NYP-DLB and back on the Silver Meteor - live report

[cpotisch]

Just up the road from us. I’ve seen it many times but never stopped there. We’ll have to try it.

It’s like a five minute drive from here. I guess we are REALLY close to you guys. :huh:  

And if you do go there, just know that the layout of the parking lot and how you enter it is sort of weird, so if you’re driving from the east (heading west) on Glades Road, it is dangerously easy to accidentally turn too late and end up stuck on the turnpike. I emphasize, make the right turn into the parking lot much earlier than you think, or you will end up on the turnpike. This is a mistake we have made way too many times, and have spent way too much money on tolls and time on the turnpike, so if it seems like you even might have missed the correct entrance, bail out, make a u-turn, and try again.

 

[JRR]

Yeah, I know exactly where it is. I go by it every time I go to church.

 

[cpotisch]

Yeah, I know exactly where it is. I go by it every time I go to church.

Cool. Just wanted to make sure because we’ve spent probably hundreds of dollars on tolls making that mistake. Enjoy!

 

[cpotisch]

About to head into the Boca West Sunday brunch buffet. In preparation, I didn’t have a full dinner last night and haven’t eaten anything today, so it’s time to make my family proud/ashamed.

 

[Seaboard92]

91 has a private car on the rear. Good luck.

 

[cpotisch]

91 has a private car on the rear. Good luck.

Huh?

 

[NEPATrainTraveler]

Good trip report so far. How’s the scenery on the silver service routes?

 

[Steve4031]

This trip report is excellent.  The photos are well done.  Keep it coming.  

 

[cpotisch]

Good trip report so far. How’s the scenery on the silver service routes?

First off, thank you.

But the scenery on the Silvers isn’t really anything special. You go through plenty of nice enough farmland, and on the Meteor you go over some nice rivers and lakes, but overall it really can’t compare to any of the western routes (with the possible exception of the TE between SAS and CHI). But I’ve generally found the crew and service onboard to be wonderful, so I think that generally more than compensates for the (lack of) scenery.

 

[cpotisch]

This trip report is excellent.  The photos are well done.  Keep it coming.  

Thank you very much!

 

[cpotisch]

About to head into the Boca West Sunday brunch buffet. In preparation, I didn’t have a full dinner last night and haven’t eaten anything today, so it’s time to make my family proud/ashamed.

Yeah, so brunch yesterday was great. I only had one chocolate Belgian waffle with whipped cream and strawberries (whereas last year I had eight), but did have a four or five or so raspberry and custard tarts (two of which I took the liberty of putting under the chocolate fountain), four plates of home fries, two cups of coffee ice cream with chocolate sprinkles,, and plenty of chocolate fountain submerged pound cake and marshmallows and cookies and stuff.

I was pretty much alternating between home fries and custard tarts for the vast majority of the meal. Unfortunately, I sort of forgot to take pictures, so I only got shots of one fully chocolate-submerged tart, and one partially chocolate-submerged tart with a little cameo in the back of some chocolate-submerged pound cake and marshmallows.

I am disgusting. ^_^

 

[cpotisch]

About to head out to Waffle House now. After that, we’ll be making a short trip to Fort Lauderdale Collection South, an exotic car dealership in, you guessed it, Fort Lauderdale. I used to be much more of a car person than I am now, so in past years we’d often spend a full day or days going to countless dealerships all around SoFlo, but since I’ve shifted away from that stuff, have seen pretty much every fancy car known to man over the years, and have sat in plenty that were going for $1M+, this year it’s just going to be this one pretty close dealership.

Once we get back I think we’ll be doing some swimming and hot tubbing, and then at around 5:00 PM it will be time to head over to the always lovely Christmas Eve dinner at our friend’s place.

 

[railiner]

Yeah, so brunch yesterday was great. I only had one chocolate Belgian waffle with whipped cream and strawberries (whereas last year I had eight), but did have a four or five or so raspberry and custard tarts (two of which I took the liberty of putting under the chocolate fountain), four plates of home fries, two cups of coffee ice cream with chocolate sprinkles,, and plenty of chocolate fountain submerged pound cake and marshmallows and cookies and stuff.

I was pretty much alternating between home fries and custard tarts for the vast majority of the meal. Unfortunately, I sort of forgot to take pictures, so I only got shots of one fully chocolate-submerged tart, and one partially chocolate-submerged tart with a little cameo in the back of some chocolate-submerged pound cake and marshmallows.

I am disgusting. ^_^

View attachment 11734View attachment 11735

Health Food? 

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Unfortunately, I sort of forgot to take pictures.

I am disgusting. ^_^

View attachment 11734View attachment 11735

Then you will have to go back again, because I really want to see pictures of all those home fries and the chocolate fountain!

Of course you are not disgusting--you are young, on vacation, and lucky enough to still be able to burn all this off quickly!

 

[cpotisch]

Then you will have to go back again, because I really want to see pictures of all those home fries and the chocolate fountain!

 Of course you are not disgusting--you are young, on vacation, and lucky enough to still be able to burn all this off quickly!

If you saw me eating there, I don’t think you would disagree with my assessment of my own disgusting-ness. But who is to say that it’s a bad thing to eati a disgusting amount of food every once in a while!

And I am tempted to go back there on the 30th (the other Sunday I’m down here), but that might not be the wise decision. But if I do, you can count on PLENTY of pictures.

