Musings from Miami

I woke up this morning, and moved the vertical shade over just a touch, peeked out and saw the tops of the palm trees swaying in the overcast morning light. Getting up was fairly easy knowing a day of warm outdoor activity awaited us.

I made a quick call to reserve two kayaks from a place right near my inlaws apartment (I didn't want to leave the baby for too long, so we didn't go to a potentially better spot), and got ready to go. I wanted just a few things from this trip. Time with MBB, kayaking, and after months of deprivation, some good meals, if they HAD to be in resteraunts? Well we'd muddle through.


We arrived atthe rental place, and I looked in the water, and see a type of I have not seen before. Now I love kayaking, but I haven't done it that often. In fact this would be the fourth time. So, I'm certainly no expert, but when I looked down on this hard blue plastic catamaran style kayak, I could not imagine looking sleek gliding through the waters of Miami Beach. But here we were. We got into the kayaks, and by now, having done this three times before, I am pleased to say we did not embarrass ourselves disembarking. For that matter I'd say we did pretty well the whole trip, but just to be sure I made sure to get two single kayaks. The extra money for the rental was worth it (I still have visions of "left, LEFT!!!!LEFT!! in my mind), because we each paddled without any worries of staying in sync, and we had a really nice time. We would have paddled further up then we did, but the "in- water" boat show starts next week, so the yachts have started to arrive, and special docks are built, and we didn't want to deal with that very frightening traffic in the water, so we only made up to about 43rd street, and turned back around. A s it is a private large boat passed us, and left us ridingbits wake for a few minutes even after it was long out of sight. The way back was definitely harder, probably because we were more tired at that point, but we left invigorated. It really was fun. As obsessions go, I like this one. It's fun, and good exercise, and not something that can be done too often. When the opportunity presents itself, I certainly do not want to pass it up.


We came back to a little boy who very much enjoyed the company of his grandparents, cleaned ourselves up, from the salt water that drips from the paddles, and got ready to go for a fairly late lunch. We got to the eatery, the ambiance was nice, but it was kind of low lit, so I asked if they still had outdoor seating(we had been there before a few years ago, when it was under different ownership, and a different name, as is fairly typical down here). We didn't come this far to sit inside. We were seated on the patio-which is really a no walled tent with hard clear plastic sides, and lots of plants ringing the perimeter, set up at the edge of a semi-public parking lot. It was very lovely, and a good place to sit with the little man, since we were the only ones out there, and his few yelps and minor cries were disruptive to no one.


As we were finishing up, we got a strong, strong scent of something very smelly. At first I thought perhaps a dog had done it's business right outside of where we were sitting, but after just another second or two, I realized that I needed to move my son, lest he receive a contact high from the two brilliant fellows who were enjoying the fruits of their freshly rolled labor. The waiter happened to be outside with us at the time, and thought it was hysterical, but also went over to the two guys and asked them to move their party elsewhere. They complied. I think he may have mentioned the baby as a way to get them to move on.


Now, I'm not sure if what happened next, happened or was just a very quick result of some inhalation, but within three seconds of those guys moving, a man and a woman came down a ramp right next to the back door of the restaurant. The man was a typical South Beach sixty year old. Shoulder length wavy hair, black shirt-half opened and tight pants. She on the other hand has me wondering how much I actually breathed in. Most likely not a day under sixty, she was wearing a scoop neck top with a high waisted belt over very tight leggings and boots. She was also sporting three very large medallion necklaces, and what could best be described as a pseudo police hat.


I consider myself a fairly polite person, but MBB and I could NOT contain our laughter!

Having been well entertained we opted for more people watching by strolling along the pedestrian promenade of Lincoln Road. That was enjoyable, as the weather was not too hot, and still slightly overcast. We slipped into the Ghiradelli store and pretended to look around, knowing a free sample was in the offing. Caramel was the flavor this week, and since MBB is off sugar, it , meant two for me. Score!

Then back to the apartment to get ready for Shabbos. Hopefully the weather will improve.