May 20-22, 2020: Guy Visits Us in Dallas
	January 26, 2020: Dinner With Prudence in Fort Worth
	Return to the Index for 2020

For the last couple of weeks we've been debating whether we wanted to make a spring trip down to Florida. There seems to be a flu-like virus going around, but since we don't do much with other people in Florida anyway, we didn't think we'd ecounter a particular problem. As these trips to Florida have become so commonplace, we tend to take fewer and fewer pictures, and so there is less and less need to divide up the drip day by day. Rather, I'll continue doing what I've done for the last few years- just divide the photo album 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. Years ago we used to fly, but that has gotten to be such a hassle (and a good deal more expensive) that now we drive. This allows us to take all kinds of things with us- including, on this trip, 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 staying near Pensacola so we don't have to do a lot of driving at night. We have two hotels here to choose from; this time we've chosen to have dinner about fifty miles past Pensacola, and then drive another 150 miles after dinner to stay the night in Tallahassee.

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 noontime. 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. This is another boring part of the drive, but it gets us to the condo around 5PM, depending on traffic in Fort Lauderdale on I-95 (which can be horrendous).

Things did not go according to plan this time, though. At about eleven-thirty, as we were merging onto I-95 south, two things happened pretty much simultaneously. One was that traffic came to a standstill due to a serious accident about two miles ahead (according to Waze). The other was that we got a phone call from the hotel in Tallahassee, letting us know that we had left a bag in the room. The bag contained all of Fred's medications, and we found we had little choice but to turn around and drive back to Tallahassee to retrieve it. This added about 350 miles to our day's driving. We were back at the hotel just before three, and then back to I-95 south of Jacksonville about five- already five hours behind schedule.

Fortunately, the accident of six hours earlier had cleared, but sadly another had just occurred, and we were stuck for another 45 minutes while that one was cleared away. As it turned out, we set a record for getting to Fort Lauderdale- and not a good one. We didn't get to the condo until almost eleven. Sticklers for tradition, we still had our celebratory drink and then dinner at the Floridian- at midnight.

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.

The Fort Lauderdale Art Fair (#17)

NOTE:
As I wrote this page, I got curious as to how many of these Art Fairs Fred and I have seen, so I went back through the album and can find sixteen pages devoted to trips to Fort Lauderdale on which the Art Fair is mentioned. Fred thinks that we have been to more of them, and it is entirely possible that we have but didn't take any pictures. But I am going to begin numbering these fairs going forward- just for grins.

Sometimes, our visits here correspond with the Las Olas Art Fair, an event held three times a year (January, March and October) where Las Olas is blocked off and a whole bunch of art vendors set up booths along both sides of the street. It extends from the intersection by The Cheesecake Factory (located above the Kinney Tunnel that takes US 1 underneath the New River) right at downtown Fort Lauderdale four blocks east to the Colee Hammock canal that goes under Las Olas.

This time, the fair was held on the weekend of the 7th and 8th, and we went to walk along the fair on both days. It is always interesting to see the wide variety of arts and crafts offered, and perhaps every other fair we end up buying something for ourselves or for a gift. The Art Fair has been going on, three times a year, for thirty-five years, so I assume that the artists sell enough, or make enough contacts at the event to make it worthwhile financially, considering that they have to pay the operator of the Fair their share of all the expense of putting it on.

The Art fair usually takes up three blocks of Las Olas, which, for those three blocks, has a narrow median with trees. The promoter sets up covered booths in two rows on the north and south of the median, and taking up most of the street on either side. The way the booths are set up, there's space for people to walk past the booths that's about eight feet wide (so it can get crowded). Some of the artists stay in their booths, while others will sit up on the sidewalk opposite their booth.

