All the tickets and reservation times seemed to gel together and our neighbor Jane, is driving us to out new airport terminal. Our flight to Miami, Florida was over four flights using some home miles to ease into first class seats- but not first class wines…

Mike questioned the stewardess about this (poor wines) and she said, “Good ones are only used on international flights.”  We arrives at 3 AM at our favorite hotel, The Grand Palms resort, where we’d be staying for the week.

Breakfast at 10:00 AM and was complimentary, Mike and I managed to arrive 5 minutes before the deadline. And they smiled at the tip and said, “Anytime!”

We decided to take a walk on the golf course right in front of us and we were really lucky only one ball came near us.

Need for more exercise so we headed for Hollywood Beach on the Atlantic Sea. We drove through the recent high rises and tried to figure our which one was out president hang-out, not to throw stones but maybe something…

After we bypassed the high rises we found parking lots galore, minimal of which charged $40 bucks! Mike having been there as a youth knew where some of the secret spots were and found us an empty and open space for free.

When we got out of the car and headed for the beach I was traumatized by the beauty of it.

We walked along until we saw a couple exit their table and we almost ran for it. No fights. The further you look out on the Atlantic the deeper the color becomes.

Later on the afternoon we went to visit Mike’s brother, Chuck and wife Marlene and daughter Toon. Chuck had reserved a Cuban restaurant for that evening.

Arriving on time, we were taken by the concierge to a small dark corner room. “Wait!” I said “There are several oval tables near the front that are vacant.” “Oh, those are reserved for parties of 4.” The concierge responded. And I turned around and counted, “We’re a party of four…” He looked stunned for a moment and looked us over and said, “Please follow me”. It was that best meal and best table I’ve had in a long time.

The next day we dined with Syl- Mike’s oldest sister. They frequently called and kept each other apprised of the information about the family members. It was a lovely meal but otherwise jammed packed with kids who loved to scream.

The following night was a meeting of available family members at, “The Big Fat Greek Restaurant.”

Left front row to right: Mike, Caroline, nephew Jeff with wife behind him Laura. Niece Beth and Beth’s husband Michael and Mike’s sister Sylda in between.

Good food- crowded- lots of families. And charming was the water way to the side of the building filled with screaming kids… along with their parents at the sight the sight of the Manatees.

To be continued…