Florida, day 6: Riding

Thursday was my mom's last day in the area, so we spent the day with her. When I arrived at my step-sister's house, my mom and daughter were getting ready to go swimming at the YMCA. I really don't like swimming anymore, so I chose to go to Walmart instead. I'd bought jeans at Walmart in Montreal and absolutely loved them, so I was hoping to find another pair. Unfortunately they did not carry that brand in Florida, but I found plenty of other good stuff.

Long after the designated time, we were still waiting for my mom to get back to the house. Finally a police officer called my mom's husband. My mom had gotten lost and forgotten her phone, but she found someone to ask for help. He was from the next town over and wasn't particularly helpful or familiar with the area, so we tried to give her directions. A while later, we got another such call. Finally she did make her way to the local supermarket, where we met her and led her home. That was a traumatic and time consuming experience, so she rested when we went out.

Before our trip, I'd asked Lina what she wanted to do in Florida. She'd answered swim and ride horses. Swimming was easy enough to arrange, and it just so happens that my step-sister has horses. She and I took the kids to go see Tess (the other was injured). Lina was thrilled to help with the grooming, and Tess was a beautiful and gentle full-sized horse. After a short warm-up, Lina got to ride for a little while, then it was Mitch's turn. I got to hold Chase while Kristin was busy with Tess, but even holding an adorable one-year-old did not trigger any maternal instincts in me. One kid is plenty for me.

Kristin said Lina had good balance and timing, and Lina was thrilled. Next, Kristin took Lina to get her nails done. As the mom of two boys, this was special for both her and Lina. I went along, but there was only one manicurist available, so Lina was the only one to get her nails done. I enjoyed visiting with Kristin. Our parents married when I was already away at college, so we have not spent much time together over the years. Lina chose a sparkly purple color and was unbelievably careful with her nails until they had dried completely. I was impressed how well Lina behaved. On the very rare occasion that I get a manicure, I always manage to mess it up before it dries.

Mitch had soccer practice, so Lina and I went out to dinner at a near by Italian restaurant with my mom. We had a nice time at dinner, and the food was good. It seemed like time had gone so quickly that our visit was already over.

Florida, day 5: a free day?

Wednesday was our free day in Miami, or so we thought. Lina had spent the night with her grandparents and cousin, so we were going to run errands. Since this was my husband's first and possibly only chance, we went to his highest priority: Harbor Freight Tools. His co-worker came along. We took the scenic route, driving first out to Miami Beach, then north past a bunch of resorts and mansions including the Trump Towers. We noted that there was very little public beach access, and the one large public beach was closed.

We then turned inland and drove through Hollywood. The greater Miami area really reminds me a lot of the greater Los Angeles area where I grew up. One could compare Miami to Los Angeles and Ft. Lauderdale to the endless suburb of Orange County. There were a lot of older houses from the 50's and 60's, and in Hollywood, even a commercial district from the same era (you don't see so much of that in Southern California anymore). Other neighborhoods were newer, but the architecture was very similar to that in California. The palm trees and scarcity of big trees also felt familiar. The biggest difference was the water; there were lakes and canals everywhere. At the tool store, I waited in the parking lot together with a family of ducks. I kept watching for alligators in the canals, but I didn't see any.

I had learned of a great mall near where we were to pick up our daughter, and while more shopping was on the agenda, we decided to take a break and got to the beach while we were nearby. We guessed correctly that the Hollywood Boardwalk would be open, and indeed it proved to be very popular. We got one of the last spots in the parking garage. Canadian license plates were dominant there.

The boardwalk was hopping as seniors danced to a live big-band, and the beach was packed! I found the water a bit cold, so I relaxed on the beach with my book, but the guys went swimming. There were not a lot of other people in the clear turquoise water. Sorry, I have no pictures of this. It's the photographer's dilemma--does one bring an expensive camera on a day like this? I would have brought the pocket camera, but it was with our daughter.

After about half an hour, a helicopter started circling. It was soon joined by another, and they buzzed overhead like a pair of giant mosquitoes for the rest of our stay. We later found out that a roofing repair job had collapsed at a hotel on the boardwalk, and some workers were injured. (Otherwise, the news for the entire duration of our trip was completely dominated by the earthquake in Haiti and the relief efforts--largely based out of Miami.)

By the time the guys emerged from the water, I was getting hungry. My husband checked the time on his phone and was shocked to discover numerous messages to the effect of, "Where are you?" It turned out that he'd completely forgotten about his afternoon meeting, so we rushed back to the hotel.

