Ramada Inn

Posted on February 21, 2013February 21, 2013 by Dusty Roads

This post is for my sister. She is always interested in the places I stay. I mean literally. She wants the scoop on any motels, hotels or time share condos I visit on my travels.

This time I was in a Ramada Inn that I found on Hotels.com. I had looked into using the time share but it would have cost me almost as many points for 3 nights as it would if I was staying for a week so I chose to rent a hotel instead.

The deal I got was $56.25/ night. That was pretty inexpensive . Of course Florida doesn’t have an income tax (or so I’m told) so they make it up in other ways. There was a charge of $62.58 for “Tax recovery and service fees.” Still even with the fees it was less than $80.00/ night.

At that rate I was a little concerned about the hotel and I did pass through a rather sleazy area on my way but by the time I reached the Ramada the area seemed fine. This one is located at 5100 North State Rd 7, Fort Lauderdale. I had a non smoking room with one King Bed. It could use a desk but other than that it was quite a nice room.

I was impressed with the hotel.

One of the best things was washer and dryers on the 2nd and 4th floors. I was on the 2nd floor and they were right down the hall from my room. They were coin operated and change and supplies were available at the front desk.

They had everything there…a heated pool, basketball courts, tennis courts and a restaurant on premises that served breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also had a beauty shop, gift shop, game room and gym. Wi-fi was free throughout the hotel.

Although I used Golden Corral for meals quite a bit over my stay I did enjoy a couple of meals at the restaurant. It was buffet style and the food was only so-so but it was convenient and the price was quite reasonable.

The Wi-fi turned out to be slow and spotty. Clearly it wasn’t sufficient to support the number of users during the week. Sunday night was different. The hotel emptied out and voila…I was surfing again.

All in all, this was a very nice place for the price. One cautionary note. There was a “Welcome Center” off the lobby and restaurant. The ATM was located here and a rack of brochures. The back part was divided into cubicles. When I woke up the first morning there was a paper under my door inviting me to the Welcome Center to pick up local maps and coupons for discounts. Sounds nice doesn’t it. Well it wasn’t. The Welcome Center is just an euphemism for a sales pitch. Similar to a Time Share presentation the representative tried to book me for an appointment to hear about a “Vacation Club”. Another time another trip and I might have said yes but on this trip I just wasn’t interested. That didn’t sit well with the booking rep. I made the mistake of telling him my plans when we first sat down. Now he made fun of them and told me how I was wasting my time. When I asked him where the maps were the invitation promised he practically threw them at me. At that point I stood up, thanked him for his time and left. But on my way out I stopped at the front desk and lodged a complaint. That made me feel better.

No way would I let the rough start to the day put a damper on my spirits. The sun was shining. I just knew the rest of the day was going to be awesome.

Rare Disease Awareness Network

Posted on February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

This weekend the Rare Disease Awareness Network is holding a Blood Drive in Acushnet MA. I will be working so cannot attend but all of those orphan diseases that are never diagnosed and do not have treatments because they don’t strike the “masses’ need support to bring them into the mainstream. There’s even a TV program that focuses on the difficulties victims face finding a diagnosis. Watch Mystery Diagnosis sometime.

RDAN has adopted the Zebra as their symbol. Why? Because of the way diagnostics is taught in med school.

Photo: As promised this morning...the zebra story!

Dusty Roads Photos wants to support this cause. We have created 2 Zebra Cards and will donate $1.00 for each card sold. You can order either or both of the cards on our companion website www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com

To find out for about this organization you can check out their page on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/SaveBecka

I know there are loads of charities asking for your support but a simple purchase of a card or two will go along way. Thank you 🙂

Just cut and past the address. The link tool doesn’t seem to want to work. www.dustyroadsphotos.etsy.com

Alligator Show At Home of the Gator Boys

Posted on February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

What do Cheetos and fences have to do with alligator wrestling? When you are at Everglades Holiday Park it means that the alligator show is being done by volunteer alligator gladiator J.- Mart. I don’t know J-Mart’s real name but that’s what they call him on the Animal Planet Show Gator Boys.

J-Mark’s first appearance was in an episode where Paul reprimanded him for feeding Cheetos to the alligators. We next see J-Mart trying to install a new fence around the alligator pit against Paul’s directions. J-Mart is one of those colorful characters that help add fun and interest to a show that revolves around a couple of trappers who catch nuisance alligators with their bare hands.

J-Mart was the person who had been in line behind me in the snack bar before my airboat ride. And J-Mart is performing the Alligator Wrestling show I am about to watch. That is sooo cool.

Now I am not a silly star struck kid and celebrities don’t make my heart go pit-pat but I was pleased that someone who I had actually seen on the show was going to do this demonstration. It also made me think that I might be able to get my “burning question” answered. Was Gator Boys coming back to Florida?

I stood front and center by the fence with my camera at ready. J-Mart started off asking if anyone watched Gator Boys. I don’t know how many other people said yes but my hand shot up right away. He looked right at me and said “Did you see the episode about the Cheetos?”. Laughing I said yes and about the fence too! His reply was classic J-Mark. “They made me look bad. I can build a fence.”

The gator show was great! J-Mart called the gators to him by imitating a baby gator chirping sound.

Then he took one of the bigger gators and had him snap his jaws shut. Wow! It’s amazing how loud the pop sound is as the jaws close in a split second.