 

[cpotisch]

I love Waffle House. A pecan waffle for dad, two chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream for me, a lemonade for me, and a triple hash browns, smothered, covered, diced, and capped, for the both of us. I will let you consult the menu to translate:



\

 

[cpotisch]

As usual, saw plenty of cool cars at Fort Lauderdale Collection South. Here are some of the nicest and most special ones they had, but I’m just going to put the names there and spare everybody a whole monologue about each one.

2012 Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition:/monthly_2018_12/5EC0CE3C-C76C-4C15-82A0-4EC32003430B.thumb.jpeg.9695f89f4e10764ecf86ad95ef972d2b.jpeg

2008 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione:/monthly_2018_12/39D15F37-8D6E-48F6-9C55-A1E6F54623C9.thumb.jpeg.edc2b76be2b7489825352edd0f0379a2.jpeg

2018 McLaren 720S:/monthly_2018_12/F828CFFD-6709-466A-8A6C-70FCD182DBC0.thumb.jpeg.ef8b9e137b7851673a77ff611060f4fe.jpeg/monthly_2018_12/7A7FD15F-482E-4509-8C58-A08C732CA3C7.thumb.jpeg.754787994fa185ac2bf515ec5f9b6215.jpeg

2014 Ferrari LaFerrari:/monthly_2018_12/4F0D1A88-C934-4217-9F84-78390ADFCB9E.thumb.jpeg.0b86fd230a1445b55c59bdcb35d84f9c.jpeg

/monthly_2018_12/ECBCE066-826D-4A54-A6FE-E59F3BE203AE.thumb.jpeg.b590d7d1c9f482e6832847869ea99c28.jpeg

2015 Porsche 918 Spyder Weissach/monthly_2018_12/ACA076E2-8F86-453E-8603-FD76B32F4E82.thumb.jpeg.7feb611b39d2a63565c37d92248b37fc.jpeg/monthly_2018_12/FF6AB836-CDF3-4BB1-B450-F7BE09D88069.thumb.jpeg.829ae738596188734bb97ebabeef60bb.jpeg

1996 Ferrari F50:/monthly_2018_12/2B3A2523-DA4B-4645-A986-EB6A8139E304.thumb.jpeg.eee41459af0ba84f90b582aef853759b.jpeg

These cars alone are probably worth a total of $10+ million, and have top speeds of up to 220 mph.

 

[cpotisch]

[There’s a limit as to how many pictures I can have in each post, so I’m continuing off of the last one]

And on the way there, we had to wait for a Tri-Rail train to pass at a grade crossing, so I got some pics of that. It consisted of a Brookville BL36PH pulling four Bombardier Bi-Level coaches, including the cab car at the end.

 

[cpotisch]

Off to dinner!

 

[cpotisch]

A lovely and delicious dinner. Hours d’oeuvres consisted of cold cuts (which I obviously can’t eat), cheeses, bread, hearts of palm, shrimp cocktail, and some kind of mini caviar. Because I don’t eat meat, all I had for dinner was salad and some rigatoni, but that was plenty.

And then dessert was various cream puffs, cannolis, lobster tails, chocolate cake, and whoopee pies. So. Good.

The hors d’oeuvres... /monthly_2018_12/74ACC56F-D4F5-44D6-9B2D-5CE466134D20.thumb.jpeg.bd6035a95ac4154605d9cbbe59e5d446.jpeg/monthly_2018_12/3C5A683A-D466-4DCE-A921-B12043852BEE.thumb.jpeg.f71d326c61799e081a45923797195be1.jpeg

My dinner plate:/monthly_2018_12/CFB27023-E935-467C-B3AD-C71F9E96B2FC.thumb.jpeg.0ab7849da469b5fee31db50b03dfead8.jpeg

The desserts:/monthly_2018_12/55B15424-DF2C-4540-BA9D-38B05AC53226.thumb.jpeg.1cbe640dbb063cedaf9a9d811820f842.jpeg

Merry Christmas!

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Beautiful dessert platters . That chocolate cake looks really, really good (and it must be, since most of it has disappeared! ).

 

[cpotisch]

Beautiful dessert platters . That chocolate cake looks really, really good (and it must be, since most of it has disappeared! ).

Indeed.

We actually had most of last night’s “attendees” over here earlier for lunch (as always, there were PLENTY of leftovers) and to swim. Let me tell you; those whoopee pies are insanely good. Probably because they were from One Girl Cookie, a bakery about six blocks from my house, and were brought down here by my aunt.

My grandparents, mom, and I, are as always watching the 24 hour A Christmas Story marathon on TBS. And tonight, the six of us (me, my parents, grandparents, and sister) will be attending the official Christmas Dinner at the “Boca West Club”. The food isn’t really anything special, but it’s pleasant enough and a nice tradition (I do like traditions).

Unfortunately, though my mom and I are staying down here until 1/1, my sister and dad head up to NYC tomorrow. So this will be our last dinner together in Florida this year.

 

[JRR]

Are they going to be on the Meteor?

 

[cpotisch]

Are they going to be on the Meteor?

Unfortunately, no. Flying was way cheaper and she doesn’t even like the train, so they’re going Delta. 

 

[JRR]

Too bad, we are heading to Wilmington Del from DFB tomorrow and thought we might see them.