installment #10

Our last installment was after our trip to Key West. We took a day to recouperate after that side trip. Wal-Mart parking lot in Florida City hit a new high for overnight motorhome parking – 32 in one night. One of the motorhomes was towing a car with a special brace built for towing his heavy duty motorcycle also (picture).






We spent a day looking around Florida City and Homestead, just south of Miami. We saw the Coral Castle – what they call America’s Stonehenge (http://www.coralcastle.com/) . We sat in the very bright sun (even Tony has resorted to wearing sunglasses) to watch the Indy cars practice at the Homestead Miami Speedway (picture) (http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com/) . Speedway was very close to the Miami airport – it kept us busy watching the cars from the stadium seats and watching the planes go overhead every one or two minutes. Later we ended up driving through a cemetery – Tony thought I would like to go to the "Memorial Gardens" because he figured it would have some famous statute. He now knows that "memorial gardens" means "cemetery" over here.

One day we set out for Miami and Miami Beach – we have become so reliant on MS Streets and Trips and the GPS attached that when a fuse blew in the car we had to find a place to get a replacement – we now have extra fuses and an extra inverter in the car for our next "map guidance" emergency. In Miami Beach we stopped at their Holocaust Memorial – this was such an impressive memorial (http://www.holocaustmmb.org/) that we have included two pictures. Miami and Miami Beach are flooded with new growth, people, cars, hotels, and motels. We drove down Collins Avenue next to the Atlantic Ocean and very seldom could even see the beach because of the high-rise hotels everywhere. We did drive to Key Biscayne beach and were able to drive the car right up on the beach. However, most of our day was spent looking at high rises and getting honked at everywhere we turned, stopped, or didn’t turn. We were introduced to the toll system – up until now we have avoided toll roads – but we were ready to get out of the Miami area by evening and took the fastest way possible.

Our next stop heading north was Fort Lauderdale. We started on the toll road. By the time we had gone 20 miles we had given the State of Florida almost $7.00 (three axles costs more, of course). No telling how much it would have cost to go much further, but lucky for us their highway signs were misleading enough that we ended up on a non-toll road for the rest of the way to Fort Lauderdale. We stayed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino parking lot (http://www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com/) . This is the hotel where Anna Nicole Smith was staying just before she died. It is so much more than just a casino and a hotel. They have about 30 pubs or bars (Hard Rock and Hooters included), many restaurants and, a spa, swimming pool with cabanas (cabanas have televisions in them), hot tub, waterfalls that you can walk behind (pictures of front and back of swimming pool), hundreds of lounge chairs, one sandy area, the other cement, a place to play tennis in the sand, ping pong tables, pool tables, and a wading pool for kids. We watched the water show on their lake in the late evening, set to music; listened to several different groups playing music in different areas; and got lost getting out of the place. Palm trees are lit up at night with rotating colors (picture). Friday night before St. Patricks Day they were giving out green beads to everyone. Saturday, March 17, they were giving out Guiness Green derbys (hats). Limos were everywhere, and the parking lot was overflowing. Bicycles built with an attached seat for two to transport people in the far parking lot to the main area were everywhere (rickshaws).


During the day we went to downtown Fort Lauderdale along their River Walk – parking the car for the day was $5.00. By the time we got back in late afternoon, they had raised the price to $7.00 and we noticed a $10.00 sign that would probably replace the $7.00 by evening. We saw tiny boats, mid-size boats, sailboats, motorboats, tour boats, taxi boats, and yachts (picture). We talked to one man who came off the largest yacht there at the time – he was the captain of the yacht – just there for a few days and then setting off for the Bahamas for two months. We saw a marine repair building where they hoisted a boat in need of repair right up out of the water and into their repair shop on a fork truck (picture). A wedding was taking place as we were "people watching" on one of the hundreds of picnic benches. We saw three highway draw bridges (picture) and one train draw bridge. Since it was Saturday, they were raising and closing every few minutes for the larger yachts and sailboats. Irish music was being played at the Irish Bars; waiters in the bars dressed as leprecheuns (picture). Tony is shown in the picture standing beside a sphere made of thousands of stone bricks or slates. Sharon loved the architecture of the high-rise motel in the picture.









The next day we spent driving around looking at all the "finger" roads – all dead ends with waterfront property on back side of every house with a boat, sailboat, or yacht on the water. Many for sale advertised a pool and a hundred feet of waterfront. Prices that we could find ranged from $300,000 to $600,000. Other homes we saw that must certainly have been worth more were not for sale! More colleges are having spring break this week – a drive down Fort Lauderdale Beach was interesting with the mix of retirees and college students everywhere. One sign we noticed on a liquor store - "free delivery to yachts".

We visited our first Pro Bass Shop in Fort Lauderdale – it wasn’t quite as interesting as the Cabela’s we saw last year in Dallas. Then we went on to Dania Beach. Caught a picture of pelicans checking out a kite and Tony did a time exposure of both of us sitting on the beach (you can probably tell that I’m enjoying it more than Tony).




The next picture shows a friendly gull flying off with a pretzel that we just happened to be eating. Next, it was on to see friends, Janine and Bill. We had a great afternoon with them – they live right on one of the canals. They took us for a boat ride down to the River Walk. We saw our first manatee swimming along the bank.








Notice the picture of the pine tree hit by Hurricane Wilma and now slowly growing back. Later we went out for dinner and I got a taste of tuna – it was great, nothing like tuna in a can (Tony stuck with the traditional steak). Janine and Bill each have interesting careers – Janine’s web site is http://www.jamiescountrystitches.com/ and Bill’s - http://www.makeh2o.com/aboutsearo.php .







The next morning we had a visitor to the motorhome – a fellow RVer, from Ontario, we had met in Florida City, was now parked where we were. On a drive to Plant City, Florida, we finally saw where all the Florida orange juice comes from – there were miles of orange groves, mostly unpicked. But we did see several loaded trucks. Also saw that everytime a loaded orange truck went around a curve, there were lots of oranges along the road.


The next day we located Florida’s Natural Orange Juice Visitor Center http://www.floridasnatural.com/ to learn about the orange juice process. Also visited the Bok Sanctuary http://www.boksanctuary.com/ – a guide took us on a walk through the gardens explaining everything on our way to hear the carillonneur play the carillon. We sat under the trees and watched the guy playing on a shielded video display. The good-looking guy is standing inside a cut-out of the carillon's largest bell. We learned about nun orchids, pebble walks, air plants and much more – also saw a blue heron up close, sundials on buildings and sundials in cement, Bok’s gravesite, squirrels running everywhere including on top of cars. Tony stopped to take a picture of an orange tree and just happened to come back to the car with two oranges. Interesting sign of the day "Evacuation Assembly Area".



Thanks again for all the phone calls, emails, and blog messages. We enjoy hearing from everyone.


~~Sharon and Tony