Mar 9: Playing Host

I love it when friends or relatives visit South Florida. No, honest, I really do. I suspect many of us who live here feel the same way. We get to play the host for a special part of the world, emcee and master of ceremonies for all the good things that are around us every day. I had the chance to do that again, briefly, when my niece came to town for a medical conference last week. It was great to see Kerri and give her at least a brief tour of Fort Lauderdale. I picked her up at the hotel, then we grabbed one of those great Anthony's pizzas and chowed down, catching up on family news and each other's lives. She's a terrific woman and I really enjoy her company so we had plenty to chat about, for sure.

Then we hopped in my car and went for a spin around the area. Kerri never had visited Fort Lauderdale so we drove past Port Everglades: "It's about to become the largest cruise port in the world, probably in the next couple of years," I explained. She had heard about Oasis of the Seas, the planet's biggest cruise ship, and I told her that its home port is here in Fort Lauderdale. Then we motored north over the 17^th Street Causeway bridge, up A1A so she could check out the beach and some of the new super-lux hotels like The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale and the W Fort Lauderdale.

Finally, we headed slowly down Las Olas, our main shopping street within the city. The tour was over too soon when we had to get her back to the hotel for an early morning wakeup call. My only regret was that we didn't have more time in the Fort Lauderdale area. There's so, so much here - Kerri barely got a small taste of it. For one thing, our auto tour was at night so she missed the real beauty of our beaches and seascapes. But I also would have welcomed the opportunity to take her for an airboat ride in the Everglades, as I did a while back with her parents when they came to stay with me. Or to check out places such as the Bonnet House and Butterfly World. Kerri's a big animal lover and would really have liked these. Or just to sit at an oceanside café, letting the feel of the sunshine and the sound of the waves wash over her during a pleasant meal. Next time ... hopefully with her husband, Phil. They're wonderful people. It would be great fun to show them all around this place. Plus, I'd have a very good excuse to climb back into an airboat for another spin around the sawgrass. I may live here but, hey, that's something that never seems to get old for me.