The various businesses that line Las Olas (the Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue of Fort Lauderdale) also benefit from the steady stream of potential customers walking along the Fair route. As usual, all the restaurants and stores seemed busy, even though it was just a trifle chilly (for Florida) both afternoons when we were there. We walked the entire length of the Art Fair on this chilly but sun-lit afternoon. Today wasn't particularly crowded; moving along can be slow when it is. The three interesections involved in the fair route offer a chance to bypass the particularly slow walkers, if you want, and they are also the locations usually given over to the larger sculptures and all of the commercial booths (insurance companies, car dealers, the local newspapers and a couple of radio stations). There are usually also at least two or three musicians performing and selling their CDs.

We took a number of pictures at the Art Fair today, and I've put these colorful pictures in a slideshow. I like colorful artwork, and often wish I had the money, the wall space, and the kind of modern house that would show them off to good advantage. So you will see quite a few shots of the various booths and artists.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

If this is the first time you've encountered one of my photo album slide shows, they are easy to navigate. Just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. To go from picture to picture, just click on the little arrows in the lower corners of each one. You can see where you are in the show by referring to the sequence numbers in the upper right. When you are done with the slideshow, just close the window.

Of course, what the many vendors are hoping for are sales, and while we hardly ever see lots of people carring away lots of merchandise, we assume that most people conclude their transactions like we do- buying things and then coming back at the very end of the day to pick them up. By far the most common offering at the Art Fair are paintings, which I guess is what most people would immediately think of when the term "art" is used. Some of the paintings are pretty traditional, using traditional media such as pastels or oils. Others use additional media to set themselves apart.

We hope you enjoy visiting this year's Spring Art Fair with us!

Bob and Cole in Fort Lauderdale

We brought Bob and Cole to Fort Lauderdale together for the first time last November, and they did so well that we brought them back over the holidays and again this month. It's good to bring two of them so each has another to play with or socialize with. Various cats are always with us, and sometimes we take lots of pictures and sometimes we don't. On this trip we didn't take many at all; in fact, I have just a few to include here.

One I took in the condo bedroom after I'd done some laundry and laid it out. You may have difficulty picking the cats out, so a larger view is at left.

Bob's personality has changed a good deal in the last couple of years, and he has become more solitary. Whether that's due to losing his sister (who went to live with Nancy in San Antonio), or losing his friend Tyger to cancer, or just getting a little older, or perhaps because of the addition of Cole to the menangerie, I don't know. He doesn't go hide out, exactly, but he is content being by himself or with Cole, rather than anxious to be close to one of us. Here in the condo, his absolute favorite place to curl up is on the towel and pillow on the seat of the recumbent bike. I can only imagine that this is because of scents.

Boat Traffic on the New River (Installment 49)

Over the many years that I and then Fred and I have been coming down to Fort Lauderdale, the boats that go by the condo on the New River have been a frequent subject of photographs that we have taken. So much so that the boats have become "old hat", although there are always at least a few candid pictures.

The pictures of boat traffic on the New River this time were all taken right from the condo. When I see something interesting going by, I'll walk down to the river side of the building to snap a picture or two. For example, at one point we saw a run-of-the-mill sport fisherman following an old sailboat upriver. The two craft were quite a contrast.

Here are a few more pictures we took this time of the interesting variety of boats and yachts that go by every few minutes:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

A New Mural on Las Olas

On one of the days we were walking through the Art Fair, we came upon an artist creating a new mural on the side of a building just north of Las Olas Boulevard. The mural seemed to be pretty much completed, with the artist on a cherry-picker putting the finishing touches on it. Here are a couple of additional views of the colorful artwork:

A Stroll Along the Riverwalk

One of the many attractions of having a place on the New River so close to downtown Fort Lauderdale is that we can walk just about everywhere we want to go- except when we meet Ron and Jay at their house or at one of the restaurants they like up north on Federal Highway. We also drive to the gym south of us on Seventeenth Street, but other than that, there is not much use for the car.