The easy stuff out of the way J-Mart got serious and performed the more dangerous tricks like holding the gator with his head and no hands.

After the show I asked him if the Gator Boys were coming back to Florida.

He looked surprised I asked. Then he tossed off “they are back now”. Yay! Mississippi will be coming to an end and Paul and Jimmy will be back catching Florida Gators again.

Airboat ride, gator wrestling and my “burning question” answered. Throw in J-Mart and it was a very successful visit! I said good-bye to the birds and peacocks and headed back to the Ramada.

It was long past 3 pm so check in shouldn’t be a problem now.

Airboats and Alligators

Posted on February 19, 2013February 19, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Ok so I guess I wasn’t on dry land for long. Off the cruise ship in the morning onto the airboat in the afternoon.

This airboat was different from any I’d been on before. This one was enclosed so there were no bulky ear protectors to muffle the sound.

There was also no wind in your face or water in your lap. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this.

I tried to manuver around the groups that wanted to sit together so that I could get a seat on one of the ends so I could take pictures. A good-sized man and his family scooted over so I could have a seat next to them so I had my prime spot. Now it would all depend on where the animals were.

We cast off with a roar ramping up to a pretty good speed. The operator zigged and zagged so spray would fly in all directions then just as quickly he killed the motor and we drifted into a clump of razor grass. While we sat there our guide explained about the eco system of the Everglades…how it isn’t a swamp, the water is not stagnant, how fragile it is even touching on some of the problems of invasive species. Then he reached over to start up the boat so we cold look for the main attraction, alligators, but nothing happened.

After trying a couple of times more he called the main office for a rescue. While we waited he told us stories about his childhood growing up in the glades and how the sun is your friend. If you are ever lost in the Everglades after dark it won’t be alligators and snakes you need to worry about…it will be the “skeeters”. As he went on about the “Skeeters” and what would happen at dusk we watched the sun sink lower and lower on the horizon. Just about the time we thought we should get out and start wading/swimming back, the rescue airboat arrived.

Lashed to the side of the new comer we all climbed over the side and into the new boat. All safely aboard we set off again. We hadn’t gone far when we heard our disabled airboard start up! Ok well at least it was a story to tell…Rescue in the Everglades.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We saw several alligators and learned about the role temperature plays in determining the sex of the babies. Also the affect climate change seems to be having on the eco-system.

In one of the cuts we saw a little back and red bird that seemed to hop over the big leaved plants. The plants looked like water lilies but our guide said they were not even related. He said he had saved the little bird as a chick and raised it at his home only releasing it as an adult. Sure enough, when he called it, it came.

We spent a bit of time feeding the bird and then it was time to head back. As always the time was too short for me. I wonder if I could get a job as an airboat operator???

Holiday Park, Everglades, Fort Lauderdale Florida

Posted on February 18, 2013February 18, 2013 by Dusty Roads

There’s nothing like getting back on land after a sea voyage..don’t believe me? just ask the passengers on the Carnival ship Triumph. Sorry I couldn’t resist throwing that in. If we’d gone to Cozumel out of Texas instead of Miami we could have been on board that ship.

But now our cruise was over, Joe was on his way back to Orlando and I was on my way to find the Ramada Inn in Fort Lauderdale. Road construction is the bane of GPS navigation. That “oh so proper ” british voice saying turn right or turn left where instead of a road you find a Jersey Barrier! I am expecting a bill from the Florida Turnpike any day. I can’t tell you how many times following the “Keep Left” or Keep right” instruction put me in the “Easy Pass lane” with no place to pay the toll and no place to turn around! In spite of the mishaps I eventually found my way to the correct Ramada Inn where I was sent packing…in the nicest, politest way. Check-in wasn’t until 3pm. I’m so sorry but there’s no available room yet.

That’s ok it was almost lunch time and oh happy days…there’s a Golden Corral nearby. Weekday lunches must not be too busy as there was no line and lots of tables. Even at an all your can eat buffet eventually you need to leave and it still wasn’t 3pm.

At that point I did what any self-respecting TV fan would do. I went looking for Holiday Park in the Everglades.

Holiday Park is “Home of the Gator Boys” but if you have followed that reality show you know that at the end of last season the park was taken over by the county and the Gator Boys took their show to Mississippi.

Well I’ve hung in there through this season but I don’t like the Mississippi episodes as much as Florida so I wanted to see if anyone knew if they were going to be coming back to Holiday Park.

I found Holiday Park with less trouble than I had finding the hotel and began exploring. There isn’t a lot to see, the airboats, a souvenir shop, a little store that sells snacks and a fence with a sign advertising gator wrestling.

When you take a ride on an airboat the cost of the gator wrestling show is included in the ticket price. As I stood in line to buy my ticket I thought I recognized one of the other people in line to check out. But why would one of the Gator Boy characters (are the people in reality shows actors?) be in line to pay for snacks? I decided I must be wrong , took my ticket and wandered down to the airboat dock snapping pictures as I went and enjoying the fact that I was really at Holiday Park.

It was a beautiful afternoon for an airboat ride, not too hot, sunny…just perfect. I found I was really looking forward to getting out on the sea of grass again. I’d been on an airboat ride about 10 years ago and again about 3 years ago. One Floridian said “why?” you’ve seen it once. But each ride is different. A lot depends on your guide and there’s so much to see in the Everglades.