WARMER DAYS... on to Florida (Part 156n)

WARMER DAYS… on to Florida (Part 156n)

Elle wanted to shower first so she’d have time for her hair to dry before we met up with my parents, something that neither of us really wanted to do. I heard the phone ring while I was showering and wondered who it could be. In a matter of seconds Elle was in there and pulling the shower curtain back. The look on her face told me something was wrong. It had been my father telling us to meet in the lobby at 7pm. The original plans, as I knew them, were to meet in the bar area at 7:30pm. With the ‘extra curricular’ action I’d lost track of time. Elle emphasized the need for me to hurry as there wasn’t much time. I hustled about and when I came into the room I saw Elle wearing her new dress, the one she’d worn the night before. I asked her why and she said that my father told her he was just relaying a request from my mother. I shrugged my shoulders and told her it was her decision..

We arrived in the lobby a little late and were greeted by my mother. She was dressed ‘to the nines’, far more than was required to dine in the restaurant right behind where we were standing. I’d been puzzled by the fact that we weren’t meeting in the bar and her appearance didn’t help. She was all bubbly and friendly which, based upon my history with her, was a sign of masking something. She told Elle how much she loved that dress on her which was kind of funny because she never said a word about it the night before. I started to ask what was happening but she kind of pushed us towards the door. I could see my father’s car waiting to pull across the road from the parking lot but he had to wait for traffic to pass. Standing there I saw something from the past on the other side of the road… a pole sign with a big weather beaten arrow on it. The arrow pointed towards the beach access for cars. I remember when it had been erected and how it upset the owners, Ed and Thea. Barney, the guy who owned the roadhouse, had put it up. But now the roadhouse was completely gone and the sign still stood there. In a way it was almost like a grave marker.

I didn’t waste any time querying my father about our destination. It was a typical response when answering anything that my mother was involved in… “Ask your mother…”. I can’t really describe her when in this type situation but it was almost as if she assumed another persona. All ‘gushy’ and patronizing, she said she thought we should be treated to an evening at a five star resort but gave no reason for it. All I was hearing was guilt pouring out of her mouth. There was nothing for either Elle or I to say so we just sat there in the back seat.

The main building at the resort had approximately 80 rooms and the architecture was definitely influenced by the fact that the territory had once been owned by Spain. A valet took and parked the car while we walked up a carpeted stairway. With all the fancy furnishings all I saw was $$$$$$. Even though I’d spent a night or two there when I was thirteen I didn’t recognize any of what I saw. Let’s leave it as… “LAVISH”, with an exclamation point. The dining room was almost unbelievable. The chairs were immense and what was really impressive was there were four different people to serve our table… all male. It was the first time I’d ever seen a menu without prices. Speaking of the menu, it was almost like it was written in a foreign language with the fancy descriptions for the entrees. I remember my mother commenting that I’d always loved lamb but when I scanned the menu I couldn’t find it. I felt sort of stupid when I admitted it.

Conversation was rather stilted at first but having seen the old Barney’s sign earlier I asked what had happened to the place and to Barney. The question brought sort of a wry smile from my father. The area had been hit with a number of hurricanes since the last time I’d been there and one did a lot of damage to the place. Barney was in the process of rebuilding it when there was a suspicious fire that pretty much destroyed what had been left after the storm. He and his family disappeared right after that, much to Ed and Thea’s delight. They tried to buy the property but since Barney wasn’t around there couldn’t be a sale. The county condemned what was left of the structure, bulldozed it down and hauled the debris away.

Mention of hurricanes made me ask about all the sand that was up against the sea wall in front of our room. That  brought a laugh from my father and then he said that during one storm the water had been so high that waves were breaking on the buildings. The end result was sand in all the rooms. I also asked about the lack of shrubbery and palm trees that I’d noticed and it was also because of hurricanes. Because business had been falling off Ed and Thea decided not to spend the money to replace them. In the back of my mind I questioned if that had been a good idea. I thought back to my reaction to seeing how shabby it looked upon our arrival… but then again, I didn’t own the place.

The dinner and the service was exceptional. My father told us that Ed and Thea had made the reservation for us and that’s why we got the royal treatment. After finishing we took a walk around the building even though my ankle was really killing me about then. The resort had also built two twelve room villas when they added the pool and cabanas and expanded the tennis facility. In our tour we got to see one of the most famous golf holes in the world… the 9th hole. It was located on a very small island in a lagoon. When we returned to the place where we were staying we were greeted by Thea who had a camera. Since this was the last month of operation and the fact that it was being called “a farewell party”, she wanted pictures of all the guests who attended. This was ours…
                 

I can't believe I wore that...

 To be continued…