Alice sees Florida for the first time

The Fort Lauderdale airport is huge & ungainly. We had to walk at least a half mile to get to the shuttle pick-up spot for our hotel (Fairfield Inn & Suites), dragging about 150 pounds of luggage behind us. Quite a workout in the heat and humidity!

Later we walked along a six-lane highway to Cielito Lindo Cuban-Mexican restaurant, one of three eateries within a mile of the inn. Very noisy, with additional booming noise from planes taking off on parallel runway. Sumner had a margarita and a platter of enchilada, taco & chili relleno (huge portion, ***) and Alice had a Cuban dish of savory ground beef "Picollo Criolo" (****). Noticed in the dark on the way back that the Marriott entrance was lined with tall palm trees whose trunks appeared to be encased with concrete. Looked this up and found that there is indeed a "fake palm" industry, and these palms look very realistic and have way less maintenance cost and are less likely to be damaged in storms. The following morning we investigated and found that the Fairfield palms were real, but looked fake. Where the trunk touched the ground, one of these trees had damage at the back and we could see that inside the tree are a system of sucker-like strands instead of wood.

Mystery solved: "In botany, 'tree' is a technical term which does not include palms. Instead, palms --that don't have wood-- are categorized into the "manicot" class of flowering plants (along with orchids, tulips, onions, sugarcane, bamboo, wheat, and crabgrass). " http://www.answers.com/Q/Is_a_palm_tree_really

(Breaks Alice's reportorial heart to know that soon she won't be able to check facts like this because there won't be internet access on the ship.)

Fairfield Suites: surrounded by six lane highway on from and another highway at back, adjacent to airport runway. Ideal for the hearing impaired; others should bring earplugs. Nicely arranged room, comfortable king bed, four teeny tiny pillows. Bath good size. Sofa in anteroom not good for sitting. Two TVs but no privacy for sleeping or watching diff shows. No Kleenex in BR area. Super noisy HVAC that boomed and rumbled. Did not notice this much because of booming and rumbling from jets taking off and landing. One-person coffee machine for four-person room; only one packet of caffeinated "dark" roast that had no flavor.

Breakfast: Sui generis white carb array with a few healthy options. Scrambled eggs made from powder. Butter so cold it could not be spread. Saw one woman eat an entire pat on a corner of toast.

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