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Fort Lauderdale, FL

It may not be spring vacation, but I just had to see what the big deal about Fort Lauderdale is. The drive down there from Apopka on the Florida Expressway was extremely expensive with all the constant tolls and paying extra for my trailer. I did finally manage to find a mini Sun Pass for $4.95 at a rest stop to pay tolls automatically but of course it was too late to actually be able to use it that day. You can use the I95 instead to avoid tolls but it goes right through every major city on the way which will really kill your time. I did eventually get on over to the I95 when I ran out of cash on hand near Lauderdale.

I popped into a C2C-Encore park in Fort Lauderdale, the Sunshine Holiday Resort. I hadn’t made advance reservations but  a call to the Encore folks got me in that same day anyway. 🙂 Finding the park was not at all easy since it actually is in the big city off a busy street behind commercial buildings.  The park has the stangest and least convenient layout I have ever seen. The spaces are very close together with 2 rigs sharing each pad in opposite directions with utility hookups on the wrong side for both. Arrows on the pad tell you the direction to enter the space you want. The pool and sundeck looked nice enough but I didn’t see a clubhouse and if you don’t speak french you can forget about mingling since this is a very popular winter destination for French Canadians.

While there, I went down to the Riverwalk. It was nice to walk around watching all the yachts tied up and the water taxis coming and going.  The draw bridge rose several times for passing boats. It is clear from there that you are in a city of money.

RiverWater TaxiYacht a RiverwalkDraw bridge

Next I went to the Jungle Queen docks to tour the waterways and homes of the fabulously wealthy. The city is very much like Venice with canal after canal lined with homes, condos, and boats. This is where the rich folks live, at least part time. I took lots of pictures of the fascinating styles. Some of the homes are so large that I had to take multiple pictures. Notables who live or have lived here are Merv Griffin, Dave Thomas of  Wendy’s fame,  the guy who runs the biggest trash collection company, actor Johnny Depp, etc. There are condoes on one strictly private island. Iguanas sun themselve on the seawalls.

Jungle QueenCanalsHomeCondoes

Halfway through the tour, we stopped at a little island to see a live alligator show and a collection of tropical birds. The ice cream was pretty good there too and I was thankful to find a soda there as well.

Alligator showBird

Another day, I went to the beach. It really is quite lovely and great even on a rainy day. The water is warm and clear. Flying my kite in the strong breeze took little effort. It was the off season so nobody was going wild but the beach was plenty busy with families. Be ready to pay $10 for parking there though. I checked with a cop who told me I could park in a handicapped spot free with my tag but he couldn’t guarantee a new cop would know they let handicapped slide on that so take your chances.

Fort Lauderdale BeachBeach

For more pics click here.

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