When the going gets tough … go to Florida

The wind is howling, the sky is gray and everyone around you is sick.
Why stay here when you could be in sunny Florida?

By ANN RICHARDSON

GETTING THERE

The Sunshine State has many vacation options, but for a quick getaway, there’s nothing like Fort Lauderdale. The easiest way to get there is via Spirit out of Atlantic City. Sign up on their website and they’ll send you “Red Light Specials;” you can book last-minute on any of these airlines and get pretty good deals. You can also fly Southwest, Air Tran or USA 3000 out of Philadelphia.

GETTING AROUND

Of the many things I like about Fort Lauderdale, convenience has to be at the top. Southern Florida, bordered by the ocean and the Everglades, is a fairly narrow strip of action. The airport is centrally located. My Southern command is Plantation, about six miles west of the airport. It’s quiet but close to everything.

The nice thing about being inland is the warmth in the winter. It can be chilly at the beach if the winds are gusting, but 70 degrees by the pool in Plantation.

There are hundreds of places to stay in Plantation, Sunrise and Weston, all nice communities. There is nothing quite like the beach, especially Fort Lauderdale, known as the Venice of America for its many canals and waterways.

FORT LAUDERDALE TOP 10 –

• Las Olas Blvd. This charming thoroughfare is a shopper’s paradise! Take a water taxi along the New River and float your way to and from hotels, restaurants and shops. A jungle cruise takes you past multi-million dollar homes to an island, where you can have a barbeque. Las Olas Gondola Tours are neat. The gondola Il Serniore Contente, built in Venice more than 100 years ago, is the oldest active gondola in the United States.
• Old Fort Lauderdale Village Museum. One of many heritage attractions, it’s a pioneer village set against a lush tropical background. There are old-fashioned candy stores, vintage clothing boutiques and other emporiums.
• Flamingo Gardens. A 60-acre botanical paradise, very relaxing, and a welcome respite in the middle of the winter. There are lush plants and trees, and wild animals including alligators, flamingos, bobcats and panthers. Butterfly World has tropical gardens, free-flying birds (including hummingbirds), butterflies and a live bug zoo.
• Exciting airboat tours go deep into the Everglades. Glide over an endless sea of grass, high above the wet prairie edge, to see gators, birds and native fish.
• Just opened, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is hot and happening place, with 2,000 machines, 50 poker tables, a four-acre tropical lagoon pool, 17 restaurants, a dozen high-energy clubs and lounges, and upscale shops.
• If you love shopping, don’t miss Sawgrass Mills, Florida’s largest retail center. More than 350 name-brand stores and outlets include the elegant, sophisticated—and very snobby—Colonade. You can find just about anything here, from Nike to Nordstrom, Polo to Reebok. Wear comfortable shoes, the sprawling mall is quite a hike from one end to the other.
• At the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, catch a monthly concert in the Sinatra Theatre. Last week, Kenny G. was in town. Lionel Ritchie and Patti Labelle are coming this spring. Julio Iglesias is entertaining for Valentine’s Day. The arena holds 17,000 people for Florida Panthers games, but the limit is an “intimate” 4,000 for the concerts.
• My favorite Broward County restaurant is Islamorada Fish Company, part of Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. The world’s greatest outdoor store is 160,000 square feet, a must-see venue for anyone who loves to fish, hunt or play golf. It’s like a huge hunting lodge, with trophy wildlife-mounts, indoor stocked aquariums and an indoor archery and shooting range.
• The Swap Shop is Florida’s largest indoor/outdoor flea market. More than 1,000 vendors pedal their wares 365 days a year. There is a car collection inside with Ferraris, Porsches and Mercedes, some worth more than a half million dollars.
• To get away from it all, try John U. Lloyd Beach State Park in Dania Beach. The park wraps around Port Everglades, where the cruise ships arrive and depart. The natural seaside oasis is more than two miles of pristine white sand, unspoiled by development. Showers and bathrooms, picnic tables and grills are available, as are rental surfboards, boogie boards, kayaks and sailboats.