Thursday, March 8, 2007

A beautiful morning. We pack our bags and head to South Beach for a couple of days. Really looking forward to it. Staying at the Wave Hotel on 350 Ocean Dr. When leaving the Everglades we set the GPS for shortest distance instead of shortest time. We were routed all through Homestead, back where all the orchards and nurseries are. We wound through all sections of Miami. We saw a lot—some bad, some good. The route took us right past the Fairchild Botanical Gardens, so we stopped and took the tour. Beautiful place—and very big—88 acres I think. They take you around on a tram and then you can walk around also. We had lunch at the snack bar there. Very good. There was a Chihuly exhibit going on while we were there. Several of his blown glass pieces were featured throughout the gardens. At night they are all lit up—I’m sure it’s quite spectacular. When we finished there we hit “resume” on our GPS and it continued us on our route. There are some spectacular estates around the gardens. Finally we made it to the hotel and checked in. At first I was disappointed because the hotel wasn’t located in the heart of the art deco district, but when we walked around later that evening I was so thankful we weren’t. It was right in the middle of spring break. We had dinner at the News Café that evening and watched the parade go by. At night it was pretty chilly and these girls would go by dressed as scantily as possible. And the traffic on Ocean Dr! Bumper to bumper. All the kids cruisin’—most of them on mopeds. Quite a sight. Met our friend, Mark, for drinks at the Clevelander Hotel bar. Met him at the Keys last year. He runs a parasail outfit on the beach here. Back to the hotel and bed.