November 23, 2006: Thanksgiving
	November 4, 2006: A Day at Six Flags
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Monday, November 13th

We left Dallas on an evening flight on Sunday night after Fred returned home from visiting his Mother in DeLeon. The best fare we could get was into Miami this time, and we arrived there about 10:30. We had some difficulty with the rental car; even though I had a confirmation from the company stating the arrival time, no one answered the number I'd been told to call. We were lucky in that we were able to get a car from another company (actually a better car for less money), so we got the car and drove up to Fort Lauderdale. The only thing that would have made the red Mustang more of a "mid-life crisis car" would have been if it had been a convertible.

We went and had something to eat at the Floridian, and the slept in on Monday morning. Monday was a lazy day, as it was overcast most of the day, so we just did some shopping and errands, went to the beach for a little while to walk around, and then spent some time at the condo in the afternoon.

You may have seen an aerial view of the condo before, but here's another one. It is located right in downtown Fort Lauderdale, with the center of the city being only three or four blocks north and west of the condo. Late in the afternoon, we made some frozen drinks and went to sit at the dock and watch the boats go by.

I won't take the time to orient every picture we take, but you may find it easier to understand the layout of Riverview Gardens and its relationship to downtown Fort Lauderdale if I use some yellow arrows superimposed on the aerial view for a few of the next pictures.

Fred took this picture from the dock looking west up the New River towards the southern edge of downtown. The yellow arrow #1 shows the direction in which the picture was taken. Downtown Fort Lauderdale, at least the commercial part of it, is bounded on the south by the New River, and only some government buildings are south of the river. Looking in the same direction, this closeup shows one of the newest condominiums downtown, this one being just across the 3rd Avenue Bridge from downtown, and just a block west of Federal Highway- the road that goes through the McKinney Tunnel under the New River about three blocks west of my condo.

Here is a picture of me with my frozen drink just enjoying the warm evening. While there weren't many boats going by at this time of the evening on a weekday just before "season," Fred did get this picture of the Water Taxi going by (the direction of the shot is marked by yellow arrow #2).

Wednesday, November 15th

The weather was a bit overcast through Tuesday, but on Wednesday, things cleared out and the weather turned absolutely beautiful. I thought it might be a good idea to bicycle through some areas of Fort Lauderdale that Fred had not seen before (even though they are only a stone's throw away)- right across the New River. And we decided at the same time to work in a stop at Shirttail Charlie's for lunch. Below, I've marked up an aerial view of the area we covered so you can get an idea of where we went.

We started out from the condo, which is #1 on the aerial view and then went a few blocks west along SE 4th Street, around the Riverside Hotel, left along Las Olas for just a block and then south onto the Riverwalk. Once on the Riverwalk, we were out of the traffic, and Fred much prefers that. So we biked past the cruise boats that are usually docked here, passed in front of some of the new condominium buildings and then continued under the 3rd Avenue Bridge. We continued another few blocks and then were able to ride under Andrews Avenue and then turn and go up onto the Andrews Avenue Bridge and south across the New River. Finally, we worked our way a couple of blocks west behind some boatyards, across the railroad tracks and then back north to the river and Shirttail Charlie's (#2 on the map).

There is a bridge for the railroad tracks (and you've probably seen it before if you've spent any time at all looking at other Florida pictures in this album), but it is almost always up. During the day, there are not many trains that go north and south along this route (the crossing is just to the east of Shirttail Charlie's, and is the point that looks like a road dead-ending into the river and beginning immediately on the other side), and so being there when a train goes by is rare (although it has happened). There are more trains at night- particularly after 11pm- and so the bridge is raised and lowered much more often then. I guess they limit the train schedule because it ties up traffic at all the street crossings and on the river. Actually, on the river, everything has to stop since the bridge is much too low for anything but maybe a rowboat to go under while it is down.

