RSS
Since buying my first convertible car a few months ago, I’ve learned the joys of driving A1A with the top down. There’s nothing quite like it. But Saturday evening … ahhh, Saturday evening was just about the perfect trip--- my two-hour drive from 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale all the way to the pier in Deerfield Beach. I stopped four times along the way just to breathe it all in.
I began at 6 pm, tooling along in my beautiful blue PT Cruiser, over the 17th Street bridge and up toward Fort Lauderdale beach. My dashboard gauge said the air temp was 72 degrees. Just pleasant and with low humidity, a cool freshness to the breeze that made me glad I wore a light jacket. The sky was unusually clear and blue and as the beach came into view I could see breakers rolling ashore. The sidewalks were bustling. It seemed as if everyone wanted to be outside. From the Elbo Room past all the cafes and shops, up through Beach Place and beyond – the area brimmed with couples holding hands, singles looking for some fun, parents strolling with the kids. People smiled and laughed. The ocean was a gorgeous turquoise blue beneath grand puffy cloudbanks that gradually darkened as night began to descend. I stopped for the first time at one of the free parking spaces along the northern end of the beach, just watching the surf and sky and smelling the salt in the wind.
Around the Galt Ocean area, the four lane road widens to six lanes and somewhere in here I stopped again to talk on the cellphone and appreciate the colors. The sky was magnificent now. Bands of rose spread thickly behind the clouds, which had turned gun-metal gray with the falling sun. The moon and the stars were slowly becoming more visible. I pulled back into traffic, reaching Lauderdale-by-the-Sea where the coast highway narrows and slows. I noticed that people there seemed just as eager to enjoy the weather. Restaurants were busy and clusters of tourists sauntered along the streets and sidewalks. I continued north, past all the new high-rise construction in Pompano Beach, accelerating here quickly just for the sheer joy of the cool breeze in my hair. It was nearly 7 pm by now, completely dark. But I still had a ways to go.
I began at 6 pm, tooling along in my beautiful blue PT Cruiser, over the 17th Street bridge and up toward Fort Lauderdale beach. My dashboard gauge said the air temp was 72 degrees. Just pleasant and with low humidity, a cool freshness to the breeze that made me glad I wore a light jacket. The sky was unusually clear and blue and as the beach came into view I could see breakers rolling ashore. The sidewalks were bustling. It seemed as if everyone wanted to be outside. From the Elbo Room past all the cafes and shops, up through Beach Place and beyond – the area brimmed with couples holding hands, singles looking for some fun, parents strolling with the kids. People smiled and laughed. The ocean was a gorgeous turquoise blue beneath grand puffy cloudbanks that gradually darkened as night began to descend. I stopped for the first time at one of the free parking spaces along the northern end of the beach, just watching the surf and sky and smelling the salt in the wind.
Around the Galt Ocean area, the four lane road widens to six lanes and somewhere in here I stopped again to talk on the cellphone and appreciate the colors. The sky was magnificent now. Bands of rose spread thickly behind the clouds, which had turned gun-metal gray with the falling sun. The moon and the stars were slowly becoming more visible. I pulled back into traffic, reaching Lauderdale-by-the-Sea where the coast highway narrows and slows. I noticed that people there seemed just as eager to enjoy the weather. Restaurants were busy and clusters of tourists sauntered along the streets and sidewalks. I continued north, past all the new high-rise construction in Pompano Beach, accelerating here quickly just for the sheer joy of the cool breeze in my hair. It was nearly 7 pm by now, completely dark. But I still had a ways to go.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 10:52 AM
Lauderblogger you are really getting to me up here in frozen Iowa!!! I have lived in Ft. Lauderdale and miss it terribly. Your blogs are so beautifully descriptive of all that makes your area so special. Keep it up!! I have to go walk across our frozen, ice covered parking lot now, and try to not break any bones! Looking forward to your Perfect Drive, Part Two. THANK YOU!!!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home