Our Adventures in Florida - Part 2 - The Best Part

On Monday morning, we walked the boys to school and Pete drove Anne and I to Miami Beach. The South part is called South Beach where everyone is on a diet. At least the people are not as obese as some of those we saw at Disney World. Some people are really fat. I don't know how or if or why they get on any of the rides. One guy had on a red shirt that said "Im big. You're small." He was too. I like these kind of people. Whenever I'm around them, I feel slender.

I didn't see any of these fat people on South Beach which is why the girls don't mind sunbathing topless. That's ok and only fair. Men sunbathe topless all the time.

From Miami Beach we drove to Miami. We had to drive around to find a place to park, but we found a lot in which you pay at a machine and get a receipt to place on your dash. It costs $2.00 an hour, but there is a minimum of three hours or $6.00. The machine got an extra dollar out of me and wouldn't give it back.

We looked at the boats in the port and had lunch at a Cuban restaurant outside overlooking the "Spirit of Miami" which is a tall sailing ship, although not all that tall. Pete and I had cubanos, Cuban sandwiches with chicken, ham, melted cheese and pickles on cuban bread. Anne had a steak sandwich. Pete had a beer, Anne a pina colada and I had a mojito - rum, crushed mint leaves, sugar and lime juice. Roxanne later reminded me that I had one of those in Bahrain at the Blue Elephant. I remember the restaurant, but not the drink. The one I had in Miami was good.

At one point something wet landed on Peter's shoulder. I asked the waiter for an extra napkin, but he didn't understand my version of English so he summoned our waitress. I explained to both that we thought that a bird had done its business on Pete's shoulder, but that now we thought it was only water. Shortly, the waiter arrived with three glasses of water. Anne asked for a box to take the rest of her sandwich. I said she should take the rest of her drink too. The sandwiches cost $7.95 apiece. The pina colada and the mojito each cost $8.95.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008. The boys were off from school today and we had Roxanne back from her trip to New Jersey, so we decided to drive to Fort Lauderdale beach. When we got there it was cloudy, windy and the yellow and purple flags were flying. The yellow means moderate hazard and Anthony explained that the purple meant dangerous marine life. In this case it was man of war jelly fish. P:ete decided that, rather tan pay for parking, we sould drive a ways down Alligator Alley (Route I75). We stopped at a couple of viewing spots and did see a few alligators. One small one even swam back and forth in front of us for a while.

We then headed for the pool at the complex where Roxanne and Peter live. It is a heated pool, or so it usually is. On the door to the clubhouse was posted a sign that the main pool was closed until further notice because one pump motor was broken. We ascertained that the kiddy pool and the jacuzzi were working so we went in.

We weren't there very long when the swimming coach told us that we could go in the pool since they had one motor working. We could feel warm water entering and it felt nice. It was soon discovered that the heater required two motors, so it was shut down so they could use the one motor to run the filter.

Wednesday. In the wee hours of the morning Roxanne drove Pete to the airport for his return trip to Haiti. He expects to return around December 3rd.  At a more respectable hour we walked Anthony and Alex to Lakeside school where teachers and aides greet the children and even open car doors for them. It was a nice atmosphere. Roxanne drove Anne and I to Hollywood Beach. Red flags were flying and we thought that we could not go swimming. However, Anne, who loves to in the water, read the flag explanations. Red with a white stripe means the beach is closed. Red means that it is merely hazardous. So, undeterred, Anne went up into the lifeguard hut to ask. The lifeguard told her that it was all right to go in and that he would be watching. We found a place to sit in the shade of some palm trees and Anne went into the azure, roiling surf; I followed. There were many breakers that came close together and we had to jump or dive into many of them. They weren't the knock you on your ear kind of breakers we have in New Jersey - not as powerful - and there wasn't a strong rip so it wasn't difficult to get in or out. We walked along the beach; no one was topless, and then Anne went back in for some more wave jumping before we drove home.

Thursday, November 13, 2008. Today we are at the pool. It is warm with a breeze, some clouds and a little humid. There are three of us and maybe three other people here right now. [ I know I'm switching tense, but I'm copying from my notebook, don't really care, but these things can be fixed when I write the screen play.]

Pete had explained that in this area, Pembroke Pines, Miami, Miami Beach, there is a heavy Latin/Cuban influence, or culture whereas on the west coast of Florida there is more of a southern culture. We noticed that when we visited our friends, Bob and Rosemary near Port St. Richie in the Tarpon Springs area. Also, the highways seem to be more plentiful and busier in the Miami area.

We haven't gotten to the Keys and won't try on this trip. It is a three hour drive to Key West, so it seems like that would call for an overnight stay or two to fully appreciate it. We'll do that another time. We do plan to come back in May or June, possibly driving instead of flying. We wouldn't drive straight through, but would plan an overnight stop or two seeing sights along the way. At this point the mode of travel is only in the concept stage. I also thought that a nice retirement present for us might be a trip to Haiti.