One of Fort Lauderdale's nicest attractions is The Riverwalk- a broad brick walkway that begins just south of the Riverside Hotel and winds westward along the north bank of the New River all the way to Sailboat Bend almost two miles west. Sailboat Bend is the site of the Broward County Performing Arts Center, the Science Museum, and numerous highrise residences- including the matching Symphony Towers buildings. At left is an aerial view of the portion of the Riverwalk from its eastern end at The Boathouse Restaurant past the Andrews Avenue bridge. What you see is approximately two-thirds of the length of Fort Lauderdale's "signature" attraction. I have marked some of the spots I'll refer to below.

We make this walk often; it is always fairly busy with the many locals who live in the highrises along it, on both sides of the river, and the many, many tourists who also use it to get to the many restaurants that also line both sides of the river. The boat traffic through the downtown canyon is always fun to watch, even though more jaded locals like ourselves may have "seen it all before".

To get to The Riverwalk from the condo, we have only to walk one block west along Southeast 4th Street from our front door to one of the Riverside Hotel's restaurants- The Boathouse- which is located right on the river. The hotel paid to have the Riverwalk extended from Laura Ward Park (the small esplanade that sits on top of the Kinney Tunnel) down to this restaurant. Here is a view from this eastern terminus of The Riverwalk looking east towards the Intracoastal. Looking in the other direction, westward up the New River, you can see the new downtown "canyon" that has been formed by the numerous highrise buildings that have gone up on both sides of the New River as it makes its way through downtown.

From The Boathouse, a hundred feet further west brings you to Laura Ward Park- essentially just a paved esplanade on the river- which is the main downtown stop for the Water Taxi, another of Fort Lauderdale's more popular tourist attractions. The Water Taxi (there are actually twenty or thirty boats of different sizes in the fleet) runs up and down the Intracoastal Waterway from Sunrise to Seventeenth Street, up and down the New River from the Intracoastal to Sailboat Bend, and down the Intracoastal Waterway from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. One of the Water Taxi's popular stops is right by Riverview Gardens, and serves as the stop for all the restaurants, art galleries, and other businesses along Las Olas.

The Stranahan House

Stranahan House was the home of Fort Lauderdale pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan. Built in 1901 as a trading post and converted into a residence for the Stranahans in 1906, the house is the oldest surviving structure in Broward County. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and today operates as a historic house museum- open for guided tours daily and for special events throughout the year.

In 1906 Frank renovated the house and made it into their home. Bay windows were added, and gas lighting fixtures were likely installed at this time. The upper floor is believed to have remained an open space, accessible via the exterior stairs. In 1913 the house went through a second major renovation, the interior staircase was added and the house was wired for electricity. Water towers were installed in 1915 and it is believed that indoor plumbing was also installed at the same time.

Frank and Ivy were very successful- until the Florida land boom collapsed in 1927, and two hurricans devastated the young community in 1928 and 1929. Burdened also by the knowledge that many friends who had invested with him had also lost everything, Frank committed suicide in 1929- drowning himself in the river right in front of Stranahan House. Ivy continued to live in the house, but rented out rooms to visitors and later leased the lower floor to a series of restaurants. In 1971 Ivy died, but she left the home to the Seventh Day Adventist Church who registered the home with the National Register of Historic Homes in 1973. The Historical Society of Fort Lauderdale bought the house in 1979 and for the next four years a construction project began to restore the house to its 1915 appearance. In 1981 the House became its own corporation, with a separate board of trustees, and it opened to the public in the spring of 1984.

When Grant and I first came to Fort Lauderdale in 1989, there was a grocery store just west of Stranahan House- the Hyde Park Market. In the early 1990s, a developer bought the market to use the land for a new highrise development. The Stranahan House, the Riverside Hotel, the city, and the Historical Society tied up the project for over a decade- fearing that the historic house would be overshadowed by the new structure. Eventually, the litigation was decided in favor of the developer, but because of the 2008 financial collapse, the structure was not begun until 2014. The 45-story Icon Las Olas was not finished until 2018.

