13. Pompano Beach
Tuesday, January 29th, 2019
It's hard for me to believe I've already been traveling for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, while I'm fortunate enough to be out of the cold winter of Wisconsin, I still need to work to pay the bills, and this is one of those weeks where I'll mostly be working. My plan is to still try to do something fun in the evenings and maybe squeeze in a morning of diving.
Of course, that's how this week started. But then it got weird. For only the 3rd time in the 18 years I've been at UW, they closed because of winter weather. In the past they've been unclear about how employees should handle this - can we choose to work if we want? what about working remotely? do we have to use leave time or do we just get the day off? It looks like they learned from past mistakes and made it clear that this was a free day and a half off! Woohoo! However, my team is deemed essential and we needed one employee working. I checked the marine forecast and diving didn't look promising, so I decided I could work these days and then I'd get time off to use later.
I finished up my day at work and then ran a few errands (a dive shop for some lobstering supplies in case I had the chance to use them later, plus groceries for the much more realistic case that my lobstering wasn't successful). One of the things I noticed about the Fort Lauderdale area is that they have a lot of brazillian steakhouses. I love getting to different brazillian steakhouses whenever I travel. It's a lot harder than you think when you're traveling solo though - you don't have anyone to talk to to slow you down, so the meat just keeps piling up and it's hard to survive very long!
First up on the churrascaria tour of Fort Lauderdale was The Brazillian Grill. On the plus side, this was pretty inexpensive for churrascarias. The salad bar was a little lower end than most, but not bad. The meats were pretty good. Overall, it was a nice meal with good value, but not something I'd consider a fancier dinner.
Wednesday, January 30th
Today was a full day of work while most of UW was closed. Of course it would start with my boss's boss calling me asking if I could fix a mini-emergency. So I handled that and then the rest of the day was pretty slow.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in for dinner or go out, but as I looked at my options and planned the rest of the week, it seemed like it would be a great night for another churrascaria. I wasn't able to get into one I really wanted to try, so I went ahead and made a reservation for Thursday night there. This time I stayed pretty close and went to Pampa Gaucho. Right away the salad bar was a little nicer, and the meats were very good. They also had a discount for it being a weeknight in winter! This was pretty consistent with what I'd expect from a nice brazillian steakhouse.
It was still pretty nice out when I got home, so I took a nice walk on the beach. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was not feeling trapped inside all day like we are during Wisconsin winters.
Thursday, January 31st
Yet another full day of work with not much excitement to report. I knew all day long that at the end of the day was a reservation for a popular churrascaria, so I had that to look forward to. Tonight's dinner was at Chima Steakhouse. Two things tipped me off that this might be a little more expensive than most of the other churrascaria's: 1) I couldn't find the price anywhere online and 2) they only had valet parking. No fear about the valet parking, the street around the corner was full of free parking. There was a gorgeous lighted garden with live music outside the restaurant that people could use while waiting for a table or their vehicles. Since I had a reservation, I was able to proceed right to be seated though. Right away I could tell this was amount the higher-end churrascaria's I've been to - maybe it was because they brought the cocktail list out on a tablet and cocktails started at $14. In any case, even the menu didn't have the price of the meal listed, but not turning back now I supposed. Everything about the meal was great - there were tons of staff always attentive to every need, the salad bar was great and full of interesting options, and the meats were abundant, varied, and delicious! This may be one of my favorite churrascarias anywhere, though when the bill came it was a little pricier than most (okay, it was the price of the previous 2 nights combined). I guess it all depends what you're looking for. In any case, I was glad I did my churrascaria tour and got a taste of the different brazillian steakhouses Fort Lauderdale had to offer.
Just like the night before, it was a beautiful night for a walk on the beach before settling in. As I was walking, I could help but think of Jambo Joe Bones' song Living Like a Pirate. Even though I had to work this week, I was still free to go on a tour of churrascarias and then hang out by the ocean at night. In the words of my friend Loren, "Because why the fuck not?". To me, that's living like a pirate.
Friday, February 1st
It was my last day of work for the week and last full day in Pompano Beach. I was considering diving, but the seas looked a bit too rough for me to have an enjoyable time. So I figured I'd work and then head out to the Mai Kai Tiki Bar for dinner. Instead of going for a regular meal, I noticed you could get half price drinks and appetizers during their happy hour at the bar, so that's where I headed!
The first drink I got was called a Deep Sea Diver - it was awesome!
Since appetizers were half off, I got chicken wings and crab rangoon, which were all great. I also got a Mai Kai Swizzle, which was great, but not picture-worthy.
