Florida Ducks (but Not Really)

It was when Matthew and I pulled up to Mary Poppins' AirBnb that I first suspected the Muscovy ducks were going to be major characters in my five-week Fort Lauderdale chapter. These massive, dark, goose/turkey gremlins were roosting in the front yard on the corner of something and something street, their reject eggs strewn about in neighboring flower beds. They were so comfortable here that I could tell this was considered regular in this part of the United States of America. Muscovy ducks are not native to this area, but they have become a part of the community. Throughout my stay I watched these ducks run to greet familiar human neighbors, chase people, sit and spectate children playing basketball in the street, and poop at me. As you read on, assume that the Muscovy ducks are in the corner of every sentence, watching, always watching.

Some other wildlife included invasive iguanas who, unlike the Muscovy ducks, are not welcome and apparently locals are encouraged to kill them, and tillandsia (air plants.) I had never seen either of these in nature before, only in pet store tanks or on my friend Mel's windowsill in Philadelphia, respectively. I would pass organisms like these on my way to Las Olas Beach. The three mile run along New River in Sailboat Bend and the shops on Las Olas was flanked by two drawbridges and dappled with ducks the worst drivers I've ever encountered in cars with tinted windows--amazing. My favorite car was this dead one outside of my AirBnb. 

"Thrive" by Daniel Popper

My days were fueled by lattes from the local Wells Coffee. I was up early and in bed late working three jobs in addition to Mary Poppins, so my leisure time was limited mostly to wine, movie, and snack nights in actor housing. I was not too adventurous with food in Fort Lauderdale, but I did go to a sushi buffet (risky!) and one evening got an enormous warm cookie from Blueprint Cookies (their window is open until 11:00PM.) 

My cast was mainly comprised of South Florida locals, many of whom hop from show to show, theatre to theatre together as a pack of entertainers and friends. Each of them had different passions outside of theatre: hockey, circus tricks, drag, foreign languages which I think fed into their supercalifragilisticexpialidocious unique ensemble character tracks. This cohort of performers had their favorite spots in and around town. One of the cast's favorite hangout spots is Original Phat Cats, just minutes from the Broward Center. I went twice for beer (who is he?) in the modern-dive atmosphere and then one night made my way to line-dancing with that group at Round Up Night Club. I have been to many corners of this nation, but this was the first time I felt like I had stepped into a different America. The last time I saw anything remotely close to this kind of dancing in person was at my forth grade square dancing evening. This seems like a good time to mention that April and I were craving corn hole so we went to Tarpon River Brewing. I ordered the Big Ass Pretzel off of the Foreplay section of the menu, and after devouring the beer cheese it was time for corn hole with April's family, Adam, and Michael. My team won. Twice!

I spent an afternoon kayaking through the winding, an occasionally very shallow, channels of Whiskey Creek Hideout with April and Adam, an evening in the hot tub ducksstaring up at the miles-high light beams of the local Hard Rock Café. There is night life, and I did go. 

"Oh! You're taking him to The Drive?" To my surprise, there is a large gay neighborhood in this part of South Florida. Heather Jane and I arrived at Rosie's Bar and Grill fresh off of a 10:00AM student matinee and enjoyed several banana hammocks (a cocktail) outside in a rainbow sanctuary. Rick, Larry, and I made our way down the drive, daddies turning their heads as we passed, and we walked into Wilton Collective. I was on a mission to find a key for my collection, and Rick and Larry were on the ride. I met a volunteer, Mike, and the manager, Ralph, at the counter and asked about keys. There weren't any, but we had story time. I mentioned I was from Delaware Country, and Mike sang the Mamas & the Papas line "When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore" which somehow segued to a story about the time he saw The Beetles in their first US concert. This caught the attention of two teenagers dressed as Janis Joplin on the other side of the counter, "You saw The Beetles Live?!" My search for a key had to continue elsewhere, but before leaving the store I learned that a locksmith is able to make a key for any old lock you bring in. Good to know for later. We were off in search of the next drink, which would be at Drynk Bar & Lounge. It was snowing back home in New York, so I committed to my summery escape via frozé. Some amount of time later I began to wander around by myself. I ended up in To the Moon looking for sweets to bring home for my family. 85% of the chocolate is made in house, the favorite behind the chocolate covered preserved orange peels which I purchased in addition to chocolate covered pretzels and espresso beans. In speaking with the clerk I received another strong reaction to the mention of my hometown, "Oh, you must have heard about the fire!" I had not heard that the West Reading chocolate factory exploded several days prior. ducks. I crashed Jennifer's Cast Party at Tropics lounge with Rick and Heather Jane one Monday night. Jennifer's Cast Party is technically a cabaret and piano bar type of evening, but the title of the weekly event captures the spirit of what I walked into--lifelong friends with inside jokes singing show tune and drinking age-appropriate beverages. And like every cast party, someone's mom was there chillin'. 

