Today was supposed to be game day. Despite our debacle with the timeshare presentation, our hotel was really nice and we were able to stay at the resort for our originally agreed upon two nights. As nice as the resort is and as nice as our room was, I was happy to get out of Orlando and on to baseball.
We had originally planned on doing two games in each MLB city, but we saw an opening if we just did one, we could involve a couple of minor league games (Fort Myers and Durham). So, today we were to be on to Fort Myers, Florida, a city we are acquainted with since it is where the Twins Spring Training is. We were excited to go there, but were quickly disappointed when we saw a line of powerful storms moving through Florida.
I’ve said it before, and it’s likely an obvious statement, but Keke and Soren are the top priorities on this trip. In Minnesota at this time of year the most severe weather can be is a snow storm, in Florida, it could be a tornado. I’d rather bail on a game, get to safety in our hotel and have a nice night. So, that is what we did. We skipped Fort Myers and headed to an overnight spot closer to where our next MLB game would be (Miami).
We originally had planned on a Days Inn on the beach in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. We called to check if there was free parking, and were told there was. Once we got there, we were informed there wasn’t. The hotel was on the beach, and was relatively cheap.
I’ve found that you get what you pay for with hotels. The hotel was cheap, and looked the part. The hotel didn’t fit the neighborhood as there were a number of high-end condo properties on site and while we were heading out of town, we enjoyed seeing all the Lambos. Keke is a Wyndham Rewards member and we’ve enjoyed staying at their economy version of their hotels (the only way we could afford this trip). Most of them have done a good job. This one was less impressive.
We ended up staying in Fort Lauderdale at a hotel called TRYP by Wyndham (low $100’s with some of Keke’s rewards points plus $10/night parking). I think this hotel is a newer concept as it was really unique. It was a newer construction, and the rooms looked like what you’d get if IKEA threw up in them (in a good way).
There was a full panel window between the shower and the rest of the room. This is a cool feature if you’re alone, or with your significant other, but when you are with your kid, it is just awkward. There is a shade that comes down, so that takes away the awkwardness.
The hotel had a large lobby area with a bar, deli area, and a very large and winding aquarium that displayed many local species of fish. They also had a little mini-theater showing the movie Miracle (a favorite of ours).
We completely ignored it, but the fitness center looked pretty sweet too, and had a small basketball court adjacent to it; never saw that in a hotel before. This was a very unique concept, and honestly, we would have expected it to be much more expensive.
We would recommend this spot all day, specifically the one we stayed at in Ft. Lauderdale. There are others as well (six states, Puerto Rico, and a number of other countries); presumably they are as nice as the one we stayed at.
So, we’ve established that the hotel was sweet. Ft. Lauderdale as a spot itself also had something to say. I think most people have heard of the city, and we aren’t breaking news in saying it’s pretty phenomenal. We can be a bit discerning, however, and not in the typical way.
We aren’t fancy people, and as a matter of fact, we tend to like decent spots that aren’t pretentious. We had a preconceived notion that Ft. Lauderdale was pretentious. It was preconceived, but not ill-conceived as the fancy condos, yachts, and sports cars certainly screamed high class. We can’t hate on that, we just prefer a ever so slightly slower life. High class or not, it was also the tail end of Spring Break, and the Spring Break atmosphere is not what we were looking to subject our son to, so we were hesitant to dive into the city.
The Spring Break issue was as wrong as our other presumptions about the city. We found a great spot on the beach and got there around 9 am (I suspect some of those spring breakers were still sawing logs). The spot was perfect; quiet, stunning, and had cheap on street parking. We can’t wait to get back to Ft. Lauderdale, and we’ll definitely stay at TRYP again!