One Good Thing About Florida: The Atlantic

When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, we felt like we’d just fallen off a turnip truck. The traffic is insane, the wealthy blatantly flaunt their money, and the price of real estate skyrockets. People in general are rude and aggressive, and it’s every man and woman for themselves. And as with most of Florida, it isn’t dog friendly.

We asked our friend Gene if it would be alright if we left Jerry in the truck with the windows cracked, while we met him for dinner at the Blue Moon Fish Company. He rattled off something about four cops and one pro athlete being killed in the immediate area in the last year, and said “you decide.

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The RV park was a dump (more on that later), sites were jam packed, and French Canadian RVers outnumbered Americans ten to one. This wouldn’t have been a problem if most of them didn’t throw such major ‘tude around and refuse to make eye contact or acknowledge our presence because we didn’t speak French. It was hot. We were cranky. We weren’t sure if we could put up with a long weekend in a craphole like that.

But then we went to the beach (without poor Jerry), and we swam in crystal clear water as warm as a bathtub. In January. It was wonderful. This is the one good thing we have to say about Florida. The ocean. That’s about it.

 

16 thoughts on “One Good Thing About Florida: The Atlantic”

  1. There is a very dog friendly beach on th corner of Sunrise Blvd, and A1A. We live in Fort Lauderdale, and can’t wait for tourist season to end. The canadians are rude, unfriendly, don’t smile at you or say hello back. They don’t hire locals for any repairs, only use people who came from canada, during the winter months. Since they also only use their apliances for 3-5 months, the think the warranties should be extended just for them , since they don’t use the equipment the rest of the year. I would prefer the Europeans or people from South America, over canadians

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  2. Whoa, did I read you correctly there little missy, you condone the amputation of unwitting crabs? I get the regeneration angle but sever a claw without written consent (and how would they offer written consent in light of said action?), this smacks of dead white male eliteism at work again.

    Wait a minute, I love crab meat, eat ’em up team teach those crabs whose boss of the garlic and butter sauce!

    Eric

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  3. Our friend lives four blocks from the ocean, so he has a sweet deal. And just $1300 for his bachelor pad. Not too shabby. We didn’t venture out to restaurants other than the Blue Moon, which was great. We had Stone Crab claws, which were delicious. These claws, they go for $20 each. They’re delectible. The best part is that the crabs don’t die when the claws get hacked off; they regenerate! As a fish-a-tarian, I like that!

    As far as parking near the beach, good luck. In Northern Florida that’s a little easier. But once you get into South Florida, there are few places to park a big rig like yours Sara.

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  4. Have to admit, I’m not a big Ft Laud fan … got stuck in the Marriott resort there where they (in turn) stuck me with outrageous prices for everything. Kinda like a tropical Mr Haney on Green Acres. The “restaurants” within walking distance were greasy dives (check out the rocking-seat-contraption restaurant near the beach … woof).

    My one excursion was to a Kinko’s to do some work, where the cab fleeced me and I dodged raindrops to find some after-hours beautiful-people bar with the personality of a Naugahyde sofa. I ordered a Cosmo on the rocks and they gave me a Kamikaze. Since they didn’t charge $12 for it like the Marriott did, I drank it happily.

    Ahh, Ft Laud … those were some days, eh?

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  5. Oooh great. You make it sound soooo inviting 🙂 You’re not the first person that has warned us about Florida. My brother HATES it. He says it’s the worst state in the country. So, I’m hoping that since we have personal contacts, etc. it shouldn’t be too bad 🙂 I’m looking forward to the warm ocean! When we were in Myrtle Beach, it was numbingly cold. Are there places to park the rig when you want to go to the beach?

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  6. LOL,
    I won’t even try to comment on the French Canadians.

    Yes the ocean on the Right coast is warm down there, like a lukewarm bath tub. It’s a nice passive coastline… BORING!!!!!

    Now here on the cold Left coast it’s a very active and that makes for an incredibly beautiful coastline (but you already know that).

    Check it out:
    http://blog.kadez.com/2008/01/31/ocean-kayaking-off-goat-rock-norcal/
    Not a great vid but the camera battery went dead before I caught the wave that flipped me stern over bow!

    Sure most folks ware a wetsuit out here but hell it’s not that cold 😉

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  7. As for the wealthy, they are helping this economic down turn, so we can give them suggestions of places to travel to which could use a boost.

    As for the French Canadians, even the Canadians do not like to go through that part of Canada.

    As for pet friendly, one has to look long and hard for a “doggie beach” in Florida, I learned while living there 2003 – 2005.

    Winter RVing in Florida, gives a new meaning to your “closest friends”

    Where ever the road may take you, arrive safely and enjoy!

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  8. Kale, I hope that I didn’t offend you or other Canadians out there. We really do love Canada and its people, you are a class act. Heck, we might consider relocating there some day. Many Quebec’ers though, are a completely different breed we came to find out. I wasn’t aware of that.

    It was a real surprise, after meeting so many friendly Canuks in Toronto. In Florida, we walked around the park, purposely making eye contact and saying super cheerful hello’s to everyone, to see who responded. Whenever a Quebec’er walked past, we were completely ignored. It got to be a game after a while, between Jim and I, to see if we could get any response, eye contact, anything out of them.

    I can’t recall any other culture that has ever responded like that, to either an English hello or a hello in the native language. I promise not to make a blanket judgment about Quebec, it was just a bad experience down here in Florida.

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  9. First of all…I’d like to apologize for the rudeness of my fellow Canadians (The French) They have lacked proper socialism and are Very rude to people that don’t speak their language even in other countries…sorry…Maybe in another hundred years they can clean up there act. NOW for Florida… What has happened??? We just spent 10 months there deciding to relocate..Should have made that decision quicker…too many stories to tell!!…Think i’ll skip right over Florida next time on vacation..and never to live there!!!

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  10. We’ll see you here in May.. you’ll have water just like that without the ‘tude 🙂 It’ll be in a pool though, since there aren’t any beaches in Palm Springs.

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