I am back on after an intensive week of driving everywhere!

I now have been new places and revisited many others as I have driven my nephew and his wife every day to "see" Miami and get inserted in our culture. That is what they wanted to do so the first day we started with the largest tropical garden in the United States, went to the Cuban shrine, saw Little Havana, Coral Gables, and Coconut Grove. Tuesday, my 80th birthday, we went to the park at the end of Key Biscayne and swam near the Lighthouse there. The ocean was gorgeous, the water warmer than the air, and we had a glorious morning there and then had a picnic in the shade, came home and swam some more and then went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner and back to Coconut Grove to walk around but home early as we went to Key West on Wednesday.
I drove (our insurance kept me from letting them drive.) It was about a four hour drive but we had stopped to admire the view and to visit the Visitor's Center on the last Key before entering Key West. Then we parked and walked and took the Conch Tour Tram and then found a place that I knew from a previous visit for a fabulous lunch and more walking. By three we were back in the car for the drive home as I wanted to be home by dark. We did stop on the way back to stretch our legs twice and then we went grocery shopping before going home. On Thursday we went to the Everglades and took the two hour tram tour, saw sme birds and alligators, climbed the observation tower, and learned more about life in the Everglades. Then it was off to Miami Beach; they wanted to swim and bike so I left them there. They rented bikes and enjoyed exploring by themselves and rode the bikes back to Miami where they then took the metro to the University of Miami station and rode home from there. Yesterday afternoon they rode back and went swimming in the ocean again and rode their bikes all over Miami Beach. Today they fly back to Arizona and I will miss them as it has been fun to have them here and made me forget that I am 80 years old! I also had a wonderful time with them and saw again the beauty that surrounds us in Florida - ocean, sky, trees, and God's presence is in all!