Ft. Lauderdale

We had a great few days in Ft. Lauderdale, staying at the "shack" my grandfather rented for the winter. We were there for four nights and four days, with my dad, Chuck, and Heidi. Heidi is the BEST cook in the world! We ate in two nights, and she amazed us once again with a wonderful prime rib that was cooked very nontraditional. It was six pounds- Darrel rubbed it down with a bunch of spices and garlic and other good stuff, we put it in the oven at 350 for one hour, at noon. Then the oven was turned off for the entire day, but we were NOT allowed to open the door (fear of death by Heidi made us follow the rules). Then we turned the oven back on to 350, 45 minutes before we wanted to eat. Believe it or not- voila! A perfect medium rare roast for six of us!

Darrel and I took a little boat cruise one afternoon, to see the sights of the yachts and mansions. Wow, is there a lot of big places down there! A house that might be a few million in Cleveland is easily 30 million there, if it's right on the water. Everyone who owned them was someone- usually a sports player, actor, or CEO of some company like Bally's or Netflix. We saw yachts worth over 70 million dollars! Just when you think you're doing pretty well in life... :)

Darrel and I went to dinner one night at Mai Kai. It has been there since the 50's or 60's, and is a really fun place. Imagine the Polynesian at Disney World- kind of the same thing. You go to dinner, then the Tiki girls and musicians put on a show. And fire throwing men! It was a bit expensive- $45 a person for dinner and the show, not including any drinks. We happened to check out the happy hour specials at the bar, and low and behold, half price apps! So we opted to eat dinner in there instead of the main restaurant.

It was so nice to spend time with Poppy- I miss him so much when I am on the road. He pulled a good one on me... we are planning a trip to Germany for my 30th birthday (to go to Oktoberfest), and guess who decided to come- Poppy and Heidi! They are a step ahead of us and already booked plane tickets. Sneaky people they are!