After lunch, we headed back south for a few blocks until we came to one of the major cross streets that has a light at Federal Highway. We headed back east across the railroad tracks, past the Government Center, and on across Federal (US-1). Federal Highway is the main drag that runs north-south in the picture and goes right by #4. It's the street with the tunnel under the New River. We continued east, and then turned north on SE 9th Avenue.

SE 9th Avenue is the same street that is just to the west of Riverview Gardens. It does not go all the way to the river on the north side; it ends in SE 4th Street. South of SE 4th Street is the boat stop for the Water Taxi. Right across the river from that, there is a small pocket park, and then SE 9th Avenue picks up at SE 5th Street.

So, we went a bit north on SE 9th Avenue to the pocket park right on the New River (#3 on the aerial view above). We stopped here to take a few pictures. As you can see, Riverview Gardens is right across the river from where we are, but it takes a bit of biking to get here. I have outlined where my own condo is on the second floor as a reference. Here is a picture of Fred and Riverview Gardens and, from the same spot and looking in the same direction, is one of me and Riverview Gardens.

Now we just took a leisurely bike ride around the neighborhood south of the river. The homes are all quite nice here, but the really big ones are across the first canal on the finger islands. When we crossed the bridge over the canal, we took the first street north and went up and back, just enjoying the day and the shady streets. Then we went another block east to ride up a street where all the houses fronted on another canal. Then we took one of the many bridges to the finger island that goes east-west with the New River on the north side and another canal on the south.

The land that fronts on the New River is extremely desirable, and so it is very, very expensive. An average lot here can easily run in the high six figures or even over a million towards the end of the finger where more water surrounds you. Since the land is so expensive, wealthy folks don't skimp on the houses they situate on that land, and all the houses on the New River are quite large and mostly new. There was a lot of construction going on; just about every third or fourth house was being newly built or extensively remodeled. On the south side of the finger, the houses were only slightly smaller. All in all, the residences were typical of the nicest parts of Fort Lauderdale. We are both continually impressed by how much money there must be represented here- most of it tied up in houses and boats.

We came back from the end of the finger island and then worked our way along a different route back towards the point where Federal Highway dives into the McKinney Tunnel and goes under the New River.

Fort Lauderdale has changed a very great deal in the last two years. The aerial view shown above was taken about that long ago; only the River House is actually rising above ground level. In our bike ride, we stopped almost exactly where the yellow star is, and the picture at left was taken looking almost due west- directly upriver. I have outlined on the aerial view where the new buildings have risen, and you can see the massive, mid-rise NuRiver Landing at the left, the WaterGarden in the center and the Las Olas Grand rising at the right. River House, which is actually slightly taller than either the Grand or WaterGarden is hidden by both those buildings.

We took quite a few pictures from this vantage point, a place, oddly enough, I had never thought to ride my bike to. First, I took a picture looking directly across the New River to the Stranahan House. Frank Stranahan, a young Ohioan, settled in the frontier town that is now known as Fort Lauderdale, at a time when only a small military fort and a trading post were sited on the lands belonging to the Seminole. He built the house in 1913 for his bride, the only teacher in the area- Ivy Cromartie. The house has since served as a trading post, post office, town hall and bank. It has been restored completely and is now a museum. In all my trips to Fort Lauderdale, I have yet to tour it.

Looking downriver towards Riverview Gardens, you can see the light-seafoam Riverside Hotel at the left and the azure-roofed office building and older "high-rise" condominium that are visible from my own condo in the middle. The structure at right houses the ventilation and electrical apparatus for the McKinney Tunnel.

Trying to piece together all the different pictures of this totally-rebuilt area of downtown Fort Lauderdale is probably difficult if not a bit confusing. So I took one continuous movie from this spot, panning 360 degrees and showing all of what you can see from this spot. Have a look at that movie using the player at right.

