Saturday, February 21, 2015

**Back to Dania...2.21.2015

Now at Anchors Aweigh in Dania Beach..nice place with living room kitchen and separate bedroom...Just got word that people who were coming in later now coming as planned...back to original plan...at this point... have to leave Feb 28th AM...

Bedroom to ACB's right...very comfy

After getting settled we went to Dania Beach..wind blew pretty hard but warm enough so still comfortable...stayed until about 4 then went to Publix to get food and beverages
 Mom and her secret camera shot
Mom focusing on her book

Windy but perfect for the guys wind surfing..looking toward Fort Lauderdale

Another picture from above Dania Pier of wind surfers

Mom is about where I have her marked...pic from the pier..looking toward Hollywood, Fl.

Good day on beach..weather warm with slight breeze..watch a guy catch a moray eel... mean, writhing little critter...
Most were fishing on south side of the pier.

Fishermen didn't get close to this guy...Moray eel...and viscious!

Moray eel...wrapping itself up...see it's jaws? Hateful!

More of bubble boy...and girl.

Cigarette boat... this doesn't do justice..probably 40-50 ft. long...note the marina on back....Montreal... by far the largest group of license plates are from Quebec.

Playing in inflatable balls on inlet

Polishing her boat...good job

Exercising... it's working!

Monday 2/23 probably the warmest day we've had in South Florida...little breeze and high of 80...got out of the nest early this am and watched the sun come up...not too early though...about 6.50...nice out and not by myself...lots of folks out exercising and enjoying the ocean.

Tonite 2/23 we went to the number one restaurant in Hollywood Fl. It is a Mexican restaurant right on the boardwalk (though it's concrete) called the Taco Spot ..http://thetacospothollywood.com/ on Hollywood beach..grabbed a chair out front and enjoyed watching the people... which like us are in all shapes and sizes.

Today's pics

 Sun heading west, ship heading east...Feb 23rd.

 Beautiful morning

 Not sure if this is punk rock band car or what..note grille.

Supposedly best restaurant in Hollywood Fla... and it was very good!
http://thetacospothollywood.com/

Today, Feb 24th... woke up with some kind of crud.. felt it in my throat last nite... ok after coffee this am and went to beach... beat when I got back to room...slept a couple hours...feel some better after shower and a bite to eat... What a wuss... and on vacation none the less.

Today Feb 25th...hitting the meds hard and hitting the salt air harder.... seems crud nearly subsided... decided to go to Jaxsons in Dania...we'd been there twice for ice cream but so many people lined up to get in we passed...tonite we decided to go wait and find out the hub bub... no one waiting and we walked right in at 6:30..good dinner in an interesting environment.

Mom had the black and blue burger and I had the pastrami... didn't short change either of us....her onion rings not there yet!

 Interesting place...http://jaxsonsicecream.com/

Another day, another day.....2.25.2015

Feb 26...looking like rain so decided to take the day off from the beach and try to find a place to stay for our last two weeks of avoiding winter. Found a place in Pompano Beach but will look at one more option here before deciding.
We also stopped at a restaurant "Catfish Deweys" just to see where it it located. We intend to go there Fri nite for their sea scallop dinner... couldn't resist lunch though and it was very good...just a hole in the wall with a bar filled with locals .

 Catfish Deweys... a real local restaurant with good food.

 Tried to get Annette to snatch this for Doug

 We sure have had fun here.
Recommend everyone to follow this at least once...more if able... to much to absorb on one pass.

Friday, Feb 27th.... got good news this morning... John, at Sunshine called about a cancellation... we can have the room in the morning until the 14th...will be in Dania one less day than planned but don't have to move and don't have to get hotel room two nights.... VERY good.... We went out tonite to Catfish Deweys as planned and got the all you can eat sea scallops...soooo good....but of course ate too much... oh well, have to do it once in awhile to know not to do it....does that make sense? Didn't think so!


One of seven deadly sins...Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires....We plead guilty. Will never go to an AYCE place again (fingers crossed)


Overcast and a little cool (for here) so ACB gathered in the courtyard here at the motel and finished her 5th book. Retirement so agrees with her!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

*2/16/2015...Moving to the mainland a few days..weather got cold and turned to sight seeing.



