About a year ago, Sylvia showed me a picture of the Guitar Hard Rock hotel in Hollywood, Florida! (I didn't even know there was a city in Florida called Hollywood at the time!!) Recently, we found out that one of her favorite country artists, Brooks and Dunn, were headlining at their live arena, so we decided it was time for another Florida visit.


Above, are some traveling pictures that we took going to and from the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood airport! Sylvia once again had, what is getting to be, her favorite airport meal -- a brisket grilled cheese sandwich from the SMOKE SHACK BBQ restaurant in San Antonio. Delicious!

This may be the first time in awhile that almost every single flight was on time or early, so it was generaly a great trip. However, after stopping in St. Louis, our connecting flight was delayed about 45 minutes, so by the time we got our luggage and rental car, it was almost midnight when we arrived at the hotel.

It was a busy Friday night and despite the reservations made, our room type was occupied and the hotel was fairly full. But we were helped by a super-nice desk agent (Claudette) and had to "settle" for an upgrade at the Oasis tower. This upgrade was unbelievable. It had a huge living room and bedroom, TWO bathrooms, a large, home-sized refrigerator with an ice maker and beautiful views of the pool area. I've never been in such a luxurious hotel suite in my life and I've been in some really nice hotels.

The next day, we had to change rooms and despite the fact that our second room was very nice, the "downgrade" was expectedly disappointing. But it is a beautiful hotel overall and massive with several towers, restaurants and shops.



From the pictures above, you get the idea of the beauty of the facility! In the center, is the Oculus. It was mesmerizing and we took several pictures of this "waterfall" in the middle of the hotel.


The last picture shows a display at the Hard Rock Shop and yes, we did buy a few items as souvenirs. (I mean, how could we not!)

The first photo (above) was taken in the Hard Rock Shop; The middle picture shows the sweet shop near our tower called the CONSTANT GRIND (also a coffee shop). The two dolphins are a pure chocolate sculptures that they specialize in making upon request.

In the first picture (above), we took a picture of the door handles which were shaped like a guitar! It wasn't until later that I noticed in the background that our tower, THE GUITAR TOWER, was written on the wall behind the doors!

Below, Sylvia loved the motorcycle and in the last picture, I am standing at one of the sports bars inside the hotel.

There was Rock and Roll memorabilia spread throughout the hotel. Below was a dress worn by Katy Perry!

Below, you can see the beautiful pool area as well as the sign in front of the hotel. We actually took this last picture as we were leaving the hotel on the morning of our flight back home.


And then came the Brooks and Dunn concert! Because she plays their music all the time, I recognized at least 4-5 of their songs including their big hits: Neon Moon & Boot Scootin' Boogie.

I have to admit though, that even if you are not a big country music fan, these guys put on one heck of a show!! It was a great hour and a half of music. The crowd was really into it and sang along with the band on many of the songs!

Above, is a picture of us against a set up screen at the Hard Rock Live arena. The picture to the far right was taken in the hotel room just before we left for the concert! It shows Sylvia all decked out in her newest "cowgirl" get up! The girl does know how to strike a pose!

The next day, we planned for some sight-seeing in Fort Lauderdale. I found a riding tour on four-wheeled vehicles called EZ RAIDERS. I figured this was the best way for a tour without straining our backs and knees. We didn't take any pictures of ourselves, but here are some photos from their website:


Although the learning curve to ride these things were slower than I expected, we still had fun exploring Fort Lauderdale!

We stopped in a few stores to buy souvenirs and decided to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Fort Lauderdale!


The left picture (above) showed a beautiful building with an enormous sea shell fountain in front!

The night before we left, we watched the hotel light show that was put on daily at 9 pm. We walked to a viewing area with a guide to the front of the hotel past the pools and had an excellent vantage point to see the show.


Although many of the pictures look similar, the static photos do not do the changing light and color scheme justice. It was an amazing 15 minute light display!


The hotel was majestic both inside and out! The tower opened in October 2019. It was built as the centerpiece of a massive expansion project. The overall $1.5 billion budget funded the 450-foot guitar-shaped tower! It is truly the 8th wonder of the world! (Now, let's see... what were those other 7 wonders of the world???)

That evening, before our trip back to ol' San Antonio, we walked around the complex, gambled a little bit and before heading upstairs, realized we had not eaten at the Hard Rock Cafe. So we stopped in at the bar and had pina coladas and cheesecake. It was a great way to end the trip before heading to our room for the final night. The waitress was gracious and took our pictures at the bar and in front of the Hard Rock Cafe banner.

In this last picture (left), Sylvia is raising her glass of orange juice in a toast to the great time we had on our trip. The beautifully decorated restaurant was called the RISE BAR & GRILL and it was the only 24-hr. restaurant in the Hard Rock Complex. Hence, we were able to eat there the first night we arrived after midnight and early on the morning of our flight home!

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