More Miami

Pictures: Ken in our small kayak that we carry onboard, tooting around No Name Harbor, Key Biscayne; Florida Lighthouse, Bill Baggs State Park, also where No Name Harbor is; outside the German Pub on Lincoln St. in Miami Beach where we watched the Patriots playoff game (interesting that they face some of the TVs to the outside tables); Pete and Eri Mico on the flying bridge of RISING TIDE; Coconut Grove street scene, with sailors returning their boats via sidewalk. There is an Olympic Training Center for sailing in CG.

We finished up our time in Key Largo by biking to John Pennecamp State Park. We snorkeled there and checked out the hiking trails. And then we headed back up to Coconut Grove and got in good position to pick up our son Pete and his girlfriend Eri for their visit starting on January 19^th (Pete’s birthday).

We’ve been in the Miami area for so long we’ll be the ones giving advice on where to go and what to do!  We have found the best hardware store (Shell Lumber), the best gelato (some Argentine place), the best bike trails (Bill Baggs State Park), and lots of other bests!  The hardware store owner took us under his wing and we got invited on a boat ride up the Miami River, right down the middle of the city, at night so we could see the buildings all lit up. We had dinner in the city and then screamed back over the black water as only a local could do.

We had a shared dinner with the Mahoneys (from Hull) at the Coconut Grove condo they are condo-sitting at this week. Our friends from KIANDA joined us. We also had a picnic supper on the lawn at The Barnacle and the Mahoneys joined us for the live music there. Before our Massachusetts guests arrived we installed another solar panel and got caught up on laundry and grocery shopping.

Pete and Eri had great weather for their visit. The slightly chilly weather we had been having became warmer and it was clear and sunny every day. Some highlights of our time together:

--A birthday celebration with gelato on their first night here

--A trip across Biscayne Bay and a stop at a sandbar to wade around and look for sealife

--Dinner at the Boaters Grill in our Key Biscayne anchorage, serenaded at our table with live accordion and violin music (it was good!), sharing a whole large fried Red Snapper and dancing

--Snorkeling and sunbathing on the beach at Bill Baggs State Park

--Getting Pete and Eri on our folding bikes for a ride to tour the lighthouse at the park

--Seeing some wildlife, including loggerhead turtles off of Key Biscayne and fish swarming and jumping in the entrance to Miami harbor

--Eri helped us find Lincoln Rd. in Miami Beach (a closed-off-street pedestrian mall of gigantic Miami proportions) where we watched the Patriots win their way to the Superbowl (!!) and had dinner at one of the sidewalk cafes

We said good-by to Pete and Eri yesterday as they climbed into a cab in North Miami (after a short boat trip north to show them some of the ICW in the area). We had said good-by to Dave and Jessica on KIANDA the day before, as they are heading to the Bahamas. The Mahoneys are done their condo-sitting stint and will move on to other areas of Florida. So now we are back on our own. It’s a little quiet.  Not boring, however, as we seem to have a problem with our transmission that has cropped up in the late afternoon yesterday. Stay tuned; our fingers are crossed as we hope it is a minor problem with an easy solution!