Florida Winter Wedding

It's winter outdoor wedding season! Sound like an oxymoron? Well, not in South Florida. Our friend Omair was getting married in Ft. Lauderdale, so we booked an AirBnB with our friends Alexis, Thomas, and Petros, packed our bags, and flew to southern Florida.

We arrived on a Thursday night and picked up some groceries before retiring to our AirBnB. It was a nice house on a lake/canal, with great outdoor spaces and a pool. The canal view was of a Rooms to Go, which was quite hilarious.

Our AirBnB pool at night.

On Friday we visited downtown Ft. Lauderdale. It has a small but nice touristy center, and we walked along the riverside path and through "Old Fort Lauderdale" before having lunch at The Downtowner.

Next we went to a wedding social event for people who had arrived early. It was on the rooftop deck of an Irish pub overlooking the beach. We enjoyed some drinks and snacks and enjoyed hanging out with the grooms. From there we wandered down the beach to get cocktails at the bar in the Four Seasons before heading back to the AirBnB where we ordered some delicious empanadas from Amado Market for pick-up. 

What a view of Rooms to Go from the backyard!

Some iguanas in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. These are an invasive species that are now everywhere in South Florida.

There were a lot of draw bridges around Fort Lauderdale.

We're the beating heart of this city!

Brightline train heading to Miami. New American high speed rail future?

Small historic site along the river in Fort Lauderdale.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale is super bougie.

View out towards the ocean from the Friday welcome venue.

Los of fancy hotels along the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Hi!

Petros and Alexis say hi too!

Late dinner empanadas.

Saturday was the wedding day. Thomas, as best man, went to rehearsal events, and the rest of us took the rental car down to Miami, about 40 minutes to the south. We, unfortunately, weren't feeling the best today. We both picked up a cold somewhere on the way to Florida. Luckily, it never got too bad and we were able to soldier through with some cold medicine... but it put a slight damper on the weekend.

We started our half day in Miami at Wynwood Walls, an outdoor mural exhibit. From there we drove down to Miami Beach, and spent a few hours walking on Ocean Drive, checking out the beach, and having lunch. While at Miami Beach, we also visited the Art Deco museum to learn a bit more about the history of South Beach's unique architecture.

Oh, did Miami not tell the rest of us enough times that Messi plays on their (very bad) MLS team?

Wynwood Walls statute. Man-child hulk?

We really love the colors in this one!

This mural is from Atlanta native Greg Mike.

Miami has a really pretty setting.

South Beach is an art deco paradise. This few block stretch was closed to traffic.

The Leslie.

We briefly went down to the beach to put our feet in the water.

Very Miami.

Random Polish car club. Everyone was speaking in Polish.

The Art Deco Museum is very small, but tells the history of the architecture's presence and preservation in Miami.

Paul's an art deco flapper!

Leaving Miami Beach we drove back to the AirBnB to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was at the historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. This venue was a very beautiful, densely vegetated oasis among the strip malls and hotels that lined Fort Lauderdale's beachfront. The service and reception were both lovely. 

Our AirBnB had a great back patio! Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to lounge around this trip.

Outdoor wedding in February? Why not! The weather was beautiful.

David, Alexis, and Petros posing by the lake.

Great venue!

 

David and Alexis all dolled up.

Cocktails after the wedding but before the reception.

After the ceremony and reception, we called it a somewhat early night and headed back to the AirBnB with Alexis. Thomas and Petros kept the party rolling with the grooms well into the early hours.

On Sunday morning we grabbed some coffee and pastries for takeaway from the Alchemist Cafe, which was a super cute restaurant/coffee shop with a large patio and a homey vibe. After showering and chatting for a bit, we headed to Bo's Beach for the post-wedding brunch. Shortly after we arrived the sky opened up in a torrential/very Florida storm that lasted 15 minutes before clearing out.

From Bo's the five of us went to a nearby coffee shop to hang out for 30 minutes before parting ways and heading to the airport. All in all a great 3-day weekend and happy event to celebrate with friends in south Florida.

Coasters as Art

It's no secret that I (Paul) love roller coasters, and am willing to travel far and wide to experience unique and thrilling rides. This past weekend I rode a roller coaster that was unlike any other - an art exhibit!

