Don't Stop - the Florida road trip section UPDATED 3/16 - Page 31 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Thursday 17 December – part six: did you say there’s a floating Mini?
The closer we got to Bayside, the worse the weather and the road conditions got and then we rounded a corner and it was like we were literally at sea. The roads were all flooded. The scene was unbelievable and I was suddenly very glad that we were in a bus and that Mark didn’t have to drive through this. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a photo of it, but there was a parking lot, where the ground floor was completely flooded out. It was just amazing to see and hopefully some of these photos help to convey it:
Not long after we made our way through this, we got a message to say not to try going through another road, because there was a Mini Cooper that was floating. Yes, you read that one right – floating. That puts it all into focus as to how bad the weather had been. When we got back to the hotel later and watched the news, they were saying that in some places, the rain had come up to the level of car handles and it was two or three feet deep!
Harry told us that this flooding can be fairly common in Miami, but maybe in July or August, but he had never seen anything like this in December in his lifetime. How nice to have such wonderful weather for our stay. I felt almost honoured... not! :
As a note to this, we heard a day later that Miami had had something like 14 inches of rain in just a couple of hours. It was the third highest ever recorded rainfall and the highest ever, outside of a hurricane.
We finally made it to Bayside and there Justin, the boss of the company, got on and gave us all vouchers for the boat trip tomorrow, as that was what we’d all decided to do. However, the weather forecast was already saying that tomorrow would be more of the same, with an 80% chance of rain, so whether we got on the boat or not remained to be seen....
That all sorted out, Harry began the torturous job of getting out of Miami. He tried every short cut that he knew and still got stuck in traffic, but eventually we made it through and, once we were on the bridge to Miami Beach, it was plain sailing.
Apparently the other bus that left before us went a different way and had got stuck in even worse traffic on the way. I was suddenly very glad to be on this bus. Mind you, having said that, I was already glad to be on this one, as Harry had been an absolute joy and had really made the day for us. As a result, he got a very handsome tip from us when we got off the bus, much better than the $1 or $2 that Mark saw other people leaving for him. I hasten to add that most of the bus were Americans, so you can’t put that down to people not understanding how the tipping system here works.
Finally, we were back at the hotel after a day out that hadn’t started out promisingly, but had had some great highlights in it, despite some poor organisation on the tour company’s behalf and some truly appalling weather.
We went back to the room for a while and then it was off out to Publix to get dinner. On the way there, we drove up Ocean Drive, with Mark stopped every so often to allow me to get some night-time shots of all the Art Deco hotels. I don’t think I will ever get enough of these superb buildings. : There is just something very special about them and I don’t know of anywhere else in the world that you can go and see so many Art Deco buildings.
Harry had earlier told us that Miami is home to something like 737 of them. That’s pretty impressive and there’s no way you would ever see of them in one trip, but we felt that we had got a good spread of them over the last day or us.
Even the restrooms are Art Deco here!
This time, we knew which one to go to, as we had seen that a new one had opened and was located in the same complex as Best Buy, which worked for us, as I needed some more blank CDs for all the photos I kept taking...
We went into the parking lot and took the elevator up a level and found Best Buy and Staples, right by the car park, which was a bit odd.
We went in and quickly got what we were looking for. I ended up buying 50 CD-Rs, as they were only $7.99 and to get 25 would’ve cost more. I guess I’ll use them all at some point...
From there, we headed down to Publix and, as you’d expect from a store that’s only just opened, it was packed with things. We bought some sushi for both of us, cheese for me and chicken for Mark and some more breakfast items, along with some wine, of course. I was fascinated by how many conversations I heard in here in French. I was getting used to hearing Spanish all over the place in Miami, but not French.
On the way back, I got some photos of the wonderful changing colours on some of Miami Beach’s buildings:
We headed back to the room and, not long after we got back and were tucking into our dinner, we heard the now familiar sound of pounding rain again. I guess it had set in for the night then... Still, at least dinner was lovely.
We watched some more TV and then it was off to bed, another day done with.
The weather today was in the mid 60s, with lots of rain and some sun in the morning. The best thing today was the airboat ride and the city tour. The worst thing today was all the rain. The funniest thing today was all the flooding downtown. Today we tried taking an airboat ride in the Everglades And the result was it was an amazing experience. The most magical moment today was seeing an alligator up close on the airboat ride.
That is a whole lot of rain and very deep and scary standing water! The nighttime pictures of the Art Deco and the lights are some of my favorite that you've taken in Miami.
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I remember hearing about all that rain in Miami, but I never made the connection that you and Mark were there at the time. Glad it didn't force you to have to alter too much. You still got to see some great sights!
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Yes, you read that one right – floating. 
That puts it all into focus as to how bad the weather had been. When we got back to the hotel later and watched the news, they were saying that in some places, the rain had come up to the level of car handles and it was two or three feet deep! 
: 
I guess I’ll use them all at some point... 
Still, at least dinner was lovely. 
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Pixie Dust
Sorry it affected your plans! 
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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