The final 251.3 miles

 

Although back in the states, our trip was not over since we weren’t home yet.  I let Eric talk me into flying in and out of Miami because (1) a less expensive flight (2) direct to Paris and (3) stretch our vacation with a day in Miami at the end.  He caught me in a weak moment.  We both napped a little on the flight but after landing at the Miami Airport, it was a ghost town. The gate was at the end of a terminal that had no other people and no one manning any desk.  Coming through Customs, the fliers on our plane were the only ones in the Customs line and there was no other luggage besides ours on any carousel.  However, got to say that ‘Global Entry’ was a breeze and well worth the money.  We walked up to one of the kiosks, placed our passport on the scanner, then our fingertips and after a printout we were on our way.

We caught a taxi to Coconut Grove, it hugs the shoreline of Biscayne Bay.  Using my favorite internet source……………I discovered that Coconut Grove is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood in Miami, first established in 1825.  Many locals take pride that Coconut Grove is one of the greenest areas of Miami.  However, if you remember what happened several weeks before our vacation……..Hurricane Irma.  We saw a lot of vegetation that had been stripped from trees and trees that had been uprooted.  It continues to be in the cleaning up phase.  It’s a cute, quirky part of Miami.

Eric found a Sonesta hotel that was clean, convenient, newly remodeled and an easy trip from the airport.  Although worn out, we needed some food and asked one of the bellman for nearby, walkable options.  When asked what kind of food we wanted……………..we said spicy!  He recommended a Peruvian restaurant that was only a few blocks away – sold.  We wolfed down the chips and salsa, practically before our drinks arrived.  Eric started with a tuna ceviche which he said was delicious.

My mahi-mahi fish tacos were some of the best that I have had.

Afterwards, I was done.  I needed sleep and was snoozing before Eric left to get a drink at the hotel bar.

We had to go back to the Miami Airport to pick up our rental car, but not before breakfast.  We walked a few blocks and found an outdoor restaurant serving food.

Did we need these big breakfasts…………….no, but they both were tasty.

It would have been so easy to go straight up the turnpike to go home, but also boring.  Instead we chose I-95 for a change of scenery.  That got old pretty quickly since we were also getting caught up in morning work traffic.  😦

Halfway home we started thinking about lunch since we were going to cut over to the central part of the state and there would be NO places to eat.  Pulled up the internet and found a top-rated placed in Vero Beach – Ocean Grill.

Eric started with a chowder, which was a mix of a white chowder and a red chowder, basically, mixing the two together.  I’m not the biggest fan of chowder, but this was good.

Eric was hungering for something different than our meals from the last several weeks and got a tuna salad sandwich while I ordered fried shrimp with fries.

This place really gets into Halloween and they had decorations everywhere.

We couldn’t resist one last photo………………

Man – love the humidity and the warmth.  🙂  Seriously.

This was a really fun vacation, longer than we typically take yet full of activities we enjoy.  Our vacations are enhanced by our interactions, the people we meet and of course the food.  These 19 days in Europe were no exception.  We’re already planning our next trip.