Woke up to the beautiful sun this morning. Took a walk for the Miami Herald and dropped our towels at the pool. Spent most of the day at the pool. Light lunch, sandwich from the Peli Deli. Walked over to the B pool to visit Alan for some liquid refreshment, he's on vacation, but still got the booze. Tonights restaurant is The Hideaway at La Vista. A regular stop at least once a trip. It is close to Pelican where we stay, enjoyable breeze as it is very open, a great wait staff, who have been there forever, in fact noticed one of the waiters had a shock of grey in his hair. It is also a reasonably priced menu. We had a table for 7 and arrived to an almost empty restaurant. Only one couple, sitting poolside. We ordered drinks and began checking the menu, which some of our crowd knows by heart. Saw a couple of cruise ships leaving the island in the distance. That is one of the really different things here, seeing the ships leave all lit up in the night. Appetizer orders were a little disapointing, but only because They had no mozzerella salad or escargo. A bit early to start not having menu items we thought especially since they are closed on Mondays. But, the appetizers we ordered were all fine. My stuffed crab back was very good. The mixed green salad is always one of the best on the island. Always fresh. For my entree I had the Chicken Romana, which was very good. Others had the Chicken Forestiere(which was good but not exciting), and the rack of lamb which was quite nicely done. There meals here are always nicely trimmed with a variety of vegetables. As we were there the restaurant began to fill up, although it never filled all the way. So far on our 2 nights my opinion is that there are less people out at the restaurants. We'll see if that holds through the trip. It is nice to have easy access and a little quieter dining, but it is sadening for the owners and staffs. We finished off the evening with some dessert. I had the ameretto strawberry cheesecake which I loved, I must admit though to being a cheesecake fanatic. The chocolate cake was nothing but fantastic. And the vanilla ice cream tasted like a real homemade treat. All in all I'd say everyone left happy and full, except for our wallets. As I mentioned this restaurant is reasonable and with drinks, food and tip it cost us a little more than $35 apiece.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Day One report: http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/s...e=3#Post1092316


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