Also known as sleeping... a lot. No one really tells you how exhausted you'll be, especially as a bride. You got through months of planning, stress, tears, and joy. The honeymoon is the time to finally breathe, which means the exhaustion hits really quick, and really hard. As soon as we got to the hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, we crashed for about 3 hours. I think I took a nap 5 out of the 7 days. It was definitely needed.
We had a about 1.5 days of sun, and then the rain hit hard. It was right before the hurricane/tropical depression hit so at least we weren't stuck in that weather. Since it rained so much, we went to Sawgrass Mills Mall, which just happens to be the largest outlet mall in the United States. Poor Brett was such a trooper. We probably walked at least one mile. To make up for that shopping trip (in which Brett bought more than me), we went to see Rock of Ages. It was a little cheesy but had some great music.
Brett and I ate some AMAZING food. That was my favorite part of the trip. We stuck to seafood most of the time. Here are a list of restaurants that we went to with a brief description. If you are ever in Ft. Lauderdale, you should check out them out.
- Chima Brazilian Steakhouse: I think the waiters work in teams here so we were very happy with the service. Even if you don't like red meat (Brett says the flank steak is the best steak he's ever had), you can find fish and chicken as well. They also had a big salad bar with soup. They gave us a special dessert for free because it was our honeymoon.
- Coconuts: Trey, the graduate assistant for NGU, recommended Coconuts to us. We had the best waitress here. She was kind, funny, and extremely attentive. Needless to say she got a great tip. The coconut shrimp did not disappoint. I had the potato-crusted red snapper which was superb. It came with a lightly seasoned tomato slice which was simple, but delicious. This was probably my favorite meal.
- Big City Tavern: This restaurant is off of Las Olas Boulevard in the heart of downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Las Olas is beautiful. Brett and I both had burgers. Their fries are like skinny Carolina Ale House fries. Amazing. We went here right after we landed, and actually went back for lunch before we left. Our waitress from the first time remembered us, which I thought was pretty rare considering how many people probably go through there.
- Tom Jenkins' Bar-B-Que: You know a BBQ place is going to be good when the store hours sign says "Sundays: Gone to church, Monday: Gone fishin' " It was a little hole in the wall that you probably would miss just driving down the road. The atmosphere is fantastic: they have picnic tables for tables and an actual brick oven. Brett says they have the best collard greens that he's ever had.
- Bimini Boatyard Bar and Grill: This restaurant was alright. Honestly I don't remember what I had here so it wasn't one of my favorites. The food wasn't terrible but it was just average. It was close to the resort which was nice.
- The Soda Shop: This restaurant was on the Lago Mar resort property. I'm sad we found this on the second to last day. We ate there for breakfast two days. Fran, the waitress, was my favorite. When Brett grabbed my hand to pray over our breakfast, she said, "Aw Christians." Praying over a meal is not something I typically think about as witnessing. We had some great conversations with this kind lady from Brooklyn. We probably sat there for an hour just talking with her while she served everyone else.
