Our month in Miami Beach is over and today the 3 of us are driving across Florida to the Gulf side. With apologies to you in the north who are getting hit with snow and cold, the weather has been wonderful ---- sunny and warm most of the time, with welcome breezes off the ocean. The area turned out to be way more interesting and engaging than I had thought. Besides the beaches and historic districts, there have been cultural and recreational events weekly. We have discovered offroad walking trails and impressive homes and gardens. The stereotype of oldsters rocking on the porch has been replaced by the new reality of hipsters rocking on the beach strip.
There ARE drawbacks. Feral cats roam the roads. The total lack of residential recycling drives us crazy when we have to put paper, cans and bottles in the garbage. Beyond our street every parking spot for miles has to be paid for and timed. The novelty of satellite TV (new to us country folks) wears off when 800 of the 1,000 channels is To Be Announced, Pay Per View, or Shopping. Fruit and vegetables are relatively poor/expensive, considering they grow here --- the good stuff is shipped up north! And no clothes line to air-dry the laundry.
But those are small frames in the big picture. We might be back in the future because we have seen thousands of economical vacation rentals that are NOT online. In fact, we have had to resist buying a condo in this temptingly low-priced Foreclosure Capital of the USA. The climate suits us and the Hispanic flavour is appetizing. For me, it's a dream place to drive with all the traffic lights synced to let us truly cruise on by, smooth as Barbie's pink T-Bird. Here are some last images from our daze in Miami Beach...
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