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:
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
Hello darlings,
ReplyDeleteNice rash you've got there. It's not from the jelly fish is it.
You now what it is?
Nice car, no wonder the man kept nagging you if you would take it.
There are so many tyre tracks on the beach. Are you allowed to drive there or is it from cleaning up?
Nice spots on the tail haha, could have said that myself!
Of course, very prominent pool pictures!!
Very strange sign of the flooring company. I hop it's not Don Bailey himself, gives me the creeps!
The sushi belt is yumi, I would have liked to try it, if only for the fun of it. There are even colour codes for the price. Very efficiently.
The grill subs look delicious.
Very amusing photo of Sandy on the toddler chair. as if she has become a giant overnight, love it.
Wow, biiiiiig pizza.
Love and kisses,
xxxxxJoeve
The rash is from getting stung by the jelly fish; I only felt the sting on my right hand initially but somehow ended up with a rash on both of my arms and my right leg ... not sure if it got me there or if the rash just spread, but it's almost completely gone now.
ReplyDeleteYou can't drive on the beach; I think the tire tracks are from the lifeguards patrolling the beach on their ATVs. Talk about a dream job! :)