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	September 9, 2025: Steve's 60th Birthday Party
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After a summer at home and, between the two of us, four medical procedures (hernia repair, MRI brain mapping, high-intensity ultrasound brain "surgery", and cataract surgery, it is time for the first of our two Fall trips- this one to Fort Lauderdale.

Getting to Fort Lauderdale

With my tire fixed, we headed out for Florida on Wednesday morning, September 25th. If you've been through more than a year or two of this photo album, you are undoubtedly familiar with our route to Florida. We drive, rather than fly, so we can take a cat or two with us. We also save a lot of money, so expensive have air travel and rental cars become.

The trip is routine; we stop at the same places to eat and to stay- almost without exception. And it's an easy route, too. Getting out of Dallas is easy if a bit congested, sometimes. We usually leave about nine, and by ten or so are near Terrell on I-20 heading east towards Shreveport. We usually turn southeast on I-49 about one in the afternoon. When we get down towards Opelousas, we have to make the decision about whether we are going to go on down to I-10 and head east, or take US 190 east instead. We have gotten caught in slowdowns on I-10 leading up to and over the Mississippi River bridge, and so recently we have taken the US 190 route. That route is slower if there is no bad traffic on I-10, so we really have to roll the dice. On this trip, I decided to head on down to I-10 east. We filled up in Beaux Bridge and then headed across the Achafalaya Basin on the I-10 bridge.

We made the right choice as the traffic was pretty smooth up and across the Mississippi River bridge and on to the place where I-12 heads directly east, bypassing the dip I-10 makes down throught New Orleans. From where we get onto I-12, it is 90 minutes or so to Mississippi and then an hour or so across that state. Mississippi turns into Alabama, and it is another hour across Alabama, with the most interesting feature being passing under Mobile Bay in the bridge/tunnel. About 40 miles past Mobile we enter Florida, where we either stop for supper at Pensacola or another twenty miles along at Niceville (which we did this time) at about 7-7:30pm. After dinner, we have now developed the habit of continuing on to Tallahassee, ariving there about midnight.

I must say that both cats seem to be good travelers. It's true that usually, maybe a few hours into the first day's driving, Bob tends to spit up, he only does it once, and only on the first day. We're prepared for it, and ready to do a "clean-up on aisle 6". Most of the time, both cats can be found sitting or sleeping in their carriers, although both of them will come out every so often, come up front to see what's going on, maybe stay for a little while, and then go right back to their cozy spaces. They hardly eat or drink at all in the car, usually waiting until we get to our motel. There, the cats get to eat and run around the room.

We usually get away from the hotel in Tallahassee about nine and usually go over to Jacksonville and then down I-95 to Fort Lauderdale. Since this was a weekday, I knew that the traffic would get very bad just south of Palm Beach and all the way into Fort Lauderdale, so we decided to do something I have not done in many years- take Florida's Turnpike instead. I recall from years ago that even though the turnpike is only two lanes until 30 miles or so north of Fort Lauderdale, the fact that there is a toll keeps the traffic down. So we decided, since the Texas Tolltag works on Florida's toll roads, to try the turnpike this time.

So about a hundred miles after Tallahassee we come to I-75 south, which we take for 60 miles or so down past Gainesville and then to the turnoff for the turnpike. The turnpike begins about 40 miles north of Orlando, goes down around the city, and then heads diagonally southeast across Florida. The traffic was fine, and we arrived west of Palm Beach a half hour before we usually do over on I-95. There was a bit of a slowdown here due to the fact that the road is being widened, but when it becames three lanes the run down to Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale was smooth- with none of the stop and go we used to over on I-95. We got off on Sunrise Boulevard, went east to Federal Highway and then south to the condo. For a weekday, this was a great improvement.

We unloaded everything at the condo and got the laptops all set up, and then retired to the dock for our celebratory frozen drink. Then, as is our custom, we headed down to the Floridian Restaurant for dinner. I wish we had transporter technology, but the drive is not a hard one- although sections of it can be boring.

We have been here to Florida so many times that we have pretty much photographed everything worthwhile anywhere nearby. The pictures we take now are just candid shots around the condo, at the dock or perhaps at an Art Fair or other event that occurs while we are here. So I've begun the practice of just grouping the pictures for these Florida trips by topic.

Along the Riverwalk

We often take a stroll along the Riverwalk, and so I wanted to include an aerial view of it here.

The Riverwalk, one of Fort Lauderdale's major attractions, begins at Laura Ward Park. This small park lies between the historic Stranahan House and the multi-level garage of the Riverside Hotel.

