Fourth of July at Miami

We drove to Miami, Florida, over the Fourth of July to take my daughter to a summer orchestra music camp. We arrived at Fort Lauderdale at about 8 am on the Fourth of July. At the beach the party had already started as we smelled the BBQ grills cooking up some feasts.

The drive was 950 miles and 19 hours of non-stop driving, taking a 2 hour lunch break in New Orleans. A long drive! We had a few hours until it was time to check in to our hotel so decided to go to the beach — this time Fort Lauderdale rather than Miami Beach. It was already bright and hot at 8 am in the morning. We were one of the few brave ones at the beach that early in the morning; while other family members stayed at the entrance picnic tables.

Swimmers, sun-tanning and this rock made for some nice photo opportunities.

A storm was brewing and we watched from a safe distance the rain clouds and lightening slowly move north missing us.

Here is the view to the north; which shows the rows and rows of condos along the beach.

There were some massive thunder clouds; we watched planes taking off from the Fort Lauderdale airport trying to avoid the the clouds as much as possible.

And more storm clouds.

And a ferry departed from the south, going where? I don’t know. Here the telephoto lens gives an appearance that is close by; actually it was on the horizon.

That night we returned to watch the fireworks. We got lost and missed the fireworks put on by the town of Fort Lauderdale. As we wondered around the neighborhoods trying to find the Fort Lauderdale fireworks, we came across several scooter/tractors filled with a families going down the streets. So we followed them — they eventually went into the Fort Lauderdale Yacht Club. So we joined the crowd–and saw firework display very close up.

Nice, we were very close to where the fireworks were set off; making a beautiful display.

And more fireworks.

And then the fireworks ended; a we had a relaxing Fourth of July.