On Friday, Dec 7th, we dropped off the kids at my mom & dad's house, then we were officially off on our grand adventure. Our plan was to take the red-eye flight to Fort Lauderdale, (sleeping enroute, of course) then we would have a whole day to explore and enjoy the area before our ship sailed out of port on Sunday afternoon.
Problem 1 - I can't sleep on planes (now I know...) I was so uncomfortable... I felt bad for the poor guy sitting next to me. (not Tim - I mean, I felt bad for him too, but he sat by me by choice, the other poor guy just had the bad luck of sitting by the restless leg fidget queen of air travel.)
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale, got our rental car, and headed to the beach area, where we hopped on the water taxi to tour the waterways of "America's Venice." Not quite exactly what I expected, but still some good moments. Saw some amazing houses of the "rich and famous," some cool iguanas, and lots of pelicans.
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| Pelican coming in for a landing as we are waiting for the water taxi |
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| look closely - I am right in the center, sporting my cool shades... |
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| an
awesome iguana, just hanging out under a bridge, waiting for the water
taxi to cruise by - he is eating a banana peel that the taxi drive threw
up there for him. |
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After the water taxi, we spent a few minutes walking on Fort Lauderdale
beach (can't go to FLL and NOT walk on the famous Fort Lauderdale beach,
right?)
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| dipping my toes in the Atlantic Ocean |
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| Tim, overlooking Fort Lauderdale beach |
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After drying off our feet, off we went to a fun spot called the
Flamingo Gardens.
Flamingo gardens is a
60-acre, non-profit wildlife sanctuary, aviary, and botanical garden. Problem two became apparent at this point... I could NOT stay awake. The 20 minute drive to the gardens had me nodding off something fierce - and I was playing the role of navigator. When we got there, I could barely hold my eyelids open, so I asked Tim to go check out the wildlife show schedule while I slept in the car for "a few minutes." He was back within 3 or 4 minutes (I had already fallen into a SOUND sleep) with the news that the next and final show of the day was in 5 minutes and we needed to hurry. I groggily hurried after him and soon was alert enough to enjoy the animals and gardens.
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| This
beautiful guy is a barn owl, who had been injured (i forget how) and due to vision
problems, couldn't be rehabilitated and released back into the wild. |
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| I
was getting light headed (and cranky) from lack of food, so we grabbed
some chili at the snack bar. it was delicious, and REALLY, REALLY
SPICY! we ate overlooking the pond where the flamingos (and other
birds) were all hanging out. |
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| The
Flamingos would do this crazy "dance," where they would spread their
wings, stretch up their heads and make this weird noise. It was very
entertaining to watch them. |
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| Tim feeding the Flamingos |
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| Feeding a white Ibis |
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| Florida panther |
As it turned to dusk, the Christmas lights and displays came on. They also had a "synchronized light display" show that we sat down to watch for a few minutes. After sitting for just a few minutes, I turned to say something to Tim...
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| he had fallen asleep! I guess I wasn't the only who didn't sleep well on the plane. |
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| some "light peacocks" |
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| A snow storm - Florida style. BUBBLES - but it actually DID look like snow, just not so much in this picture. |
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We left Flamingo Gardens and made it to our hotel in Miami, where we both collapsed into bed and were asleep before you could say "Welcome to Florida and the first day of your vacation!!!"
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