The Journey Home to Canada
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2011
1
7
Trip End
Jan 18, 2011
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Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
We decided to visit Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, which celebrated 75 years in 2010. It has beautiful hiking trails, bikes, canoes and kayaks for rent, and which is conveniently located across the street from the beach. We spent some time looking around and letting the kids play at one of the playgrounds. There was this enormous Banyon tree that we played in and around for a while. Once the kids saw Gino climb up into it, they wanted to as well - of course. But it had rained the night before and the tree was very slippery, so we nixed that idea. Instead we opted to head to the beach for about an hour - our last chance to play in the sun and sand. We rented a beach umbrella and a couple of chairs (the vendor cut us a deal on the all day price, since we were only going to be there for an hour) for $10. The all day price for the umbrella was $15 and the chairs were $10 each. It was a gorgeous day, with a high over 80. The water was cooler than the pool water we had gotten used to, but it didn't stop anyone. The kids stayed busy at the shore trying to keep a pile of sand from being washed away, and Gino enjoyed swimming out to snorkel for a while - he saw a few bright fish, but not much.
We stayed at the beach to the last minute and pushed it to return the car on time, grabbed a taxi and were off to the airport. The Spirit staff member we got was very enthusiastic and wanted to help, but was very slow...it was after 2 and we hadn't had anything to eat since 9, so every second she spent asking a colleague for help was painful. She and her counterpart, working beside her, thought it was unfortunate that we paid for checked bags that could have been carried on at a lower price per bag, but quickly thanked us for the "donation" and laughed heartily. Spirit has a no refund policy. We didn't find the donation joke very funny. The kids did very well, all considered. Maya was co-operative with taking off her shoes at security this time, and we were all through very quickly. We had lots of time to grab food and relax a little before boarding.
We stopped at a favourite Windsor Vietnamese restaurant called Bac Lieu, once we crossed back into Canada. It was 9, but we were all hungry so we stopped in to say hi and eat warm, comforting pho. A small bowl of soup was $5, a large was $6, the spring rolls were $6 and the bbq pork noodle salad was $8.50. We were out of there by 10, the kids were asleep 5 min later and we started our 90min drive home to West Lorne.
It was a fantastic first family vacation. Hopefully it won't be too long before we head out on our second.
