Wayfaring Day 20

July 20, 2025 Sunday

Amy heads back to keep our grandson and then on Tuesday they check in at Great Wolf Lodge. David and our younger son will be going to their first of three games/stadiums starting today with Miami.

Our Brightline train was scheduled for 7:50am so we had to get up early and get an Uber to the Brightline station which is located at the south end of MCO. The new Brightline train is a high speed train that has been completed between Orlando and Miami. Riding the train was part of what we wanted to do since a high speed train in the US is rare and we generally like using different transit modes. It was actually more expensive than flying but we wanted to have the experience so that was worth the difference in our opinion. The total cost for two round trip tickets was $316. We did pay for the Smart ticket so that we would have seat selection which probably was not necessary. The train is very modern and the ride is smooth. The restrooms are large and more high tech than any train that we have been on before. You can order food and drink items on the app and have them delivered to your seat. Miami is the end of the line and they have a free shuttle to the Miami Marlins games.

The station in Miami is modern and clean with easy access to the buses and other transportation. We were a little early for the shuttle so we walked to a little convenience store deli where we had empanadas and a Cuban sandwich. We rode the shuttle which drops fans off across the street from the stadium. They have storage lockers on the outside of the stadium and we made use of the lockers since we had a backpack with us. We made our way inside and found our seats. The game was not so good for the Marlins but the stadium was a more modern and architectural structure than we had anticipated. We left a little before the game was over to get ahead of the crowd.

From there we walked to Little Havana which was another thing on our to do list today. Little Havana was more of a cultural experience than we had imagined. Tamiami Trl is a lively street where the Cuban locals and visiting tourists blend together to eat, listen to live music, dance and shop. We ate at Old´s Havana Cuban Bar and Cocina and enjoyed some local Cuban cuisine. There was live music and our waitress was friendly and very attentive. The place is crowded and there is no AC but the atmosphere and food is most enjoyable. Afterwards we walked the street popping in and out of a few shops and got in line for ice cream at a little busy place that apparently everyone loves. We walked to the Bay of Pigs Monument and waited on an Uber to take us from Little Havana to Bayfront Park. The Bayfront Park area is very busy with a bit of a party atmosphere. A short description would be that the area is waterfront restaurants, boats, and a mall sort of all wrapped together. We didn´t have much time here since we had to catch the train back to Orlando at 19:05. We walked to the train station and made it to the train with little time to spare. We had a relaxing ride back to Orlando travelling at speeds of up to near 130 mph. It was a late night getting back to our resort but we did some packing before going to bed after a really long day.