Late February Updates

Fort Lauderdale

Wednesday Feb 22:
The drive across 'alligator alley' from Englewood was no problem at all.
However we did get held up when we got closer to F.L., a car had burned just off the slow lane.
But really just a bit of a slow down.

Dinner with Randy and Wayne was fun, good food, and we got to meet Wayne LeBlanc.  Randy had said that the pool was cold; but I tested it, it was warmer than any pool I ever swam in NB.

La Quinta Inn had a very adequate breakfast.  Their pool was really great, nice and warm, no kids.
The issue was that our room never got made up.   We'd have been happy with clean towels.  Eventually I swiped 3 towels from one of the maid's carts; I expected that when the maid got to our room, the dirty towels would go; but she never showed up.  Now, we did have the no trespassing sign on the door for awhile in the morning, while Jack was getting his beauty sleep.

After the Robert Tolkan  real-estate tour around Fort Lauderdale, I realized that we can't identify 'black neighborhoods' from the listings.  That means that if we find the perfect house 'online', it may be in a black neighborhood and we wouldn't know.  Robert did the right thing, showing us different neighborhoods, and some less than ideal houses.  One of the places we liked (from the online info) turned out to have serious water damage in the stucco, with a wet smell inside the house.

We went on Thursday night to the Tropics Restaurant and Piano Bar.  There were several musical instruments, none of which was a real piano, and several singers.  The volume was good, the drinks were cheap, there was a good 'older' crowd.
At one point Gary pointed out three older gentlemen at a table nearby, and said, "There we are in a few years."  I responded, "Which one of us is going to be Jewish?"


2012 02 24, Friday, Cocoa Beach

The drive from Fort Lauderdale was uneventful, (if slightly hung over).  Bob drove most of the way; gave me time to sober / wake up.

However, as I expected, we didn't get to use the pool in F.L. in the morning because we left too early, and it was so f'n hot here in Cocoa Beach in the afternoon that we didn't go outdoors until after 4 pm.

Around 4, we went to the beach.  Great beach.  Very large, very flat, soft fine sand, light colored so not too hot to walk.

Had supper at a Thai / Sushi restaurant last night; very good and one of our most expensive meals. ($76 plus tip for 3 people)

2012 02 25  Saturday

Great breakfast at La Quinta Inn here this morning.  Even had hot cereal.

BJ, Gary and Jack are out to the dog park this morning.  He'll like that.  BJ is afraid he won't be able to control Jack if there are other dogs around.  He with his broken toe.
This morning Jack refused to eat any of his pills.  He's been reneging on one now and again, but this morning he ate none.  We'll get a banana to hide a pill.  If that doesn't work, we'll sprinkle the pill's contents over his food, and he can eat or not. 

Today is overcast, threatening rain.  Glad Jack is getting his walk in early.

We're going to meet at real estate agent somewhere this morning.  We're seeing two houses, more to get a feel of the place than to seriously consider buying.