Final Hours in Fort Lauderdale

Posted on March 10, 2013March 10, 2013 by Dusty Roads

My Mexico cruise/ Fort Lauderdale adventure is winding down. I have one last thing to squeeze in and that is a visit to family.

I met my cousin at Lester’s Diner in Fort Lauderdale where we enjoyed a real good old-fashioned breakfast of pancakes and bacon. The diner is like a blast from the past, an authentic 50′s style restaurant and home to the infamous 14oz coffee cup. This signature landmark has been a family owned and operated business in South Florida for over 43 years.

My cousin told me she used to work there and met her husband there. Another old-fashioned touch. She was a waitress, he was a trucker. Sounds like the basis for a romantic movie. 🙂

My cousin is the outgoing one and she seemed to know everyone as we made out way to our booth.

After breakfast we headed to my aunt’s home which turned out to be literally around the corner from the Diner and after a short visit there we went on to the airport also just “around the corner.”

That should have been the end of the story. Drop off rental car, get on plane , arrive home but it turned out it wasn’t quite that easy. I dropped off the rental and grabbed the shuttle to the terminal. I checked my bags curbside and headed into the security line. It was huge. As I stood there looking around I realized I didn’t have my coat! It was still in the rental car. I tried calling the lost and found but kept getting lost in the IVR prompts so back to the shuttle to reverse my previous trip.

At the Hertz counter they directed me to lost & found and there was my coat. Yay! Now back on the shuttle again to the terminal and back on the line. It hadn’t moved much. I was in the same place as when I left. Slowly , very slowly the line began to creep forward.

In the Fort Lauderdale airport the security is on a slightly lower level from the check in counters. As the line crept forward I eventually reach a point where there was a ramp that led down to the TSA agent and security scanners. I wish the TSA had allowed pictures because at that point I could look out over all the travelers and it was a wall to wall sea of people all jostling and pushing for position! It was an amazing sight and I had lots of time to watch as I waited for my line to move forward again.

Once at the scanners the routine was the same…shoes off, lap top out of the luggage, walk through scanner, retrieve, put shoes back on and find the gate. Whew! from the time I got back on line the 2nd time until I made it to my gate it was over 1 hour! So glad I went early. My cousin had suggested I chat a little longer saying I’d be through security in 10 minutes. Maybe if I was on an early flight but apparently not if you are flying mid-day!

The rest of my flights were uneventful. I offered to be “bumped” in exchange for a $400 voucher but I would have to fly out the next day, not just a later flight on the same day so I passed it up.

My flight finally landed around 8:30 pm amid snow and sleet. The parking valet had my car warmed up and cleaned off when I got off the shuttle. The drive home was not too bad in spite of the weather and there they were. 2 little furry faces meeting me at the door.

I love travel but I love coming home too.

Sunrise Fort Lauderdale

Posted on March 8, 2013March 8, 2013 by Dusty Roads

I didn’t get a Sunset but my last morning, as I packed the car, the sun rose in the east as the moon set in the west.

All Good Things Must End

Posted on March 7, 2013March 7, 2013 by Dusty Roads

For my last night in Florida I headed north to Lake Okeechobee. This is the largest fresh water lake in the state of FLorida and the 7th largest freshwater lake in the United States. Thinking of little Lake Enola in Orlando I assumed there would be some scenic places to get sunset shots. Since I do not know the area at all I was left with just driving around to try to find someplace, a park or preserve or recreation area.

Because of the direction that I approached the lake from I found myself on the southern end. Along this the southern edge of the lake, the wetlands built up the layers of peat rapidly enough (reaching 4-to-4.3-metre (13 to 14.1 ft) thick) to form a dam, until the lake overflowed into the Everglades. At its capacity, the lake holds 1 trillion gallons of water and is the headwaters of the Everglades. But tonight with sunset approaching I wasn’t having much luck.

I followed one side road to a boat ramp. Although the road led up a steep embankment before dipping back down to a parking lot, there wasn’t much to see here. I kept seeing signs for trail heads but I couldn’t find a way to get to the trails. The guide-book says The 30 m wide (100 foot) dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee is a part of the Florida Trail, a 2,250 km (1,400-mile) long trail that is a National Scenic Trail. There is a well-maintained paved pathway along the majority of the perimeter. It is used by hikers and bicyclists, and is wide enough to accommodate authorized vehicles.

