It is finally here. The day where we can pack our suitcases, grab our beach bag and hop on a plane for the first time in two and a half years! There were times over the past two years that I doubted this day would ever come. But the sun is shining and we are ready to put our toes in the sand once more!
This trip was to visit Ben's brother Jason who invited us to spend spring break with him at his condo at the W in Ft. Lauderdale. Who could say no to that invitation?! I was excited to see Jason whom we had not seen since 2019, and to see Florida, having only visited Disney World previously.
And we’re off!
The flight passed so quickly, I didn’t even have time to watch a movie. By the time I read a magazine and ate lunch, we were almost there!
We have arrived!
Our beautiful home for the next week!
After visiting with Jason awhile and unpacking, we got ready to go to dinner at Takato, a sushi restaurant in the Conrad hotel a few blocks from Jason’s condo.
Jason's balcony made for great pictures. Don't we look so relaxed already?!
Dinner was delish! Jason always knows the best places! I think we tried almost everything!
After dinner, we took a moonlight walk on the beach.
Welcome to Ft. Lauderdale!
We ended the night with a drink at the hotel bar.
Back at the condo, we had a great view from the balcony. Our vacation was off to a great start!
The next morning, Ben and I walked to the nearby Westin for breakfast at a place that had good reviews on Trip Advisor. We love to have breakfast outside on our first day of vacation.
Then we took a walk along the beach path to CVS for a few things we needed.
Then it was off to spend the day at the pool!
It is sooo windy in Florida and the pool deck was one of the windiest places of all!
At one point we went over to the other pool, but we liked the pool with the hot tub better.
Did I mention it's windy in Ft. Lauderdale?!
After our pool day, we went back to the condo to rest and get ready for dinner. I sat on the balcony and had a cup of green tea. We loved the balcony, it’s easy to see why!
Before dinner, Ben and I took some pictures on the balcony.
Golden hour!
Dinner on this night was at a tapas restaurant called Sun Surf Sand (or S3) at the Hilton next door to the W. This was my favorite of all the restaurants we tried.
For dessert, we had their signature donuts, sooo good!
After dinner, we took a walk along the beach path.
We walked through the southern part of the hotel strip where all the spring break crowd was partying!
This is the famous Elbo Room bar. They must call it that because you are literally elbow to elbow in there!
The next morning, Ben went to the gym while I relaxed in our room. I had a view of the water from the bed!
I had my leftover donut for breakfast and it was still delicious!
Ben and I went down and enjoyed the hot tub and relaxed by the pool for awhile.
All this relaxing made us hungry, so we went down to the hotel restaurant for second breakfast!
Around noon, we met up with Jason and the three of us walked to the Bonnet House Museum. Built in 1920 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Bonnet House Museum & Gardens is one of the few complete homes and studios of two American artists with original furnishings open to the public.
And I thought my patio was nice!
The home is exactly how it was when the owners lived there in the 1920's -- even down to the pictures on the walls! It really was like stepping back in time.
I loved seeing the old kitchen!
The dining room.
The drawing room (what we call the living room today).
After the tour, Jason suggested we stop for a Thai iced tea, which I had never tried. We stopped at Thai on the Beach, a restaurant where we would be having dinner later in the week.
Another great suggestion from Jason!
Next to the Bonnet House is Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, named after the man who purchased the land for the Bonnet House as a gift for his daughter. He donated the land for the park in order to preserve a section of the city free of development.
We went and walked the 2.0 mile trail inside the park.
Ben got a video of a gopher turtle, which is one of the cutest things I've ever seen!
The walk through the park leads to part of the intracoastal waterway.
We really enjoyed our day in the park and at Bonnet House.
Back at the condo, we got ready for dinner and pics on the balcony.
Dinner on this night was at the hotel’s Mexican restaurant, El Vez. I got fish tacos and Ben got the nachos and it was all really good, and so much food, we had leftovers.
Our bounty of food!
After dinner, we walked over to the lobby bar at the Hilton for a drink. Three guesses which one is mine!
Back at the condo, we sat on the balcony until bedtime, another great day in the books!
The next day was Wednesday, beach day! After all the walking the day before, we decided to spend about 15 minutes in the hot tub before going to the beach.
We were at the beach at 9:00 am to get our chairs. It was a beautiful day at the beach!
Around 11:00, I saw that the girls next to us had these delicious looking açaí bowls from the vegan restaurant at the W. I told Ben I was going to get one for us to share, and being the great husband that he is, he went and got it for me.
It was so good! Spoiler alert: this isn’t the last time you will see this bowl!
Around 1:00, I wanted a pina colada, so we decided to move over to the pool for awhile. Jason and Ben went to the gym while I sat at the pool with my drink and my book. Heaven!
At 3:00, we went to El Vez for happy hour.
