Day 21 - Diner for two?

After the serious amount of foot mileage we did yesterday walking round the acres at Busch Gardens it was actually nice to sit in the car today and chill.  The excitement of yesterday's roller coaster frenzy has definitely taken it's toll on poor Oli who hasn't been able to shake off the slightly dizzy sick feeling from all that spinning - sure another nights sleep will do the trick!

We hit the road again today for a 7 hour drive to Miami including a couple of stop offs, we saw some interesting sights along the way such as the Everglades outskirts, and a real wild alligator (stopped off at a gas station for yet another toilet break along a river bank and the gator was on the other side of the bank....would have been more scared if it was in the loo - least I would have been in the right place!!).

Just as we were approaching the outskirts of Miami, dark clouds appeared in the sky and a massive thunderstorm broke out, it only lasted about ten minutes but in those ten minutes it rained bucket loads - seriously the rain hitting the windshield was so loud I had to film it, Oli had to shout to be heard in the camera.  This is only the second time I've seen rain in nearly three weeks and it only lasted ten minutes but could rival any April shower in London!

By the time we got into Miami beach it was 6:30pm, we had a quick look on the beach, drove up Ocean Drive to have a look at all the art deco hotels (we even looked in one called The Pelican, beautifully decorated art deco rooms, one called the "Executive Zebra" but way out of our price range, 5 nights there in the suite would get you two weeks in Spain at least)!

We took a few snaps and then had dinner in the 11th St Diner, it was a gleaming chrome converted train carriage - exactly what I've been wanting to see.

The food was fab, way more than just burgers, I opted for a chicken and egg salad with a root beer float, Oli a grown up root beer and chicken and mash - nothing too fancy but cooked and presented really well:-)

So it's now 10:30pm local time (3:30 UK), we've checked in to a modest Comfort Suites roadside hotel just on the outskirts of Miami towards the Everglades.

We're not too sure of our next step, we know we're staying in Florida until June 27 but not sure how long we'll spend in Miami or which day to visit the Everglades and Keys.  It's all part of the fun figuring it out but does make things tiring at times.  We're going to sleep on it and see where we fancy going tomorrow, definitely have to go back to Ocean Drive and Miami beach for a day or two in the next week or so:-)

J&O

ps. Saw a dead cricket today in a car park and no lie it was the size of my foot....slight exaggeration but it was as least 4 inches long - walking towards it I though it was a bird!