Life’s Simple Pleasures Are Hard to Beat in South Florida

Airboat in the Florida Everglades.
Airboat in the Florida Everglades.

I’m a simple man and simple pleasures make me happy. How about a cheeseburger and a beer in a hotel room with a Wi-Fi connection, satellite TV, and an entire Sunday to look forward to with absolutely no obligations?

I’ve got all of that after a Saturday night on Ocean Avenue in South Beach and time to blog about it too, as Devorah dozes in the kingsize bed.  In Sobe we enjoyed absurdly large mojitos, some supreme people watching, and a drag queen’s sidewalk performance.

The art deco buildings that line this Miami Beach street, crowded with Bentleys, Rolls Royces and Porsches are striking. The neon signs that proclaim their names…. Cleavander, Colony, Delano, Taft–such elegant two-story hotels that harken back to a more gentile and cosmopolitan era. It’s so much fun to stroll that boulevard and take in the cacophony of different musical styles, combined with the sounds coming from the sidewalks. Truly a Saturday night in the Big City.

Florida gator.
Gator in the Everglades.

Earlier we took a ride way down into the Everglades National Park, and shot out over the grassy water on an airboat. Despite the touristy nature of this excursion, it was all fun with the wind whipping our hair and seeing the animals of the ‘glades up close.  Corny commentary by the airboat driver dressed up to look sorta like a park ranger (but no shoes!) and after, a man who sticks his hand into an alligator’s mouth and holds up a skunk for all to view.