guitar hotel – Dina's Wildlife Adventures

In early May Brett and I took a road trip to the Fort Lauderdale area to visit his relatives. It’s just a quick 4 hour drive from our house in Oldsmar. We always pass this old historic spot at Yeehaw Junction. The old Desert Inn Bar was built in 1889 and has been standing in this spot since then. In 2019 a tractor trailer truck ran into the side of it and did a lot of damage. Original word was that it was going to be restored but that hasn’t happened yet. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The new hotel addition of the Hard Rock Hotel can be see from almost any of the main roads through Fort Lauderdale. We passed it on the way to a restaurant during our stay.

We were in our hotel room before heading out to dinner and Brett was looking out the window and saw this large iguana walking towards the hotel. I jumped up and grabbed my camera and ran down. He was already in this palm tree when I got to him. That doesn’t look like a comfortable spot.

I saw a lot of these lizards everywhere we went. It was the first time I really noticed them around.

A sun halo high up on our way to lunch.

We were checking out of our hotel and Brett went to get the car. I looked over and saw a tiny bird sitting on the sidewalk. I walked right over to this black throated blue warbler and he let me pick him up. He must have hit a window. I put him on top of the bushes and by the time Brett came and we loaded the car he flew off.

Heading home over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. They were repainting the yellow cables. I can’t image being high up in those little boxes painting while cars are whizzing by. The view is probable amazing though.

In early May it was time for a road trip to south Florida. We hadn’t been down to visit relatives since 2019. Since Brett’s uncle was turning 90, his sister and her husband came with us. Our first night there we had dinner at a little pizza place in Hallendale Beach that had a great water and pool view. We sat outside since there was a nice breeze.

Saturday morning we went for a long walk on the Hollywood Beach broadwalk. There were so many things to see and this is a great spot to “people’ watch as we were walking.

Back at the hotel that afternoon, while everyone else was napping, I drove over to the nearby Hard Rock Hotel to see the finished guitar hotel. When Brett and I were here in 2019 it was halfway built. It’s a huge complex, almost like a theme park. When I was leaving I noticed you could see Fort Lauderdale way off in the distance from the parking lot.