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), located in the far northwest corner of the state in a former textile factory and electric company, hosts rotating art exhibits. To the delight of coaster enthusiasts, in late 2022 they opened an exhibit by artist EJ Hill that included a working roller coaster. The coaster allows just one rider per hour, which "inverts the experience of riding a roller coaster, transforming it from a shared ritual of joy and terror to an individual performance." Riders must book ahead of time, and tickets go quickly each time a batch is released. Luckily I was able to book a slot on the final weekend the ride was open before removal of the exhibit.

MASS MoCa is in the small town of North Adams, which is not too close to any major airport. Albany airport is a little more than an hour away, buy I flew into Bradley airport north of Hartford Connecticut, since it was quite a bit cheaper and had better direct flight options from Atlanta. I landed on a Friday evening and drove an hour and 45 minutes to my hotel, Porches, which is directly across the street from the museum. It's a cool hotel, located in a series of renovated 19th-century row houses. I walked and had dinner at PUBLIC eat+drink and a quick beer at Bright Ideas brewing before heading back to the hotel for sleep.

View of MASS MoCA at night.

Mac and Cheese for dinner.

A quick beer at the brewery.

My hotel room had interesting art.

Saturday morning I woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel. I had some extra time before the museum opened at 10AM, so I looked at what was nearby and saw a historic cemetery, Hillside Cemetery, just up the road. I went for a walk around the cemetery, which had a lot of cool historic graves and had some nice views on a frosty but sunny morning. I then checked out of the hotel and went over to the museum for my 10:15 appointment with the coaster (the first appointment of the day).

Hillside cemetery.

Lots of old graves.

A big tomb.

The backside of Porches hotel.

The hotel lobby.

This way to the museum!

A big banner for the exhibit.

There was an art vending machine.

MASS MoCA.

The ride is really neat. It was manufactured by Skyline attractions, so it's a legitimate roller coaster and was built to normal safety standards. It's located in a huge two-story space in the center of the museum. It's on a small wooden platform that looks like a stage, and rider boarding occurs behind a big two-story curtain, to highlight the "performance" aspect of the ride. I signed my waiver and stepped into the one-person vehicle. Since it was the very first ride of the day and the museum had only been open 15 minutes, there were just two spectators for my ride. Later rides had bigger crowds watching. The ride starts with the museum employee giving the car a push to send it through the hole in the curtain. The first drop is maybe 15 feet tall or so, dropping down into the big exhibit space. You then rise up a hill and into an undulating downward turn to the right. A slight left turn leads to a stall out on an upwards hill, a coast backwards losing momentum, and then a coast forwards coming to a stop. The ride is smooth and fun, and is essentially like a short kiddie coaster.

Part of the exhibit.

Yay I'm tall enough.

The boarding area behind the curtain.

Winching up the car.

The first drop.

Overview of the whole ride.

S-curve.

Proof I rode it!

Another part of the exhibit had some display cars.

Nice lighting on the track.

In-between rides patrons can walk all around the coaster.

Close up of the wheel assemblies.

The rest of the museum is worth visiting, and I spent a couple of hours exploring. Some of my favorite exhibits were a dark room with a large rectangle of shredded newspaper in the middle with projected video, a shrine to the internet, and an exhibit on student loan debt consisting of hundreds of bowls filled with change. I made one last trip back to the roller coaster exhibit before leaving. It's estimated that only around 2,000 people rode the coaster during the exhibition period, so I'm happy and lucky to have this credit! It's unclear at this point what will happen to the coaster, but as a very site-specific installation with such a low capacity there aren't many options. It may just be scrapped, but my hope is that it can be relocated to the National Roller Coaster Museum.

One of the interior museum spaces.

A big mural exhibit.

A well lit room.

Bowls and bowls and bowls.

All filled with change.

A cool projection onto shredded newspaper.

It's the internet shrine!

It came complete with an AI generated prayer for the internet.

There was a random acoustic instrument meetup in the museum cafe.

Next I drove back towards the Bradley airport, stopping at Broad Brook Brewing for a late lunch. Luckily the weather was great - it was an abnormally warm day, so I didn't have any problems with driving in ice or snow. I flew back to Atlanta, wrapping up a quick trip to ride a unique coaster.

My drive went past Susan B Anthony's birthplace!

A brewery near the airport was a good stop for a late lunch.

A delicious beet-za pizza. Yes I had leftovers, and yes I took them through security and back to Atlanta for dinner. :)