Viva Las Olas!

After getting lost for about an hour, we finally made our way to Las Olas Blvd in Fort Lauderdale. I had recalled this great little neighborhood from a previous trip. Fort Lauderdale is sort of the Bellevue to Miami and Las Olas is a quaint street with nice restaurants and a mix of stores.

We enjoyed roaming the stores, trying to guess if a store was in our price range or not. Some were, some we definitely not.

I found some cool clothes, mostly unique tops by local designers (on the clearance racks). It was fun to shop where things are a little different than the norm.

We stopped for lunch at a little Italian place, where Gretchen met us briefly. We enjoyed the pasta, pizza and wine and good conversation. Eventually, we hopped back in the car and headed north to Gretchen's house, where we changed for dinner.

We went to dinner at Chima's, a Brazilian steakhouse that is really fun. Gretchen and Shayna had taken Steve and I there a few years prior and we really enjoyed it. Rick enjoys the restaurant, too and he met us there.

We had a truly wonderful dinner with amazing wine and great company. It was a lot of fun to visit more with Rick and Gretchen. Shayna made a brief appearance, as well, although she is a busy 16 year old for sure. It was a lovely evening overall and we all enjoyed ourselves.