The Nu River Landing Complex

From Laura Ward Park, we started west along the Riverwalk where it runs between the new Icon Las Olas and the river itself. From here, there is a beautiful view around an ess-curve in the river. Ahead of us, on the south side of the river, is Nu River Landing, a large apartment and condominium complex that has gone up in stages from 2006 through 2014 on the south side of the river. Fortunately for the residents of those buildings, they have easy access to both the Riverwalk and downtown Fort Lauderdale via the 3rd Avenue Bridge over the river. This bridge is one of three drawbridges in the downtown area.

Further up the river are numerous boatyards and large private residences whose craft could never pass under a normal bridge, and so the bridges all open. They open on schedule during the week and when necessary on weekends. This is why we can enjoy seeing megayachts and sailboats go by the condo on a daily basis.

At the right in that picture, you can see the base of the 40-story Las Olas Grand condominium (I think one of the handsomest downtown condo buildings). Facing the way it does, when you get up to the ninth or tenth floors, you can see all the way to the ocean.

It was here, close to the Stranahan House, that Fred spotted an interesting sign that I had never noticed before. As you can see, the city seems to have a program to help reduce the feline population in a humane way. We have seen the occasional cat around downtown, but there certainly doesn't seem to be an overpopulation of them.

This view looks from the walkway by the Icon Las Olas back east along the New River. You can see the green annex of the Riverside Hotel at left, and the course of the river eastward. Riverview Gardens is behind the low buildings at left beyond the hotel.

As we continued walking west, we came by the place where the "Las Olas Gondola" is berthed. The gondola passes the condo frequently with a boatman and usually a single couple in the romantic enclosed area- eating dinner or just sipping wine or champagne. The boatman, of course, has little to do, as the craft is electric.

We continued walking up the Riverwalk, eventually coming abreast with River House (seen at left) and yet another new highrise going up just east of it. Ahead of us is the Andrews Avenue bridge. Across the New River is the Downtowner Restaurant which has been there as long as I can remember. It is located by the Andrews Avenue Bridge. Out in the river itself, you can see some of the boat traffic, including a real oddity- a floating tiki bar. This odd little craft goes up and down the river, and is basically a circular bar on a raft. There's a bartender and space for eight or ten barstools on which the bar patrons/riders can sit. On nice days, I guess it's fun to float along and drink.

Going underneath the Andrews Avenue Bridge, we noted that it was still being renovated- at least the pedestrian access is being reworked. On the north side of the bridge, the stairs are being reconstructed, and it looks as if one of the finishing touches will be a kind of "jungle mural"- which was actually kind of neat.

Walking Through "The Wharf" (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

Next, we passed by the restaurant that used to be the Briny Irish Pub, a comfortable restaurant with outside seating under a large canopy. It had a neat menu, and we used to eat there once or twice on each trip down here. Just this year, however, it became the Rivertail Restaurant- way more upscale and without the old Florida vibe that the Briny Pub had. We tried it once, but weren't impressed.

Just beyond that, the old Riverfront Center (which I always thought was a great complex that also had a multi-screen theatre) was torn town last year to be replaced by two new condo structures. One of them seems to have been either postponed or cancelled, and the space where it would have been is something called The Wharf. We'd seen the area on our trip in January, but it was just getting going. The best way to describe it is to let you walk through it with us. So have a look at the movie at left, as we enter the Wharf from the river side and walk all the way through it. You will see why words can't really describe it.

From the Wharf, we headed back towards the condo (as the weather was a bit threatening). We came back to the Riverwalk itself at the Andrews Avenue bridge, and then went back east along the river. Coming back to Laura Ward Park, we took a couple of additional pictures.

We are approaching Laura Ward Park again, and you can see one of the large Water Taxi craft that stay mostly out in the Intracoastal Waterway or ply the route down to Miami.

