December 18 – Miami, USA

Miami Botanical Garden

Weather – 25º, sunny

Steps – 10,707

Humidity – 75%

It must have been little kids’ day at the pool today, and no one told us! WOW, what a difference in demographics. As soon as we arrived, we realized we were only 1 of 2 other group without kids. We weren’t bothered in the least by this, and it was actually fun watching them party in the pool.

The hotel’s pool area is so nice, we spent a few more hours this morning/afternoon blogging and reading.

Our goal for the day was to visit Miami’s Botanical Gardens about a 15 m

not a ton of flowers here

in walk from the hotel. As we wandered through, we kept thinking we had missed a part, but in the end it was just small. Lovely, but small.

blooms and a fountain

Next, we jumped on the Miami Beach Free Trolly to the end of Ocean Drive. Our guide a few days ago told us of a good place for Greek food and a happy hour, once we took a look, I didn’t think there was enough going on, so we didn’t stop. Even though we didn’t stay, it was a good excuse to see the other end of Ocean Drive and get some steps in.

We stopped at one of a million more or less the same places along the main part of Ocean Drive. Happy hour was half priced (not 2 for 1) drinks AND food. Almost everywhere had happy hour, but I’m not sure everywhere had half priced food.

hanging from a tree

In addition to watching people, we watched robots delivering food. We’ve seen these throughout Miami. Small cooler shaped things on wheels making their way down the street with no accompanying human – interesting.

food delivering robot

That was it for the day.

We stopped into the hotel’s wine hour on the way back and spent the rest of the evening reading and napping in the room. One thing about this hotel is the bed and pillows are incredibly comfortable. The room we were upgraded to is also a bit bigger than the one we originally booked. This is nice, considering we are here for 6 days. A tiny room for a day or 2 is fine, but more than that it gets a bit cramped. Although we don't have a balcony which would have been nice, we can open our window and listen to the hotel's background music.