Second Night in Ft Lauderdale
With life hectic prior to leaving, Roxanne and I both needed to run a couple of errands. Lyft kept booking us a driver and then cancel and search for a driver. I tried to cancel and they said, “we almost have a driver for you”. They acted like I was going to have to pay for the mileage already traveled on the way to pick us up, but they admitted no one was picking up the ride yet. Finally, the nicest guy picked us up… he pointed out a few sites. We reached this bridge just in time for traffic to stop and the bridge open up allowing tall boats/ships to pass through. Kind of cool… I know, I don’t get out much! haha
With a plan of heading toward Ross, we asked our driver if there was anywhere we could enjoy lunch before our little shopping spree. Gregory offered to take us to what he described as the best seafood restaurant around… one the locals went to. Well, that was quite an experience. After checking out the menu, Roxanne asked, “what’s your favorite dish?” Ordinarily, that is met with a couple of good options… not with our waitress… her response was, “Nothing really, I SICK of this menu”.
Admittedly, that stopped us in our tracks! There was no warm and fuzzy with our waitress… sad, because she was too young to be so bitter. Finishing our meal, we moved onto our planned Ross trip. Pajamas, jeans, shoes, underwear… all the important things!
With the necessary errands complete, we went back to the hotel. The fifth floor was not only the floor our room was on, but it was also the pool! Only a couple of doors down, we stepped out to see the pool and sandy Ft Lauderdale Beach! What a glorious day!
Roxanne enjoyed the view from our pool deck. My happy place as a comfy padded lounger… the breeze helped with the humidity. Even though an ocean view would be nice, it was better for us to have the harbor view. This was great for a daytime hangout spot!
Included in our stay was a drink voucher per person, per day. What a nice touch… ordinarily, there is a poolside bar and a lobby bar to redeem the vouchers. Unfortunately, the pool bar wasn’t open, so Roxanne walked down to the lobby to get us our cocktails. With our books in hand, we hung out for a while until our tummy’s told us it was time to go!
During the visit to Ross, I picked up a couple pairs of cheap sunglasses. This pair looked to be black frames while in the store. Out in the daylight, I could see the frames were actually floral. At first, I was disappointed, but the unique frames quickly grew on me!
Before leaving, we took a peek over the railing. There was a wedding! In the exact place that I had planned to have Steve and Roxanne tie the knot, a couple were united by the ocean. There are no restrictions for beach weddings in Ft Lauderdale. Though i didn’t do the things I wanted… like ordering flowers, champagne and an arch, I feel like we could still pull of a simple ceremony when the family arrives in a week!
Outside our window, on the harbor side, the sun was setting. The alpenglow was tremendous! It was quite a view … lights, boats and the Ft Lauderdale skyline. Great start to the fall travel season!
In the hotel lobby, not only could we get a cocktail, but a small menu of food was available. On the first night, we sat outside and ordered a meal. The menu’s description sounded so enticing, but what I got was completely different from what I got. Wouldn’t you think that “roasted corn tortillas” would be fried? or at least hot? Oh no… they were cold and uncooked. Only two pieces of shrimp with a little lettuce left me feeling unfulfilled. On the second night, we got our vouchers and settled into the bar. We thought we would just make it easy and at the hotel again. Sitting in our barstools, we were greeted by the friendly bartender… he made our drinks and it was downhill from there. We wanted to order a second drink, but the bartender never came back. The room had emptied out so it wasn’t that he was overly busy. We asked for a menu… which to me would be a clue that food would be ordered… Nope. he dropped off the menus and disappeared to the other side of the bar. In retrospect, he actually did us a favor.
A couple of blocks down, was a row of outdoor restaurants. We chose one with a Mexican theme. The waitstaff was very friendly and the menu looked great. We ordered margaritas, nachos and tacos. Partway through the meal, I felt something wet-ish on the top of my foot. I let out quite a scream! Jumping out of my chair, I quickly tried to regain my composure. The waitress tried to tell me it was condensation from the air conditioning. Since my foot was under the table and not near to where the drips were, I knew that was not true. A couple minutes later, a table full of ladies let out the same scream… all jumping up from the table. Turned out… a cockroach… a giant cockroach… had walked across the top of my foot! Needless to say, we moved our things inside to a more lighted area!!! Ugh… so creepy!!!
After a good night sleep, dawn was nearing. I woke up to some great lighting. Sparkling harbor, the skyline lit up and lovely shadows on the ceiling made me get out of bed and take a photo! It was a little early to be getting out of bed, but the excitement of boarding day made it difficult to go back to sleep! I managed another hour and half… next post will be our first day on the ship!
