Miami 2022: Diary – Day 4

My wife had to get up early for a work call so she snuck out of the room early to go down to the co-working space off the lobby. The boys and I slept in a little. When we got up, we split up again for breakfast. Tomatico any my wife had their breakfast at the taco stand while we went to the bakery again.

Bikes

One of the amenities provided by the resort fee at the Moxy is access to bikes for 2 hours per person per day. They have a fleet of bicycles you can ride on the beach paths or on the streets if you’re really adventurous. The boys were excited to try them so they packed our sports equipment while I signed the wavers.

We’ve used free bikes before at other hotels and they are usually pretty bad. The hotel is less than a year old and the bikes were similarly new and in excellent condition. They come with baskets in front to put your stuff in as well as a bike lock if you need to leave them somewhere to go into a store/restaurant.

We pushed the bikes the 2 blocks to get to the walking/bike path along the beach before we started riding as the streets weren’t necessarily the safest to ride on. We headed south to the bottom of Miami Beach where the is a canal and some green space for the boys to play.

The bikes were relatively easy to pedal and there weren’t may people on the trail so we made good time. As expected, the boys asked to play when they saw the open grass in the park so we stopped to park our bikes and got out the frisbee. It was a little windy but we used our skill to toss it around for almost an hour before they got bored. They are both getting much better at it as they practice more! Tomatico tossed the baseball around for a bit before hunger set it.

We retraced our path back to the hotel to return the bikes. They played a few vital rounds of foosball before heading off for lunch. Tomatico wanted to go to a different Venezuelan restaurant which he hoped would have the cachapas he was craving! When we arrived he was happy to hear they were on the menu and would be made up fresh to order. It was a big pile of cheese with a couple layers of dough mixed in. He loved it and his uncles were jealous when I texted them a picture!

We all headed to the Pizza Bar after Tomatico finished eating to get some slices for his brother. Tomatico hadn’t been there before and was amazed at the size of the pizzas. After eating we made our way back to the Gelato place to find some new flavors. Our youngest went with the s’mores flavor and Tomatico tried a candy/chocolate based flavor they both really liked. I had to get the pineapple once again because it was just soooo good!

Working Afternoon

Back at the hotel the boys wanted to play more foosball. We used to have a foosball table at our house and they never played it, but whenever there’s one at a hotel it’s a central draw. The boys played against each other while my wife and I worked from the co-working space just off the lobby.

Once they got tired of that, my wife took them to the pool and worked while they played. I went to the room to better concentrate. By late afternoon they were done with the pool and back in the room.

Our Bal Harbour Adventure

Last year we had a great time in Bal Harbour despite our disastrous stay at the St Regis hotel there. We enjoyed the town and my wife wanted to do some window shopping. We’d plan to eat while there as our youngest and I really wanted to go back to Flanigan’s Seafood restaurant that we had enjoyed so much the previous year (7 times in 5 days!).

We requested our Lyft and got a great driver. He was engaging and helpful. He let the boys pick the music and was all around great. He pointed out where the condo building had tragically collapsed in Surfside the previous year. It was surreal to realize how close it was to where we had stayed just a few months before.

At our destination, the boys came with me to get dinner while my wife took advantage of the time to do some shopping. We found Flannigan’s right where we left it and only had to wait 5 minutes to get a table. We ordered our food and really enjoyed it. It was even reasonably priced!

Afterwards, we headed across the street to get popsicles for dessert at Morelia Ice Cream Paletas. The boys love getting toppings on them.

We ate as slowly as possible to give my wife as much time to shop as possible before heading back to The Shops at Bal Harbour. We found her and checked out the bookstore before getting a Lyft back to the hotel. We really enjoyed the side trip there. Too bad we had such a bad experience with the hotel there last year.

Evening Gym Time

Back at the Moxy, Tomatico wanted to check out the gym at the hotel. We both changed and made our way to the pool area. We noticed the hotel was busier than the previous night with a lot of people in a “festive” mood. Many were dressed in costumes and most had a few drinks in them. We managed to get to the pool and find our way to the gym which was tucked back behind the pool. It was unsurprisingly empty!

We did some stretching and warm ups before beginning the cardio. I found I just wasn’t feeling it so I decided to take it easy and let Tomatico do his thing. I turned on the TV and we watched a Celtics game while he worked out. He impressively burned 600 calories during the first half of the game! Since I didn’t work out, I decided to get up early the next morning to go for a run along the beach. The treadmill just wasn’t doing it for me.

Back in the room we both got ready for bed and tried to drown out the festivities outside. The noise machine helped a little, but there’s only so much it could do.