A Walk Along The Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk

While in Fort Lauderdale to attend the Day of the Dead festival this past Sunday, my sister Susan and I also took a walk along that city's Riverwalk, which runs along the New River starting just to the west of the Las Olas business district. This riverwalk was recently named by USA Today the 7th best riverwalk in the country. And it does make for an enjoyable walk, what with the peoplewatching, the beautiful landscaping, and all those huge yachts going up and down the river. One negative was that Salt 7, a restaurant which had a great outdoor patio right along the river with bargain happy hour prices, is no longer in business. Earlier this year, a viral TikTok video was posted by a former bartender at Salt 7 saying that she was still owed $3,800 in credit card tips and hourly wages, which attracted a lot of attention and comments from other former employees with similar grievances, including one who quit after not receiving her tip money after 3 months. And still hasn't received it. As a result, Salt 7 was evicted and is now, as far as I know, out of business for good. On the other hand, at least now I know why those happy hour prices were so good.

On the way to the Day of the Dead event, we passed a woman who appeared to be selling pumpkins along the waterfront, even though it was the day after Halloween. On the way back, we passed the same spot and that woman was gone, although the display of pumpkins was still there, as seen in the photograph on the right. And so now I have to wonder - was she trying to sell pumpkins that were just part of the landscaping put up by the city? Which would not surprise me. Once when I flew into Fort Lauderdale and took the bus from the airport to downtown, a man got to talking to me, telling me that he was here waiting in Fort Lauderdale for his yacht to be delivered. I got off at my stop and never thought about it again. The next time I flew into Fort Lauderdale and took that bus, I'll be damned if the same guy didn't engage me in conversation once again and give me the same spiel. I told him that I remembered him from last time - "you're the guy who was waiting for his yacht to be delivered the last time we talked," and he got off at the very next stop. What he was up to, I don't know. The moral of the story is to make sure who you buy your pumpkins and yachts from, especially in Fort Lauderdale.