The Beach

They say all good things must come to an end and so it was with our visit to my family in Fort Lauderdale (Mark calls it Miami, but it's not even the same county). We had one thing we had to take care of in person before setting off and that was to sign over ownership of the MINI to my mother. After 10 years of faithful service it was time for me to let go in preparation, perhaps, of something bigger. Selling her (the MINI) was made easier knowing I would always be able to visit her and she was in very good hands who would attempt to keep her in the near mint condition I had managed to this point. I really could bear spending a ton of money to schlep her across the country one more time only to sell her shortly after arriving and never see her again. It would have broken my heart! 

Anyway, after getting that squared away we had lunch at the always delicious Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine owned by a family we have known for many years. Of course, Mark had to have the Lechon Asado [you can never really eat too much] and I ordered the Bistec Palomilla, a very thin pounded steak prepared the way my Abuela Mima used to make it. Paired with white rice and fried plantains I can think of no better way to fuel up for the road ahead. So off we went headed northwest in continuation of our trip. 

Mark apparently likes the way I call the Florida Turnpike "The Turnpike" as if there were no others in this country of ours, but truth be told for me growing up there were no others and so that stretch of road running through Orlando has always been THE turnpike. Probably one of the most fun things, at least it used to be when I was younger, about the Turnpike are the rest stops that lie in the middle of the north and southbound lanes. You don't have to exit and pay to get back on you just pull into the middle and take your pick of fast food venues. We usually get to stop once or twice along the way each time we make the trip, so they've become quite commonplace. This trip however upon stopping for gas we realize that we have pulled off at the same time as A'mare Stoudemaire of the New York Knicks [I wouldn't have recognized him except for the crowd of people he was very cordially taking pictures with, I mean he's tall and that tipped me off, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you his name if I hadn't heard someone say it].

We didn't want to drive for too long this night and so settled on Ocala as our destination. I'm sure I've driven through Ocala several times, but I don't think I've ever stopped. Ocala is best known as the home of Silver Springs, a naturally occurring artesian spring located in the "Florida's First Theme Park." In addition to glass bottom boat tours, there is a zoo full of all sorts of animals. Unfortunately our timeline would not allow us to visit as we had arrived after the park had closed and would have to leave in the morning with too little time to visit. We hunkered down in our Holiday Inn Express for the night, ordered some very tasty local pizza [a pesto, chicken, and mozzarella pizza from Pronto Pizza], and tried to get some rest for the next day's drive. We had to keep going on to Panama City Beach [not Panama City, but the town just to the west]!

I was so excited when Mark told me that Panama City Beach was going to be a stop on our trip! First of all it is the site of the annual Vanderbilt BCM end-of-the-year trip extravaganza! Both Mark and I have some terrific memories with some terrific people there. Although neither of us could remember the exact name of the hotel where we used to stay [we now know it's the Beachcomber by the Sea] we're not sure it would have mattered as most of the hotels on Front Beach Road would not take pets larger than 10 lbs. and even then would charge us an arm and a leg to have him there. La Quinta to the rescue! Although we couldn't stay directly on Front Beach Road, our hotel was a 3 minute drive to the public access point right next to the Beachcomber. Since Mark had to have some privacy to tend to some phone calls he was receiving, I asked him to drop me there and join me when he was done. I can't even begin to describe how good three uninterrupted hours lying in the Florida sun felt! Factor in the breeze coming in off the gulf and I was pleased as punch -- if it hadn't been so late in the day [my moments of solitude began sometime around 3:30] I could have spent forever out on the beach. 

Mark joined me earlier than expected due to the fact that neither of us had realized we had crossed into Central Time. I will say that I had a weird moment on the drive in where I looked at the clock in the car and it read 2:08, but I could have sworn I had looked at it earlier and it had said 2:21. Even with that it hadn't occurred to me that the Central time zone began in the Florida panhandle. I incorrectly assumed that all of Florida was in Eastern time. Bonus hour! Mark finished up his phone calls an hour earlier than expected and came down to the beach to play in the surf for a while. Well, he played in the surf I stood in ankle deep waves and watched him. 

Now quite a bit has changed in PCB since we had last been there. Our little Beachcomber was now the smallest hotel on the strip dwarfed by these mega-chains that connect over Front Beach Road to their own parking garages. Many of the places we enjoyed seven years ago [man has it really been that long Vandy-friends?] are still there: Shuck'ums, the diner, the Alvin's and Purple Haze chains of tourist merchandise. For some, like Pancakes Plus, all that remains is the sign and a concrete parking lot. They've been replaced an overshadowed by ridiculously gaudy Pier Park which contains five very tourist friendly restaurants including the ultra-popular, but not very good Margaritaville. When deciding on a place for dinner we figured that Open Table, the online reservation app, would be our best bet. It didn't disappoint although I will say it was a little pricey.

Our selection for dinner was Firefly located in a shopping center off of Middle Beach Road, just next to the crazy lazer neon bowling alley of wonderment [that's what the outside decoration was telling me, I'm just sayin'].The Firefly facade contains no windows and stepping inside you are transported back in time to what might amount to a "Good Ole Boys' club" feel. They want to be a really hip, yet stuffy cigar bar lounge type place with a restaurant attached. The food was delicious and our waiter was fantastic. We started with the crabcakes, each had a salad [Mark the caesar, of course, and me a butter lettuce with goat cheese and strawberries accented by a warm pecan dressing], and then came the entrees. Mine was a delectably rich parmesan risotto with scallops and grilled shrimp [although the shrimp tasted a little fishy, but I'm not really good at knowing what to do when that happens] and Mark had grilled grouper. Our final course was the raspberry and honey bread pudding served with vanilla bean ice cream -- ridiculously good! All in all, delicious. 

Tomorrow morning we will pack our bags and head out of Florida, hopefully joining Clark Dumas for lunch in Mobile before arriving in New Orleans for two days of celebration! Our anniversary is June 21st and we will be spending it Cajun style showing Mark around a city I was fortunate enough to live in for about a year and half while I was attending Tulane University (I transferred to Vanderbilt in the Fall of 2001 when I switched my major to Special Education). I'm looking forward to seeing it again and getting my fill of beignets and crawfish etoufee.