Miss my first two posts from our mini-getaway to Miami this weekend? Here they are:
So, remember when I said we were spending Saturday night on South Beach? Well, we had our hotel locations mixed up — when we arrived in South Beach, we were told that we actually had reservations at their hotel location on Key Biscayne, which is about 15 minutes from downtown Miami and it’s own island. D’oh! Over there we went. 🙂
Key Biscayne actually turned out to be awesome, and way more “us” than South Beach, anyway! It’s beautiful and more secluded with pretty state parks and trails; you felt like you were on a tropical island somewhere!
Matt and I stayed at the Ritz on Key Biscayne because he was able to use his Marriott points to book us a night for free (apparently the Ritz and Marriott are partners). Awesome! I don’t think I’ve ever stayed at a Ritz before — the service was insane and we even got champagne upon check in. 🙂
We were also treated to a beautiful sunset on Saturday night shortly after we arrived!
This was the view from our room — it was even more stunning in person.
We had a low key Saturday and ate dinner at the on-site outdoor Mexican restaurant — the weather was lovely and the food was good, too. We took a nice walk on the beach in the dark after — one of my favorite things to do. The beach at night is so calming.
On Sunday morning, we headed out for another run! Our destination: Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, a little over a mile from our hotel and home to a pretty lighthouse.
But… when we arrived, we found out that the entrance fee for pedestrians is $2 per person. Lame! It hadn’t even occurred to us we might have to pay to get in, so we didn’t have any money with us. State park fail. We headed back to the hotel, defeated, and decided to walk back to the park later along the beach.
The hotel had an awesome outdoor buffet brunch going on when we got back — there was a bit of a line, but thankfully we didn’t have to wait more than 15 minutes or so.
I rocked the oatmeal and fruit:
And shared an omelette with Matt, too. They had the most creative omelette-making station — Matt got one made with garlic and Indian curry! Plus tons of veggies, too. It was tasty. 🙂
I also enjoyed a slice of unpictured bacon, obvi.
As soon as we were done eating… it was time for this:
Oh man… I’m jealous of myself just looking at that picture. Can I go back?!
Matt and I hung out on the beach for a couple hours — it was amazing.
After awhile, we made our way to the hotel pool for some swimming and a late lunch. I randomly had the lamb burger — it came with arugula, mint, and goat cheese and just sounded really good on the menu. It was! Plus a side salad instead of fries:
Look who came to join us!
So cool. He was BIG!
After our feast, we headed back out to the beach for lighthouse/state park attempt #2. We were determined to see this damn thing. 🙂 The walk along the beach was about 2 miles, but it was a gorgeous walk.
We made it!
The state park beach was bumpin’!
We were hoping to climb the lighthouse, but alas, no dice. “Official tours only.” We settled for wandering around it, instead.
I was so sad to leave Miami yesterday, but we had a great weekend. 🙂 I’ll be back to normal posting tomorrow — I hope you all enjoyed hearing about our adventures!
