Florida 1

We've arrived in Ft. Lauderdale. Yesterday was spent mostly flying. We had a longer layover in Atlanta and found a nice Asian place where we could share a meal and then got a large smoothie to share while we leisurely waited for our next flight. But while we were getting the meal or the smoothie the gate was changed for the next flight. I know, it should be a warning signal if you decide to be leisurely about anything at an airport. But we walked very fast and arrived just in time to wait in line for fifteen minutes with other people who had also discovered the gate had been changed and walked fast to wait in line with us.

We are at the Waves, a resort about a half block from the beach. We came in after dark. There was no one at the office and no one answering the emergency phone numbers. Hmmm. There was a rack on the wall with some envelopes in it. The back envelope had a name that started with R. I pulled it out and it was for us. Our room was unlocked and waiting for us. Rm 242.

All of the rooms at this resort have 3 digit numbers on the doors. Except ours. The rooms above us all were in the 240's, but the room we are in just says '2'. So we walked around the building three times before deciding to try the door. It was unlocked and there was a key on the table.

The room isn't beautiful, or really even mildly attractive. The floor is pale beige. The walls are pale cream color. The doors and woodwork are bright white. There is not a single thing hung on any wall in the room. The only real color is the cheap bedspread.



The kitchenette consists of two plates, two cups, two glasses, and silverware, a refrigerator, a microwave, a toaster, and a sink. The only towel rack in the bathroom that comes equipped with a bar to hold the towels is inside the shower.


The tv is high up on a bare wall and doesn't have a remote or a channel guide. So to get through the many many channels to see if men's free skate is on requires standing by the tv, flipping the channels manually, and waiting after each push of the button for the commercials to end so you can see if this is the right channel or not. Needless to say, we missed the men's freeskate. Who won, by the way? Was it amazing?



It would be smart to arrive here during daylight hours so that the gardens and the fountain outside would flavor your first impression. As it was, we made the best of things by using only dim lighting and draping all my sarongs and scarves around the room to add some warmth and color...and then we left to go find some supper and groceries to warm or cool in our kitchenette.

Apparently we went the wrong direction for supper because there were few to none in the category of promising restaurants and we finally decided to be the only customers at a retro McDonald's (retro as in no Ronald imagery and the original logo out front). The young man taking our order had a really difficult time with it. Instead of a mac wrap Chuck was getting a fruit and walnut salad, etc. Finally he apologized and told us that this was his first day on the job at McDonald's.

From there we got groceries and made our way back to our motel/resort.




I was exhausted so I told Chuck I didn't want to wake up early enough for an ocean sunrise. However, he woke up wide awake at about 6am, and when he got up to get dressed, I decided to join him. The wind had completely died down so the only sound was the waves hitting the beach. It started like this


and then got a little brighter


and finally completely broke through.



Here we are enjoying the warmth of the sun hitting our faces.


Chuck took a nice long run after the sun rise while I had my devotions and did some journaling on the beach. I had company, since I was eating an orange we had brought out with us.


Then I got to walk a couple of miles and when I got back we had our microwaved hot pockets breakfast. Yum! (at least I liked them...Chuck wasn't so sure)

When he got back I walked a couple of miles and he took our stuff back to our room and had a nap.

You know, after all that time on the beach and enjoying the sun and getting some exercise, the room seems like only a minor annoyance. I totally love not having to drive anywhere to get to the beach. It is great that Chuck can go without me or I can go without him if we want, and it won't be hard to find each other later. I think I will like it here.

That's it for now.

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