This view looks directly downriver, and the Spanish-style house you can see in the middle of the picture appears in many of the pictures we take from the condo looking upriver (an example of which is in another section below)

At Riverview Gardens

Of course, we spend a good deal of time around Riverview Gardens when we are here, and much of that time is spent down at the dock on the river. We are there almost every afternoon or evening, having a drink and enjoying the view. At this time of year, by the time we are ready to go down to the dock, the sun has set, and we are able to get very nice nighttime views. Of all the pictures we took from the dock, here are a couple of the best:

At Fort Lauderdale Beach

Towards the end of our stay here this time, things were getting a little dicey, as my afternoon bike ride over to Fort Lauderdale Beach will attest. It's March 14th, still in season, and in prior years the beach would be packed on a nice sunny day.

Fort Lauderdale Beach

Of course, you can figure out what's going on- particularly now as I write this page in early October. The beach is deserted. Actually, the beach is closed- as of yesterday.

A lot has happened during this trip; things seem to have come to a head. In February, of course, we'd heard about COVID-19, of course, but when we decided to come on down to Florida to see all our friends and also go to the St. Patrick's Day parade, it didn't seem as if there would be much of a problem. But from our first days here, the news got progressively worse.

The stock market started gyrating wildly, day after day. Outbreaks in New York and the Pacific Northwest got worse. The cable news networks started focusing on the outbreak. But things still seemed pretty normal around here, so we stayed. The St. Patrick's Day Parade, however, was cancelled a few days ago; and when it was, we knew things were getting more serious. I took these beach pictures on the 18th; the Florida Governor advised yesterday that the beaches be closed, and Fort Lauderdale did so- effective this morning, which is why I rode over here to see what they looked like. Compare the picture at left with those I've taken on previous trips, and the difference will be striking.

Fortunately, the Art Fair had been held on our first weekend here, so at least we were able to do that. But now, with the beaches closed, and with there being discussion about restaurants and bars, Fred and I started talking, particularly when I got back from riding over to the beach, that we might head home a bit early.

Here are some additional views of Fort Lauderdale's deserted beaches:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Even so, we thought we'd talk with Ron and Jay first, and we planned on having dinner together on the 19th. That morning, however, new regulations went into effect limiting the number of patrons in restaurants and restricting their opening hours. Bars were closed (although that didn't seem to affect the patrons at a couple over on Las Olas right away).

We met Ron and Jay, but the experience at the restaurant we chose was so bad that we had to leave without eating. We tried our mainstay, Peter Pan, but that didn't work either, so Fred and I made the decision that we would say goodbye and head home tomorrow, March 20th. We were actually worried that we might have trouble at state borders, as there had been some talk about some of the states on our route home stopping or just inspecting out-of-state vehicles.

So Fred and I returned to the condo, had some supper out of the freezer, and got ready to depart for home on March 20th.

The Trip Home

We left Fort Lauderdale on the morning of the 20th, and followed the reverse of our route down. It takes us literally all day and almost 700 miles of driving (Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville: 320 miles; Jacksonville to Pensacola: 360 miles) to get out of Florida. As a matter of fact, when we finally enter Alabama, we are over halfway home.

Following out normal schedule, we typically eat dinner in Gulfport, Mississippi or Slidell, Louisiana. This time it was Slidell, and we could see that the restaurant was much less crowded that it has been in the past. After dinner, we have a manageable 160 miles before we stop for the night in Lafayette, Louisiana. At the LaQuinta there, changes had already been made. The breakfast buffet was closed, and instead there were boxed breakfasts for those who wanted to pick them up.

In the morning, we have a comfortable drive home- 200 miles up to Shreveport and then another 200 miles over to Dallas. We arrived back home at 3:30 this time, and were happy to be back- particularly considering the worsening situation. We were sure that Bob and Cole were happy to see their brothers, but we found ourselves wondering when we would be able to head back to Florida again.

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

	May 20-22, 2020: Guy Visits Us in Dallas
	January 26, 2020: Dinner With Prudence in Fort Worth
	Return to the Index for 2020