North Miami Beach

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My friends were flying from Denver to Florida to visit Stasa, one of our best friends from high school. I really wanted to go, but flights are expensive from Des Moines to Miami. There was a big sale from Denver, and I had enough miles to fly to Denver for free. So, I flew to Denver and then flew to Miami!

I ended up on a separate flight from Denver than my friends, as they caught a different deal. My flight over Miami was beautiful. I tried to take a picture of the sun over the water. Later in the flight, we flew over an endless sea of fluffy clouds. It was like I was in a children's book! As we got even closer to Miami, we flew over swampland. I'm happy I had the window seat!

When I got off the plane, I was starving! My friends picked me up in a big minivan they'd rented, and then we drove to Duffy's on North Miami Beach. Stasa picked it because it's right on the water. There is an "intercoastal" that runs through Miami. As best as I can figure, it's like a highway but is water. Some people's homes are on the intercoastal, and they "park" their boats there (what is the boat word for park, anyway?). They can then ride their boats on the intercoastal to restaurants like Duffy's and "park" their boats there. Dock! That's probably the right word. They can dock their boats at restaurants.

There was a long wait at Duffy's--well over an hour, closer to two--but it was so great catching up with my friends that it didn't feel like all that long. The food was good, and they had multiple vegetarian options. I ended up with a black bean burger that was perfect. The food took about an hour as well, so I pretty much inhaled my food when it was set in front of me.

From there, we drove to Stasa's. She purchased her first home, a town home, a year or so ago, and it's adorable. She's been busy planting, and her property is trimmed with hibiscus and tons of tropical green plants. Her neighbors have mango trees! We started working on a puzzle and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, talking and working on the puzzle.

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