Goodbye Key West! Hello Fort Lauderdale!
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When we woke up, our first thought went to the iguana. Was it still
there? Sneaked outside and yes, it was. After that we got ready and
decided to try and hit Higg’s Beach in the morning for some more
pics. After we had showered and packed away everything that had
still been out, before we started to haul down our suitcases and
stowed everything in the car. |
After all that work we sat out on the balcony one last time taking
in all the beautiful scenery before checking for forgotten items and
closing the door behind us. Again, we went to the Southernmost Beach
Café for breakfast. When we arrived we were stunned. The Café was
full. There were no empty tables, but we thought about asking
anyway. And when we approached the hostess stand we saw why they
were so full. The wedding party from the day before was enjoying
breakfast there as well. The hostess looked around and offered us a
small table close to a wall towards the back of the Café and we were
happy to have a seat in the first place. Our server was in charge of
the wedding party as well, so she was really working hard, but she
was friendly and fast to take our order. I ordered some
Orange juice and Tom had
some coffee and we had quickly decided on our breakfast fare. The
special Quiche was, what
had tickled Tom’s fancy. It was made with scallions, ham, provolone
and asparagus and came with a side of breakfast potatoes and a fresh
fruit bowl. I was missing Key West already and took refuge by
ordering something I can always eat, the
Beach Café Benedict,
poached eggs atop English muffin and sliced ham, topped with a light
creamy hollandaise sauce. They too came with a side of breakfast
potatoes and fruit and were delicious. |
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We both really enjoyed our breakfast but were fast to leave after we
were done, because they needed more tables and because we wanted to
see if we could get to Higgs Beach. So we walked back, checked out
and handed in the booking request for next year, then got into the
car and off we went. Since there was a d-tour on the shortest route,
we headed towards the beach. Within a few minutes we had made it
there and there were several free parking spaces, so we stopped.
Several people were checking out the beach and the pier and we
quickly made our way out onto the pier. There were so many fish in
the water, it was just amazing. |
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We watched for quite some time and could even see our hotel in the
distance. But the sun was very strong and we could feel our skin
burning, so we made our way back to the car. Not even out of Key
West we were already thirsty and dug for a bottle of water which we
emptied right away, then got into the car and off we went. The drive
takes you all around the island on one side, then you head towards
the main land. We wanted to take a photo of the sign when you leave
Key West, but I missed it and Tom was kind enough to turn around at
the next stoplight, so we could get the sign driving into the town
and leaving it again. And once we had the photos we got on our way
towards Fort Lauderdale. |
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The drive is pretty scenic, over lots of bridges and crystal clear
waters. Since you cannot drive to fast there is lots of opportunity
to look around. Around midday we started to watch out for Marker 88,
a restaurant I had read quite a lot about. We had said that we would
at least have a look IF we found it. So when we passed marker 80 we
started to look. We made our way up to 88 and found it right away.
You need to make a left turn when you drive towards the mainland and
drive down to the beach to get to the restaurant. To say the beach
looked awesome would have been an understatement. It looked
wonderful. |
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The restaurant looked inviting too, so we decided to stay and give
it a try. When we walked up, the hostess asked where we wanted to
sit, outside or inside. We considered dining inside for a split
second, but since the beach looked so awesome, so we asked for a
table outside. We were then led to a nice shady high table right at
the water’s edge. The server told us that as guests of the
restaurant we were free to use the beach. We hadn’t planned on that
and our swimsuits were buried somewhere in the trunk of the car, but
it was something to keep in mind for a return visit. |
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We both ordered a Diet Coke and it was served fast, while we were
still studying the menu. When the server came back to take our order
she already had refills on the tray. Shows that we were truly
thirsty by then. I wanted something a bit more on the lighter side,
so I ordered the Grilled Mahi
Caesar salad, grilled Mahi Mahi over Caesar salad with Haiku
tomatoes, roasted red peppers and Reggiano Croutons. I really liked
how light and fresh it all tasted and I was very pleased with my
decision. Tom had ordered the
Key Lime Seafood Penne, lobster, shrimp and blue crab sautéed in
a Key Lime Tabasco butter with tomatoes and scallions. It was a huge
helping and shock full of seafood and he enjoyed it quite a lot.
