➳ Adventures of M+A Kramer: Taking Our Talents To South Beach: Part 2

[Part 1 - South Florida National Parks can be read here.]

Part 2 of this series will focus on Miami and South Beach.

While traveling, we like to stop at a local grocery store to stock up on snacks, beverages, and in Florida - sunscreen and the Florida SunPass. By doing so, we find that we can save some money and time, but still eat out for a few lunches and dinners. If you are planning a trip to Florida with a rental car, we would suggest getting a SunPass to pay tolls directly instead of the toll being charged through the rental car company with a large "administrative fee".

Located in Little Havana, Versailles was recommended to us on Facebook and in a few travel guides, so we decided to check it out for lunch. Their Cuban sandwich was tasty. The boys were not a fan of the Cuban espresso, but the Cuban Mojito, although strong, passed the taste test.

Their love for LeBron combined with my love for juice meant we needed to stop at The Juice Spot in the Brickell neighborhood. It is owned by Savannah James (LeBron's wife) and had opened the week prior to our arrival. The Juice Spot is located in a residential area, provided wonderful customer service, and offers refreshing juice and smoothies.

Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne was the next stop. Side note - If you go over to Key Biscayne, have cash ready. The SunPass does not work for this toll. This beach is rated as one of the top beaches in the continental U.S., but we were not impressed. For swimming, it was fine, but the beach wasn't great, and the raccoons were too active. While sunbathing, I thought a dog kept running by me, since I could hear panting. After the second or third time, I opened my eyes and sat up, while the raccoon went off and running and with that we left promptly. Skip this stop if you are in the area.

The boys enjoyed using Groupon to Paddleboard in South Beach.

Adam found this restaurant called Lucali. It has been open about 6 months and is located away from the tourist areas in South Beach. It gets fairly busy with locals in the evening, but we decided to order early ahead and pick-up because we needed to get to the Heat Game. I wish we could have stayed. It was gorgeous - rustic and my kind of restaurant. And the pizza was one of the best I (we) have ever eaten (yes, we did inhale it in a parking ramp as the picture will show).

American Airlines Arena - Home of the Miami Heat. LeBron and the Heat won.

The last day of the trip, we made it down to the beach in South Beach near Lummus Park. It's fairly nice for an urban beach. Just a note here - there are certain areas of the beach you may want to avoid as we did. Do you research ahead of time. :)