So I arrived last Thursday to sunny (are we sure about
that?) Florida. I spent the first day on the beach
and was pleasantly surprised to find out that much of
South Beach (there are several smaller cities in the
Miami area, South Beach being one of them) allows
topless sunbathing. That night Karen, some of her
work friends and I went to the Eden Roc (for those in
law school, this is the hotel that sued its neighbor
seeking a light easement and lost - Note that there
may have been some animosity there because facing Eden
Roc's pool is a big blank wall with no windows) for
drinks and appetizers. While we were there it rained
pretty heavily, which set the tone for the weekend.
On Friday we did some beach sitting, but a "tropical
dression" moved in with continuous heavy rain. See,
it rains every day here heavily, but only for like 20
minutes. The rain here is truly spotty, where one
neighborhood might get soaked but the next be dry.
You can see it up and down the beach. Speaking of
beach, Karen lives a block and a half from the beach,
which is white sand and teal/turqoise seas. So on
Friday night, we did sneak out to the ocean at night
and did a late swim and some hot-tubbing. On
Saturday, we did hit Ocean Drive. The first spot was
a Greek place called Opa. The food and drink were
good and by the end of the night people were dancing
on the tables. We left there and walked down Ocean
Drive towards all the clubs. We found one with a
swimming pool in the middle and Cuban music playing
(they played cuban covers of a Beatles song and "My
Way" among their selections, but not all were covers
of famous songs done in Cuban ways). There we ordered
A drink (one for the four of us) and some water. The
tab? Over $40!
Karen has shown me over 4 starbucks in this area
alone. One, the Gay starbucks, is right off the beach
and has sand and palms around it. Another is Ocean
Drive Starbucks, which is also near the beach, but has
a view of, you guessed it, Ocean Drive. Another is
famous for its bitchy morning crew. Another is on
Licoln. Lincoln is a walking mall which has all sorts
of trendy restraunts and shops. For example, one
restraunt is called Touch and is rumored to have once
cost three people over $700. Needless to say, its not
quite my speed. Anyway, I've walked it now both day
and night, and it seems pretty cool, but you'd have to
have plenty of cash to live that life.
Sunday involved a lot of little trips and naps. We
went to bed early on Sunday 'cause Karen has to get up
early (5:30 am early) for work. I spent the day on
Monday walking around and at the beach. Getting a
pretty good tan going (by tan, I of course mean burn).
Well, going to go to the beach now, so I hope you all
have a good day....

Brad