Monday Feb 16th we left Sunshine Motel and moved into a Motel 6..just not the same... across the inter coastal a couple miles...John at  Sunshine said we could park our car at the motel until we moved back across Saturday.
Went to a place called Tarks that I read about on Trip Advisor.. reviews said a hole in the wall... and it was... but food and atmosphere were great..mostly locals so didn't make choices as good as if I'd been there before...neat place....
Hole in the wall where we ate Feb 16th ... good fish, wings and plenty more...If I'd been a regular I'd have tried some of the other dishes the locals were shoveling down..

Tuesday we went to the beach again... was about 80 for part of the day but kinda windy... we've been pretty good about not getting burnt, though and got under the  umbrella and shade from palms to quit baking. Was a good day at the beach... Dania Beach is really nice. That nite we went to a place that was supposed to be one of the top places in town... place was packed....really disappointed... food average and service less..maybe just got there at a bad time or tired waitress...was a very interesting place to go though...either way probably won't do again.
                                         
Not as good as reputation

Today, Feb 18 it was cool and rained during the night...so I made an appointment at the Honda dealer to get the oil changed in the car.. we've put on about 2600 miles and not home yet...light said oils wearing out so figured should change... since cool decided to take a road trip and pick up a couple light house below Miami and at the same time take A1A all the way down...directly through every town...including  Miami Beach and Miami..On the way back we purposely avoided downtown Miami this time since about time for people to leave work... but hit A1A above Miami... see things differently heading north. Lots of pictures which I'll label as time allows.
Thursday the 19 th was the coolest we've seen... we stayed in the room pretty much the entire day and went out at 7 to see The Imitation Game... it was good...glad 'ol ACB is a senior citizen since got the cheaper rate with her....
Today Fri. 20th of Feb we were stalking the elusive , compatible bathing suit for ACB.. We have been to all the high dollar stores as noted earlier about going the mall at Aventura. We tried a couple more but still no luck.. Probably end up finding one in Parkersburg.
This evening we went back to an ice cream place we tried earlier and as can be seen below found a HUGE banana
split..http://jaxsonsicecream.com/ . They have been in business since 1957 and also have a restaurant that was backed out the
door..
                   
And yes...it was as good as it looked
Tomorrow we move back to Dania Beach and will remain until Sat. 2/28
                                               
Across the intracoastal waterway...not far south of Hollywood...and these are small


One of hundreds..if not thousands we have seen.

Not sure what these structures... they were canvass frames...think they  were for http://www.benettiyachts.it/ yachts ... but seemed like were being built on the intercoastal waterway for miles...getting closer to Miami Beach

They should be proud of it! 100 years.

Benetti Yachts since 1873...http://www.benettiyachts.it/

Some of the art work in Collins Park

Some of the art work in Collins Park...have too zoom in to see more...in front of palm grove.


Thre were two vintage 50's cars...only caught this one... must have escaped Cuba.

Example of South Florida Colors.

Miami.... coming from the north on A1A

Interesting tree near Key Biscayne in one of many parks along the ocean and waterways.

These are some of the houses built on the water mentioned on a previous sign... below Key Biscayne
Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park...Cape Florida Light House

At Seminole Indian Casino near Hollywood.

Neat downtown with shops and restaurants.

Well yes....it is Hallandale Beach

Every town had it's banner

Every town had it's banner..and palm trees.

Says Sunny Isles Beach..Florida's Riviera

Just some examples of what is all the way from Hollywood to Miami

Florida colors

Flowers and money grow everywhere.

Just a point of reference

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park...Cape Florida Light House

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park...Cape Florida Light House...below Key Biscayne.

Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park...Cape Florida Light House

These were at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park... whre the light house was also.

University of Miami Hospital

We're dead in the middle of Miami...streets go up and down from here.

More stacked boats.

Welcome to the city of Miami Beach

Crossing intracoastal waterway looking south toward Miami...getting back to A1A

Surfside Banner....they love turtles

Turtles all over in surfside.
This is where Cape Florida Light house was located
More boats stacked ... ready  to use once paid someone to take them down and launch


Florida's Riviera again


Light house off Cape Florida Lighthouse.. could be seen from bigger light house...was 6.5 miles out... but true light house from 1800's 


 Where Tricky Dick used to winter

 Miami from Rickenbacker Causeway...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickenbacker_Causeway

 Hard to see but this is Port Miami to the right of above picture.

 Winter jacket and winter shorts...what's this all about...we're in south Florida


Picture of picture taker... had to wear winter coat and winter shorts!!!!
Thinking about putting one of these in front of our house....looks good in Fl in front of someone's