Airplane Clouds

I went to Miami Beach, FL with my girlfriend a couple weeks ago for four days. We went down there for one of her cousin’s weddings and we had a great time. I’ve been to Florida before but it was Orlando, Florida and it was fifteen years ago. This was my first time in Miami. I got some decent pictures to share. We took off from BWI and landed ahead of schedule, ten minutes early in Ft. Lauderdale. We then rented a car and drove down I-95 towards Miami.

The first thing i noticed besides the palm trees was how tall the buildings were. There was tons of construction going on all over Miami and they build up. I’m from the DC suburbs and there are plenty of buildings around but none really that are this tall and amazing looking. Many of these skyscrapers looked like apartment buildings and they are 50+ stories. Below is a shot I took going over the bay towards Miami Beach.

Miami, FL Construction

We made our way to the hotel that we were staying at. I discovered how nice Miami Beach was when we pulled up to the hotel round-about and the valet parker knocked on my window to get out so he could park the car for us. This was my first time with my own personal car parker. The hotel was right up on the beach and the view from out hotel room was of downtown Miami.

The next day we decided to drive to the Everglades with my girlfriends family. It took about 45 minutes to drive there from Miami Beach. On the way we passed the airport we’d be flying out of, Miami Airport. When we got to the Everglades park we learned of a 14 mile path. We decided to rent bikes and ride the trail. Along the way we saw many animals that we wouldn’t see in Maryland including alligators, large turtles and huge birds. After the bike ride I found a friendly grasshopper near the park entrance.

large grasshopper

The weather in Florida is different then it is here in Maryland. It would rain for five minutes and then the sun would be out five minutes later. This would be consistent throughout the day some days. After the small rainstorm on the way back from the Everglades, we decided to go on the beach. The water ocean water in This part of Florida is amazing. It’s a much lighter blueish green color and really beautiful. it’s clear and you can see much deeper into the ocean then you can at the beaches around here.

Miami Beach Oceans

The next morning we decided to visit Coconut Grove, an outdoor mall to do some shopping. They sell a lot of surf apparel in the area. That night we visited South Beach which was a short walk from out hotel. We ate at a fancy restaurant called Grazie. The food there was delicious and food was amazing tasting. After we walked around South Beach but it was dead because we went down about a month before the season really starts.

The wedding went really well on the final day of our trip. We left Miami in the evening and got back to BWI around midnight on 11PM. Miami is an awesome place to visit. I would move down there if it wasn’t for the humidity.