October 26 - November 14, 2022: A Trip to Fort Lauderdale
	August 8-23, 2022: A Trip to San Miguel Allende, Mexico
	Return to the Index for 2022

We enjoyed our trip to Mexico to stay with Greg for a couple of weeks, but now it was time for our early Fall trip to Fort Lauderdale. We are not ready to return to Ecuador yet; the purchase of the house is almost finalized, but until it is, there is not much we can do. Our visas are in the works, so at the moment it is a waiting game. So Florida it is.

As these trips to Florida have become so commonplace, I will again just divide this page by topic, pretty much regardless of when the picture was taken.

Getting to Fort Lauderdale

If you've been through more than a year or two of this photo album, you are undoubtedly familiar with our route to Florida, and so you might just as well skip to the next section. Since we started bringing cats with us, we have been driving down, although years ago (BC- Before Cats) we used to fly, we so much like bringing a cat or two that we've eschewed that for quite a while. This time, we are, as usual, bringing our two youngest cats, Bob and Cole. Both of them are good travelers, and we thought they should keep each other company.

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-thirty, and by ten or so are on I-20 heading east towards Shreveport. We usually turn southeast on I-49 about one in the afternoon, reaching Lafayette and I-10 east along about three-thirty. Baton Rouge can be very slow if we don't get through there by four-fifteen or so, and then it is another 90 minutes to get across Louisiana to the Mississippi border.

Mississippi and Alabama are an hour each, so we are heading east from Mobile about six-thirty or seven. This puts us north of Pensacola right about dinnertime about eight. After dinner, we have now developed the habit of continuing on to Tallahassee, ariving there about midnight. There is a Red Roof Inn there that is pet-friendly (allows them and doesn't charge extra for them.)

We usually get away from the hotel in Tallahassee about nine or so for the 150-mile drive to Jacksonville, which we usually reach about noon. Then we take I-295 around Jacksonville to the south, going through Orange Park. This 14-mile stretch is kind of neat, mostly because of the long bridge that crosses the St. Johns River as it opens out into a large lake southwest of the city. (It narrows as it approaches and flows around downtown Jacksonville to eventually empty into the Atlantic.)

I-295 connects up with I-95 south of the city and we simply take that south for another kind of boring 300 miles down to Fort Lauderdale. Along this streth, which Cole is quite familiar with, he sometimes comes up front to watch the traffic and help navigate. Since there are absolutely no turns to make all the way to Fort Lauderdale, this is no problem for him. We usually get to the condo around 5PM, depending on traffic in Fort Lauderdale on I-95 (which can be horrendous).

With all that said about the route, we did something just a bit different this time, something we also did on our last trip here in May. Since there is often a backup at the Mississippi River bridge on I-10, and since the car navigation system seems to know oftentimes when there is congestion and will route you around it, when we got twenty miles south of Alexandria I asked for directions to Slidell, LA, knowing that there would be only two possible routes.

One would be our normal route on I-10 at Lafayette, and the other would be to take US 190 east at Opelousas over to Baton Rouge. Near Baton Rouge, the navigation would have to make another decision. If the I-10 bridge and perhaps the freeway east of it were clogged, then it would send us through the north part of Baton Rouge to meet back up with I-12 east of the city, but if the bridge and freeway were relatively clear, then it would route us south on the east side of the river to get back to I-10.

When I asked for directions, the navigation did indeed route me to US 190. When we got near Baton Rouge, the navigation sent me south to the I-10 bridge over the Mississippi. When we got there, getting up onto the bridge was pretty smooth, and there wasn't the typical congestion on I-10 east of the bridge. So in this case, taking the advice of the navigation system seemed to work out, although I have no way of knowing if there was some sort of backup along the normal I-10 route across the Atchafalaya Basin.

Going across US 190 is shorter than going through Lafayette, but there are a few stoplights, and so maybe the time it adds if you hit some of them negates the shorter distance, but I think the time-distance tradeoff is a wash. You DO get some different scenery, though, when you go across the Atchafalaya River bridge at Krotz Springs.

