All good things must come to an end and our vacation has been very good.
We left the Florida City Travelodge around 9 am. When we checked out, I chatted with the motel owner, Mr. Patel, who said that he would give us a free room upgrade if we return there in the future. We may just do that since we really liked the location and the rooms were very quiet, clean and comfortable. The rates were about half what we were paying for a room on Key West. Granted lodging is more expensive on Key West but in Florida City we had a great hot breakfast that was included.
We drove up through Miami which was hectic driving even on Sunday morning. I can't imagine what driving would be like on a weekday. We drove much of the way to Miami on Old Cutler Road passing through Coral Gables and Sunrise Harbor. Once we were out of the city center we drove through Miami Springs, Hialeah Gardens, Miramar and Pembroke Pines. We stopped for a couple of geocache hunts along the way including one in Brian Piccolo Park. Piccolo, who played for the Chicago Bears in the late 1960s, was the subject of a popular movie, Brian's Song following his death in 1971. We arrived at the Travelodge on Sunrise Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale a little after 1 pm.
We were able to check in on our arrival. The room is acceptable but the Internet is sketchy and there is no place at the motel for guests to print boarding passes. The bed is comfortable and the area seems quiet so far. That will be important since we plan to leave at 5 am tomorrow. We understand that the check in process at the Ft. Lauderdale airport takes a long time.
After resting for a bit, we drove down to A1A along the Ft. Lauderdale Beach area and parked. A nice Canadian family was leaving and gave us their parking pass with a good bit of time left. We walked along the beach past the usual bars, T-shirt shops, restaurants and souvineer shops across from the beach area. The beach here is very narrow. Not surprising since Florida really had no natural beaches. Mangroves were cleared from the coast many years ago when developers wanted to attract tourists and their money to coastal Florida. Of course, once the protective mangroves and sea oats were cleared away, beach erosion became a perpetual problem. The sandy beach areas that are in Florida were created by pumping sand up and making an area where people can wade and sunbathe. Whenever a major storm comes through fresh sand has to be pumped back up on the beach. If there were no beach here the economy would cease to exist. Walking along the beach for a couple of hours was about all we were interested in doing. Traffic along the beach was crazy so we were just as happy going back to the room and getting ready for the return trip home.
The temperatures today were in the mid 70s and sunny. The forecast for tomorrow is in the mid 80s here. We have been perfectly happy with temperatures in the 70s here, especially since there is snow, wind and cold back home. All schools in the area around home were closed last Friday and it is expected that many will be closed tomorrow.
Mary normally checks Road Food, Diners, Drive Inns and Dives and TripAdvisor for dining tips. Recently, she has found that TripAdvisor has been a reliable source of information for eating, lodging and attractions. She found another good spot for dinner tonight called Zona Fresca. It appears to be a local chain of a few locations in the Ft. Lauderdale area. In appearance it is a little like a Chipotle but they specialize in Latin food that is healthier. She had the fish taco that she said was very good. I had chile rellenos that were filled with cheeses and roasted. Every other place that I have had them batter dips and deep fries the filled chiles. Not that batter dipped and deep fried is a bad thing but these were very good. My meal came with black beans and rice on the side. They have a salsa bar so I added habanero and tomatillo salsas. It was a very good dinner.
We came back to the Ft. Lauderdale Travelodge after dinner to finish preparations for our early morning departure while we watched the Ravens and 49ers play in the Super Bowl.
As with any vacation, we are sorry to see it come to an end. Thanks to advice from Sarah and Greg, Debby (across the hall at work) and my pal, Joe, we were able to target many of the "must see" locations in South Florida. While going back home and to work is always rough, we both have busy times ahead at work with much to be done. Taking a week off for some time away in "the Sunshine State" was just what we needed.
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They have a salsa bar? I must go!
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