A Weekend On the Gold Coast

A Weekend On the Gold Coast
Traveling with “The Accidental Tourist”

A few weeks ago, I planned a trip to south Florida. For most of 2016, I had a traveling partner. My journey is now a solo experience. What happened over the next 55-hours, was a beautiful yet eye-opening experience. The Gold Coast was golden, memorable, and life changing. I can’t predict tomorrow, but I know the path I must follow. I was a tourist, and this was no accident.

Friday Morning

My flight was at 12:45pm out of Houston’s Hobby Airport. It’s the older, yet smaller sibling to Bush Intercontinental. Southwest Airlines flies out of Hobby, and I enjoy them because they offer a less rigid flying experience. Of course I left the house late. A last minute dash to the cleaners, grocery story, and leaving a few items to be picked up the following day consumed my time. Before I knew it, the clock let me know it was 11am. With a 45-minute ride to the airport, I was cutting it close. Oh yeah, I need fuel as well. On this trip, I selected a different parking facility. This is a new lot, with a one time, drastically reduced daily parking rate.  As I dropped the car off, I wondered whether I would see it intact when I returned Sunday evening. After listening to the shuttle driver discuss his views of life, family and career I departed the shuttle and proceeded through the TSA line and to the aircraft.

The first flight (to Atlanta) was uneventful. I realized as we landed that my connecting flight was due to depart in about 20 minutes, so I had to dash to the next gate. Once I landed, I learned the next gate was 50 feet away, so I was able to breath a bit. The flight to Fort Lauderdale was more stress filled. My seat was on the sun facing side of the aircraft in the center seat (always hating that) and the gentleman by the window refused to close the shade so I spent the 95-minute flight squinting from the glaring sun. The good thing was the nice gentleman to my left. We spoke about his journey. He was also divorced and was visiting the region to attend a family wedding. Before I knew it, the time to land drew near.  There was a bit of anxiety in landing in Fort Lauderdale. As you may remember, this was the same airport where the multiple fatality shooting in early January. There was a certain tension in the air as I wasn’t the only passenger to reflect on the events of that Friday in January. Once on the ground, we had to wait (seems like forever) to taxi to the gate. The aircraft at our gate was late departing, and this was creating a bit of havoc on the tarmac, as other aircraft had to wait for us to taxi to the gate before they could. Finally, we taxied and began to get our things and move on with our weekend. As for me, it was a special weekend. My host was driving down from Palm Beach Gardens. South Florida traffic is historically horrific, especially on the weekends. After a bit of a delay, and a bathroom break (where I ended up briefly behind the wheel), we were on our way. The drive to Palm Beach County was uneventful.

Friday Evening

Friday evening began with a stop at the hotel to check in, and then to a restaurant to eat and of course engage in conversation. The food was delicious. My host is an Oncologist. It was interesting to learn how she viewed food and the art of healthy eating. The conversation was lively, the live music was Billy Joel and Elton John classics, and this first night was more than I could have hoped for.  After dinner, my host had to visit patients at a local hospital. That is of course what physicians do, take care of their patients. It’s a 24-hour job, and apparently very rewarding.  We pulled into the parking lot of Jupiter Medical Center and it was a trip down memory lane. In 1993, this was the home of my ex-wife’s first job. So much has happened since then. I waited in the car while “she” went inside to visit her patients. There’s something about South Florida air that’s refreshing and exciting. The palm trees, the ever-flowing gentle breeze harkens to a different time and place. Turning off the radio, I savored the silence.  Within 30-40 minutes, she arrived back at the car. It was a long day for both of us. She dropped me off back at my wonderful hotel, and she was off for the night. As for me, I stood silently in my room gazing out at the lights of South Florida. It was a good day. And she was a good person. This was a quality combination for sure, as this was much more than I expected.

