To celebrate America's 237th Independence Day, we traveled to the other side of Florida to spend the long holiday weekend in Fort Lauderdale. It was a fun, four-day vacation that included fireworks on the beach, frolicking in the sun, eating a lot of seafood, and... the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum?! Yes, there is such a thing and it is pretty awesome. So here's some snapshots from our 4th of July celebration...

We stayed at the beautiful Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. The weather was sunny (most of the days) and the pool was well...very popular. The wind blowing through the palm trees was fantastic. Florida weather at its finest.

The beach was equally as popular. Thank goodness we brought our pink umbrella - it made it easy to spot our location, and saved us the daily rental fee. As Rihanna would say, you can lounge under my umbrella, ella, ella...

Even though the one red warning flag was up (warning people that the surf is high and/or there are dangerous currents), that did not stop anyone from literally running into the water.

A little further north from our beach camp, I was thrilled to find these big rocks. I have a thing for BIG rocks at a beach, I guess because they add an extra degree of danger, excitement, and adventure!

In the evening, all of the resort's beach chairs were lined and turned towards the direction of the fireworks show. They also gave out glow-in-the-dark, patriotic-colored necklaces. Watching fireworks on the beach was pretty spectacular!

If you love seafood and visit Fort Lauderdale, then it is imperative that you dine at a lovely local establishment called the Southport Raw Bar; it's been there since 1973. Besides their specialty of raw oysters (which I'm not a fan of but my husband is), they also have broiled, blackened, steamed, and grilled seafood items on the menu. I must give photo credit to my husband for the food image below. I was just too busy eating to be taking pictures. Can you believe that?! We ate here for lunch one day and for dinner another day.

There were a few moments during our vacation that the weather was, shall we say, less than pleasant. Here's one of them. But instead of me running away from the pool like every other guest to seek shelter, I decided to stand there on the pool's ledge and feel the soft rain shower against my skin. What was I afraid of, getting wet? I was just in the pool! Kids, if you ever get the chance to stand in the rain WHILE IN YOUR BATHING SUIT, I highly recommend it. Unless of course there's lightning and thunder, then not a good idea. It is a very natural experience -- to look up to the gray heavens, close your eyes, and feel the cool water pitter patter on your eyelashes. So refreshing and invigorating! After about 15 minutes, the shower passed and it was back to sunnyville and the crowd returned.

Another highlight of our tourist experience in Fort Lauderdale was visiting the International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum with my cousin, who is a local but has never been here. This was a really fun and interesting museum dedicated to everything swimming and so much more!

Housed there was a huge collection of Olympic memorabilia and historical items related not only to swimming, but also to diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, and water safety. They even honored aquatic achievements in the movies, costumes, swimwear, equipment, photography, and art. And there were tons of trophies and medals!

If you have ever rooted for the U.S. Olympic swimming team, or know how to swim, or can only doggy paddle (like me), then I think you would appreciate and enjoy this fascinating museum as much as we did. USA! USA! USA! 

So fly high and Happy 237th Birthday, America! Fun, young, and free...you don't look a day over 27.