Miami Beach with Kids
Most of the time, I love last minute planning and ‘on-the-fly’ adventure travel. Usually, we find awesome places to see and things to do. When we finish a trip, I frequently say that deciding on-the-spot made the trip better than pre-planning it. However, our most recent trip to Miami beach with kids emphasized the disadvantages of not planning, preparing and researching carefully for a trip.
Flying by the Seat of Our Pants
As we drove toward the ocean, swimsuits on and ready to rock the waves, I looked up family-friendly beaches in Miami. I heard that some beaches that were nude, gay, party beaches, etc. So I thought I would make sure it was family friendly. Those 2 words should do the trick, right?
South Beach came up as the most popular beach; NOT to be missed. I also read about a little park, Lummox park, on 12th street and Ocean as a great place for kids to play around. Seemed like a no-brainer for Miami beach with kids. My husband dropped the kids and me off at the park. I sun-screened the kids while they played and my husband found a parking spot and joined up. Together, we went directly behind the park to the ocean.
All the ingredients for a successful day on the beach were present. Hot sun…check; rolling waves… check; warm water….check; gorgeous, clean sand…. check;
We were absorbed in keeping our family together and finding a quick place to plant our stuff so we didn’t have to roll (drag) the stroller through sand any longer than absolutely necessary.
We plopped down at the first available opening, spread out our stuff and the kids and I ran to the ocean as fast as we could. Dave was occupied getting the baby to stop crying and go to sleep despite the heat and sun. It was a moment of chaos. And thus, we were completely oblivious to those around us.
The Reality of our Last-Minute Plans
When things finally calmed down and we looked around, we little-by-little discovered that we had unknowingly stumbled on to the gay-est beach in town.
To our left, there were hundreds and hundreds of male couples sunbathing in speedos and short-shorts.
To our right, lesbian couples tanned. The four lesbians right next to us (like 5 feet away) were sunbathing topless. There wasn’t a child to be seen for miles.
Men in skimpy swimwear showing tanned skin and feminine walk, chatted gayly (and I mean that in the happiest way). Women in thong bikini bottoms (*and by bottoms, I mean they didn’t actually have a bottom) caressed their partners.
We slowly realized that we had just planted our family in the middle of people who were not expecting to sunbathe next to a big Mormon-family with tons of kids running around. We felt so out-of-place with our four kids, a baby, our white un-toned bodies, my one-piece workout swimsuit and budget-friendly attire.
While those around us were slathering their bronzed bodies with bathing oils and donning the latest fashion sunglasses, we were sun-screening around hand-me-down, stretched-out kid’s suits in the shade of our just given-to-us-umbrella. The closest I came to fitting in was when I breastfed– without my cover on!
Minorities
While we were not exactly shunned, several couples obviously picked up their stuff and moved 20 feet down the beach, away from our noisy children. We realized we were in the minority (or rather the ONLY) and felt very uncomfortable. But, because we only had an hour before we had to head out to the airport, we just stayed put and tried to enjoy the beach despite our obvious differences.
True to form, and much to our chagrin on every other part of our trip, our kids were oblivious to the people around them. They didn’t seem to notice anyone or anything except the waves, water, sand, and toys. They didn’t miss having other kids to frolic in the waves with. But they did miss the same-gender couples making out in the ocean because I started a seaweed war to distract them. My 4-year-old did beg to take her swimsuit top off and I wondered if the topless women were inspiring this.
As we left the beach, we were still wondering if it was, in fact, a gay beach or a special event or WHY there were so many in that area. We then noticed the rainbow flags flying loud and clear. We soon learned via google that 12th street beach is the #1 Gay beach in Florida (and has been for 25 years).
So glad we didn’t miss it, LOL!
And someday we will tell our children the story of the day we took our family to the gay Miami beach.
Do you like funny travel with kids stories? Read our kids at the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument.
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2 Comments
That is definitely fly by the seat of your pants. Awesome that you still made the best of it. It will make for a great story for the kids one day! Thanks for the laugh!!
LOL That is totally something that would happen to me. Glad you still had fun!