Laura Ward Park is actually now part of the new Tunnel Top Plaza that was built on an extension of the cover over Federal Highway as it drops down into the Kinney Tunnel. The Riverwalk begins at this small park (where there is also a very busy Water Taxi stop) and there are always a lot of people here on the artificial lawn, or waiting for the Water Taxi, or heading out onto the Riverwalk to the west, or patronizing some of the little shops that have opened on the ground floor of the building that has the Riverside Hotel's parking garage beginning on the second floor.

At this point, we are right on top of the Kinney Tunnel, and here the river makes a little turn, so boat traffic tends to slow down a bit, adding to the interest of being here and watching this traffic. When we stopped here on this trip, there was a boat being towed upriver, and that's what you see in the picture at left.

Across the river you can see one of the air exhaust vents for the tunnel and, at the right in the picture, the huge Nu River Landing apartment/condo complex. Just to its left is another new condo building that has been finished for a few years now. But right across the river yet another residential building is going up. I am sure how tall this one is going to be; we'll find out when we are down here again after Christmas.

From here, the Riverwalk heads west, passing south of Stranahan House and the Icon Las Olas on a walkway that is cantilevered out over ten feet or so of the New River. At the Icon Las Olas, there's an outdoor bar/restaurant that, on nice days like today, is usually pretty busy.

Once you get past the Icon Las Olas, the Riverwalk is back on land, and you come to North New River Drive. This street comes south from Las Olas on the west side of the Icon Las Olas. It continues to follow the bank of the New River, and it gives access to the various highrises that have been built on the north side of the river. The actual Riverwalk itself winds through a narrow landscaped area between this street and the actual river.

So the Riverwalk continues to follow the north shore of the New River, eventually passing under the Third Avenue drawbridge. Just before it goes under this roadway, there is a construction site on the north side of the street. We have seen in the last year or so the demolition of the small professional building that was on the site, the construction of a major foundation, and the erection of a new condo building- The Gables Riverwalk. This new building, which has now topped out, is currently Fort Lauderdale's tallest building at 47 stories. It may hold that title for a year or two, but there are taller structures planned or under construction.

The Riverwalk continues to follow the river, eventually going between the river and River House- one of the many highrise condos on the north side of the river. Incidentally, North New River Drive curves north to go back up to Las Olas Boulevard, just before River House. There is no street now that hugs the river, because west of here the buildings are accessed from Las Olas itself. All along this section of the New River, from Laura Ward Park to the Esplanade, there are boats docked on both banks of the river where the city has leased the dockage rights. I investigated it once, and there is an easement that the city maintains on the north and south sides of the river of approximately 50 feet. On the north side of the river, this easement contains the Riverwalk itself and North New River Drive. On the south side, there are walkways and streets as well. The buildings that line the river on the north side may not build out to the river in most places, and may not obstruct the Riverwalk. On the south side, buildings may, with the permission of the city, build their amenities right up to the river, but this is not often done.

The New Huizenga Park

The Riverwalk passes south of River House and then it passes between the river and Huizenga Park. This park occupies a plot of land between the new Hyatt Centric, which is both a 4-star hotel and residences, and Andrews Avenue, which is ascending to its drawbridge over the river.

This park has been here for many years, and, up until now, has simply been an open lawn with a walk circling the lawn. At the northwest corner there has always been a lighted fountain, unusual in that it had sensors that allowed passersby to control the height of the fountain and/or which nozzles were active at any given time. We have very often stopped at this fountain, which is at the corner of Las Olas and Andrews Avenue.

This year, Huizenga Park is being entirely redeveloped. There have been barricades along the Riverwalk to block off the park itself, and it has appeared that it is being relandscaped, with new palms and other stuff. On our walk today, we discovered a sign that showed what the park is going to look like when it redone. That picture is at right. It seems that there will still be a lawn, and that the fountain will still be there, but apparently there will be some kind of projection facility and maybe some other changes.

Right now, though, the park is very definitely still under renovation, as evidenced by the pictures we took today. Here are three of those pictures:

Past the park, the walkway goes under the Andrews Avenue drawbridge. West of that, it goes past what I think is an office building with some restaurants and stuff on the ground floor facing the river. Next, the walkway goes south of an area known as The Wharf. This is an open area that hosts food trucks and has some bars and such. It caters to the younger people that live in some of the surrounding highrises, and it is usually quite busy.

