Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Ft Lauderdale, FL
Travel Article

April 2006

Ft Lauderdale is a fast moving city with a great deal to offer. Cars move fast, people rush around and even the wind, wildlife and foliage seem to be in a hurry.  Now, mind you I do live in one of the most laid back places on earth so maybe, just maybe it is me. We tend to do things slowly. In Ft Lauderdale  they do not. We stayed in a town called Weston outside of the city. It offered the usual suspects:  Walgreens, Publix, and lots of fast food restaurants. Weston was beautifully manicured and comfortable.  Near-by there is Markham Park which offered something for every kind of sport enthusiast.  Each activity had its own controlled area.  General admission was $1 per person.  There were sections for remote controlled airplanes, shooting ranges of all kinds, ski mobiles, boats, bike paths, swimming pools and lots of parking. This is a great park to bring the family for the day.  They even have a doggie park with a Frisbee area. You can rent kayaks, canoes, and small boats as well as bikes. It really is a well thought out facility.

We decided to explore downtown on Saturday hoping there might be less traffic on the weekend making it easier to navigate and learn our way around. We headed for Las Olas Boulevard which is renowned for shopping and dining. We parked by the canal and headed up the street.  Las Olas was bustling with people enjoying the beautiful day shopping and dining al fresco.  We decided to eat a light lunch and chose Mangos.  It was a large restaurant with two bars, plenty of table space and live entertainment at night.  We decided to eat at the bar which had windows facing the street so we could watch the fashionistas walk by. We had a lovely lunch of snow crab soup  and house salads.  We had been searching for guide books for information but had not found any yet.  When I went to the restroom I found a pile of information which we perused over a glass of wine.  The only plans we had for the entire week were to visit friends in Key Largo and eat at the Greek Taverna Opa.  I had seen an ad for this restaurant on the travel channel and went to their website to check it out.  It sounded like a fantastic way to spend an evening so we were going to check on reservations.

In the materials we found a handout on "The Water Bus" which traveled the city canals. between Las Olas Boulevard and the area where Opa was located.  It was only $10 a person for all day and ran until after midnight.  The water bus made 10 stops and was one and a half hours from stop 1 to 11.  It was mid-afternoon and we had no plans so we jumped on.  This is a MUST DO when you come to Ft Lauderdale.  The cool canals are refreshing and the views of mansions and yachts are hard to match.  It was absolutely gorgeous and something a person would never see if they just traveled by car through downtown.  We traveled about halfway and decided to disembark at Beach Place to check out the beach.  The beach was positively breathtaking.  Pastel blue water with soft white sand and palm trees just blowing in the wind.  We had a large cold beer at the Oasis Cafe which begins the beach drive at Ocean Blvd.  This was a neat little spot located in a triangle with an outside bar and covered swing tables.  It was captivating and a welcomed refreshment. 

We hopped back on the water bus and headed for the final destination at Shooters which Opa turned out to be right next to.  Another absolutely MUST DO on your trip to Ft Lauderdale is a trip to Opa for dinner. We had such an incredible fabulous time.  The restaurant is located right on the canal two steps from the water bus landing and our table was right over the canal. The food was both inexpensive and excellent.  They serve a delicious rustic hummus with pita and we ordered two different Greek white wines to try. Our waitress Kimberly, who was gorgeous, warned us that one was very floral and had a finish of pine.  She was right and that became my husband's glass. We ordered stuffed red bell peppers and Pasticcio, a macaroni, ground meat, and béchamel sauce casserole.  They were both $9 and incredible. We ordered two red Greek wines to try which were under $5 and a Baklava to take home.  During our meal the wait staff locked arms and danced around the restaurant while the hostess threw cocktail napkins into the air and belly dancers danced on tables.  It was so much fun.  I mean it you must go there.

One day we headed to the beach after the morning commute was over.  We already knew where we wanted to head after stopping at the beach from the water bus.  We found convenient parking at Beach Place which not only offers parking but a center of shops and restaurants.  A fun thing to do or watch at the beach here is parachute surfing.  Surfers use a small board attached to a multi colored parachute and use that to guide them.  It makes a spectacular site with all the parachutes in the air like kites.  We spent some time on the beach and then headed back to Beach Place for lunch. Another incredible thing about the city of Ft Lauderdale is they have managed to keep over 23 miles of beach for the public.  That is so unusual now adays. There was a multitude of restaurants there but the one with all windows overlooking the beach caught our attention.  At Max's Palm Grille a lovely relaxed lunch with excellent service.  Ft Lauderdale beach is extremely beautiful with incredible blue water and soft comfortable sand.  We brought a small blanket we always keep in the car and sat under two palm trees watching boats, people and incredible athletes.  It was another perfect restful day.

We had planned to drive two hours to Key Largo to meet up with great friends we had not seen in years.  This is a great side trip while vacationing in Ft. Lauderdale.  We spent the day on the water on our friend's party boat passing through mangrove groves and enjoying life.  We docked the boat at the Island Grill where another friend was performing that evening and we all had dinner together.  It was a grand reunion. Paul the performer and Billy our boat captain have performed as Case and Davidson for many, many years.  Paul was performing and he and his family were getting ready to head back to NY where they live. Billy had the night off but also performs at the Ocean Grill, Lorelei and Mirada Beach. We got to spend time with their families and hear Paul play an excellent first set. Docking your boat for dinner after swimming in the clear blue water of the keys is something you don't often get to do but it is spectacular.

On our last night there we  picked up good friends at the airport flying in from St Thomas and took them to their hotel in Pompano Beach for Seafood Festival.  After many times around the block, many phone calls to the travel agency it did actually turn out that the Ramada Inn he had reservations for was the half crumbled building we were staring incredulously at. We had such a fantastic laugh, after we found them another place to stay.  We had a wonderful home-style dinner at Briney's Irish Pub, bid our friends well, and headed back to Weston to pack.  It was a great trip.

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