It's hard for me to believe I've already been traveling for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, while I'm fortunate enough to be out of the cold winter of Wisconsin, I still need to work to pay the bills, and this is one of those weeks where I'll mostly be working. My plan is to still try to do something fun in the evenings and maybe squeeze in a morning of diving.
Of course, that's how this week started. But then it got weird. For only the 3rd time in the 18 years I've been at UW, they closed because of winter weather. In the past they've been unclear about how employees should handle this - can we choose to work if we want? what about working remotely? do we have to use leave time or do we just get the day off? It looks like they learned from past mistakes and made it clear that this was a free day and a half off! Woohoo! However, my team is deemed essential and we needed one employee working. I checked the marine forecast and diving didn't look promising, so I decided I could work these days and then I'd get time off to use later.
I finished up my day at work and then ran a few errands (a dive shop for some lobstering supplies in case I had the chance to use them later, plus groceries for the much more realistic case that my lobstering wasn't successful). One of the things I noticed about the Fort Lauderdale area is that they have a lot of brazillian steakhouses. I love getting to different brazillian steakhouses whenever I travel. It's a lot harder than you think when you're traveling solo though - you don't have anyone to talk to to slow you down, so the meat just keeps piling up and it's hard to survive very long!
First up on the churrascaria tour of Fort Lauderdale was The Brazillian Grill. On the plus side, this was pretty inexpensive for churrascarias. The salad bar was a little lower end than most, but not bad. The meats were pretty good. Overall, it was a nice meal with good value, but not something I'd consider a fancier dinner.
Wednesday, January 30th
Today was a full day of work while most of UW was closed. Of course it would start with my boss's boss calling me asking if I could fix a mini-emergency. So I handled that and then the rest of the day was pretty slow.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay in for dinner or go out, but as I looked at my options and planned the rest of the week, it seemed like it would be a great night for another churrascaria. I wasn't able to get into one I really wanted to try, so I went ahead and made a reservation for Thursday night there. This time I stayed pretty close and went to Pampa Gaucho. Right away the salad bar was a little nicer, and the meats were very good. They also had a discount for it being a weeknight in winter! This was pretty consistent with what I'd expect from a nice brazillian steakhouse.
It was still pretty nice out when I got home, so I took a nice walk on the beach. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was not feeling trapped inside all day like we are during Wisconsin winters.
Thursday, January 31st
Yet another full day of work with not much excitement to report. I knew all day long that at the end of the day was a reservation for a popular churrascaria, so I had that to look forward to. Tonight's dinner was at Chima Steakhouse. Two things tipped me off that this might be a little more expensive than most of the other churrascaria's: 1) I couldn't find the price anywhere online and 2) they only had valet parking. No fear about the valet parking, the street around the corner was full of free parking. There was a gorgeous lighted garden with live music outside the restaurant that people could use while waiting for a table or their vehicles. Since I had a reservation, I was able to proceed right to be seated though. Right away I could tell this was amount the higher-end churrascaria's I've been to - maybe it was because they brought the cocktail list out on a tablet and cocktails started at $14. In any case, even the menu didn't have the price of the meal listed, but not turning back now I supposed. Everything about the meal was great - there were tons of staff always attentive to every need, the salad bar was great and full of interesting options, and the meats were abundant, varied, and delicious! This may be one of my favorite churrascarias anywhere, though when the bill came it was a little pricier than most (okay, it was the price of the previous 2 nights combined). I guess it all depends what you're looking for. In any case, I was glad I did my churrascaria tour and got a taste of the different brazillian steakhouses Fort Lauderdale had to offer.
Just like the night before, it was a beautiful night for a walk on the beach before settling in. As I was walking, I could help but think of Jambo Joe Bones' song Living Like a Pirate. Even though I had to work this week, I was still free to go on a tour of churrascarias and then hang out by the ocean at night. In the words of my friend Loren, "Because why the fuck not?". To me, that's living like a pirate.
Friday, February 1st
It was my last day of work for the week and last full day in Pompano Beach. I was considering diving, but the seas looked a bit too rough for me to have an enjoyable time. So I figured I'd work and then head out to the Mai Kai Tiki Bar for dinner. Instead of going for a regular meal, I noticed you could get half price drinks and appetizers during their happy hour at the bar, so that's where I headed!
The first drink I got was called a Deep Sea Diver - it was awesome!
Since appetizers were half off, I got chicken wings and crab rangoon, which were all great. I also got a Mai Kai Swizzle, which was great, but not picture-worthy.
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