First Day in Burlington

What does one do on a rainy day in Burlington? That's easy to answer. You have a late breakfast, drink more coffee while reading the SF Chronicle, assemble your bicycle, have trout and beer for lunch, watch Sam and the Wenatchee Wild lose in overtime to the Powell River Kings and test ride your bicycle to make sure it is in working order. Then you meet with Tom and Julie Leever, John Beland and Trever Frid for dinner at an Indian restaurant. After eating a couple of cookies in the hotel lobby you go to your room, call home to check in, write your daily blog, read for a little while and go to sleep.   Not rain is predicted for tomorrow. We are going for a short ride.

Halifax to Burlington

I have never been in a commercial airliner where I had to duck while walking to my seat. Today I was in two of them. This was a day for United Express and two short hops to get to Burlington, VT.

Ann and I were in a relaxed mode while winding down from our Road Scholar tour of the Maritime Provinces. We were able to sleep in and then go to breakfast at our leisure. No more intense schedules to meet. We saw many of our tour group at breakfast so we were able to say our good-byes to them. All of them were leaving Halifax today, trickling out the door two-by-two to take taxis to the airport. Our ride arrived at 11:00. Airport taxis are not typical. They are nice private cars similar to those of Uber drivers. They are expensive because of the long distance to the airport. It takes well over a half hour to get there. The route goes past lots of vacant land where you would think that an airport could be built much closer to the city.

Ann and I had separate flights. She was traveling to San Francisco via Toronto. I was traveling to Burlington via Newark. We checked in at our different airlines and then went to the small food court to have lunch. After that we had to split up. If you fly from Halifax to the US, you go through US customs before going through security. It seems strange to see US agents in Canada. I was able to use my new Global Entry for the first time. It was flawless. I still had to talk to the customs agent which was eerie. He asked me some basic questions and then asked me to identify my checked bag which showed up on his monitor. I didn't know that they could do that.

Both of our flights left around 2:00. My two planes were configured with a single seat on one side and double seats on the other side of a very narrow aisle. It took two hours to get to Newark where I had over two hours to walk around and have a good sandwich at the Earl of Sandwich. Then I had another 1 1/2 hours flight to Burlington. I arrived in very warm temperatures. The hotel picked me up in its van. I checked in, picked up my bicycle which had been shipped earlier and went to the pub that is attached to the hotel.  Being Thursday night with the Patriots playing on TV and being in New England where there are avid Patriots fans, I couldn't find a seat to order a snack and a beer. So I went back to my room, found something to eat in my backpack and dumped all of my dirty clothes from the previous tour into the hotel's washing machine, caught up on Internet things and read a book until my laundry was done. I also had a couple of freshly baked cookies that the hotel puts out every evening.

Bedtime was early.

March 11 - Ft Lauderdale

We had a late breakfast this morning. We had it outside on the dock. Almost the same menu as yesterday except Ann had oatmeal. Coffee, fresh berries, English muffins, etc. The couple sitting next to us were from Holland. They are going on the same cruise as we are. This is where we ate:

We needed some exercise, so we took a long walk over to the shopping/restaurant area along Las Olas Blvd. We crossed a couple of bridges and passed several waterways with nice houses and large yachts.

Coconut palms lined the road. Our goal was to walk far enough so that we would be hungry enough for lunch. Our secondary goal was to see as much as we could of this district which was touted as the best shopping and eating area of Ft Lauderdale. We were a bit disappointed. There were some nice shops and galleries. Ann even browsed one of the stores to see if she could get a fancy dress for gala nights on the cruise. No luck. We managed to get hungry, though. We stopped at a cafe where Ann had a good flatbread open-faced sandwich with sweet potato fries. I had half of a Cuban sandwich and a salad. Our lunch specials included a large and very tasty brownie.

We debated whether to take the bus back or to walk. We decided to retrace our route and walk back to the beach. Along the way, we crossed the same bridges as before. This time I took a photo of the control house for the drawbridge with a water taxi going underneath it.

 

Our route back to the hotel included a stop at CVS for a few supplies. Then we lazed around the pool until it was time for dinner.

 

We had an OK meal at the Quarterdeck. My blackened shrimp tacos were pretty good and the local mango IPA was tasty. Ann's turkey burger was blah and her margarita was weak. We ate outside on a slider table. (Ask when we get home). There were some tanked up obnoxious people around us and we'll as major traffic passing us. This was one of life's experiences.

Our walk back to the hotel was along the beach. The bars were active.

 

 

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March 10 - Ft Lauderdale

American Airlines got us from Oakland to Ft Lauderdale safely and comfortably late last night. We took a taxi to the Pillars Hotel. This is a small boutique hotel right on the intercostal waterway and two blocks from the ocean. Our room is small but comfortable.
This morning we had a very good breakfast - mixed fresh berries, granola with yoghurt, English muffins and coffee. We ate in the small dining room. Tomorrow we will have our breakfast on the "dock" watching the boats sail past.

So what do you do with time to burn in Ft Lauderdate? We decided to take a walk along the beach. The wind was blowing pretty hard but the sky was partly cloudy and the temperature was in the mid 70s. I wore sandals, a short sleeved shirt and shorts. The white sand beach was pretty but the surf was ugly - very rough. The early birds were starting their tanning routine and the older folks were on brisk walks. We were more leisurely.

We stopped at a beach wear store so that I could buy a more up-to-date bathing suit. There was a sale with everything discounted. In addition, you could buy two things and get another free. What a bargain! I now have a new swim suit, a new t-shirt and some new sunscreen. I am definitely ready for our cruise.

Back at the hotel, Ann took a swim in the pool. She said it was very warm. I researched for a restaurant for lunch.

Our lunch was at LuLu's Bait Shack. I had some killer coconut shrimp while Ann had some good ahi fish tacos. I helped her to finish them. We also had some beer and wine. This restaurant, along with most important other restaurants along the shore, are set up for the beach crown. LuLu's has a couple of u-shaped bars and lots of tables. The doors are open to the weather. We sat one of the bars. It was here that we realized that it is Spring Break. The place was jammed with college kids and a few liquor induced old men. It was fun.
As we walked back to the hotel, we couldn't help but notice how the crowd on the beach had multiplied. Hundreds of kids were milling around doing what kids do. Lots of posturing and posing. We are happy that we left that art of our lives 50+ years ago.

Back at the hotel we had some downtime sitting by the pool reading and napping. When it was time for dinner we took a short walk over the the Casablanca Cafe. I had grouper crusted with a pepper sauce with nicely prepared string beans and spinach. Ann had a spicy corn chowder and eggplant ravioli. When we told our waiter where we lived, he got all excited and told us that Berkeley was one of his favorite places. He is an actor and dancer and performed at Berkeley Rep. He loves Berkeley Rep and Berkeley Bowl.
It's now getting close to bedtime so I am signing off. Hopefully this post will go out tonight. Internet is a bit flakey here.

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