Let's take a closer look at what's here. First of all, I've moved twenty or thirty feet to the side so I can get a better look upriver, and now you can see River House and the 3rd Avenue Bridge. River House is the tall structure at right composed of two blue glass towers and a shorter auxiliary tower. The 3rd Avenue Bridge is up to allow the bigger boats to pass. Looking across the river, here is another view of the WaterGarden and River House condominiums.

Both are very handsome buildings, but their beauty comes at a high cost, of course. The River House has another problem as well- at least in the two blue towers. With curved glass walls, the units must be hard to decorate! NuRiver Landing has done a wonderful job landscaping the area in front of their building, and they've added some really neat fountains as well. With the Las Olas Grand as a backdrop, here is Fred at the NuRiver Landing promenade, and here is another close‑up view that shows some of the detail in the fountains that NuRiver Landing has built here.

Here is a really great shot of Fred at the NuRiver Landing promenade; the view is across the river towards the WaterGarden, which has its own really nice fountains in its own promenade area. One thing that all this development has certainly done for Fort Lauderdale is make the New River one of the most scenic urban waterways in the country. I think Miami would be just about its only rival. While New York City offers spectacular views, as soon as you get close to the sides of the Hudson or the East Rivers, the view is a lot less inviting.

One of the joys about living on the river is being able to watch the boat traffic going up and down. Not only are a good many pleasure craft docked way up the river, with the river being the only way that they can get access to the Intracoastal Waterway, but there are also four or five boat-servicing facilities upriver, and they take care of boats well over a hundred feet long. So while you will almost always see family craft going up and down, you will often see very, very large yachts as well- and they are always fun to watch.

This picture brings a lot of these elements together. Fred is on the promenade of NuRiver Landing and we are looking upriver. River House is in the background on the other side of the river and the WaterGarden is in front of it. The 3rd Avenue bridge is still up, and you can also see the extent of the work that NuRiver Landing has done putting in the pavestones, foliage and fountains along the riverfront.

For some additional pictures, here's one of me with downtown Fort Lauderdale in the background. I'm sitting on the river wall and one of the dinner cruise boats is docked on the other side of the river behind me. That's the WaterGarden (left) and the Las Olas Grand (right) on the other side of the river. And here's an even better view of me with a downtown backdrop. This picture shows more detail of the NuRiver Landing fountains. And, finally, here is a shot, looking upriver, of me at NuRiver Landing.

After wandering around this side of the river for a while longer, we headed back over to the other side via the 3rd Avenue bridge, and then worked our way behind the WaterGarden and the Las Olas Grand back to my condo. It was a really neat afternoon, and I saw some views of downtown and my own condo I hadn't seen before.

Thursday, November 16th

Early Thursday morning, a cool front came through and brought some clouds that lasted until mid-afternoon. We went for some breakfast at The Floridian, and then came back to the condo to go sit at the dock for a while and play backgammon. Since it was a bit gray, the pictures Fred took seem somber, but here they are anyway:

Big boats coming down the New River
Boats and NuRiver Landing
The Jungle Queen returning from upriver
A big boat going by Riverview Gardens
Me on the Riverview Gardens dock
A house across the New River
One of Riverview Gardens' many residents

Saturday, November 18th

You may have read in this album about this ride before. Basically, we go east to the beach on Las Olas, and then up A1A along the beach, past Sunrise Blvd. and then through an area known as the Galt Ocean Mile. We are on A1A for part of that, and on less-traveled beach roads for the rest. This takes us to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, which is the intersection of Commercial Avenue and the beach.

From there, we continue north along A1A (all or most of this with a bike lane) to Pompano, and then over to the shore again to arrive at Pompano Beach. Finally, there is another few miles up A1A to the border of Pompano Beach and Hillsboro- and that's where the Hillsboro Inlet and its bridge are. The distance from the condo is just over 12 miles, so it is a 25-mile round trip.

We took a few pictures here. The first one looks out to the ocean and is of Fred and the Hillsboro Lighthouse. The next one shows Fred and Hillsboro Inlet Park. There is a sailor's memorial here, and that's what Fred is leaning against. The Hillsboro Inlet Bridge is in the background, and this picture gives you a good idea of what the park looks like.

