Missing the Rehearsal

All the festivities (rehearsal, wedding, and reception) were taking place at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. Our son Rob had offered to drive us the rest of the way to Ft. Lauderdale. It was 561 miles from his house to the hotel. According to Google maps, this was an 8.5 hour drive. If we did it ourselves, it would take us at least an additional two days. But Rob is a driver and it would be easier for him than it would for Bob so I happily accepted his offer.

My daughter had asked me to be at the rehearsal which was at 3:30. We would have had to leave about 7 am. I decided that I didn't really need to be at the rehearsal because I was not going to scooter down the aisle with the parents. But we were to be at the rehearsal dinner at 4:30 or 5:00 at a Good spirits Restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale. So we were planning to leave at 7:30 or 8.

We had breakfast (Bob fixed a grapefruit) and loaded the luggage and the scooter into Rob's Expedition, and I climbed into the back with Bob. We actually left about 8:15.

Rob getting ready to pull out of his driveway

The drive down was both relaxing and mind-numbing. We stopped a little before 12 for lunch at Burger King

Bob at the counter

I asked Bob for chicken nuggets and a taco, and Bob didn't really hear me and I got a taco and a Crispy Chicken Sandwich, and they charged us for nuggets but I didn't get any. I ate some of the topping off of the sandwich. He had a Whopper Jr and a chocolate shake. Total $12.74.

We stopped later to get gas and use the bathroom. I read a couple of books on my Kindle. The GPS was saying that we would get there at 4:30. We decided that Rob would let us off at Good Spirit's

We were doing pretty well but 33 miles before we got to the hotel the traffic came to a standstill and the GPS in Rob's vehicle (not sure whether to call it a car or a truck) sent us off the interstate onto regular streets. The traffic there was bad too (after all it was 4:30 on Friday). We finally got to the restaurant about 5:15, and our daughter said she had a table for us. She said Rob could stay too, but he said he would go on and check in at the hotel. I thought my sister would come to the dinner, but for some reason, she thought the dinner was in the hotel.

Good Spirits

So far they had only gotten to the First Course, which was Braised Short Ribs, Thai Chicken Wings and Vegetable Spring Roll.

First Course

The second course was Pasta Bolognese, Wild Salmon or Caesar Salad, and Bob had the salmon and I had the salad. Our granddaughter (sister of the groom) got up and made a speech and we toasted with champagne.

Red Velvet Cake

Tiramisu

Our daughter got us an Uber to the hotel. Bob had never done Uber before. He asked how much it was and she said $9.00 so he got out his money to pay, not realizing that our daughter had paid (and tipped) already. The Uber driver did not speak much English, so there was a small communications problem, and Bob tipped the guy an extra $1.

We checked in. The lady checking us in was most obsequious. We were on the 20th floor and the room had both a shower and a tub. There was a small balcony on the north side of the hotel. We had a special rate for the wedding of $189.00 a night plus $13.23 tax and $11.34 occupancy fee. They did not charge me the $34/day resort fee - perhaps because I was using a scooter and would probably not use the bikes and other extras. They gave me a little stool to use in the shower which was a rain shower and did not have a hand-held shower head, so it was not a very good or effective shower IMHO. We had a little fridge and a microwave. But no utensils or pots or plates - just a couple of mugs and some glasses.

My son booked so late that he was in a condo that was part of the hotel. He got a pizza at the grocery store on the way in, but found he had no oven in his room, so he went down to his sister's room and they cooked the pizza for dinner.

They did not have us close to any of the other wedding guests. Our daughter was on the 8th floor, our son was on the 24th floor, my sister was on the 11th floor, my sister's friend and the officiant was on the 13th floor etc.