Lift Up Your Hearts!

New Year’s Resolution #8 was “Enjoy Spontaneity.”  This is far from my natural inclination; I like plenty of warning, and generally agree with the old Holiday Inn commercial that “the best surprise is no surprise.”

Actually, that’s not completely true.  Surprises can be nice.  But my idea of a great “surprise getaway,” for example, runs along these lines:  “Hey, honey!  I have a great idea for a weekend adventure and I want it to be a surprise for you.  Is your schedule clear for three weeks from now?  You would need to pack clothing both for hiking and for eating in moderately nice restaurants, and also a warm jacket.”  That gets me a mystery adventure where someone else has done all the planning, and yet I can plan for it.

Fun, but hardly a model of spontaneity.  So you will see that our trip to Miami last week was really quite spontaneous, for me.

I did have a little warning:  We had known for a few weeks that Porter would have business at the Thai Consulate in Coral Gables, and—noting that the consulate is not far from the Miami Library—I had spent a little time planning some genealogical research.  But the paperwork moved so slowly we had long since given up the idea of combining business with pleasure this month.

Then, suddenly, Porter got the green light Wednesday evening, and we had to go the next day because of the consulate’s working hours.  There were hotel and rental car reservations to be made, sight-seeing to be planned, maps to be printed, paperwork to gather, research to be organized, and packing to do.  GTD really helped, as I was able to know what of Thursday and Friday’s work needed to be done before we left, and what could wait till our return.

We left early Thursday afternoon, arriving at our hotel in time to enjoy a walk on the beach before sunset.  The only thing I knew about the famous South Beach was that it had a diet named after it, so I'll admit I was shocked to find that our "beachfront" hotel was in the middle of the city and had no parking whatsoever.  I’m not used to valet parking and was rather nervous about turning the keys to our brand-new rental car (we started the trip with 46 miles on the odometer!) over to some stranger.  But it worked out all right.

The Doubletree Surfcomber turned out to be a fine hotel, and we had only to leave the grounds and cross a lovely pedestrian/bike path to get to the beach.  Once there, I received my second surprise:  I was expecting wall-to-wall sunbathers, hawkers, and a littered beach.  Perhaps that is true in the middle of the day, but in the early evening there were but a handful of swimmers, a couple of families on the beach, and some soccer players.  What’s more, it looked as if the whole beach had recently been swept of its trash—only the litter caught amongst the kelp revealed that the cleanliness was not natural.  The water, too, held some surprises:  unlike the ocean further north, the color of the water was that lovely, clear turquoise we've seen in the Keys—and despite the name of the hotel there was no surf at all!

As the sun set, we headed inland, crossing Lummus Park and walking down Ocean Drive in search of a place to eat.  There were certainly enough restaurants to choose from, but it was impossible to make a reasoned, intelligent decision.  Anyone who has experienced end of the Mexican ride at EPCOT can imagine what the walk was like:  impossible to walk 10 feet without having someone hawking at you, offering you coupons, regaling you with descriptions of their food, leading you to a seat.  Most restaurants had outdoor menu displays, which would have been convenient if we could have been left alone to peruse them, but no, there was always a smiling server who would not let the menu speak for itself.

More out of desperation than free choice, we settled on a seafood restaurant associated with one of the hotels, and it turned out to be pretty good.  Not exceptional, but good enough.  One of our friends likes the outdoor tables on Ocean Drive, saying it’s a great spot for people-watching.  Me, I don’t see the thrill in that, but it was nicer to be outside than in.

We returned to the hotel via the above-mentioned pedestrian/bike path, and Porter tried out the huge outdoor pool while I reclined in a deck chair and read.

The next day was full from beginning to end.  The consulate didn’t open till after noon, so after a leisurely breakfast we spent the morning at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.  This is our own little Leu Gardens writ large, and we barely had time for a tram tour of the grounds.  But our Leu membership gets us into Fairchild on a reciprocal basis, so we didn’t mind the short shrift, and will gladly return for more another time.

At this point we split up, Porter dropping me at the library while he went on to the consulate.  It took him several hours to complete his business, so I was able to get quite a bit of research done.  An observation:  At the New York Public Library I found the clientele to be primarily researchers, with an occasional (apparently) homeless person thrown in for variety. In Miami, the proportions were reversed.

Aside from a huge stop-and-stop traffic jam leaving Miami, and high-speed, bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Turnpike from Miami all the way to the Disney World exit, the trip home was fine.  It was good to be home, but I’m amazed at how much I was able to enjoy this almost-spontaneous adventure.