Next, the Riverwalk goes between the river and a very large complex that houses two named apartment building. One, Flow Fort Lauderdale, is a traditional apartment building, while the other, Society Las Olas, is designed for young singles who want to share an apartment with one or two other individuals. Society Las Olas takes care of pairing residents based on detailed questionnaires. The first 30 days of each rental is a "trial period", so residents can ensure compatibility before a yearly lease is signed. Each resident has a bedroom and ensuite, and the living room, dining area, and small kitchen are a shared space. These apartments are intended for young twenty-somethings who want to live in downtown Fort Lauderdale but need to do so as cheaply as possible.

There has been a great deal of development on the south side of the river in the last few years. Nu River Landing was the first major residential complex built on the south side of the river, and for some years it was the only one. But in the last five years, development has moved west, and three or four highrise towers have gone up.

Just west of Andrews Avenue, the multi-tower complex known as Regatta Fort Lauderdale went up first, and I have put pictures of this particular complex on earlier pages devoted to Fort Lauderdale visits. The newest complex is the one at left- the Harbour at New River Apartments. You've probably seen pictures on earlier pages of this tower going up, but on this trip it appears that it has topped out at 45 stories.

As you can see in the aerial view at the beginning of this section, the Riverwalk comes around the south side of the apartment buildings, heads north a few feet, and then crosses the tracks of the Florida East Coast Railway (and the Brightline commuter train). On the other side of the tracks, the walk comes down from the railroad embankment into an area known as Old Fort Lauderdale.

(Click on Sign to Read)

Old Fort Lauderdale is an area on the north side of the New River that is the site of some of the oldest buildings in the city. When you cross the railroad tracks and come down into this area, the first building you encounter is the Fort Lauderdale History Center. This museum complex is operated by the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. The complex includes the 1905 New River Inn, a former hotel which now houses the main museum of local history. In addition to dioramas, artifacts, displays and photographs, the museum features one room decorated to appear as a typical hotel room of 1908.

At right you can see that Fred has stopped to read the historical marker at the museum building, and if you click on the sign itself you can read it too.

The New River Inn houses two restaurants, both of which offer alfresco dining right on the Riverwalk in this very shady area on the river. Other buildings include the 1907 King-Cromartie House, which has been furnished as a historic house museum of 1915, and is open by guided tour. The 1899 Replica School House is also open by tour, and was originally constructed in the 1970s as an American Bicentennial project.

This is a popular area, and the restaurants and function spaces are usually busy whenever we walk through this area as the Riverwalk snakes westward towards the Esplanade.

Just west of Old Fort Lauderdale, right beside the Riverwalk, there is a huge Adirondack chair, and I suppose it was placed there for kids to climb on.

Most times when we pass by, there are adults putting their kids in the chair, and there are also lots of adults that use it as a photo-op.

Since there was no one in or around the chair this afternoon, we decided to do our own photos, and you can see Fred at left and me at right.

While we were stopped here at the chair, I noticed an unusual boat across the river. It appeared to be some sort of working boat, but I just didn't recall having seen it before. It's pretty long, and so I'm not sure how it navigates the canyon if it wants to head downriver to the Intracoastal.

The Riverwalk continues on another hundred feet or so to an area called the Esplanade, a park just south of the Science Museum and just north of the actual bend in the river, which turns 90° to the south.

Here at the Esplanade, there is a performance stage, and a place where fairs and other events can be held. The Esplanade itself is a large brick-paved area (paved with the memorial bricks that people can buy), and it arcs around the north edge of the bend in the river. The city has also put a floating dock here for temporary use by boaters dropping people off at the Esplanade.

There are many places to sit down and watch boats coming upriver make the turn and head south or, for those going downriver, make the right turn to their right and head east through downtown and past Riverview Gardens and on to the Intracoastal Waterway. Also located nearby is the Broward Performing Arts Center and (just west of the river after it turns south) the Symphony Condominiums. The Riverwalk actually continues along the edge of the river past the Center and the Symphony, and ends where the 7th Avenue Drawbridge spans the river. Beyond that, and the New River is lined on both sides by private properties.

It ends just south of those highrises on West Las Olas Avenue just north of the drawbridge that takes The Avenue of the Arts over the New River. You can see most of these things in the two pictures we took here today:

This view of Sailboat Bend looks west at the two towers of the Symphony condominiums.

We've gone west of the Esplanade and this view looks back downriver. The buildings from the center to the right are on the south side of the river.

It is easy to see why the Riverwalk is one of Fort Lauderdale's main attractions, second only to Fort Lauderdale Beach. It is always a nice walk from end to end, and we tend to do it at least a few times each time we are here.