Saturday

Before going to bed, I promised I would wake up early to capture the sunrise. Clearly my body clock had other ideas. Noticing the room seemed bright, I did wake up to see the clouds beginning to have light hitting them, but the sun was below the horizon. I quickly put on a pair of jeans and rushed out to greet the morning. The sky was brilliant with color and the palm trees swayed gently in the wind. In this part of the world, everything seems new. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an older gentleman sitting on a park bench, only to discover it was a statue of a World War II veteran! Yes, remind me to have my eyes checked. The sunrise was brilliant. I focused my shots on the sky on this morning instead of the topography. It was THAT unique. I fired off probably 20-30 photos, then returned to my room for a cup of coffee and perhaps a few minutes of ESPN. My host picked me up around 9:30 and we visited one of her favorite breakfast restaurants, Prosecco Cafe. The atmosphere was chill. We sat outside (because that’s what people do in South Florida in February) and ordered. She is serious about her diet, ordered bottled war. She described the impurities in our foods and basically how close we are to cancer causing agents on a daily basis. I then looked closely at my water, realizing I wasn’t as thirsty as first thought. Our food came after a bit of a delay and we ate mostly in silence. I’m a bit of a chatterbox when nervous. Those nerves were beginning to ease. We rode around Palm Beach Gardens and eventually Jupiter. She had to visit those patients from Friday evening, an older lady and gentleman (both fighting cancer). She dropped me off at the beach while she took care of those in her care.

Saturday at the beach was eye opening. I learned a lot about myself, reflecting on my past and hopeful for a bright future. I spent nearly 3 hours at the beach, talking to tourists and locals who were also enjoying the ocean on this winter day. A series of text messages from home sent me to a different place for a bit. At this point I was districted. At the same time, I wasn’t dressed for the ocean. Wet legs made me realized the tide had come while I gazed at the sea, getting my jeans wet! A young man walked to see if I was ok. Clearly I was far away in thought.  Later that afternoon, she picked me up and made a quick stop at Jenson Beach to snap a few additional photos.  Later, we went back to the hotel where I changed for dinner.  We stopped by her home so she could change. My mom, who is a top end interior decorator would have pitched a tent in this home, with a vow never to leave. Back to the journey, we tried to go to South Beach, but traffic and fatigue began to kick in. So we instead went to Fort Lauderdale. I was reminded of a recent visit, but the now was calling and we dined at Trulucks about a mile from the beach. The live music was incredible. This group sounded like Sade was in the next room, romantic and powerful. The food was incredible, and the company was intoxicating! The evening ended as it began, beautiful and unexpectedly wonderful.

Sunday

Sunday was an absolute gem. We started back at the breakfast location (Prosecco Café) from the day before.  It was a mirror of the day before: quie, beautiful and of course filling. After breakfast a quick stop and then began exploring the Gold Coast. Drove through Palm Beach, Gardens, Singer Island, Riviera Beach, (which was a bit scary) and then Palm Beach. There, we stopped and soaked up the sun (did I say she doesn’t like the sun) and I captured a few images on camera. We then headed to  Boca Raton along US A1A. Along this historic drive, we stopped along the way, was detoured because our President was visiting his Florida home, stopped and captured more photos (of course) and ended up at Mizner Park in Boca. There, we settled at an outdoor café for brunch and conversation. This trip was slowly coming to a close, and no one at the table was really interested in it ending. At least I wasn’t.

After brunch, we talked and drove through downtown Fort Lauderdale. Las Olas Blvd was abuzz on this late Sunday afternoon. While we only spent a few minutes there, it was a reminder of the place where I wanted to live and explore with more detail, preferably not alone.

Upon arriving at the airport, I learned my flight was delayed. A nice lady at the #Southwest Airlines counter rebooked me without incident, I watched basketball, and waited to board my aircraft for the flight home.

As I flew home, I reflected on the weekend, talked to an older lady about love and life and made a few decisions. The eye opening part of this trip was the realization that I was no longer looking at life in the rearview mirror as I had been for, what felt like months.

The journey is about the “now” and tomorrow. Yesterday is history. History belongs in the museum not in the present.