April 2025: A DREAM April Vacation: Day 10, The End

Day 10: Sunday May 4, 2025

May the 4th be with you and all of that. The alarm went off by 5, and it was full speed ahead. We all met in the lobby by 5:45. Check out was quick, and then we found the elevator to the parking garage and worked our way to the car.

Even with a stop for gas, it was a quick drive to the airport. Rental car return was easy (and the girl checking us back in showed me that Canada was requesting the car be sent straight back to Canada, presumably because it was such a nice car), and because we were flying Southwest, we just had to follow the signs to the terminal. Check in was pretty quick, and soon we were dividing and conquering for security. Pre-check won, by the way.

Once gateside, Nick found some Starbucks drink he had wanted to try, and I found the logical stuff with the crud that I was developing: bottled water. Everyone met back up at what felt like the biggest gate area I had ever seen, where Nick and I ate banana bread from Robert is Here, he enjoyed his Starbucks drink, and we all talked about just how smoothly this vacation had gone.

Boarding was right on time, and despite Kim and John boarding way after us (we did EBCI, they didn’t), Kim was able to sit in the aisle seat next to me. John found an aisle seat two rows behind us. The plane was fully boarded (and full) and pushed back early. And then…we taxied. And then we crept forward. After awhile the pilot came on and said that due to weather and ATC staffing, they were spreading out departures. So we were in line and we would continue creeping forward. It should only be about 15-20 minutes.

Actually it was an hour of creeping forward in a line of planes before we were in the air. As the pilot put it “ATC kind of lied”. But…we made it into the air, and we had been scheduled to have a nearly 3 hour layover in Baltimore, so we were fine.

We landed in Baltimore nearly an hour late so a few people hustled off the plane to make connections and then the rest of us deplaned. Kim, John, Nick and I headed for the food court. I think most of them got food from either Arby’s or Mickey D’s. I got a burrito bowl from Chipotle, where I was immediately reminded that Qdoba is far superior. Why is Chipotle’s chicken so miserably spicy? I mean, I needed the sinus clear-out but…it’s spicy.

Lunch eaten, we headed for our gate area and pretty soon after it was time to board our flight to Boston. I think Kim was again able to snag the aisle seat next to me, and this time John was able to sit basically across the aisle. They had better boarding positions for this flight.

This flight up to Boston was reasonably uneventful, but long. Due to storms in Boston, we ended up circling over Rhode Island before basically following the Cape Cod Coastline into Logan. But, we made it safely, and, because it was a weekend in New England, it was rainy and cold.

Deplaning was pretty quick, and we found our way down to baggage claim easily enough. Our bags appeared surprisingly quickly, and pretty soon we were making to 5 mile hike (only a slight exaggeration) from terminal B to Central Parking. Once in Central Parking, Nick found the car surprisingly easily, the boys loaded up the luggage, I programmed the GPS, and we were on our way.

It was a remarkably easy drive back to NH, (filled with lots of digital billboards about buckling up and not speeding with Star Wars references), where we dropped off Nick’s parents and then headed home to unpack, load me up with Mucinex, and crash for the night.

Final thoughts:

We still love Disney Cruises.

5 night cruises are a definite sweet spot for cruise length. It was a much more comfortable cruise length than the 4 night, and it’s much more affordable than the 7 night.

I think this was our best serving team ever.

Our room hostess was the most ninja-like of any of the room hosts we’ve had thus far.

I’m so grateful that getting to FL went so much more smoothly than the last time we flew in the night before a cruise.

We really enjoyed the Everglades.

The Residence Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport-Cruiseport is a great option if you’ve got a bunch of people (or a couple of couples) to find a hotel for after a late night flight.

I am shocked by how smoothly this trip went.

The crud I picked up wasn’t Covid or the flu, per home rapid tests, but when it finally hit in earnest, it hit hard. And then I was significantly better two days later.

I’m still a big fan of national parks.

Fairchild Garden was fantastic. I’d love to go back to see the half we didn’t get to.