When they redid this area last year, the replaced the small dock that was here with a more extensive dock system so that fishermen, who were always clustered under the bridge, would have more places to fish. You can see a picture of me leaning against the new dock with some of the many fishermen in the background here.

Here is another view of Fred and the Hillsboro Lighthouse, and here I am relaxing on a park bench. Taken on the north side of the park, right by Hillsboro Inlet itself, here is a picture of the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge, which spans the border between the towns of Pompano Beach and Hillsboro.

Just before we left to head back to the condo, we walked out on the docks to see what the fishermen were catching. We were not the only ones curious about what the anglers were hauling in; apparently this fellow also had a vested interest!

Sunday, November 19th

Our week was all too short, and today's the day we have to head back. But it's another beautiful day in paradise, so we tried to do as much as we could. First up was another backgammon game at the Riverview Gardens dock. It's days like this that show off South Florida the best. Here's a view of the Jungle Queen II coming down the river past where we are playing. Speaking of playing backgammon, here is Fred pondering his next move (in one of a succession of games that he won). And here is another, small craft heading upriver.

People on Fort Lauderdale Beach

We wanted to see Ron Drew again before we left, so we arranged to have a late lunch with Ron and Leroy at one of the restaurants in Beach Place down on Fort Lauderdale beach. Even though it was a bit cool, there were still quite a few people across the street by the beach as you can see from the picture at left- taken from the second-level, open air restaurant where we were having lunch.

When we finished, we walked across the street and along the beach for a ways, and I was able to take this picture of Ron, Leroy, and Fred.

We drove back to the condo and said goodbye to them, and then went off to meet Ty and Scott at George's Alibi for a late afternoon drink. We had some good conversation about Ty's new gig as a shipboard lecturer in home decor and the big new job they'd landed to do all the window treatments in a big new house (as well as offer design expertise in the selection and placement of furniture and accessories). By six, we were back at the condo getting ready to leave for Miami and our flight home.

Miami Airport can be a zoo, so we allowed two-and-a-half hours. It only takes 40 minutes to drive to the rental car return, and 20 minutes on the bus to the terminal, so we thought we'd have plenty of time. But checking Fred's bag required much more time than we expected, in that we had to carry it from the check-in counter halfway down the terminal to the TSA baggage screening area. We had to convince the screener to take the bag right away, our flight being less than an hour off. But then the line at security was horrendous, and it looked as if we'd be lucky to get through screening at all. A check with one of the TSA personnel revealed that we could actually enter the gate area through any one of the screening stations, and that there was another one further down the terminal that was used by a some airlines that didn't have near so many flights as American. So, even though we had to walk quite a distance, we went through alternate screening station with little hassle, and arrived at the gate in plenty of time. In the future, though, I will make every effort to always fly in and out of Fort Lauderdale, even if it costs a bit more.

The flight back was uneventful; we had a couple of exit row seats to ourselves. We had left my car at a parking facility near the airport in Dallas, so picking it up was relatively easy. Since we hadn't had dinner, we stopped at the IHOP on the way into town and we both had omelettes. Bad move.

By the time I got to bed, I had a noticeable stomach ache and the accompanying distress. At three in the morning I awoke shaking and unable to stop. I was very cold, but the shaking was so bad it seemed like a seizure. I was pretty sure what it was, and an early morning visit to my doctor confirmed food poisoning. I'd already gotten rid of most of the toxins, he explained, so all there was to do was take stuff like Pepto and just wait it out. I did go by the IHOP later that morning to tell the manager what had happened, although I knew there was little he could do at this point. (As I am writing this, about three weeks later, I have noticed that the meal charge has not appeared on my credit card, so maybe he was able to do something after all.)

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	November 23, 2006: Thanksgiving
	November 4, 2006: A Day at Six Flags
	Return to Index for 2006