April 1, 2025 On the Road Again: ABQ to Miami
I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and deposited the two rent checks for 524 Romero then lay down and slept a little until the alarm sounded at 4:00.
We got dressed and gathered up our grips and the bagels with Racalette and Lebanon Bologna on cream cheese and took a Cab to the airport at 5:15.
Our 2 hour flight to Houston left at 7:05. We ate 1/2 of our bagel sandwich on the flight. Then in Houston we changed planes to a Miami bound flight. On both flights we were able to share the three seats on our side of the aisle.
We slept most of the way on the first flight and mostly read on the second leg. After I woke up from a short preliminary nap on the Houston to Miami flight Suzette told me she ordered a Dr. Pepper. When it was served I ate the other half of my sandwich at around 12:00.
We flew over Key West and the Everglades on our descent into Miami, which was exciting.
We arrived at 2:00 Miami time and as soon as we picked up our bags and walked to the curb the Sonesta hotel shuttle picked us up and we were delivered to the Sonesta Legacy Miami by 3:00.
After we checked in and dropped our bags in the room we called for an UBER and were driven to the Nader Museum, in a converted warehouse in the Wynwood area of Downtown Miami. The Nader is an art gallery on the first floor and a private collection on the second floor.
We spent an hour viewing the extensive art gallery that included many important works by Botero, Mata, Wilfredo Lam, and Diego Rivera on the first floor and so chose not to pay $20 each to see the private collection on the 2nd floor.
At 4:30 we walked about 1/2 Mile to a Cuban restaurant named Smugglers Cocina Cubano that was pretty highly rated between 4.1 and 4.3 and moderately priced that Suzette found on an internet search.
This walk with the three airports we walked through combined to aggregate over 6200 steps for the day. My stamina was adequate to support the four walks but when we arrived at the Smugglers Restaurant and the waiter asked, “What can I get you?”, I immediately replied, “Do you have a regular Coke.”
Suzette asked a few questions and ordered a sangria that was rather sweet, so probably out of a box.
Suzette ordered BBQ spare ribs with a sweet guava BBQ sauce and I ordered Lechon, which was a bowl filled with a pile of pulled pork sautéed in onions from a roasted sucking pig served with three fried battered plantains and five sugar coated and sautéed Plantains with a sour cream based dipping sauce. The lechon had a decidedly vinegary flavor that was enhanced by the fresh lime juice I squeezed over it from a large wedge of lime.
We both loved our dishes and shared them with each other. When Suzette finished her sangria she ordered a Stella Artois to drink with her ribs.
The skin of the ribs was crispy and the inside was tender and juicy, just the way we like them. The lechon was a mound of tender vinegary pulled pork.
The plantains were starchy, so this was a day without a green vegetable.
Dinner was $49.00 before the tip, a remarkably inexpensive meal, given the quality. It was exactly what I had hoped we would find, an authentic moderately priced neighborhood Cuban restaurant. The ribs were $14.50 and my Lechon was $16.50
This trip we have made a commitment to eschew fancy restaurants and try to find more authentic food at moderate prices.
We called an UBER that took us back to the Sonesta at 7:30 and at 8:00 my wish came true and I was able to watch Finding Your Roots on the I Pad on the South Florida PBS channel.
Suzette went to bed at 9:00 and I stayed up to blog and shower before going to bed.
The strategy for ticketing this trip as we will use for the November trip to Japan is to fly halfway on Southwest using our companion pass to break the trip in half that avoids a long, costly flight and makes it cheaper, easier, and more fun for us. On this trip I think our flight to BA from Miami will be around 5 to 5 1/2 hours, so not too bad.
In November we hope to fly to LA or San Francisco and stay a night, Then fly to Hawaii and stay a night both flights on Southwest and then fly to Tokyo.
Bon Appetit
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