More Sun... More Schools

Fort Lauderdale was the last stop for us here in Florida. This last leg of the trip was the "business" part of the trip. Harrison had a few appointments with a few professors at a couple of grad schools here in the area.

We realized at the end of our trip that we didn't have any REAL pictures of Harrison and I together. We had a very nice lady from Illinios take a picture here at the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Florida International University was one of the schools that we visited. The campus was very large but very pretty. People seemed to be genuinly nice. The professors that we met with were very helpful. Harrison was able to get more information about the graduate programs the school had for his field of study. The research studies that the programs are doing are really fascinating to me. It was neat to find out what kinds of studies go on.

Florida Atlantic University was the other school we visited. The campus here was amazing. It was so big. It was like a mini city within a city. The professor we met with was so nice. He was very helpful when it came to talking about the area in general, not just the school itself. This school is located in Boca Raton which we quickly found out is like the Beverly Hills of Florida. The cost of living is very expensive here. The school is very nice though.

Our hotel was very nice. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Peir 66. It was pretty posh. The hotel is part of a marina there. There were a ton of very expensive yachts docked right outside our room. We requested a room with a view of the marina. I can't believe how much money was just floating there right in front of our eyes. The sunset was pretty though (as you can see from the picture).

The entire hotel grounds were beautiful. They took really good care of the landscaping. This tree was so pretty, I just had to get a picture of it (so I made Harrison snap one). I can't believe how many types of plants, shrubs, and flowers there are in Florida! It is so amazing!

At this hotel instead of lots of cats around (like Miami) there were tons of little geckos. It was funny to see them. They come out onto the cement and then when you walk by there are like five that scurry away. They were everywhere! It was fun!

We had such a good time in Florida. We were ready to come home to things that were familiar to us, but it was hard to leave the humid and balmy weather as well as the ocean. The way of living in Florida is definitely different than the way life is lived here in the west... that is for sure. There were lots of good things about this area as well of some things we could do without. We are so thankful for the opportunity we had to take this trip. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways. Thanks to the government for our stimulas package too! Without that... we would have had no place to sleep! Ha Ha Ha!