Hello friends!
I’m back to share the rest of our Florida adventures! As I mentioned, Matt and I left Miami and headed over to Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday morning to spend the rest of the weekend there. I flew out of Ft. Lauderdale at 5 a.m. on Monday morning so we wanted to be close to the airport!
Matt booked us a room at the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. We had no idea how amazing it would be!
We were thinking of spending the morning in Miami and getting lunch there, but I’m so glad we hightailed it over to Ft. Lauderdale. Beach vacation?! Yes, please!!
As soon as we realized that we were suddenly on a tropical vacation, we settled riiiiiight in. Lunch was enjoyed poolside (chicken sandwich and fries for me, hot dog and fries for him, plus a shared salad) — their pool area was gorgeous.
There was even a waterfall you could walk behind!
After lunch, I noticed that a water aerobics session seemed to be starting in the pool. Being the weirdo that I am, I walked over and asked if I could join in. 😉
I learned that apparently there was a fitness trainer conference at the hotel over the weekend and that this exercise class was their final event! The instructor was fun and said I was more than welcome to join them. So I did!
I’d never done a water workout before besides normal swimming! This class was a “Zen Flow” so it incorporated some yoga, pilates, and tai chi moves — but in the water! It’s kind of crazy how much resistance water creates.
The class was an hour long and it was a good strength/resistance workout — and nice to do something zero impact, too! Our legs got some nice stretching as well.
And most importantly — it was fun. 🙂 The instructor was pretty hilarious and had us laughing away. Not to mention the fact that sometimes it was really hard to balance in the water! We ended the class using some water noodles, and that created a lot of laughing as we all tried to balance, too. 🙂
Good times! Never be afraid to try something new (and kind of nerdy), friends. 🙂
Once the class was over, Matt and I decided to head on down to the beach!
Obviously, strawberry daiquiris were involved. I mean, I WAS on vacation.
The weather was perfect — not too hot, not too cold. We enjoyed hanging out for a couple hours, reading books and relaxing. It was fun watching the cruise ships roll out, too!
Matt and I also took a nice long walk along the beach. I love walking on the beach — the waves are so calming.
After the sun started to go down, we hit up the hotel hot tub. Hot tubs are the best!
We ended our day with dinner at a sushi place a short drive away that had great reviews on Yelp. We were going to go to the hotel restaurant until we saw how expensive it was! Yikes. This place was a much better call. 🙂 Sushi Rock!
This place was delicious and really fun — they played all sorts of great 90’s rock songs and the menu was labeled based on band names!
We started with some unpictured edamame and then ordered two 10-piece rolls (with brown rice — love when restaurants offer that option!).
On the left is the Red Hot Chili Pepper roll, which was spicy tuna with jalapeno, scallions, and tempura crunchies topped with more tuna (and some super spicy sauce!).
On the right is the Strawberry Fields Forever roll, which was barbequed sweet eel, avocado, green apple, eel sauce, and roe, topped with fresh ripe strawberries (!). I loved both of them — great creative combinations. I’d never had strawberry on sushi before!
Matt especially loved the spicy one. 🙂 Sorry about the awkward flash photos — point and shoot cameras hate photographing food when it’s really dark!
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What a wonderful weekend — it’s been fun reliving it by sharing it with all of you. Have a wonderful Tuesday, friends!