Relaxing is not something that I'm not very good at doing. By relaxing I mean, for example, sitting by a pool reading or just staring into space. Today I did both and also swam in the pool. It is a beautiful day - a day that would be acceptable just about anywhere. Instead of staring into space though, I am enjoying looking at palm leaves moving in the breeze.

The boys are home from school now with their school pictures and report cards. Both did well. Anthony made the Honor Roll with straight As and got the Principal's Certificate for extra effort. Alex is in second grade where they use a different marking system. He did very well too and is working at or above grade level. Both boys like school and are eager to go each day.

I can understand why people are attracted to living in South Florida, especially at this time of year. November has very pleasant weather.

Friday, November 14, 2008. Fort Lauderdale Beach. Yellow and purple flags today. The lifeguard told Anne that only a few jellyfish had been spotted and that he didn't think there was any real danger, so into the foaming brine we waded. The surf was a little less turbulent than yesterday. I had stubbed the big toe on my left foot in the surf on Tuesday and while it was somewhat swollen and stiff, today it seems to be improving. Jumping around in the waves with my feet bouncing off the bottom aggravates it, but that didn't keep me from following Anne into the waves twice. The weather is beautiful, warm, a little breeze and sunny.

I want a boat again, but this time a big boat. I have been reading "Hemingway on Fishing" and the most captivating parts are when he writes about deep sea fishing. It always seems that there are several people along plus a crew, with his then wife, Mary even steering the boat, Pilar. Of course, you would need a crew of two, preferably, but at least one, just to pilot a boat for that kind of fishing.

If I had a big boat I would like to keep it in Florida or Puerto Rico where it is warm and where I could use it all year. That would mean we would have to move there. If we became snow birds and came down in the winter, we would need two boats, or, we would need to take the one boat down with us. I know that some people do that, but I don't know how long it takes, or what it all costs, or how big a boat you need to do that, or anything.

Just the idea of getting a big boat seems daunting. Not only is there the cost of the boat, there is the considerable cost of keeping it somewhere. I will be retiring and will have the time, but I don't know about the money. It might be more clever by far to stop reading about deep sea fishing and to become enthralled with books about fly fishing in New Jersey streams. With the money saved by not buying a big boat, we could go out on a deep sea charter a number of times, yet somehow, it doesn't seem quite the same. [ After we got home, I decided that I don't want a big boat anymore. Anne will be pleased.]

I didn't do very well at relaxing today at Fort Lauderdale Beach. There were more people there, but I don't think that was the problem. Yesterday, we were sitting in the shade of palm trees, today in the shade of a life guard hut. I was still reading Hemingway, so what was different? The beach in Fort Lauderdale is right next to the sidewalk and street. There is a short wall that doesn't prevent looking across the street to shops, eateries and big hotels on the other side. Traffic noise is evident, maybe more so because we were sitting pretty close to the street. The beach is not as broad as Miami Beach. Hollywood beach is bordered by a boardwalk and then there are some houses, I think, or maybe businesses in attractive buildings. Another part has a wooded picnic area, but no street runs by.

Also, at Fort Lauderdale, a beach rake towed by a John Deere tractor meandered past three or four times, contra relaxing. The the Christians came. First, there were three young high school or college students with an adult who asked Anne and Roxanne if they would take a short four question survey about their spiritual life. They wanted to know if their spiritual life was better now than five years ago and did they know that they were going to heaven. Anne hoped she was going, but didn't say she knew positively, so she now became someone in need of conversion. Anne cut off the conversation and the Christians were polite and went off to survey other sunbathers. I had remained sitting and they didn't question me. About a half hour later, another group came form the opposite direction and asked if I would take a survey about my spiritual life. I could truthfully say that we just had a group here asking the same thing. They apologized and walked away. I wonder if they survey the sunbathers at South Beach.

Saturday, November 15, 2008. Today we are back at Hollywood Beach. It started raining as we were driving here and we wondered what the weather was really going to be since the forecast was for a nice day. It turned out to be pleasant, but breeze with a few stray showers.

Ammy (Anne) and Anthony have been in the water almost the entire time. I went in, but again hurt my already sore toe when I was swimming in the surf and the shallow bottom came up and I hit my toe on it several times. You can walk out quite a way here and still be able to stand. The tide is going out now and it looks like you could walk half way to the horizon.

In the afternoon some more people came to the beach. A couple with two teen age girls came and sat right in front of us even though there was an immense amount of room on the beach and started hugging and kissing. I said to Roxanne how amazing it was that they would sit right there on a mainly unoccupied beach. They heard me say it and looked at me and I looked right back. I hope they will think a little more the next time, but I don't know.

That's all I wrote in my journal. I have to add that Roxanne was a wonderful and gracious hostess. She made us feel more than welcome. We both had a great time visiting with her and with Anthony and Alex. The boys were fun to be with and we hope to see all of them again before long. Our flight back to Newark was delayed for about an hour, but our actual arrival time was only about one half hour late. We had parked our car at an off airport lot. When we retrieved our luggage, we came out and were able to get right on the bus for the lot. We got home in very little time and were thankful for a very nice visit with a great family.