a date with sandy

my recent trip to hollywood, fl (near ft. lauderdale) was memorable for a number of reasons.

in no particular order:

1. a reunion with one of my best friends from high school - 18 years after the fact

me and amanda on naples beach at sunset

thanks to the wonders of email and facebook, we've casually stayed in touch through almost two decades of separation   we've made the attempt to get together during my travels before, but something always came up to prevent it--the most dramatic of which was a nasty fall (mine) on the way into a 7-eleven, resulting in a torn mcl (my second knee injury in six months).  finally, closer than i've ever been to her hometown, i was absolutely determined to see her.

between us, it took three hours of drive time to meet in naples, fl.  we had settled on the beachside restaurant at the ritz carlton, where we knew we could spend a few hours catching up and watching the sun go down over the atlantic.

we seemed to pick up right where we left off and i couldn't have been happier than to sit across a table from my long-time friend, sharing a meal, and the highlights and lowlights of the last 18 years.

2. my first hurricane!

my co-workers did not believe me when i told them that florida had welcomed me with beautiful sunny weather.  instead, they were greeted by heavy winds and rain.

befores and afters

as it would turn out, sandy was much kinder to florida than to the northeast, but we were in awe of the wind and waves on the normally mild atlantic.

3. checking off TWO diners, drive-ins, and dives restaurants

first up, sonny's famous steak hoagies.  i had the #90 (plain with onions), with provolone and green peppers, and i've gotta admit, it was pretty good.

kevin, me, eli, and greg, after stuffing our faces full of steak

i've spent years looking for a steak and cheese sandwich that could compare to the best steak and cheese that ever existed.  i don't entirely know what made that particular sandwich the best sandwich that ever was, but i spent much of my youth praying that dad would make a stop at trio's in dupont circle on his way home from work.  that prayer was often (though not often enough) granted, until the day that trio's ceased to exist.

i never had a chance to discover all the secrets of the trio's steak and cheese, but i do know that the 'steak' was marinated ribeye.   and while ultimately, sonny's (also) marinated rib eye steak and cheese sandwich did not dethrone trio's, it was darn good.  in hindsight, with a lot more cheese, it might have been a true competitor.

greg and i checking out the menu

next up was grampa's bakery and restaurant, where it was clear that the 'bakery' and the service were the real treasures.

iris (maybe 'gramma'?), our waitress, was fantastic.  we spent a lot of time chatting about the experience of filming the show, what guy fieri ate, liked, didn't like, etc.  all while enjoying the complimentary danishes, which, even though i'm not a danish lover, were amazing.

we all ordered the breakfast sandwich and shared chocolate chip pancakes while i satisfied an intense craving for hot chocolate (something about storms!).  aside from the perfect danishes, the meal was par for the course diner food, yet the experience was a highlight in my ddd adventures.

4. the glass-bottom pool

the weather didn't exactly cooperate with our hoped for jacuzzi time, so when the rain stopped temporarily on friday night, we decided to go for a midnight swim.  the real fuel for our fire being the unique pool on top of pool layout at the hotel.

on the upper floor, an infinity pool which formed a sort of 'bridge' over the pool passing underneath it.  what made it even more unique was that a portion of the top pool had a glass bottom, which could be seen from the pool below.

greg and i were itching for a photo opp, which is the only reason that swimming at midnight, in the middle of a hurricane, seemed like a good idea.

i had the benefit of going second (so i learned from greg's failures) and eli was able to capture these awesome pics.

after our photo experiments, we decided to end the night with a dip in the hot tub.  little did we know, things were going to get even hotter when, due to the weather conditions, an electrical fire broke out in the stairwell from the pool up to the lobby.  since it was nearly 1:30am, i ended up walking through the entire lobby in my swimsuit (why i didn't grab a towel is beyond me) to alert the hotel staff.  just one more piece of evidence that my 'emergency' streak is back.

5. no flight delays

we weren't sure if sandy was going to let us leave florida.  eli and i had scheduled our exodus for saturday morning, and since we both had plans that night, we really wanted to get home.  almost unbelievably, there were no flight delays, and in fact, it was the smoothest travel day i've had in some time!