inside the Claridge Hotel
Okay, so actually, we missed the Fireworks. After spending all day on the beautiful beach, we were in our room getting ready during the fireworks. I was kinda bummed about that. We stayed at the Claridge Hotel on Collins Ave. It was just 1 block from the beach, which was awsome! There was only a small parking lot between our front door and the sandy beach. This area of the beach had a lot of families so there was not really much to 'check out' on the beach. Most of the people had beer and liquor in their coolers. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me...alcohol, very hot temps, and water is not such a good combo. It didn't feel too terribly hot on the beach since we had a nice ocean breeze. Walking up and down the beach we realized how lucky we were to be staying at the Claridge. The water to the north and south of us were rocky and/or had a lot of shells. The water right in front of us was smooth and soft, no sharp objects. Oh, and one of my fav parts of this weekend was getting to use my waterproof camera! One of the best investments ever!!!
This hotel is very nice on the inside. Not too fancy and not too expensive. The resturant was a little pricy, but just a couple blocks up the street you can go to Subway or Carrabas. (we had 1 for lunch and 1 for dinner) The hotel has a small parking area underneath that costs $20 a day to use. There is a hot tub but no pool. Only 1 block from a soft sandy beach. Very important! And only about a $15 cab ride to the South Beach Clubs.
