Florida | My Mobile Adventures

There was some sort of club above this water feature; stairs go up from the street to a patio all lit up with twinkling lights.

There are all these open air places with throbbing music emanating from them.

We were walking down A1A to dinner, and I made Mary pose with this crazy pirate we saw.

Many of the hotels are set up with a small, three story or so section out front, on top of which is the pool and a walkway across the highway to get to the beach. The hotel tower is behind this section.

Not a lot in the way of shells. Tide seemed to be coming in, and I didn’t feel like getting soaking wet. Also, I forgot to put my shell-net-on-a-stick in the back of the car before we left, so I was at a real disadvantage. Water surprisingly warm!

Stopped at the bar by the pool for a drink.

There’s an elevator that takes you up from the street to the skyway and back to the pool.

This is the skyway that goes over the road from the hotel to the beach.

I think if I wanted to come back to Fort Lauderdale someday, I could probably use Starwood points to stay at this new W Hotel.

I’m standing across the street at the beach. Had to snap quickly between two-way traffic!

Hmmm, I wonder how enforceable this is during Spring Break?

Up on the pool deck, looking across the road at the beach.

This one goes between two towers of the Sheraton Yankee Trader

Most hotels are like three stories in the front section/adjacent to the road, and then the tower is behind it. On top of the short front section is the hotel pool and bar.

There are skyways all over the place between sections of hotels, and between hotels and the beach. You have to cross A1A to get to the beach, so it’s better to have a skyway and then an elevator down to street level than it is to have tourists holding up traffic and possibly going splat in the road.

Lots of Sheraton hotels leave FREE bottles of water in the room for Starwood guests – lucky me!

Rt A1A runs right alongside the beach, two (sometimes one) lanes in each direction, with hotels, bars, and shops lining the other side of the street.

Saw some cruise ships in the port on the way over the bridge to Fort Lauderdale Beach.

We’re almost there!

We’re getting close to Fort Lauderdale here. Deb saw this pic on the blog and thought I was trying to tell her something about highway closures – LOL! I just thought it was a cool piece of signage, with the sun rays on top and all.

All along Alligator Alley, there are these highway lights that are apparently powered by solar panels.

Time to pee and stretch the hip.

Kelly came to drop Mary off at my house. After the grand tour and some standing around and bullshitting, Kelly left and Mary and I stopped at the DQ Grill for sustenance before heading out to Alligator Alley.

Well, all that’s left to do is take a shower and await the arrival of Mary, my traveling partner in crime for this adventure. Then, away we go!

There are technology challenges to blogging this thing live the way I did for Orlando and Tampa trips. Well, the technology is there, it’s just reported to be slow in one case (the ship’s wi-fi), and prohibitively expensive in another case (my cell carrier’s rates for out of country). Still, the ship does not leave until Monday 5:00 PM Eastern, so there should be some stuff posted between now and then.

See ya real soon!

She called to tell me that she was afraid that the Broadway strike would interfere with us seeing The Little Mermaid over Christmas. Frankly, I hadn’t thought of that; I just assumed they would resolve it by then. But I guess it is a real possibility that we won’t be able to go. She says the website for Disney on Broadway says people can get a refund. Of course, I would reschedule if it came to that, but it would be a bummer!

Anyhow, I’m glad she called, see above.

… even a small one, is a very good day!

The water is pretty cold, and their little “fingers” are pretty stiff. I’m pretty sure they were all dead.

After shopping till I dropped (and didn’t find much worth buying, alas!), I went to the Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island.

This is the butterfly garden out back of the Periwinkle Place shopping plaza. The butterflies were too fast for me to get their photos.

We’ll be going there later. Right now, we’re going shopping.

Good Morning! I’m making the turn south on Six Mile Cypress because I’m on my way to Sanibel! WOOT! I hope to come home with two forms of booty – some cruise-wear, and some shells.

Have Signal, Will Blog! Mobile/photo blogging the Florida lifestyle and vacations