When we had both finished our main courses the server offered
desserts and since I had read about their
Key Lime Pie before I
could not help myself and had to try it. It was a HUGE piece of pie
that she brought out and I was sure there was no way I could finish
this. But this was the VERY best Key Lime Pie I had had all
vacation. The crust was homemade and a little thicker, tart, creamy
filling and meringue piled high. Heaven on a plate, so good. And
after every lust crumb was picked up from the plate and the bill
paid we walked out onto the pier that is part of the Marker 88
beach. |
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A few pictures later and back on dry land we decided to hit the
restroom before driving further towards Fort Lauderdale. Tom used
the one in the annex, while I headed into the main building. And
that was the moment I was happy we had decided to sit outside. While
it was clean inside, the restaurant appeared to be dated and dark
inside. Once we were ready and had finally dipped our toes into the
ocean as well we got into the car and were on our way again. We
still had a chunk of drive ahead of us and made good progress until
we hit the Miami area again. Guess what, we were greeted by grey
clouds again and hit heavy traffic. Thankfully the clouds didn’t
open up and we slowly crawled out of Miami. Miami behind us traffic
got lighter again and around 5pm we were close to Fort Lauderdale. |
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This
was our third stop at Fort Lauderdale, with the first one being in
1999 where we had been sure this was the worst stop of our tour.
Then in 2009 we stopped in Ford Lauderdale again and while we had a
nice hotel at the beach and stayed close to Bubba Gump, it was
loaded with mosquitos and we got bitten by some really poisonous
ones. Now, we hoped that this third visit would be the best one
ever. Initially we had thought about having dinner at Bubba Gump,
but by then we were not sure if we would be able to make it in time
as a few miles prior to Fort Lauderdale the traffic had become
considerably thicker. |
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And not only the traffic, but the clouds as well and it started to
rain. It started to rain hard. Finally we exited the highway and
went towards the city. And after a 20 minute drive we finally pulled
up to the hotel. We walked up to the front entrance and checked in
and were pleasantly surprised that everything had already been
prepared. All we needed to do was pick up the keys. The guy at the
front desk showed us the side entrance, so it would be easier for us
to bring in our luggage, explained about the areas where there would
be free internet and then walked us to the elevator. |
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We rolled our hand luggage inside and went up to our floor and were
shocked when we saw the door. There were obvious signs that someone
had to tried to break open the door. But the lock was still intact,
so we opened the door and walked inside. And that was the moment it
really hit me. Compared to the hotel we had just checked out of this
one looked run down and shabby. Don’t get me wrong. Everything was
clean, but “old”. We checked everything and I was really shocked to
see the balcony. |
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I had picked the hotel because it showed a nice oceanview balcony.
Well the actual balcony was less than two feet deep and half of it
was occupied by the air conditioning. I definitely wasn’t happy with
the creative photography they had used, but it was only for one
night. So we headed downstairs again and hauled all our luggage up
to the room. We unpacked what we needed to unpack and went on
exploring the room. Now, the last straw was when Tom found out that
the deadbolt was hanging by a thread. Now, that was it. We went down
to the front desk and I complained about it. The receptionist was
very nice and apologetic, but if we wanted to move all he could
offer was a room with a king bed and no view. |
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He offered to send someone up to check the door though. So, a little
later that employee came by and despite the obvious break in
markings we were told that this was a very safe hotel and nothing
had ever happened there. Yeah right. He then offered to repair the
deadbolt by pushing the screws in with his thumb. I wasn’t happy but
we had decided to build an inside wall with the ironing board and
our suitcases instead. Actually when I later tried to pull at the
latch it was easy to pull it out with my little finger. After we
both had cooled down a bit we decided against Bubba Gump and headed
out to just pick up some groceries. |
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We made our way into Fort Lauderdale again and while we had to wait
for a draw bridge to open I wanted to grab my purse and it was
gone.I knew I had last had it when we checked in, but was not sure
if I had put it down somewhere along the way. So once we had crossed
the bridge, Tom turned around and we headed back to the hotel.
Luckily after a few minutes I found it in one of our suitcases. Now,
purse in hand we were on our way back to Publix again. We picked up
some sandwich necessities and some drinks and snacks and when we
headed out of the parking lot we thought about dessert. I knew there
was a Krispy Kreme somewhere close, so Tom asked his trusted GPS and
we were on our way. |
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They did have the Hot Now sign on, but once inside it didn’t look
like they were actually hot. We bought half a dozen and finally got
on our way back to our hotel. In the meantime it had become dark and
when we finally arrived at the hotel all the “free” parking at the
side of the hotel was gone. So we parked in front of the main
entrance, as these were the only parking spots available. We hauled
our loot upstairs, Tom put the drinks in the fridge, we set the
table and turned on the TV and had a leisurely sandwich dinner in
front of the TV. Once we were done we built our “castle” in front of
the door with the help of an ironing board and our suitcases and
then went to bed. We needed to get out of there early the next day.
The Contemporary Resort was waiting. |
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