Miami 2021: Diary – Day 3

The weekend had fully arrived and we all had the day off. That mean it was time for the beach!

Beach Time

After breakfast we headed to the beach. I convinced Tomatico to go on a short run with me. He’s been working out at the gym a lot playing squash, but we haven’t been on a run since the previous summer. He wanted to gauge his fitness and see if squash was helping with his cardio and endurance as soccer season would be starting soon.

My wife and youngest made their way to the Lowes booth at the beach to get an umbrella and chairs set up. Since it was relatively early they got a prime location near the water. Tomatico and I headed off on our run heading south on the path towards the Art Deco district I had been in the previous night. It was different during the day and the park looked much bigger. As we continued south we found a workout area (Muscle Beach) and a dozen volleyball courts, most of which were in use on this Saturday morning. By the end of the volleyball courts we decided to turn around and head back. The run was solid and Tomatico did well. He was happy that he didn’t get the cramps that used to slow him down. It was a sign he was in much better shape and he was rightly proud of his accomplishment!

Back at the beach we found my wife and they were playing in the waves. Tomatico joined them while I watched from the shade under the umbrella. Tomatico was feeling the sun after awhile so we headed back to the room for some shade. As redheads we don’t thrive on the beach, but my youngest loves the water like my wife.

When they got back to the room we decided to split up for lunch. My youngest and I wanted to get pizza again so he went with me so he could see the size of the whole pizza with his own eyes. We ended up getting our slices to go and ate them back in the room. My wife and Tomatico went to get Arepas at a place across from the Charlotte Bakery.

Exploring Miami

After lunch we decided to go into Miami to explore the city. We got a Lyft to the Bayside Marketplace. It wasn’t far from the hotel but there was a lot of traffic and it took about 45 minutes to get there. It was pretty busy when we got there, especially in the restaurants close to the waterfront. Not many people were wearing masks either so we tried to find a quieter area of the mall.

We ended up on the second floor food court which I recognized as a place my wife and I had been before. I remember we had walked around it several times filling up on free samples back in our younger days before we were married. It was much smaller and there weren’t many people but it was definitely the same place.

We stopped to get gelato at one of the shops while my wife ended up getting a pina colada that was poured into a whole pineapple. It was impressive looking!

We walked around the mall shops some more. When we had first gone there 20+ years earlier I remember it being much nicer. It seemed a bit rundown and lower end, though watching the high end cars going into the parking garage you wouldn’t know it. Lots of Range Rovers, and other high end and exotic cars were flowing into the parking garage.

We visited a few stores before deciding to catch a Lyft back to the hotel for the evening. We wouldn’t be sticking around there for dinner. Due to the traffic, the Lyft took forever to arrive and took forever to get back to Miami Beach. Traffic was gridlocked for some reason. I’m not sure where people were going as I wouldn’t think people would normally head to the beach at 4pm and it was early to go to dinner and WAY too early to start partying.

Exploring Lincoln Road

Near our hotel is an area called Lincoln Road. It’s mostly closed off to cars and is a pedestrian-friendly area with lots of shops and restaurants. It’s goes on for several blocks. Tomatico was desperate to find a bookstore since he had forgotten his kindle and needed something to read. He found a bookstore online and wanted to check it out so he and my wife went while my youngest rested his foot that was hurting from walking on the sand earlier in the day.

They found the bookstore but it had more artsy and coffee table books rather than anything he’d be interested in reading. We decided to meet up for dinner so my youngest and I headed out to find them. We found them at the far end of the road and found a nearby cafe to eat at. I ended up getting steak for some reason and it was not great. But at least it was expensive? My youngest got a burger he liked and Tomatico got some average pasta. My wife got a salmon salad that my youngest LOVED (at least the salmon part, not so much the salad part). That left my wife with mostly just the salad.

To compensate for a mediocre dinner we headed to the paleta shop they had found the previous night for dessert. We were not disappointed. My youngest, who has an addiction to Nutella, was over the moon when he found that he could get that as a topping/covering for his. Toamtico and my wife got different chocolate coatings for theirs while I had mine plain (surprise!). It was really good and hit the spot.

Back at the hotel we watched some TV before calling it a night.