Boat Traffic on the New River (Installment 63)

Of course, living right on the river, we get the chance to see all kinds of boats go by and, occasionally, I take a picture of something interesting.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

On numerous occasions during this visit I had a chance to snap pictures of the various different watercraft that go by Riverview Gardens. Since there turned out to be about a dozen good shots, it seemed best to put them in a slideshow, which will enable you to go through them as quickly as you wish without having them take up a lot of space on this page.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

I also made a movie of that long, long boat I'd seen on our Riverwalk outing as it was being towed downriver. The boat/ship may not have been disabled; it may have been that the captain didn't want to try to pilot it through the downtown canyon and around some of the river bends for fear of hitting a boat docked along the river. Very large boats are often towed in this fashion. Use the player at right to watch this movie.

Bob and Cole in Fort Lauderdale

Bob and Cole are old hands at traveling to Florida; I would guess that this is their tenth time here together. They are such a fixture of our visits here that we've taken fewer and fewer pictures of them. Fred took all the pictures of them this time, including this picture of Cole getting combed in my lap, and these two pictures of the pair of them getting a drink at the bathroom sink:

Around Riverview Gardens

Some of the pictures we take are simply scenes around Riverview Gardens- and most of those pictures feature the river itself in one way or another. One such picture was this panoramic view of the river that I took from our second floor walkway:

Here are some other pictures we took that feature the New River:

Fred took this picture of the Riverview Gardens dock late on the afternoon we arrived, just after we'd finished our celebratory frozen drinks.

On one evening, Fred photographed this beautiful sunset. The picture looks west, of course, upriver.

We have a drink at the dock almost every afternoon, and sometimes we sit up in the two Adirondack chairs- particularly when the dock is wet.

One afternoon, as a bunch of residents were sitting under the canopy, we noticed a two-hulled boat sidle over to our dock, wait a bit, and then continue on.

Here are two pictures I took on a particularly nice afternoon:

This is a nice picture looking upriver towards downtown Fort Lauderdale.

It was almost five o'clock, so I assume this boat was headed our for an evening cruise.

Around Our Neighborhood

We've photographed pretty much everything interesting within walking distance of the condo, but even so, we did take some interesting pictures around the neighborhood.

One morning early in our stay I went over to the Gran Forno bakery to get a loaf of sourdough bread. The Gran Forno has an alfresco seating area that is set up in the parking lane of the street.

Walking back to the condo, I passed by Louie Bossi's, which at night is probably the "hoppingest" joint on Las Olas.

One big change this trip was that Mango's (or, rather, the building that used to be Mango's from the time we bought the condo until the mid-2000s) had been completely demolished, and a new, two-storey building was being built on the site. In the two pictures I took, the old building is gone and work is ongoing for the foundation of the new building, which will contain a restaurant, some commercial space, and some offices:

Here are the final two neighborhood views- a picture and a movie:

This mural that Fred photographed was not really in our neighborhood; it is on the side of a building on Broward Blvd just on our side of the railroad tracks.

One evening we took a walk down to Tunnel Top Plaza by the Cheesecake factory, and as we walked along I filmed our progress. This movie will give you an excellent idea of what Las Olas is like at night.

High Tide and Global Warming at Riverview Gardens

I have been coming to Fort Lauderdale frequently since Grant and I bought the condo in 1990- at least a few times each year. I can recall that it wasn't until sometime in the 2000s that I ever saw even a part of our dock underwater when there wasn't a storm surge involved. I recall than when Superstorm Sandy passed by, almost our entire dock was under water at high tide, but then waves were coming across A1A over at the beach as well. Like some other riverfront dwellers, our dock has been raised once during the time we've had the condo.

In the last decade, though, this has been happening more and more frequently, and during this visit it seemed as if at least part of our dock was under water at every high tide, and the same thing was happening across the river.

Over on that side of the river, there is a white house with a walk down to the river (see the closeup picture at left), and then two or three steps down to their dock. During the time we were here, at almost every high tide (at least the ones I was awake for), the water had completely submerged their dock and steps and on one morning was inching its way up the walk in their yard.

Now I don't know if this is something unusual or not, but at least during this trip it seemed to be a common occurrence. When we come back down here after Christmas, I'll be able to see if the same thing is happening. But one thing is certain: the river is higher than it used to be at all times, and the high tides are even higher than one would expect. Pictures don't lie, and here are some of them that I took:

Here is the full picture of that house across the way.