It was okay for our daughter to spend another night with her grandparents, and I was not looking forward to the 45 minute drive (or probably a lot more since I would be driving in the direction of commuter traffic this time), so I did not go to the mall as planned. I had more shopping to do, but there was nothing of interest nearby. At this point, I decided to look into the voicemail situation in our room. My mom said she'd called and left messages, but the message light was not blinking. It turned out that I did indeed have messages--several of them that needed immediate attention. I was impressed that the hotel sent up a repair man within half an hour. I was less impressed by his conclusion, "It don't work. You wanna change rooms?" Since we were there for a whole week, I'd unpacked everything, so this was not so appealing. Also, even though we were only on the fifth floor, we had a pretty good view (better than my husband's co-worker's room on the 16th floor).


I considered driving over to South Beach for a taste of the night life since my husband was busy with his conference for the rest of the afternoon and evening, but I decided to take it easy. If I took the car from the parking garage, I'd have to pay $6 per hour on top of the $25 per night, and that made the idea of dinner at the hotel with a good book even more appealing. As it turned out, both dinner and the book were good (The Friendship Test by Elizabeth Noble--thanks, Solvej, for loaning it to me). I enjoyed the me-time.

home again

We're safely home from a phenomenal vacation in Florida, so I'm shoveling snow, doing laundry and getting caught up. I hope to get blog more soon about the trip, and I'll start with adding some pictures to the previous entries.

Florida, day 4: Butterfly world

We spent another day with my mom and Jack, who were also taking care of Jack's grandson, Mitch. We ran a few errands, but the highlight of the day was Butterfly World. It reminded me a lot of some exhibits that they have had at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. There was a large aviary filled with butterflies which was truly a paradise for both kids and photographers. There was another aviary with brightly colored birds, a museum with mounted butterflies from all over the world, an exhibit with live insects and spiders, and a giant cage full of lorikeets.

Like at the WAP, we could go in and buy cups of nectar to feed the birds. I told Lina that we shouldn't feed them because they bite, but she wanted to do it so badly that she spent her own money to buy nectar for both herself and Mitch. It was fun for a while, but soon she was so covered with birds that they were getting heavy, and as her arms shook, they dug in with their claws. That hurt, so she screamed, which scared the birds. A few flew off, but others dug in harder, and one bit.

They had a nice gift shop, and Lina spent some of her Christmas money, but I'd felt we'd spent plenty of money already for just a couple hours of entertainment. For the five of us, it cost $75, and that's with two buy-one-get-one-free coupons. There are lots of other attractions like this in the Miami area, but they're at least as expensive, so we'll have to choose carefully.

Mom and I made dinner at my step-sister's house. Lina spent the night there with her grandparents, and I went back to the hotel.

Florida, day 3: Grandma!

vMy mother and her husband came to Florida to visit with us. They're staying with my step-sister, so we went to see them. It took about 45 minutes for me to drive there. We spent a nice day visiting and shopping. My mom had promised to take my daughter shoe shopping, so we went to Target and a nice mall. My daughter got a nice pair of Sketchers, and my mom found great deals on two pairs of shoes. My feet are a very common size, so I was not surprised that they did not have anything I wanted in my size.

My daughter also got to go swimming with her cousin at the community pool. There were other people around, but nobody else was in the water. As we left, someone asked if we were from Norway since nobody else would be swimming at this time of year. They were shocked to learn that we really were from Sweden.

My step-sister and her husband are both vets, and she had to work that day. In the afternoon she got a dog with an intestinal blockage who needed surgery. Her husband went in to back her up, just in case of complications, but everything went well, and we all met for Chinese food for dinner.

Florida, day 2: South Beach

We awoke very early on Sunday, so we started the day with a trip to the hotel gym before visiting the breakfast buffet. The buffet was extensive, and my daughter wanted to try everything. I was most impressed by how excited she got over the fruit. She ate two plates full of watermelon, cantaloupe, and peaches.

Our first task of the day was to get some papers notarized. With the help of the concierge, we found a 24/7 notary who actually answered his phone on a Sunday. It turned out he wasn't very far away, so we went to him. The man was probably in his 80's, and I felt terrible for invading his home (and our daughter even asking to borrow his bathroom) while his wife lay dying from Parkinsons disease in the next room. He showed us pictures from when he was a musician and his wife a dancer with a variety of big band stars in the 50's. It got us thinking about the glamorous jazz scene that once thrived here.

