Miami Day 2, Storm, Surprise Day 3

Friday, June 4^th

 

We woke up at 7 in rainy Miami and finished packing while checking email and texts from the days we were out of touch.  We shoveled in our breakfast and then said goodbye to the ship starting a new Miami adventure.  And what and adventure it turned out to be.

 

Our Uber driver picked us up and while chatting, looking out the windows, and reading on our phones started to realize that things weren’t so great in Miami.  A large tropical storm was coming through.  There were reports that it could turn into a hurricane.  I got a text from Greg and emails from Delta encouraging me to change flights.  Meanwhile we arrived at the luggage store and we realized it was closed as our Uber driver drove off through the pelting rain.  Luckily the hostel across the street also stored luggage so we left our suitcases and ran through the rain to Miami Beach.

There were only a couple other people on the beach, and they weren’t in swimsuits.  The waves and water were turbulent, but the rain had let up just enough to snap a photo of one of the many unique lifeguard stations on the shore.  

 

We wanted to take an Art Deco walking tour, but the increasing storm made that impossible, so we took our time in the Art Deco Museum instead.  Teresa promised the girls ice cream if they did the activity sheet from the museum – they had to prove it by answering our Art Deco questions (and they may have been very silly while learning).  Passing the test we ran down the street into the gelato shop. 

Full of ice cream Teresa led us on an interior art deco tour by stepping into every art deco building on our way to the Wolfsonian Museum.  This tactic also helped us avoid getting drenched since the buildings acted as shortcuts toward the museum.  We loved the quirky interiors, the pineapple centerpiece and getting out of the rain.  

The Wolfsonian was in a cool building, but quite a small museum, and half of it was closed anyway.  They let us in for free and while we wandered I got on hold with Delta to see about changing my flight.  They put me on a call back list as we hopped on trolly.  We rode around Miami Beach for an hour trying to catch sight of art deco buildings through the rain.  The girls may have just taken a nap.  

Lunch led us off the trolly where we found a poke place- ironically none of us like fish but we all found something delicious to eat.  Delta called me back, so I spent most of my time eating talking to them and waiting on hold.  Still on hold we ran through the heaviest rain of the day, retrieved our luggage and called the Uber.  The Uber stopped around the corner from where we were so I hung up on Delta and we bolted through the rain to catch our ride to the Superblue Museum.  

 

Completely soaked, luggage included, we arrived at the interactive art museum where they let us store our luggage while we explored.  This museum was incredible and Kate’s favorite by far.  The art displays were interactive and amazing to watch.  The first room had a wall that showed the growth cycle of different flowers.  They would grow, bloom, then slowly die.  We watched for a long time and never saw the same kind of flower repeated.There was also and an interactive feature; when you touched the flowers they would light up then slowly start to die.  

The next room had an amazing display that had water falling.  The water would move around you wherever you stood and flowers would start to grown where you were standing or leaning.  It was so incredible.  I was mesmerized by the way my actions could cause immediate change.  I have no idea how the technology worked but it was cool.

 

Then we laid on beanbags and watched fabric flowers light up, open and close all over the ceiling.  It was quite peaceful to watch.

At that point I got called back by Delta and spend the rest of the time at the museum on and off hold with them until we accidently got disconnected – an hour wasted.  But the exhibits continued to amaze- none quite as amazing as the first few rooms but still cool.  The mirror maze was especially fun.  I found a corner to lay down on the floor (while on hold) and just take it in. 

We ran through more rain to our Uber and drove to the hotel.  Cold, wet, and exhausted we ordered pizza and I got back on hold with Delta determined to get my flight changed.  Kate and I got the last two flight available for Sunday morning- feeling much more comfortable with our situation we enjoyed our pizza and began discussing movie options.  The girls couldn’t agree on anything, so I told everyone to put one move on a piece of paper and then we drew on at random.  And random it was!  Teresa won the draw and she had literally just written down the title of a random movie she’d seen pass on their movie search.  I can’t remember what it was called and really it wasn’t that bad but not a great one for sure.  Teresa and I enjoyed listening to the girls moan about it the whole time, reminding them to come to an agreement next time so we don’t have to get involved.  

 

After that the girls quickly agreed to watch Shrek 4 so we stayed up late watching movies.

Saturday, June 5^th

 

I woke up to the news that my original flight left on time – darn it, but we had made the decision that felt best with the knowledge we had.  The girls slept in till 10:30. Teresa and I were awake but just stayed in bed answering emails and reading.  We enjoyed the included breakfast and spent some time exploring the hotel. Going out was not an option; the news broadcasts all encouraged people to stay home.  There was lots of flooding downtown and the rain was still coming down.  I did some yoga and enjoyed a nice long bath while the girls watched movies.  Around 2:00 we relocated to the adjoining hotel because it was cheaper, luckily we were able to make the move without getting out in the rain at all.  We enjoyed our last few hours with the Yorgasons then said goodbye as they headed to the airport.  

 

Kate and I got takeout from the hotel restaurant then enjoyed a few rom coms before bed.  It was a super lazy day but since we didn’t have many options, we made the most of it.