Just to the west of the white house is a house that was remodeled some years ago, and one thing they did was raise their seawall to be one of the highest on the river. The little park west of them is flooding over its own seawall.

Here are two pictures of the east end of our dock; as you can see, our dock is not quite level, being about four or five inches higher at its west end. That's why it is mostly the east end that goes underwater at high tide.

Here's one more picture and a very good movie that I made the same morning as these other pictures were taken:

This view looks further east along our seawall, and you can see that the water is coming over it as well.

Here is a good movie that will recap the flooding this morning, and in which you can see the waves that come over the dock- especially when a boat comes by in the river.

The Water Taxi

One of the neat things about Riverview Gardens is that our west parking area is right by the Water Taxi stop, and one of the neat things about where our unit is located is that we look out at that Water Taxi stop. So we can see the boats coming and going regularly during the day. And the canopy where some of us sit for a while on nice afternoons (and where our community grill is) is right over the fence from the stop, so when you are down there, the boats dock right next to you.

Here is a movie I made one afternoon while down at the canopy of one of the larger Water Taxi craft docking at the stop and exchanging passengers. Many of the Taxi craft are smaller than this one.

Having backed away from its dock, the Taxi craft has turned to continue upriver.

An Odd Occurrence in the River

One afternoon I happened to be walking along the second floor balcony along the river and I noticed that across the river, seemingly hugging the shore, the water was a different color- a light green as opposed to the normal dark wine color. And the other odd thing was that the color boundary was so sharp. I had no idea what was causing the discoloration, but when I looked closely at the right-hand picture below, it appeared that the discoloration began at the little park across the river. I can only assume that there is some kind of water outlet there, and that the water coming out was muddy or something like that. The discoloration lasted only an hour or so and then it disappeared. I have not seen it recur since. Here are a couple of pictures I took, and you can draw your own conclusions.

No Kings

I pretty much avoid mentioning current events in this photo album unless it is necessary to do so to explain one or more of the pictures I include here. This is one of the times when that is necessary.

We are seven or eight months into the second Trump Administration and, at least to my mind, things have gotten so far out of hand that it is difficult to see how the country can recover from what the Administration has done and continues to do.

One of the hallmarks of this current time are the various "No Kings" protests that have sprung up around the country, protests in which people gather in public spaces to call attention to the way that the President has been acting as if he were a king. I could say more about that, but this is not the place. I will only say that I hope that some time in the future, when you are reading this, that you, the reader, might be saying to yourself that yes, you remember this time when we almost went completely off the rails but that you also remember how the nation eventually came together to right the ship of state. I will hope, as I write this, that at that time this period will be looked back on as an aberration; a temporary illness from which the country eventually recovered.

That said, the two pictures at left are of Sue, one of the residents just below Fred and I and whom, along with her husband Marv, Fred and I know pretty well, dressed to attend a "No Kings" rally that is going on today about a mile up Federal Highway from here. Participants at these protests often carry homemade signs or wear handmade clothing like Sue's. While what the protesters are protesting is in fact deadly serious, these are not the dangerous, serious protests of, say, the Civil Rights era. The tenor at these protests, pretty much no matter where they are being held, is almost lighthearted.

Personally, I am afraid that this is the case because people are fearful that if they are too serious, or too in-your-face with the protests that there will be a backlash from the Administration- particularly in a "red" state like Florida. The President and his minions have already referred to "No Kings" participants as "domestic terrorists" and "far-left provacateurs, which says a lot about how the current Administration views free speech rights these days.

Actually, had we not been leaving today to head back to Dallas, I would have gone with Sue- albeit without a homemade outfit.

The Trip Home

As always, we thoroughly enjoyed being here in Florida. But now we have to get back home to get ready for our Fall trip to the house in Ecuador. Today is the 18th, and we leave for Quito on October 25th.

The trip home was boring and uneventful, as we ate at the same place in Gulfport and stayed in the same place in Lafayette, reaching home the afternoon of the second day.

The only pictures from the trip home were taken by Fred (as I was driving) as we crossed Mobile Bay. Just before we reached the Bay it began to sprinkle, which marred Fred's picture of the sunset over Mobile Bay, even though I'd run the windshield wipers just before he took his picture.

In this picture, we are approaching downtown Mobile, just a mile or so from the tunnel under the Mobile River.

We have started our descent into the George Wallace Tunnel. At the lowest point, the roadway is approximately 60 below the surface of the water above.

Yet again, and not for the last time, I found myself on our return wishing that someone would soon invent transporter technology.

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	September 9, 2025: Steve's 60th Birthday Party
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