Bob and Cole are young enough that they are still good travelers. Bob, for example, will come out of his carrier every hour or so and walk around the car and sit up front for a while. But then he goes right back in and curls up. Cole stays out of his own carrier more; he usually curls up behind my seat where I usually make a flat space on top of my computer and duffel for him. I like it when they come up front, and it is especially nice when they will stay in one lap or the other for a while. As the driver, I'm OK with that; I just try to ignore them and concentrate on the road.

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.

Boat Traffic on the New River (Installment 54)

When we first started coming down here, we took lots of pictures of all the watercraft of every type and size that went by the condo or that we saw elsewhere on the New River. Now, having been here so many times, we take lots fewer- and on some trips none at all. Here at Riverview Gardens, boats go by day and night:

Large boats are often towed up and down river; the owners probably don't want to risk and expensive collision.

Small boats are almost always under their own power- and sometimes vintage.

From his vantage point in the condo, it's Fred who can see when an interesting boat goes by, but by the time I can get to a point where a picture is reasonable, it is often too late. But we can always hear the distinctive toot of the Jungle Queen tourist boat as well as the sounds tugs make when they are pulling a boat up or downriver.

This is the Jungle Queen, a tourist boat that typically goes by twice a day.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Here is a movie of one of the big boats being towed upriver.

At the Dock

Sitting at the Riverview Gardens dock is one of enjoyable things we do here. Whether it's in the evening with a drink or during the day as we watch the boats go by, it is always very, very relaxing. Just two pictures this time- Fred took the first, and when I woke up I took the second:

The New Kinney Tunnel Deck Park: An Update

NOTE:
What follows is a section called "Background to the Project". It is a repetition of information on the Deck Park Project- a bit of the history and what the park is to look like that has appeared on any earlier "Florida Trip" pages where we took pictures of the progress of the project. If you have already read this information, please scroll down to the next subsection entitled "Project Update".

Background to the Project

When we were here last October, work had begun on the new deck park that is being constructed over the Kinney Tunnel and the northern approah to it. Essentially, the area between the point where Las Olas goes over the Kinney Tunnel (that carries US 1/Federal Highway under the New River) and the river itself will be transformed.

Here is an aerial view of the area between the Riverside Hotel and the Icon Las Olas, and the New River and Federal Highway heading north out of the Kinney Tunnel. The view looks north, and shows the area as it was about a year ago, before work began on the Kinney Tunnel Top Park Project.

Driving south on Federal Highway from Broward Boulevard, the street descends quickly over two blocks to enter the Henry Kinney Tunnel under the New River. Just as you enter the tunnel, Las Olas is over your head. Up on Las Olas, there has always been an ugly concrete wall on the north side of the street to keep people from accidently (or on purpose) dropping anything onto the roadway below (or falling onto it). South of Las Olas, SE 4th Street curved south and east from Las Olas to go through the Riverside Hotel (actually going under part of the parking garage) and then on eastward to our condo.

Between that street and the Cheesecake Factory, there were some planters and an outside eating area for the restaurant. This is also where the commemorative brick we placed for Ty Ferel and Scott Dole is located. Between 4th Street and the New River is the Laura Ward Plaza- basically an open area with a kind of ugly ventilation shaft from the tunnel below right in the middle of it.

Ever since the Icon Las Olas went up, there has been a movement to try to do something more with this whole area. First, everyone wanted to beautify it; where Las Olas crosses over the tunnel entrance is a particular eyesore. Also, new buildings are going up just west of Federal Highway, and these, as well as the existing buildings, have a particularly unattractive view of Federal Highway's descent into the tunnel.

But to do anything really significant, there had to be more space, and the only way to get it would be to essentially cover over 100 feet or so of the sloping highway. But if just a flat "roof" were put over the roadway, there would not be enough clearance for many trucks that use the tunnel.

