Sometimes you just need an excuse to get away from home and even a local vacation is a “vacation”. I decided to take Shannon to Miami for the 4th of July and managed to get a room at the Hilton Miami Downtown overlooking the inlet using points I had saved up.

We spent our morning getting mimosas in order to cultivate that “not at home” feel at a place called Pasha’s on Miami’s iconic Lincoln Road.

NOTE: Since this blog post, Pasha’s has closed. It looks like they shut down some time in 2016.

Shannon will always consider mimosas “breakfast” in Florida or the Caribbean.

Afterwards we walked around for awhile before going to the beach to play with our new (last Christmas) waterproof Olympus camera. If you can take photos underwater, then take photos underwater, you know?

That evening we chilled and watched the fireworks from our hotel room. Granted, this is a mere two hour drive from home and – yes – we already live in a beach town. There’s something to be said, though, for just getting away… even locally.

The photos of fireworks didn’t come out, but I’m pretty jaded when it comes to that sort of thing anyway. Years of working at Universal Studios in Orlando and watching fireworks night after night after night has more or less desensitized me to the impact. That said, the fireworks in Miami were pretty impressive if only for the view of them over water.

Happy 4th of July, folks!