It's officially the end of summer. I know, it makes me sad as well. Of course just because the summer is over, doesn't mean you should stop wearing sunscreen. Sunscreen should be worn year round. Sorry for the plug, but you know I had to!
Anyway, I hope you all got in some sunny travels this summer. We sure did at Block Island Organics. This summer Will and I attended the wedding of my college friend. It was a destination wedding in St. Martin, an island in the Caribbean. The wedding was amazing and the location beautiful. I also was able to spend quality time reminiscing and bonding with my college friends, something we haven't all done together in about 10 years.
MIAMI BEACH
Our adventures began in Miami. Well they weren't supposed to begin in Miami but we missed our connection to St. Martin. After getting a hotel and food voucher from our airline, we dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to Miami Beach and specifically South Beach for the night. (Side note: you should always try and get vouchers from your airline if you miss a flight and have to stay over-night - because you never know until you try!)
South Beach is the southern most 2.5 miles of Miami Beach between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The beach was warm and the sand soft. Even around 7pm there were still a good number of people on the beach - they looked like the last few people left after a day's hot party.
The main drag of South Beach is Ocean Drive - this street parallels the beach. On Ocean Drive you will find tons of restaurants, bars, clubs and boutique hotels. Be prepared for the hosts and hostesses to entice you to come in. As we walked Ocean Drive we were asked every two minutes if we wanted to eat, drink and/or dance.
After our stroll down Ocean Drive, we made our way to Lincoln Road. Lincoln Road is about a five minute walk from Ocean Drive and is the main shopping area of South Beach. You'll find all the major brands on Lincoln Road like H&M, Zara and Apple to name a few. Lincoln Road is about 10 blocks and also has restaurants, bars and cafes. We didn't do any shopping but after our walk in the Miami humidity, our feet were tired so we stopped in a Nespresso Cafe to have some decaf iced coffee blends before bed. Caffeine really does a number on Will! Check out the photo I took of Miami Beach at sunset.
ST. MARTIN
Our new flight was in the morning the next day and it took just under three hours to fly from Miami to St. Martin. St. Martin is in the Caribbean and is made up of two parts - the Dutch side where they call the island St. Maarten and the French side where they call the island St. Martin. According to the online research I did, the two sides are actually separately controlled. As a result there are two official currencies on St. Martin, the Euro on the French side and the Florin on the Dutch side. But to our benefit, U.S. dollars are also accepted across the island and are what we used the whole time. The Dutch side also seemed slightly more developed than the French side and had more nightlife. For example the airport is also located on the Dutch side and the town we went out in one night is also there. However, the wedding and our hotel were on the French side. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get from the airport to our hotel.
The first day we arrived we explored our hotel and enjoyed a welcome dinner with all of my old college friends and the other wedding guests. The dinner featured two fun games: a take on Mad Libs where guests blindly filled in nouns, verbs, adjectives, etcetera in a story about the couple and an icebreaker where each guest had a list of facts about the other guests we were supposed to match up. I must say, I was very good at running around and finding out which fact belonged to which person. I didn't actually talk to them, 
, just found the answer and moved on. Just kidding!
The next day was the wedding. It started at 9:00 AM and ending at Midnight! Yes it was an Indian wedding so if you have never been, they are a full day affair filled with dancing, eating, celebration and more dancing. I'm summing it up but it was a wonderful and loving experience. The groom even rode in on a motorcycle and then took his bride on it with him after their morning ceremony.
All that dancing left us tired the next day so we lazed about the beach and pool. Of course I routinely applied my sunscreen as the Caribbean sun was very strong! The rumor amongst the wedding guests was that our hotel featured the largest pool in the Caribbean. I'm not sure how that rumor was started but the pool definitely was one of the biggest I have ever been in. At night we all ventured to the Dutch side to the casino for some fun. Below is a photo I took of our hotel that was right by the beach.
