Tampa to Miami, Florida

We departed Tampa and headed south on the I75 to Naples and then via the 41 through the Florida Everglades to Miami. 

It was hot and humid, with storms building up to the west. The long straight road through the Everglades was bordered by Indian settlements and air boat ride companies. 

I saw one live alligator and a few on the highway as roadkill, which seemed sad and odd. 

We made our way into Miami downtown to our hotel, and then wandered through the old downtown area (lovely old, art deco buildings, but quiet and looked somewhat forgotten) and the waterfront. Many of the bridges open for boat traffic, even on major highways. 

Our cousin Claire suggested that we go to Joe's Stone Crab at South Beach. It was quite late already by my dinner standards, but I knew this would be a lengthy wait. Prepared (we had a late lunch of the best pizza slices I've had since Rome!) and happy, we waited at the bar for 50 minutes, drinking one of the best mojitos I've ever tasted, and watching the beautiful people. 

When we were seated I was surprised to see how big the restaurant was - there were at least 500 people at dinner! Amazing place. The staff were excellent and the stone crabs - definitely worth the wait. So tasty! This lovely dinner was topped off with fantastic key lime pie. 

Dom had a massage before dinner to try to ease the pain radiating down his arm and the masseurs told him two great things - there's an Amtrak train from Florida to Virginia that takes cars (covers over 1300km during the night), and there is an 'emergency' orthopedic surgeon open on Saturdays for which you don't need a booking. 

In the morning we set off for the Ortho and were seen immediately by very friendly staff. One X-ray, two injections, a discussion about the best national parks in America and the auto-train later, and we were on our way. It was a relatively expensive experience, but insurance should help. And it was worth it. 

We drove up Miami beach to Bal Harbor. As someone keenly interested in fashion, I'd seen that when the top houses only have one terrestrial store, it's usually in Bal Harbor, so I wanted to do some window shopping. It was a lovely complex - quite small, but complete with orchids in the trees and turtles in the ponds! 

Next stop was the airport to ask Alamo about changing the car. For the second time of our three trips across America we have a car that needs a service. The process did take about an hour and required some smooth talking from Dom, but we exchanged our car for a Ford Explorer. This one has 4wd which we thought we'd ordered, but the Yukon doesn't have. It's not so important now, but when we get back up in to snow and ice territory it will be useful. 

Sawgrass Mills, Florida, is the largest outlet malls in the USA. It has every shop that we like to visit, as well as restaurants and cafes. It was incredibly busy as it was Saturday afternoon, and we only covered about half of the complex in two and a half hours. 

We're off to Key West tomorrow!