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| Radeen, Punkie and Shane |
Gallup, New Mexico, Radeen's hometown, is a long way from south Florida where her sister and brother-in-law live. Rose Marie, aka Punkie, traded their timeshare for a condo on the beach in Hollywood, FL. We moved Island Spirit from Marathon in the Florida Keys to the Hollywood Municipal Marina. One can really become spoiled with a rental car, a slip, and a condo facing the ocean! We slept on the boat at the marina and used the rental car to come and go and to show Punkie and Shane the wonderful sights of South Florida.
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| Hollywood Beach Towers Resort |
Hollywood is a wonderful beach front town with a well designed boardwalk made of paving tiles level with the sand. The boardwalk is 2.5 miles long with the typical gift shops, pubs and ethnic restaurants. Renting a surrey with bike pedals for 4 was a great way to see the boardwalk and the guys enjoyed a tour via electric stand-up Trikkes. With the condo unit on the 11th floor ocean side, we could enjoy the view and see the full moon rise over the ocean.
On the first day, we took in the French-Canadian Festival on the boardwalk, complete with crepes, and also drove to the Fairchild Botanical Gardens south of Coconut Grove and Dinner Key.
The next day we enjoyed alfresco dining for lunch on Ocean Drive in Miami's South Beach. Luckily, we bumped into the 50th anniversary celebration of Lamborghini Automobiles. After the president of the company and the Mayor of Miami spoke, 50 Lamborghinis revved up their engines for a parade from South Beach to Palm Beach! What a sight to see...Italian employees on radios organizing the cars with company executives and honored guests. These cars range in price from $250,000 to $640,000 $US! We also explored Lincoln Road Mall, always a fun walk with outdoor seating and coffee shops.
The next day found us in search of an Apple Store to have our broken iPad replaced. The Apple store in Aventura Mall turns out to be the SECOND most busy store in the USA, second only to the New York City Apple Cube! The place was crazy busy with well-dressed shoppers speaking many different languages and 5 year old with their own IPads. We took the first available appointment - 2 days later! Then we all could not resist the pull of the Cheesecake Factory Restaurant, again dining al fresco.
Another fun adventure was a boat trip up the New River aboard the Jungle Queen. This is a 3 hour tour past the many beautiful homes and yachts all the way up to Marina Mile past I-95. What a great trip this is! The next day found us back at the Aventura Mall to the Apple Store. We also enjoyed the very modern Museum of Science & Discovery in Fort Lauderdale with an amazing Everglades Airboat Simulator and other interesting exhibits. Punkie & Shane came aboard for lunch one day to see our boat and marina life. This was such a fun time and a stark contrast to living on a boat. Malls, Cars, Shopping, Grocery Stores, and Condo Living.....wow....so easy!
Our visit was too short and after only five days, Punkie and Shane flew back to the dry, cold southwest high desert. We never seem to have enough time together......
We made good use of the rental car to accomplish two separate trips to Publix for provisions, to Total Wine, West Marine, Bluewater Charts and the WEMA Gauge Company. On our last day in Hollywood, we had a surprise visit from former IP-owners, Debbie and Craig. Sadly, we didn't take a photo to prove it!
Here are a few photos of our visit
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| Family fun! |
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| Banyan trees along the road in Coral Gables, FL |
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| We were lucky to have great weather every day! |
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| Mojitos and other drinks with Cuban sandwiches on South Beach |
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| We enjoyed South Beach's vibe and Art Deco Archtecture |
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| A scary Alligator Show was part of the Jungle Queen excursion |
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| This photo is not zoomed in...we were very close! |
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Dinner at Five Guys with IP-31 True Love owners Keith and Blanca.
They are our support team in Miami, providing cheerful mail and chauffeur services! |
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| A new experience for all was watching Jai Alai, the fastest ball game in the world! |
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| Pedaling our surrey on the boardwalk |
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| Saying good-bye at the airport - hope to see you soon! |
Another fun adventure was a boat trip up the New River aboard the Jungle Queen. This is a 3 hour tour past the many beautiful homes and yachts all the way up to Marina Mile past I-95. What a great trip this is! The next day found us back at the Aventura Mall to the Apple Store. We also enjoyed the very modern Museum of Science & Discovery in Fort Lauderdale with an amazing Everglades Airboat Simulator and other interesting exhibits. Punkie & Shane came aboard for lunch one day to see our boat and marina life. This was such a fun time and a stark contrast to living on a boat. Malls, Cars, Shopping, Grocery Stores, and Condo Living.....wow....so easy!
Looks like you had a great visit.
ReplyDeleteThe water looks beautiful as usual.
So tell me about the Lamborghini... Did you buy one?
Perhaps a his and hers?
Enjoyed the blog update. Thanks for sharing. Too bad I had to return to my cabin remodeling project today, and what seems to be every day in the future. Keep up the fun times and sharing'em.
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