Prepaying for our parking at Logan was a decent money saver and was really convenient.

Getting the 7 passenger crossover for the 4 of us for this type of trip was perfect. It was very driveable, but also had ample room for us and our luggage and coolers.

I can’t wait until our next cruise!

April 2025: A DREAM April Vacation: Day 9

Day 9: Saturday May 3, 2025

We were up early this morning. We packed up and finished the chocolate chip muffins. Then we headed out to the car where Nick’s parents met us. We were probably on our way to Publix by 7:45, where we picked up lunches and loaded up coolers for today.

 
It was a little over an hour drive up to the Shark Valley entrance of the Everglades. Much of it was through farm land. It was a pretty uneventful drive.

When we got to Shark Valley, we checked in for our 9:30 tram tour (I had pre-booked a couple weeks earlier) and explored the gift shops, then got ready for our two hour tour.

Do the tram tour. Seriously. The tour guides were super knowledgeable. It was about a two hour tour covering an approximately 15 mile loop, complete with about 20 minutes at the observation tower. We learned a lot about the history of the Everglades, and a lot about the animals that call this area home. We saw A LOT of alligators, some turtles, and lots of birds. We also saw a crocodile at the tower. The other ways to explore this loop are by bike or on foot. However, the road isn’t much wider than the tram and the tram has the right of way, so if you’re on bike or foot, you’re getting awfully close to the gators to let the tram by. Take the tram. We all enjoyed it!

After the tram ride, final purchases were made and then we had a parking lot picnic.

Once we’d finished eating, we made some decisions. It had rained for a couple minutes during the tram tour, and the sky was getting pretty dark, plus, the Everglades was in a massive drought, so we decided against an airboat tour. We considered finding an aquarium or something to go to on our way back to Fort Lauderdale, but we eventually decided that we’d be getting to Fort Lauderdale close enough to check in time to just go to the hotel.

So, we made the fairly straightforward drive to the Riverside Hotel on Los Olas. The valet dude here was SUPER helpful (no, really) and directed us inside, where rooms were not ready yet, but they started the check-in process. Mr. helpful valet dude then stored our luggage in one of the conference rooms, with mountains of other luggage (apparently it was a busy weekend in Fort Lauderdale), I parked the car in the garage (after being asked by the valet dude if we were in town for the Leafs game, since we had Ontario plates on the rental car…yeah, no…), and we wandered around the river and Los Olas. While wandering, the Blue Angels flew over in formation, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. Nick, who had already told me “I detest this place (downtown FLL), it’s so fake”, was ambivalent. Thankfully, around now, the hotel called me to let me know that our rooms were available, so we went back to the desk, where check in was finished, we got our keys, and then valet got our luggage for us and directed us to “the bigger elevator”. This elevator was still super small by the way, but it did get us and our luggage (in two groups) up to the second floor.

Our room was very nice. Clean, with some fancy touches that were surprising honestly, considering this hotel was running about the same price as hotels by the airport, but…was on Los Olas. We did NOT however, love the motion detector lights under the dresser/TV stand. We couldn’t find an off switch, and assumed those would be an issue in the night. But, overall, nice room, and relatively quiet considering it was next to the area where people pull up for valet, but on the second floor.

Then began the debate about dinner in the group text. I let Nick and his parents decide where we were going. Eventually they came to a conclusion, and we met up about 5:30 to walk basically across the street to Big City Tavern.

Dinner here was very good. I had…something pink and fruity to drink (some sort of margarita probably), and a chicken sandwich. We all split a big pretzel and Kim and John had fried green tomatoes for an appetizer. Nick probably had steak tips for dinner. His dad was buying;) Service was great. We were happy with the choice to eat here.

After dinner, we wandered a few more minutes, Kim and I both agreeing that we felt comfortable here from a safety standpoint, which made me happy about the location choice. Then Kim got gelato and I got a mini cannoli from a gelato shop basically next to Big City Tavern. This was all really good too.

