We made a last-minute decision to go to Miami, instead of straight home, after the cruise ended on Tuesday.  Lee’s mother lives here, and we haven’t been down in ages (so long, in fact, that our 9 year old doesn’t seem to remember it at all), and we were so close anyway . . .

So we spent Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center, then drove down to spend a couple of days with Grandma.  Unfortunately, Delaney came down with a nasty cold (which I told her she would if she kept staying out late on the ship and not getting enough sleep—why listen to your mother?!), which has put a bit of a damper on the whole thing.  We’ve pretty much just hung out at Grandma’s and gone over to SoBe for meals.  Could be worse, I suppose!  But tomorrow we head home—it’ll be our longest car ride ever.

Anyway, on the way down here, we were driving along one of those long, flat roads next to a canal, and saw two guys on road bikes; one of them had a handlebar bag, and the other was on a Bike Friday.  Hmm . . . randonneurs, perhaps?  Whatever they were doing, they got me daydreaming about heading down this way to do some long rides.  Florida has several different brevet series, beginning in January, so I might try and check some of those rides out, just for variety.  I love riding on different roads.

Then yesterday I went for a short run, purely for the calorie burn.  I headed out of the building and crossed the Venetian Causeway, headed over toward South Beach.  I bet I saw at least 15 people on bikes, in just half an hour of running.  Only two were roadies, and some were clearly tourists, but a fair number were people who looked like they probably rely on the bike for a lot of their transportation needs.  Interesting.  And on Lincoln Road, which is closed to vehicles, we saw a number of  police officers and one mail carrier on bikes.  What a cool place.

I haven’t been down here in years, and even with a sick cranky child, I remembered almost as soon as we got here just why I love it.  It’s one of my favorite places; admittedly, I’ve never been in August, and I’d like to keep it that way.  But in winter, when the trees at home are bare and we all seem to close in on ourselves in the cold (even if it isn’t frigid), Miami is generally warm and colorful and open—all the things I love about North Carolina in the summer, and then some.

We ate outside as much as possible; if I could eat every meal outdoors, I would.  We watched people; our children roller-bladed on the beach.  Toby suddenly decided he needs a whole new wardrobe (ah, the agony of 13).  We listened to languages all around us, and ate Cuban food and Indian food and Chinese food.

We’re heading home in the morning, but we’ve remembered so many things we love about Miami, that we’ve pretty much decided to come back in the spring and stay longer.  Maybe I can bring my bike, and ride a little.  The only hills around here are bridges and speed bumps—my kind of riding!