Miami Beach Oct 17-20, 2019

This fall we decided to celebrate grandma Carol's belated 80th birthday during breast cancer awareness month. We wanted a nonstop flight to a warm beach destination. Through costco vacations we found a great deal to Miami. We drove down to Chicago on a Wednesday night. We stayed in a dive of a hotel, Wyndham Chicago O'hare. We tried something new, park, sleep, fly. All in one. We drove there and left our car. They shuttled us to the hotel. Our flight out was early...8:40AM departure. I wished I could've ran outside but knew it wouldn't be smart in this neighborhood. Hotel fitness rooms suck! Nothing worse than treadmill running...especially when battling sciatica or piriformis syndrome??? Our flight to Miami was pretty uneventful. Once there we were greeted by palm trees and cloudy skies. Our only rain of the trip was from the airport to our hotel, The Palms Springs Hotel and Spa. We had one stop before our hotel, Whole Foods. I stocked up on our weekends' groceries while grandma and Greta eat their meals on the lunch patio. Vacations always open my window to new foods...this trip I discovered bean flavored cereals...yum!! Once to our 7th floor room we opened the curtains and much to our surprise was a rainbow over the ocean. We unpacked our bags and made our way to the pool. Grandma watched Greta swim while I joined 6 other ladies to do beach sunset yoga. Our instructor was super cute...brought us all fruit infused water and even had lavender essential oil for us to rub on our palms during our final poses. I made my way back to the pool to find Greta busy with her new friend Poppy. Poppy is from England. She was just about Greta's age and her little brother was maybe 5? Their parents sat and vaped & drank their mimosas watching them all play. They played and played and played...in and out of the pool. We arranged a time for them to meet again the next morning and all headed up to the room for dinner. Our hotel room was just the right size for us...2 double beds and a mini table for our meals. My dinner this evening consisted of plantain chips and oregano and olive oil infused tuna. The ladies had ham, cheese, cheese crackers, fresh fruit, veggies, and pirate bootie. We turned shark tank on the television and crashed. That evening I felt like I was hit by a train!

The next morning I ran along the beach...headed south. I skipped the boardwalk since the beach had a softer footing having been recently groomed. After my 87 degree 50 min trot I devoured my kale, avocado, beet salad and chocolate protein smoothie and hit the Spa. I had a 50 min massage scheduled. It worked just perfect for grandma to watch Greta and Poppy play poolside. Afterwards Greta and I walked to Walgreens for a few essentials while Grandma enjoyed the hotel's restaurant. Greta and I walked the beach back. I made us of my Spa's steam room and amazing 15 jetted shower while grandma watched Greta swim in our pool once again. Then grandma decided to go up to the room for a nap so Greta and I went out in the ocean. Greta found crabs, fish, sea shells and snails. Along the boardwalk she saw stray cats and a possum. When at the ocean one must taste the sea water...so we jumped the waves for awhile. We all regathered to purchase our gifts from the spa's gift shop. We found the most amazing smelling soaps and fancy bracelet/hair ties. We headed to the room for our dinners....ham and cheese sandwiches, milk, blueberries and celery. Spinach salad for me with a vanilla protein smoothie. We found another episode of shark tank and crashed before 9.

This morning I ran again in the groomed sand Oceanside. I was amazed to see the body types out there running. Always catches my eye. After 50 min of trotting, Greta and I did an hour Zumba class in the Tiki Hut with grandma as our videographer. Our instructor had the biggest buttie and most beautiful black and purple long hair mounted in a high pony. Did I ever sweat!!! My muscles don't move that fast and I surely can't shake my bootie like our instructor! Let's just say I'm not going to be the next winner on dancing with the stars. Next grandma and Greta headed poolside while I grabbed a few more essential at the near by supermarket. Greta found a new friend poolside...LU-Lu from Manhattan. She is 6 years old....in theater, gymnastics, rides a horse (her own!). She is an only child of a father, John, who has tattoos all over his upper body, who does finance for companies that go into debt and a mother who recently left her fashion design and free lance writing career to be a personal assistant to a Private pay plastic surgeon. I was excited to see the girls hit it off. The "moms" did too. We basically spent the whole day with them. Started and ended with the pool and inbetween hunted for snails at the beach. Courtney (the mom) and I chatted about travel, family, kids, our jobs. Her life is so different ours....her daughter never goes in a car, always takes public transportation, doesn't think twice when needing to bypass high security areas because of "Super Police" as mom calls it. All groceries (vegetarian only) are delivered from While Foods. All other shopping is online. She attends a private school (30,000 a year) and misses 2 weeks of school a year to go on 5-6 vacations a year with dad who travels for work. When dad found out we flew in from Chicago...he said, "I like Chicago! It is like a smaller, cleaner, New York!" He trained for one marathon...and when the race day came is was cancelled due to a tropical Storm. He hasn't ran a day since. I also found it fascinating how selective Courtney's surgeon is with whom he will operate. He is fearful of bad yelp reviews dampening his practice. He will only operate on BMI below 35. I guess it is a different life when you live in Manhattan! But guess who invited us to visit?? LU-Lu, John and Courtney! The girls said their final goodbyes, the mom's exchanged cell numbers, and we made our way up to the room for peanut butter and jelly raisin bagels, yogurt, and episodes of shark tank.

Well, that was our trip. Short and sweet. We never drove from from our resort. Next time, we may skip the rental car. Miami was a blast...actually the beach, ocean, sun, and family were the best!!!

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