Then it was back to the hotel to pack for real and crash early. By now, my throat was better, but it was clear that some sort of crud was settling in, so I was very content to crash early. And that alarm would be going off early the next morning.

April 2025: A DREAM April Vacation: Day 8

Day 8: Friday May 2, 2025

I was awake fairly early. There was no denying I had a sore throat, even if I wanted to blame it on the fact that the air conditioner was directly aimed at the foot of the bed. After lots of social media time, I got up, got ready, and ate a muffin. Publix makes good muffins!

Shortly before departure, I filled up Ziploc bags with ice from the ice machine (pro-tip…ALWAYS have Ziploc bags on a vacation with you) and threw them in my cooler bag. A little before 8:30, Nick and I headed down to the car, where his parents met us. And then we drove across the street to Publix, where we picked out chips, sandwiches (and probably a salad for John, who still tries to embrace the Atkins diet), and then we headed back out to the car to load up coolers with our lunches for the day.

It was a pretty easy drive over to the Everglades, and by 9:15 we were posing for pictures with the entrance sign.

 
Then it was on to the Ernest Coe visitor center. We checked out the exhibits and the gift shop.

And then it was time to really head into the park! First stop? The Anhinga Trail. Nick and I had walked this boardwalk 9 years ago and loved it. This time? Still loved it, but really blown away by the drought. But for real, the Anhinga Trail is awesome. And it’s kinda like Jurassic Park: alligators and turtles and birds, oh my!

When we’d gotten our fill of the Anhinga Trail, we climbed back in the rental and moved on to the next stop: the Mahogany Hammock Trail. This was a trail through…the mahogany hammock…aka a boardwalk through a lot of trees. We heard owls calling to each other and got to see an owl! Plus we got some shade.

When we finished walking that boardwalk, we had a picnic in the car. Publix makes good subs.

 
Once we’d finished eating, we headed for our next (and final) trail stop. The West Lake trail was another boardwalk. The water here was…weird…but also kinda proved we were getting to the western side of the park. We saw lots of barnacles and some cool trees, but no actual critters here (other than probably some Florida lizards).

From the West Lake Trail we continued on to the Flamingo Visitor Center. Here, we checked out the visitor center, including the mosquito meter, and also wandered along the water. We saw some cool birds, and a couple of…crocodiles!!

Needless to say, our time in this part of the Everglades was pretty complete! Turtles, alligators, birds, and crocodiles. We did well! We made our way back towards Homestead, watching the wildfire fighting efforts along the drive. The road through the Everglades was open, but it was clear that brush had burned (and was still smoldering) very close to the road, and one stretch was pretty smoky.

When we got out of the Everglades, it was time for a snack! We stopped at Robert is Here for milkshakes and to wander through the store and see the animals. I had a key lime coconut milkshake. I’m sure Nick’s milkshake involved cherry, and John’s probably involved chocolate. We all enjoyed our milkshakes and Nick enjoyed talking to the parrots. This was a good stop, and we were all glad that Nick and I had found this stop 9 years ago!

Milkshakes finished, banana bread purchased, and parrots talked to, we headed for national park 2 of the day: Biscayne National Park. We got here about 4, so we had just enough time to visit the visitors center and walk the boardwalk path along the bay. The visitors center here was small but VERY well done, with VERY interactive and informative park rangers, and the path along the bay was pretty. We could just make out the Miami skyline in the distance which was cool too.

Once we’d had our fill of sun, we headed back to the hotel, which was only 15 or 20 minutes away. Along the drive, we actually drove right past the Homestead Speedway, which made Kim, our resident Nascar fan’s day.

Back at the hotel, Kim and John decided they weren’t hungry. I eventually went and got Chick-fil-A for Nick and me and brought it back to the hotel. That frosted lemonade was like magic for my sore throat.

Showers got taken, a departure time for the next morning was agreed upon, and we crashed hard. It had been another great vacation day!