In an outline for this post I wrote "Seeing a 'mates forever' shirt in a store sad," and I do not know what that means, but I am including it in this blog because it must have been an important part of my day. I returned to the drive a few times in search of a key (which I found on my second to last day in Florida!) and dancing. Benjamin and I had drinks on the patio of Drynk, we danced, we antiqued, there were drink tokens.

Benjamin

Sailboat Bend 

I migrated back north with community on my mind. After ten years working as a traveling actor my sense of community is a little different. My family of ducks is spread all over the country, and while I will never get them in a row I know I have corner lawns from shore to shore where I can roost. My favorite haunts of contracts past are now vacation spots, and as New York has opened up this year I've begun to discover bars and pockets that I love in my new hometown. My Monday cast party is a weekly trip to my Times Square office, a wonderful space for stories, chocolate, and ideas sandwiched between floors of tomorrow's Broadway shows. Leave NYC corn hole spots in the comments. Quack quack.

Camelback at Dawn, Donkeys at Dusk

"I want to climb something." I had been in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona for six weeks mounting my first musical in two years (read more about that here) and realized that between my trips to crumbl, Trader Joe's, and the pool, I hadn't gone on any adventures. The temperature was usually 110ºF, so I did not wander about on foot the way I usually do on contracts. I walked to the theatre after I settled in to my rehearsal housing and according to Google Maps there was a river behind the theatre!

The river behind the theatre:

I should have known from my 2014 Google Maps nightmare that there was no river in the desert. But I trusted that Google Maps knew about local trails and sites, so I zoomed in and out of the satellite view looking for a mountain to climb. Camelback Mountain was a short ride away from my housing, and from what I had read it was a pretty doable hike for someone who doesn't climb things often, and the time to do it was before dawn. Sunrise was supposed to be beautiful from the top of the mountain, and also, the mi-day Arizona heat is so dry and intense that hiking after sunrise could be very dangerous/deadly. A few of my cast members were excited to hear that I wanted to climb a mountain before dawn and decided to join me, thank God because Ubers are expensive (gas prices in Greater Phoenix at this time were outrageous--at least $5/gallon) and it would probably be dangerous for me to climb a mountain by myself in a city I did not know.

So at 3:00AM on July 11, for of us met next to the bigass cactus outside the gate of our apartment complex and hopped into an Uber. About forty minutes later we were dropped off at the base of Camelback, and after covering ourselves in sunscreen (preparing early for the dawn) and drinking water, we set off onto the gravel pavement lit by nothing. Our eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. We could not see any stars. It could have been because of the hour, cloud coverage, or light pollution that cancelled them out. I could research the reason, but I will not. The hike was very easy to start, but since it twists around tall rock formations we had no way of knowing how much we had left to climb. At points, we could see bits of the surrounding city, homes poking out of the mountain side, and other hikers passing by. At one point, a railing appeared in the middle of a steep section of rock to aid our climb. I thought this meant that we were close to the top, but no. 

Evan, before sunrise

At this point the most difficult part of the hike was not knowing where it would end. I worried I wasn't going make it to the top before sunrise. I tried to keep everyone in our group within my periphery, but we eventually split apart. I don't know if hikers have a code, but I feel like if they did this would be against it. At one point I started to slip and wondered if someone would find my unconscious body before the dawn, and if so, would they take my maxed out credit card out of my drawstring bag and attempt to order something luxurious? But I didn't slip and I realized I was being very dramatic, and then something kicked in that I have never felt before. I felt extremely competitive (against whom, Stephen?) and started racing up the mountain on all fours. This sounds like some type of exorcism film sequence, and I'm not saying I was possessed but some kind of instinct clicked off my anxiety and got me to the top of the mountain. 

