Day 2:17: Hollywood, FL to Cocoa Beach, FL

We got up early and packed up the car, closing out our stay in South Florida and grateful to Andrew and Lauren for their hospitality, both while they were in town and while they were away. We found a Kinko’s en route for Arielle to print some materials for the training she ran that morning for JFS at Home in Boca Raton for therapists, companions, case managers, social workers about how and why to engage in end-of-life conversations with clients and loved ones. Abe didn’t see it so he can’t attest to its quality, but we all know that it was certainly superb. After the session, we went down the street to Pei Wei so Abe could get a teriyaki tofu stir fry and Arielle could get sushi she wasn’t sure she really wanted. We completed the free survey to get a cookie, and waited around for a while because of some miscommunication with the very enthusiastic actor-turned-cashier about our order being takeout. We drove about fifteen minutes to Brendy’s, which was Bubbe’s favorite ice cream shop, and Arielle got peanut butter and coffee soft-serve yogurt.

We continued up towards Cocoa Beach, stopping in Merritt Island at a Pep Boys that was much more helpful than the one we had been to earlier, explaining to us that the new brakes we got before we left Los Angeles aren’t yet sitting in the rotors, and as a result they’re going to make a grinding sound because the metal has been tempered (when they’re very hot and then cooled very fast, metal becomes brittle). The mechanic spent a while telling us everything, and we were grateful for his extremely helpful analysis. We drove the remaining twenty minutes or so to Cocoa Beach, where we arrived at the rented home of Ron and Pam, who we met for lunch last week. Pam was back in New Hampshire, so Ron showed us around after we dropped our belongings and we walked about ten minutes to the beach, where we enjoyed a lovely stroll along the sand. We walked back to the house and drove to downtown, where we parked at Coconuts on the Beach. Abe and Ron both enjoyed the drunken salmon, while Arielle got the largest pretzel in the world. There was a band playing for the entire time we were there, doing a series of extremely long songs and making conversation relatively difficult. It was nice to sit outside for our last meal in Florida.

Of course we had to go for ice cream, and wandered down the street to the Fat Donkey. When we asked, they said you could split a scoop into two half-scoops, but then they gave us three scoops each instead! Arielle got Birthday Cake and Mint Chip, while Abe got Chocolate Cake and Cookies ‘N Cream. It was good but definitely too much, and Arielle had to throw out some of her ice cream for possibly the first time in her life.

We drove back home and played 3 games of Ticket to Ride: Rails to Sails with Ron, who had lapped us by two hundred points the first few times we had played in New Hampshire in August. Abe was delayed to have won one of the games thanks to his always-utilized and often-publicized strategy of being the one to finish first, ensuring that the game ends before the other players are fully prepared to have finished their moves. We enjoyed the game and resisted the urge to play again, heading instead to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 182

Day 2.16: South Florida Day 7

We got up early to make an 8am appointment at Pep Boys, which took a while and then resulted in them not finding anything, apparently unable to duplicate the sound that we heard while braking. We went back to get ready and then drove to Boynton, where Arielle presented at Discovery Village Independent Living with nine residents in attendance. Abe will also say that this one was great! We were shocked and thrilled to see that a Wawa was being built literally across the street from the main road to Discovery Village, and excitedly told Grampye this news.

We spent the afternoon going through photo albums with Grampye, and he pulled out a 1939 yearbook he had designed the cover for and his class schedule and notes from his pharmacist mate’s training at Columbia during World War II.

We left to drive to Deerfield Beach and pick up Arielle’s Aunt Chana, whose son David we saw last week in Orlando. She was down in Florida visiting from Long Island for the winter months, and we thought she might get along with Grampye because their families were both from the town of Chelm in Poland, and Chana recognized Grampye’s mother’s maiden name as that of a close friend of her father’s. They spoke briefly in Yiddish to each other and we all had a nice time at Sweet Tomatoes in Boca Raton. In addition to some great salad, soups, pasta, and sweet potatoes enjoyed by all, Arielle had three ice cream cones and convinced both Grampye and Chana to have multiple as well.

We drove Aunt Chana home and then brought Grampye back, saying goodbye for the last time on this visit.

We drove back to Hollywood and make a brief stop to catch up with the other Arielle Feit, wife of Joseph, Arielle’s father’s first cousin. They live just five minutes away from Andrew and Lauren, and so it was nice to say hello.

We returned to the apartment, packed up most of our things, and went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 94

Day 2.10: South Florida Day 1

We got up early because we had to drive to Miami and unlike the sunny Florida weather we had heard so much about, it was raining a lot. We left plenty of time, but still hit a lot of traffic on our way to Arielle’s presentation of her thesis research for the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami. The presentation went great and Arielle hopes that it helps to grow her connections with the Jewish community in South Florida. As we were driving to Miami, we reached the southernmost point of I-95. We continued further south to meet Stephanie Nichol for lunch at Sage, which was completely bare inside with the exception of one other pair of people, but had surprisingly great food. Abe ordered the Korean barbecue veggies, and Arielle ordered the butternut squash and sage gnocchi, both of which were delicious.

It was lovely getting to see Stephanie, and after saying goodbye, we headed north to Boca, where Arielle met with a local rabbi about a future program. During her meeting, Abe drove further north to Boynton Beach to pick up his grandfather, George, better known as Grampye, and brought him back to Boca to pick up Arielle, but more importantly, for Ben’s Deli! This New York deli favorite is always delicious and did not disappoint! Arielle got the Double Dip: chicken soup with half a corned beef sandwich. Abe got mushroom barley soup with a platter of corned beef and pastrami. Grampye got mushroom barley soup with a pastrami sandwich, and root beer in a frosty mug. Of course, there were plenty of pickles they all enjoyed, obviously Arielle more than the men. When we visited Ben’s deli together for the first time with Grampye and Abe’s grandmother, Pearl, more commonly known as Bubbe, Bubbe was impressed and concerned that Arielle could eat five pickles without getting a stomach ache, so in her memory, Arielle once again delighted in five true New York sour pickles.

We dropped Grampye back off at home and drop back to Hollywood, where we had a chance to hang out with Andrew and Lauren for a bit, and talk about their impending trip to Cuba! Exhausted from a long day of just-Florida driving, we went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 133