And then at 5:00, we had pizza for dinner. We make sure to never go hungry on vacation!
Even though we weren’t dressed up, I couldn’t miss golden hour on the balcony!
We spent the rest of the evening out on the balcony, digesting!
The next morning, Ben and I took a walk on the beach path. There was a chair I had seen earlier in the week that I knew would make a great photo op. Luckily, there were some nice guys there who offered to take our photo.
As our reward for all the walking, we stopped at the vegan place for an açaí bowl on the way back to the condo.
It rained and was cloudy during the afternoon so we just sat out on the balcony all day and relaxed and ate our leftovers. It was nice to have a lazy day and we still had two full days left to enjoy.
Dinner was at the Thai restaurant, Thai on the Beach. It was great, just like all the restaurants Jason took us to! This was Ben's favorite meal of the trip.
Of course, we sat out on the balcony before calling it a night.
On Friday morning, I had the idea to have breakfast on the beach. I had brought my beach blanket so we didn’t have to worry about getting chairs. We grabbed our açaí bowls and headed to the beach.
After breakfast, we took a walk on the beach along the water.
As we walked along the water, we spotted these weird purple things on the beach. We realized they were actually Portuguese man o’ war that had washed up on the beach. Luckily we didn’t step on one!
We decided then to forego our beach walk and head back to the condo. On the way, I decided I wanted to walk back to the Bonnet House to get a gift for my co-worker who was covering for me at work that week. So we picked up Jason and took a walk so I could buy my gift. We picked up another Thai iced tea on the way.
Today we were taking an afternoon boat ride along the intracoastal waterway and then having dinner on the famous Las Olas Boulevard riverwalk. I was excited to see all the yachts and million dollar homes along the water.
Our boat for the tour!
This is the Stranahan House, which was built in 1901 and is the oldest structure in Broward County.
How the other half lives!
This was my favorite house on the tour. It belonged to the late Wayne Huizenga, the owner of the Miami Dolphins. He was apparently really friendly and well-known around Ft. Lauderdale.
My own private beach? Yes please!
A house on the water AND a yacht? That's just not fair!
The world's largest cruise ship was in port, the Wonder of the Seas.
Downtown Ft. Lauderdale.
Dinner was at a place called YOLO on Las Olas. We decided to sit outside and make our dinner from the Happy Hour menu.
During dinner, I took one last look to see if the sold out tour of the Everglades I wanted to go on had any openings. To my surprise, two spots were open so we booked the tour for the next day right there at the table. Yay!
After dinner, we decided to walk the 3 miles back to the condo instead of taking an Uber. It was a nice evening, but it was a really long walk in a dress and sandals!
We got to see the bridge over the waterway go up to let a boat pass through.
Back at the condo, it was lights out for us, we were pooped!
Saturday was our last full day. I couldn’t believe it was already here! But we had a fun last day planned. Ben and I were going to take a 4-hour tour of Everglades National Park and then the three of us were going back to S3 for dinner.
Our morning started with another açaí bowl. I am really going to miss these every morning!
We had an 8:30 am pickup for our tour but our guide didn’t arrive until around 9:00. So we got off to a late start but we had all day so it didn’t matter.
Our ride!
On the drive, our guide explained facts about the Everglades, such as the fact that it is actually a river not a swamp, a common misconception. The brush you see in the water is sawgrass.
At the park, the first thing we did was take a nature walk and we saw a mama alligator right off the bat!
We saw her babies too!
There were also crocodiles and alligators in enclosures. They were born in the park so this is the only home they have known. They seemed fine with it!
Ben got this video of a snake--the guide said it was a brown water snake.
More of the nature walk.
There were dragonflies everywhere, swarming around!
Then it was time for our airboat tour out on the Everglades. It was really fun!
We saw another alligator!
Some video of the boat!
I thought the Everglades were beautiful.
We had a great time on the tour!
Back at the condo, we were pooped. So we rested on the balcony until dinner. A cold front was blowing in -- and I do mean blowing! The temperature dropped about 10 degrees and was in the 60's by dinnertime.
We had another lovely dinner at S3!
We got the donuts again!
It was a great way to end our last full day in Ft. Lauderdale!
The next morning, we did some packing and then decided to have a nice breakfast before our flight home. Jason got up early and joined us and we had breakfast at El Vez at the hotel.
Don't let our smiles fool you, we were not happy to be going home!
Afterwards, we stayed on the balcony as long as we dared before leaving for the airport.
It's not goodbye Ft. Lauderdale, it's see you later!
A big thank you to Jason for being the perfect host once again and to Fran and Harvey who paid for our flights for the trip, even though they were unable to join us. Hopefully we can all travel together again soon!
I can finally say it once again -- time to plan the next vacation!