Evan and I high-fived and we sat and were greeted by a ringtail cat. Adam arrived shortly after. And then the dawn.

Moose, B, and the Camelback Mountain welcome committee

I watched morning reach into every corner of the city as we made out descent, filled with granola bars and gold from the sun. Also, I slipped down part of this mountain but no one saw, not even Squidward's house. 

There's that railing again.

A few days later we visited Lake Pleasant. I was surprised to hear that there was a lake in the middle of the desert, especially since Google Maps lied to me about the river behind the theatre two months prior, but I was assured by my wardrobe team that this was a real place with real water, so I went along to take a dip in the dessert. It was rocky, it was windy, the day was filled with talk and laugher. And at dusk, a group of donkeys crossed the road.

The Bermuda Triangle Hokey Pokey

Due to COVID-19, my cast and I debarked the ship just six weeks before our contracts were originally scheduled to end. I've spent this time looking back on the places I've seen and the magic I've found. Our itinerary is considered "Western Caribbean." I like to call it "The Bermuda Triangle Hokey Pokey" because our home port was Miami and we visited Nassau and Castaway Cay in the Bahamas almost every cruise, and sometimes we went to the Cayman Islands, causing us to go in and out and all about the Bermuda Triangle. One of the best places we visited was Disney's own Island, Castaway Cay. I got off the ship every time we visited Castaway Cay because I had to greet a character on the island and/or I went for a run on the island trail. I walked around Nassau maybe four times. The first time it was raining and I spent maybe fifteen minutes off the ship before I came back and got lunch on Deck 9. The second time I got brunch, and the last two times I sat in the Hilton and used the WiFi and pretended I was a guest. I went to Grand Cayman once. The main reason I only went one time was that our ship did not actually dock here because of the shallow rocky coast. Our ship anchored off the shore and guests took tendering boats between our ship and the island. Since my schedule was pretty tight and the shore-to-ship tendering time was unpredictable, I was not eager to leave the ship. But then I did! I could not find too much to do in the near vicinity on the island, but I saw some chickens. My island experiences are below. 

Nassau, Bahamas

We often docked next to another ship in Nassau.

Mickey and his friends do not visit the Nassau gangway, but Norwegian Cruise Line's friends do.

Brunch at Smugglers with Stephen and Chris! They serve Starbucks and WiFi. And the pirate museum I did not go to is next door to the restaurant.

Here is the Hilton whose WiFi I used.

George Town, Grand Cayman

One morning en route to the Cayman Islands I went out on Deck 9 to eat some poached eggs and watch the sun rise. We were sailing by some mountains in Cuba and a child looked out and this happened:

Child: Where is that?

Father: That's Cuba!

Child: We're going to CUBA!

Mother: No, we are not.

View of the ship from the tendering boat

Fort George

Chickens on wire

Outside Guy Harvey's, a restaurant I did not enter.

Castaway Cay

Every cruise itinerary included a stop at this island. One of the best parts are the cookies, served at the restaurants Cookies and Cookies, Too. The names of the shops and attractions at the island are made up of spelling and grammar jokes: our shops on the island (run by employees who live on the island and the merchandise team from our ship) are called "She Sells Sea Shells" and "Buy the Sea Shore."

I got an Arendelle Winter (frozen coffee) at  Summertime Freeze.

Trams take you to and from the various beaches and attractions on the island.

Mount Rustmore

Stephen, Ben, and I snorkled through the reefs, shipwrecks, and many schools of fish off the shore. I saw two schools of fish looking out at a larger fish. The larger fish looked out into the deep blue water. I did not know what was going on. And I saw a big turtle.

Conch shells are everywhere on the crew beach.

That's my dad.

This is me and my mom.

Several trails forge their way through the leafy green landscape of the island. Disney hosts a 5k for each cruise, and I got to run it with Abbey! 

As the ship pulls away from Castaway, the island crew waves goodbye, hands dressed in large Mickey and Minnie style gloves. These places gave me the warmest winter, and I'll miss them. See ya real soon, Mickey!