I didn’t find it. Eventually I headed back to the hotel to pack and prepare to leave in the morning. Although my flight wasn’t until 12:45 I was meeting my cousin at Lester’s Diner for breakfast and there’s no telling how much we’d get talking. I haven’t seen the Florida branch of the family in a long time so we had a lot of catching up to do.

Gators or Crocodiles

Posted on March 6, 2013March 6, 2013 by Dusty Roads

One thing I learned in my exploring around the Everglades is that Alligators and Crocodiles are not the same creatures. Oh they may look a lot alike but there are differences.

Both animals are reptiles and they do look a lot alike but with the exception of Florida they live in entirely different areas of the world. They also prefer different kinds of water but aside from habitat the easiest way to tell the difference is the snout.

The snout, or mouth and nose, looks very different. A crocodile snout is long, narrow and V-Shaped while those of the alligator as wider and u shaped. If you get a chance to look at the 2 species side by side the difference is not subtle at all. In fact I think once you compare the 2 snouts you’ll be unlikely to ever mix them up again.

The snouts are an indication of the different diets these beasts follow. The wide snout of the alligator gives it more crushing power which it need to devour its favorite meal of turtle. Crocodiles on the other hand eat mainly fish and small mammals so they don’t need that big chop to break through a shell. Thier narrower snout lets them strike quickly to snag the small creatures that make up their lunch.

One of the things that I find most interesting is their jaw. When an alligator closes its mouth the lower teeth are not as visible as in the crocodile. Because the alligator has that wide snout its upper jaw covers the lower jaw so the teeth in the lower jaw fit snuggly inside. A dentist’s dream.

But the crocodile, now that’s the orthodontist’s dream patient. Braces for life. The upper and lower jaws of the crocodile are basically the same width so when it closes those jaws the bottom teeth interlock with the upper ones. My what big teeth you have!

The last difference I will touch on is color. The typical crocodile tends to be an olive , brown hue. Alligators are much darker, almost black, especially when wet. Alligators that have been sunning and are dry may look more gray than black but all of the crocodiles I’ve seen have definitely tended more toward the brown. (Not that I’m an expert by any stretch)

Of course if you happen to run into one of these animals in the wild, on a walk, or in your pool, I wouldn’t stand around trying to figure out which one it was. I’d make tracks to a safe distance and call the experts. Crocodiles can run up to 10+ miles per hour for short distances. Alligators not so fast but they can spin around and jump really fast because that’s a skill they need to ambush their prey. So if you run across one..call the Gator Boys or 911 and don’t touch! 🙂

Walking the Walks

Posted on March 5, 2013March 5, 2013 by Dusty Roads

The tram pulled back into the Welcome Center right around 1pm…right on schedule. I wasn’t quite sure what my next move would be. The peanuts weren’t going to last me forever but I hated to leave and try to come back because of all the construction.

Our guide had talked a little about the construction zone. All of the development, filling in, canal building and draining of the Everglades was starting to put a strain that could ( or maybe I should say would) destroy this unique ecosystem. The aquifer that ran under the Everglades and provided water for human habitation was critically low and the raining season was no longer restoring it. Too much water had been diverted. Once again humans refused to do anything until it began to affect them. Now this construction project was part of the effort to being back the Everglades and restore the aquifer.

As I understand it the road is being raised so the water that has been dammed back can be released and re-flood portions of the ‘glades that are too dry now. The hope is that by restoring the water balance above ground that the balance will also come back underground.

The sun was high. Not the best time of day for pictures.

Even the animals seemed to have withdrawn. There were fewer alligators on the banks and the water that had been alive this morning was still.

The park was still busy with human visitors. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t brought a lunch. The brochure warned that there was no restaurant and recommended that you pack a lunch and spend the day. I didn’t have a cooler and I’d come in too early to by a sandwich on the way but I wasn’t ready to call it a day. I decided to take a short walk on some of the trails. I bought a candy bar in the snack shack and headed off on the main trail.

Baby Alligator

The birds were still around and I spotted another mama gator with her babies sitting on her. I gotta say, baby alligators are just the cutest things!

They have vertical brown stripes on their tails. As they get older those will fade away.

Around 3pm I reluctantly made my way back to the car and headed back toward Miami. I stopped at 2 restaurants along the way but they were full with long waits so I just kept heading back to Fort Lauderdale. I figured I’d head to the Golden Corral and then look for someplace for some sunset shots.