14 April - Miami Beach Florida

Checked out of our hotel in Orlando this morning and commenced the next leg of our trip - a drive down to Miami Beach. Our plan was to drive along a secondary coastal road hoping it would be scenic and interesting.For a little while it looked promising but after a couple of hours of endless suburbs and no sign of the coast we connected back to the Florida Turnpike and arrived at our hotel in Miami Beach around 4pm. The weather here has been sunny and warm and later in the afternoon we walked along the beach and took in the local sights. The atmosphere is a bit like the Gold Coast but quite run down. Miami Beach's hey day was in the 50's and 60's and a lot of it is looking pretty tired. However, in more recent times a lot of renovation has taken place and hopefully this will produce a new lease of life. At any rate it is a wonderful location, and given the tropical weather and the beautiful beaches the area will return to its former splendour. Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to the Florida Keys which is a long chain of islands extending from the Southern tip of Floriday. We're hoping to make Key West which is right at the end of the chain.