December in Ft Lauderdale

Dec 1 Thurs.  We had a really easy drive down to Ft. Lauderdale, arrived by 1pm and it took about 2 hours to get settled in.  This park is an older park.  The sites are all back ins, pretty much and all the hook ups are on the wrong side.  We are very close to any neighbor.  The first site they assigned us was just not possible to get into, so they moved us to a site where there wasn't a neighbor, yet.  Fortunately we had a few guys near by who offered their years of experience truck driving to help get us into the site.  We got in, and that is the important thing.  Then we set to snaking all our cords and hoses under the rig to reach the hook ups.  Well, at least we are staying put for a month, and with a little luck we'll have an open shot to get out in a month.  We found a Safeway Grocery store and picked up enough veggies and fruits to begin juicing in the morning.


Dec 2 Fri.   Up fairly early and we juiced a nice breakfast, then we took a little drive East to the beach, didn't know it would take 40 minutes to go 4 miles.  We really hope that the traffic isn't like this all the time.  We had to run up to Costco for a drug pickup.   I found a theater not too far away and it was a nice break to relax and enjoy Moana...We accidentally found a theater with the recliners, and reserved seats...Yippee!  When we got back home we put together juice for dinner.

Dec 3 Sat.  Juicing always requires a few days to adjust, first there is the caffeine withdrawal headache.  You would think we would learn t keep the caffeine level lower.  A full day juicing makes us adapt to how far from the bathroom we get after a meal.

Dec 4 Sun.  We had to take in another movie.  Office Depot for vent covers.  The temperatures here are really up.  Days in the mid to high 80's and overnight it is just getting down to the 70's.  We are going to take some advice from Jeff Neiberg and cover the heater vents when we are just using A/C all day and night.

Dec 5 Mon.  I needed a dentist, yes again.  The extraction I had done back in June was giving me some serious pain and it was getting worse by the day.  I found a really great dentist, nice people, he had to file the bone down on the inside of my jaw, and after the novacaine wore off I had relief.  Thankfully.  But I wasn't up to doing much except a quick trip to Walmart for Tylenol and Advil.

Dec 6 Tues to Dec 9 Fri.  We just keep adapting to the changes around us.  This heat has left Danny feeling wonderful, he says he loves it, but I do believe it makes him a little lethargic.  He takes afternoon naps whenever he is just too tired, like after a bike ride around the park here, really it isn't that big a park.  We did scout out a few used clothing stores and found Danny some dress slacks and a coat for the cruise.  He complained the whole time.  I think he wants to find the shorts and sandals cruise, where dinner is served on the deck.  We checked into a few dog boarding places for Butter to stay and settled on one a few miles from our place, they sold us when they talked about putting the dogs down for bed with a Kong stuffed with peanut butter each night.  She is going to get spoiled.  They also have a wading pool for her to play in.

Dec 10 Sat.  We are up early to run over to the port and pick up Maureen and Steph from their 10 day cruise.  Its a nice chance to see where we will be going tomorrow.  After 2 circles looking for them we finally hook up and get them loaded into the truck and off for breakfast.  They were off the ship way too early for breakfast so we find a Denny's far enough away from the port to not be crowded and settle down to hear about their trip and get even more excited about our own.  We had decided to take in the Flamingo Gardens today and it really is nice.  The rain came in last night and I think it is keeping the crowds way down her.  It gave us a nice quiet day, so we hop on the tram and take a guided tour of the grounds and hear about the founding of the Park.  They were taking in a duck when we came through the front door.  They are a rehabilitation station for wounded wildlife.  All of the animals there came in with some sort of injury and when the can, if the can they release the animals back into the wild.  They ( the animals) don't always want to return t the wild, after all, its safe and they get fed.   After a few hours walking around and checking out the gift shop we load up and head back home.  We pick up Butter and realize that our bikes have been stolen.  The bikes were locked to the front of the Lake House with a cable that is now lying on the ground cut through, I don't think it even slowed them down.  We were in such a rush this morning to be off we didn't notice it.  So now we just want to put it from our minds for a bit to finish enjoying our company.  We are delivering Butter to the Arfington Pet Resort for her week.  Then we head over toward the ocean to find a Cuban restaurant for dinner.  That is not such a great idea, well maybe a great idea, not gonna happen.  The truck is not that easy to park in ams spaces and narrow streets, so as we circle the block one more time to try and find a parking space Steph spots a Mexican restaurant across the highway with a parking lot....thats it!  Mexican wins by a parking lot!  It a nice eatery and we enjoy the rest of our visit before heading to the Airport and dropping Maureen and Steph off for the evening flight back to the West coast.   By the time we return home the office is closed, but I call the Broward County Sheriffs office and report the bikes stolen.  An officer arrives about an hour later to take the report and we get to packing for our Cruise.

We did see some Flamingos, and Ibis, and Spoonbills.

Cypress knees....who knew?

Great day at the Flamingo Gardens