Today we drove to Fort Lauderdale to tour the Bonnet House Museum & Gardens which is a 35 acre beach front estate located pretty much in the middle of the city. We had a walking tour scheduled at 1400 so we had to get up early. Yes, that’s early because our bodies haven’t really adjusted to the 3-hour difference. About the time things click time-wise, we’ll be back in the PST zone. Knowing that makes it difficult to even try to adjust. Both of us would rather take a nap.

After we returned from the tour that’s just what Diane did. She took a nap. The main reason was because of the horrible traffic coming back to Weston. The Bonnet House is only 23 miles away and going over wasn’t a big deal. It’s like a drive to Portland on roads 8 lanes wide. Coming back it took an hour and a half because they have traffic lights every 1/4 miles or so and we had to stop at most of them. Making it worse, they stayed red for a long time. Kinda like Waimono Home Road in Pearl City. The red light there stays red forever. While waiting at that light one time, Jeff commented that her could probably drag himself around the car with his lips before it turned green. I was curious to see if he could, of course, but Diane didn’t think it was a good idea. So, that will remain one of life’s little secrets we will never be able to verify. Kinda makes me sad. Jeff, too, unless he secretly made that attempt before we left Oahu.

Anyway, the traffic was terrible because everyone was getting off work, the traffic lights were rigged to favor all the cross traffic, and it was somewhere between 93-102 outside the entire time we walked those 4-6 miles around the estate. We made it “home” but we were really tired when we got back.

Then I had to cook! Diane was all pumped up for stir-fry. We purchased all the required items at Walmart* yesterday. She just told me that there are 26 Walmarts* within 15-20 minutes of our location. Guess that tells a story about population density, huh? We feel privileged to live in a town where the only Wallmart* is just a couple of miles away. That would be the one in St. Helens, of course.

The walking tour of the property was interesting but didn’t include the living spaces. The owner was an artist so the parts of the home we did see were well decorated with his artistic endeavors. It was all very interesting. The estate was donated to the city with the stipulation that it must always remain in the same condition it was donated. No changes could be made. So, it’s 35 acres along the beach in downtown Fort Lauderdale that will never be developed. I bet that really upsets those folks who would like to turn it into a condo city.

One fun thing we got to see is the last remaining monkey that lives on the property. I believe our guide said there used to be 90 or so monkeys at one time. The one remaining is purported to be over 100 years old. Here’s the photo I got of him:

Someone said what kind of monkey he is but I wasn’t paying attention.

I have other photos, but they aren’t nearly as good as the ones you can see by checking out the link at the start of this missive.

With that, I’ll bid you all adieu. Tomorrow we’re driving down Miami way for a tram tour of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. Gotta leave by 0900 as it opens at 1000 and it’s an hour drive.