Day 107, Year 10: Walk About in Fort Lauderdale
Date: Sunday, January 25, 2015
Weather: Sunny and Beautiful, but Cooler; Daytime Temp upper-60’s F
Location: Anchored in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Today was one of those free and easy days. We got up late and enjoyed the sunny morning by doing a few jobs–slowly. I took a shower and then used the water to do a laundry while Mark cleaned the hull of the boat around the exhaust pipe. For whatever reason, we always get a black film around that area when motor sailing. I rearranged some things on deck and Mark helped me tie them down. By this time it was almost noon and time for lunch. We decided that after we ate we would take the dinghy to the Southport Raw Bar and catch the first bus or trolley that came by. It ended up to be a trolley headed for the beach, so we hopped on. The beach was hopping today. No one was in the water, but there were plenty of people on the beach. From the beach, we headed west on Las Olas Boulevard. Just before the Las Olas Bridge, we caught a bus going to the downtown area. Perfect. We got off at the Museum of Art, admired the fountain in Huizenga Park, and then walked down to the New River. This was once the historic district, but there is now a towering glass high rise condominium on the waterfront. Riverwalk follows the river and we walked west. There were lots of food carts and some thriving restaurants, but there are big, new buildings standing empty. It looks like they once housed restaurants and shops that are now closed. There is still a few historic buildings along the waterfront, one of which houses the New River Museum. We walked past the Museum of Science and about another half mile to Cooley’s Marina. This is where Lee and Lynda originally had reservations and we were just curious to see what it is like. The New River is very narrow and there are boats docked on both sides—very little turning room and quite a bit of traffic. At one time we were going to take Windbird to Ed Kirwin’s son’s dock which is just beyond Cooley’s. In fact, we could see the property and Ed’s son’s 100-foot Hatteras, Sunday Money, from the bridge overlooking Cooley’s. We then walked across the bridge and headed over to Andrews Avenue to catch a bus home. We had a great little walk about in Fort Lauderdale’s downtown area and feel that we now have a better grip on the lay of the land. We returned to Southport Raw Bar, drank our $10 dinghy fee in beer, had some conch fritters, got a call from Heather telling us about Sam’s birthday party today, and then got in the dinghy and headed back to Lake Sylvia. It was still early enough for us to do a little exploration in some of the side canals on the way home. I guess we’re just easy to please as we really enjoyed our bus rides, walk, and ride home in the dinghy. Life is good.
When we got back to Windbird, we called Sam to ask him about his birthday party and the Pinewood Derby he participated in yesterday. He listed every present he received today and told us all about the Pinewood Derby. He talks just like an adult which blows us away. We didn’t get to talk to Jonah or Ollie. They had both had a big day, Ollie with no nap, and we promised to try to call tomorrow evening to talk with them. We haven’t heard from Justin or Jo as to how the Ziggy and Coco’s Amazing Restaurant opening went today. We’ll hope to talk with them tomorrow evening as well. It’s a full time job keeping up with all of these busy grandchildren!
I know I said in last night’s log that I didn’t even want to know how much it would cost to charter the super yacht, Kismet, that we pass by each day. But curiosity got the best of me. You can charter it for a week for a mere 1.6 million dollars. I dropped the hint to Mark that it might be a nice 70th birthday present for me. He’s still got more than two years to save up for that. Maybe we’ll get to the Med yet.
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| 150125 Day 107 Florida, USA–Fort Lauderdale Beach and Riverwalk |