At right is the concept plan for the finished Kinney Tunnel Top Park. It also looks north, like the aerial view above, from a vantage point just over the New River. Laura Ward Plaza is in the foreground, and you can see that the ventilation structure has been hidden with sculpture and foliage. You can see a red car, which I assume is on SE 4th St., just going through the Riverside Hotel, which is the building at right.

The greenery along the Riverside Hotel about halfway back is where the existing outside eating area for the Cheesecake Factory Restaurant is; I assume that area will return when construction is done. A bit further back, Las Olas crosses through this new park, and then there is the 100-foot section of new deck. This deck, incidentally, slopes up as it extends north, thus increasing the vertical clearance for high vehicles using the Kinney Tunnel. There appears to be more sculpture in the distance, on this new deck, perhaps also concealing another ventilation structure.

This is certainly an ambitious plan, and I will admit I am not at all sure that what we end up with will look like this, but I have to say that almost anything would be an improvement.

Project Update

It has been four months since were last here, and to the casual observer not much has been done. But, like most building projects, laying a proper foundation takes time, and isn't particularly glamorous. But it appears that most of the foundation work is complete, and we expect things to change rapidly going forward.

In the picture at left, taken from in front of the Cheesecake Factory, we are looking across Las Olas at the foundation of the new deck park. The view looks just west of due north. As I explained in May, and as you can see now, the "deck" on which the park will be constructed slopes up to the north. This was a necessity, because if the deck for the park just extended out over the roadway to the north, level with Las Olas Boulevard, then the deck could only have gone a few tens of feet before the sloping roadway leading down to the tunnel would have had it clearance compromised, and trucks that could normally clear the top of the actual tunnel would find themselves with clearance reduced to the point where tunnel transit would be impossible for them.

With the upsloping deck, however, the current clearance of the tunnel itself can be maintained all the way to the end of the deck, and any truck low enough to transit the tunnel itself will be able to go under the sloping deck of the park above with no problem.

To support this deck adequately, much foundational work had to be done, and more than the first year of the project has been devoted to building a foundation for this deck. South of Las Olas, you are over the existing tunnel, so no grade improvements have had to be made there.

As a matter of fact, all they are planning to do south of Las Olas is renovate Laura Ward Park right at the river's edge, and then re-landscape the area between the Cheesecake Factory on the east and the Icon Las Olas highrise on the west. As I said last month, I am pretty sure they will restore auto access to the rear entrance of the Riverside Hotel from both directions.

Today I also made two panoramic views. The first panorama looks at the west side of the project, and in that picture we begin at Las Olas at the left and then pan north along the west side of the project and the west side of Federal Highway going north.

The second panorama below basically continues the first one and looks at the east side of the project, with the view north along Federal Highway at the left, and then pans south to take in the existing mural that is on the side of a commercial building just east of Federal and north of Las Olas. I continue to hope the mural will be retained.

Miscellany

I have only one more picture and a movie to include here for this trip.

One evening, we met Ron and Jay up at Smokey Bones, a BBQ restaurant four miles north of us on Federal Highway. It is one of the many restaurants in our "rotation" and we always enjoy going there.

Fred and I knew we'd be telling them about our trip to Mexico, so we chose to wear our "Mexico hats". Ron and Jay thought they looked good, so after they took a picture, I asked them to take one with my phone, and the picture at left is the result.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

This movie records an unusual event for Fort Lauderdale- a violent thunderstorm. Only rarely does one see lighting and thunder over the city; I think it has something to do with proximity to the coast. But it does happen, and the night of the 17th was once such occurrence.

Because it was unusual, I got my camera and went outside to record some of it. If you want to watch my short movie, it is at right.

The Trip Home

We left Fort Lauderdale on September 21st, and as usual got home the afternoon of the day after, the 22nd, Except when we stop for gas or dinner, the cats can roam around the car, although they spend most of their time asleep in their carriers. They are good travelers, and we hope this continues, as we like to have at least a couple of them with us. It also makes it easier on Lynne, our cat sitter.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	October 26 - November 14, 2022: A Trip to Fort Lauderdale
	August 8-23, 2022: A Trip to San Miguel Allende, Mexico
	Return to the Index for 2022