tomorrow, is incredibly nice on the phone. We actually spend some time talking about Hawaii and random surf stuff. Unfortunately, the waves have not been cooperating so we conclude our call with a tentative appointment for tomorrow morning in nearby Boca Raton and a "let's pray for surf!" So please, keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

It's pretty gloomy looking outside so instead of going out we spend some more time chilling and reading, before heading out for dinner.

On Tripadvisor yesterday, I found a well-liked place called Primanti Bros and when we went for our walk this morning we found it so it seems like a no-brainer that that's where we'll have dinner.

The place is a friendly,non-descript local hangout with a few tables and bar seating facing the kitchen and a lone TV set to a sports channel. I like it already.

Our waitress is darling and confirms my suspicion that the pizza will be even better with extra cheese so we decide to split a large pizza. If there's any leftovers we'll save them for breakfast ...

Holy smokes! Biggest pizza I ever laid eyes on!!! This is just embarrassing haha.

Look at how it dwarfs our sizable soda cups!

Now that's tasty! But try as we might we can't even eat half of it haha. I guess this'll be breakfast, lunch & dinner

Oops, 10:30 already. Time to take some allergy pills so I don't end up with even worse bumps tomorrow. I've been holding off all day because they make you really drowsy .... I should sleep good tonight!

Remember, pray for surf!

Breakfast: none
Lunch:      Charley's Grilled Subs @ Sawgrass Mills
Snack:      Gelato Mio @ Sawgrass Mills
Dinner:     Primanti Bros
Hotel:       The Winterset