New website
We've decided to move our travel info to a regular website to make it easier to add pictures and videos. Check out the new site at
www.thetravelingmartens.com We're also experimenting with a couple other sites to provide information on Miami at
www.southbeachscene.com,
www.southbeachscene-bachelorparty.com,
www.southbeachscene-bacheloretteparty.com, and
www.southbeachscene-weddings.com
Hurricane Wilma
Wilma! What a stupid name for a hurricane! Late to arrive and changing with every forecast, we weren't sure what to do. Stacy was the responsible one with stocking up on food and water, and we moved everything away from the windows of our place. Mel was thinking that with even one window out, combined with hurricane force winds, and everything would be ruined, so what's the use?
By Sunday afternoon we decided to pack up the cats and some clothes and head to some friend's place since they have metal hurricane shutters. We had a great dinner and went to bed with the sound of the wind picking up steadily outside. The electricity went out during the night and it sounded like a train was hitting the building repeatedly. We got up around 6 a.m. and lit some candles and had some bagels and peanut butter for breakfast, and sat in the dark, listening to the wind outside. We could tell when the eye was passing over as the winds died down around 10 a.m., then picked back up. We went down to their lobby for a while to actually have a window to see outside. However, we saw fences being blown away and parts of roofs being ripped off. Their place was on the beach on the ocean side of Miami Beach, and the waves covered the normally 50-100 feet of beach and there were whitecaps on the walkway. We didn't like staying down there too long with all the debris flying around, so we headed back up to their condo and sat in the dark, behind the metal shutters, and had a great lunch of bagels and peanut butter!
For dinner we had a real treat, bagels and canned tuna! Then we played cards by candlelight and went to bed. Waking up this morning, we went for a jog outside and and stopped by a small Cuban cafe which was serving cuban coffee by boiling the water with a propane stove. It was the only place open, so there was an hour long line to get coffee! It's beautiful out today, not a cloud in the sky, 75 degrees, and no humidity due to this cool front. Our friends opened up their storm shutters and we enjoyed the sunlight for the first day in what seemed like forever. Unfortunately, power was still out and we heard on the battery-powered radio that it may take weeks to come back. So we headed back to our home to pick up some clothes and we planned on driving a few hours north to Tampa or Orlando and camp out in a hotel room, so we could both access the Internet and working phones and do work until the electricity was back. Driving the few miles to our place, we dodged downed trees and power lines everywhere. We didn't see any buildings demolished, but there are lots of trees, signs, awnings, fences and a few broken windows scattered everywhere. Arriving home, one of our windows was a victim- it was one of the large, floor to ceiling windows that is part of our sliding glass door to our patio (pictured below). To our surprise, nothing was ruined! (because we moved everything back, as Stacy notes). The glass was shattered about 7 feet into the room, just barely missing where we had moved the couches and rest of the furniture too. And somehow, there wasn't any water damage.
And then we flipped a switch and actually had electricity! There are just a few blocks around us that do, and the media is saying that the vast majority of southern Florida is still down and might be for a long time still. Thanks for everyone who was thinking of us, it's beautiful again down here and as Stacy says, this was much better than a snowstorm!
This was the sliding glass door out to our patio. The glass from one section blew in during the hurricane, we're not sure if it was hit by debris or not.
Reason #74 not to own a boat... this is one of the docks at our building, most boats we see are flooded or upside down. All you can see of one sailboat is the mast sticking out of the water.
From our friend's lobby during the hurricane.
And another over downtown Miami from our balcony.
Picture of another sunset from our balcony...
Lots of leaves and branches down this morning after the hurricane last night. Our poor pool isn't as beautiful today!
Dinner on our balcony while watching the sunset a few nights ago. We always try to catch the sunsets here because they are so different each night.
Survived our new friend Katrina
Hey family and friends, we just experienced our first hurricane last night. It wasn't bad, just rainy and a little windy, but some areas had lots of trees down and lost power. Very similar to any bad summer thunderstorm in the midwest, just rained a little longer. The sad part is that Mel's brother Rob was supposed to visit this weekend during the MTV Video Music Awards and his flight was canceled, so he will have to come back in a month or two.
We took a walk this morning and added some pictures of the trees down and our poor pool covered in leaves. We're also adding a picture of a dinner on our balcony from a few nights ago. Still loving Miami more every day. We are spoiled now with perfect weather every day, we already miss the sun since it's been cloudy a whole day now for the first time.
FYI, Stacy's new cellphone is 305-849-5654, Mel's is staying the same for now 314-374-3858.
