Well, we knew eventually that it might rain, but it turned out that the 50% of the precipitation seems to have fallen in the wee hours of the morning. Looking out the window of our room on the seventh floor around 4am, we could see rain falling, creating deep puddles in the road into the hotel. Speaking of this road, it is more of a detour, since this property is undergoing a renovation. The hotel part is not part of the construction, but the surrounding acreage has produced a building equal or bigger to the size of the standing hotel. We understand it will be for corporate offices. Eventually, this will be increased with buildings that look like apartments, but we cannot seem to verify that. From the future drawings, it appears that shops, cafes, and grocery stores will be built on the lower levels of these buildings. Interior gardens with fountains will be included, as well as a very large swimming pool. Bet it is at least a three year project. So right now, the main driveway into this hotel has been roped off, fenced, and detoured from a side street. There is no shortcut to walk out of the hotel to the main boulevard, making our walk even further. Of course, we could take taxis or even make use of the hotel’s shuttle that will go within a three mile radius in the early morning hours. But that would defeat the purpose of our exercise, now wouldn’t it?
Saturday seems to be a much busier day in the malls, so we decided to continue our explorations at Sawgrass Mills. Taking the shuttle, we had the same nice fellow, who happened to be our waiter last night in the dining room. He said that no one that lives in Florida hardly ever walks anywhere. So when the motorists see people walking, they think it is odd or they know they are staying at nearby hotels, like us. Like we said before, the blocks in this area are really long, so the distances on the maps are deceiving. Our driver said that Plantation is more like a bedroom community of the big cities (Miami & Ft. Lauderdale), and folks that prefer the suburbs come here….especially the retirees. On the drive to Sawgrass Mills, we have seen one retirement community after another. Each one bigger and more elaborate. There is one area here where you can have a new home built on acre parcels, more like being in the country so to speak. There are numerous strip malls every other block, as well as these malls that can be conservative such as Westfield’s or mega-size like Sawgrass. Restaurants abound, and have been fun to discover as we have had to do it.
So we strolled the Colonnades at the big mall, then went to lunch once again at California Pizza Kitchen. Can’t beat their BBQ chopped chicken salad. And as we expected, the number of folks here today was huge. And most of them were wheeling those suitcases once again. We had a few more things to stock our room with, then went to wait for our pick-up. Today, we simply told our driver that we did not have a cell phone, and we would definitely would be there at 1:15pm. He laughed when we told him that no public phones were operable, something no one has ever told him, or anyone else at the hotel. Why? Because everyone in the world has a cell phone…..well almost everyone.
The luggage we shipped from Ft. Lauderdale was scheduled to arrive at our house today. Tracking it, not all of the pieces went together, like we suspected they should. Sometimes it is better not to do the tracking along the way, but they make it so easy, we always do. Anyway, we were informed via email, that they had been delivered this afternoon. Or at least 4 out of the 5 are there. This is the first time we have been able to send the luggage home ahead of us, as we are always on the ship after the world cruise, sailing back to California. We are not allowed to send it off, so it goes along with us for the re-positioning cruise. The only other time the ship went into dry dock, we had a hold put on the delivery until we got back. However, this time, they could not hold them for 29 days. Hopefully our son will be able to haul them inside.
We stayed in for an early dinner, expecting that rain to return. It never did. Tomorrow….well that may see some more rain according to the local weather report.
Bill & Mary Ann