Our next stop was FedEx, and only the main office in South Beach was open. From there, we decided to drive around South Beach and check out the famous art deco architecture. The main oceanfront street was closed due to a street fair, but I'd seen an announcement of an art museum that had a special exhibit on transportation design from 1908 to 1948, so we stopped there. After paying for 90 minutes of parking, we discovered that we were there 60 minutes before the museum opened, so we walked towards the beach. We looked around at the street fair briefly, then we walked along the beach. I was intrigued by the light color of the water but found the water quite cold--about like summer temperatures at the beach in California. My daughter was thrilled by the waves and got a bit wet. I was happy to try out my new camera, a Canon 50D.

With the parking meter running out, we returned to the Museum. By then, it was dumping rain. I found the museum interesting since it wasn't your typical automotive museum. I also learned that this exhibit was part of Art Deco Weekend, as was the street fair, and the theme for this year's festivities was "On the Road: Art Deco Celebrates the Motor Car." A few blocks further down the street fair was an exhibit of classic cars, so we went back there after the museum, and we were there for most of the afternoon.

On our way back to the hotel, we tried to find a grocery store. The GPS in the rental car was no help, but we eventually stumbled across a pharmacy. I'd say pharmacies like this (which sell a whole lot more than medicine) outnumber grocery stores and supermarkets at least 10 to 1. I found this really odd since I would estimate that in California, it's 5 to one in favor of supermarkets. I'd heard that there were areas in this country, especially poorer areas, where it was difficult to buy healthy, fresh food, but I'd found it hard to imagine. Now I saw that the pharmacies carried more food but much of it was junk or processed foods (none of it "fresh" or with short shelf lives). Healthy food was indeed hard to find.

Also as part of this quest, we explored the area around the hotel and discovered that the hotel was very near an area that was downright scary. I wouldn't consider walking there, and I'd be reluctant to drive through. We locked the doors and hoped we wouldn't have to stop for red lights.

For dinner, we walked to a pizza place about a half mile away. They had the football playoffs on TV, and I was thrilled to see the San Diego Chargers, my favorite team. I don't get to watch American football in Sweden, and even if it was shown on TV, it wouldn't be the same because it's a social experience for me. My joy was short-lived as I realized it was the fourth quarter, and the Chargers were losing. Bummer.

As we returned to the hotel, a young man ran up and asked me if we could spare any leftover pizza. He said he was on the streets, and I figured if he was hard up enough to ask for food, I would give it to him. Unlike so many other beggars I encountered over the years, he seemed clean, healthy, and polite, and he did not ask for money. He really made an impression and gave a new face to homelessness for me.

Florida, day 1: transit

Our much-anticipated trip to Miami began at 5:30 AM with the drive to CPH. We'd done the online check-in the night before, and we were pleasantly surprised that it allowed us to skip a very long line. The check-in guy asked why we were connecting in Newark since there were several considerably nicer places to change planes available. It's been years since either of us had been to Newark, and this seemed pretty menacing. However, everything went smoothly at Newark, and with the exception of the restrooms by the baggage claim, the place seemed quite nice. We waited only a couple minutes at immigration, and the guy was cheerful and pleasant. The security people were not equally nice, but they did their thing without being particularly offensive either. After all the hype about increased security, we were expecting worse.

With both flights, my ears failed to adjust properly, and I was in agony. I kept feeling my ears, because with the pain, I expected to find blood running down my neck. Oh the joys of flying when you have a cold.

It took about an hour to pick up our rental car--naturally they didn't have the car we'd reserved, and my husband wouldn't give up without a free upgrade. They eventually gave us a Mazda mini-SUV, which is pretty nice.

When we finally got to our hotel, it took us half an hour to park. The signs for Hotel Registration Parking lead us to valet parking, $28. Ouch. Getting back to normal parking wasn't obvious, but the worst thing was that the Hotel parking was on the 7th floor, and we couldn't get there. We drove several laps, but no go. We could get to levels 6 and 8. We could even see level 7. Since there were security guards on every level, we eventually asked one, who instructed to go all the way down to the bottom, then from there switch over the other half of the parking structure with the odd levels. Apparently it had been possible to cross between them at one time, but that had been undone in the name of security. Whatever. We were too tired to care.

(view from our hotel room)