Kui üks meie seltskonnast jumaldab liblikaid ja Floridas on välja kuulutatud maailma suurim liblikapark, siis loomulikult tuli see kohe plaani võtta. Floridas, Kookose oja (Coconut Creek) nimelises linnas on Tradeswind park, kus omakorda asub Butterfly World. 
Parki sisenemine on nädalavahetustel tasuline aga millegipärast meilt seda ei võetud. Lisaks ei saanud ma mapsi järgi väga täpselt aru, kuhu parkida, aga kohal olles õige koha leidmisega probleemi ei olnud. Auto jäi (peaaegu) puu alla parkima. 
Külastus maksab 32.50 dollarit +maksud. Kui sa arvad, et poes olev hind ongi hind, siis mõtle uuesti😂 Kuigi maksu tuleb naguii maksta, siis miks seda kohe kaubale lisada? Muidu on elu liiga lihtne? Igatahes. Ostsime piletid ja olime valmis maailma suurimaks. 
Liblikad elavad arusaadavalt kupli all. Kuppel oli .. kuppel aga selle kirjelduse järgi oleksin ma oodanud midagi kolossaalset. Jah, liblikaid oli palju ja ruumi oli ka aga nemad moodustavad pargist ainult ühe osa. Võtsime aega, vaatasime, istusime. Ühtegi liblikat piisavalt lähedale ei õnnestunud meelitada. 
Lisaks liblikatele elavad pargid linnud, peamiselt eri suuruses papakoid. Seal on aed. Palju erinevaid lilli. Ja loomulikult käivad liblikatega kokku ... ämblikud. Kes neid kokku ei paigutaks? Lisaks muidugi oli terve ruum täis herbariseeritud (?) liblikaid. Kuidas kutsutakse mitte elus liblikaid? Kokkuvõttes võibki olla maailmas suurim kogus. 
Kõige põnevam oligi ruum, kus ämblikud toimetasid vabalt ruumis ringi. Üks paar luges hoiatust ja keeras otsa ringi. Aga kuhu araknofoob läheb? Ikka vabalt liikuvaid ämblikke uudistama. Tegelikult ei olnudki hullu, kaks suurt võrku koos elanikega olid ruumi erinevates nurkades. Puurides veel ämblikke, prussakad, skorpion. 
Et minust valesti aru ei saaks, liblikaid oli tõesti palju. Park on külastamist väärt. Aga näiteks Lätis on ka mitu 😊
Seejärel Miami. Pärast Las Vegases sõitmist on siiani kõik muud olnud easy-peasy😁 Ma jätkuvalt ei eelista paralleelparkimist (saan hakkama, kui vaja) aga sõita on olnud rahulik. Ei tea, kas ma Itaalias või Egiptuses tahaks roolis olla. Igatahes, tere tulemast Miamisse. Ootasin kõrghooneid ja palju. Meie teele sattusid need peamiselt Lõuna rannale viiva silla juures. Meie majutus kolmeks ööks Miami lõunarand😊
Natuke pöördeid ja olimegi Shepley South Beach Hotellist üle teed jääva parkimismaja juures. Miami rannas on ööpäevane parkimine 20 dollarit. Majutusel endal parklat ei olnud kuigi broneerides oli lubatud parkimisvõimalus, st sama parkimismaja, mida meie kasutasime. Parkimiskoha leidsime kolmandale, eelviimasele korrusele. Korrus edasi oleks tähendanud auto lageda taeva alla, päikese kätte jätmist. 
Kohvrid kaasas, ületasime tee ja olimegi majutuses. Sisse registreerimine oli ladus, summa eelnevalt makstud. Erinevalt eelmisest USA külastusest ja Euroopa või Jaapani hotellidest, enamik majutusi võttis deposiiti. 
Tuba oli nii lahe, 1930ndate stiilis art deco. Minu jaoks oli stiil erinev nendest, kus siiani majutunud olen. Ja kui mõtlema hakata, ei suuda neid kohti isegi kohe kokku lugeda. Ja see asub 550m kaugusel Atlandi ookeanist. Paar minutit jalutamist ja oled kohal. Hotell pakkus rannarätikuid ja lamamistoole. Rätikuid kasutasime, toole mitte. Igatahes, kõigepealt käisime söömas. Miamis, USA kalliduselt kolmandas linnas, toidukohti valides lähtusin suuresti hinnast. Meie öömaja kõrvale jäi FL Cafe, täiesti normaalse hinnaklassiga. Kuna enamik inimesti vist nii vara ei söö, siis olime esimesed. Toit oli maitsev ja portsjon suur.
Ja siis randa. Erinevalt St Augustine'st olid Miamis mõnusad lained. Vesi 30.5 ja lained. Olime enam-vähem pimedani. Oleksin võinud vette jäädagi.
The day started with rain. Well, it actually began with sunshine and geocaching. The drive also began under clear skies, but as time went on, it got cloudier, and soon enough, the heavens opened. I briefly wondered how this would affect the butterflies, but as it turned out later, the weather wasn't an issue at all. 
If a person in your group adores butterflies, and Florida boasts the world's largest butterfly park, naturally, it has to be added to the itinerary. In Coconut Creek, Florida, there's a place called Tradewinds Park, where you’ll find Butterfly World.
Entry to the park is chargeable at weekends, but we weren't asked to pay for some reason. I couldn’t quite figure out where to park based on the map, but finding the right spot wasn’t an issue once we arrived. I was (mostly)able to park in the shade. 
Visiting Butterfly World costs $32.50 plus tax. If you think the price listed in the shop is what you’ll pay, think again. 😂 Even though you have to pay the tax anyway, why not include it in the price from the start? Otherwise, life would be too simple, wouldn’t it? We bought the tickets and were ready for the world's largest butterfly park.
The butterflies, understandably, live under a dome. The dome was... well, a dome, but based on the description, I was expecting something colossal. Yes, there were plenty of butterflies, and there was plenty of space, but they only made up one part of the park. We took our time, had a look around, and sat for a bit. I couldn’t entice any butterflies to come close enough, though.
In addition to butterflies, the park is home to birds, mainly various sizes of parrots. There's a garden, lots of different flowers, and of course, where there are butterflies, there are... spiders. Who wouldn’t put those together? Naturally, there was also a whole room full of herbarium (or is it taxidermy?) butterflies. What do you call non-living butterflies? So, in total, they might indeed have the world’s largest collection. The most fascinating part was a room where spiders roamed freely. One couple read the warning and promptly turned around. But where does an arachnophobe go? Straight to the room with freely roaming spiders, of course! In truth, it wasn’t that bad. Two large webs with residents were in different corners of the room. There were also spiders in enclosures, cockroaches, and scorpions.
Don’t get me wrong, there really were plenty of butterflies. The park is worth visiting, but for example, there are several similar ones in Latvia 😊 Next, we headed to Miami. After driving in Las Vegas, everything else has been easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy😁. I still don’t prefer parallel parking (I can manage if I need to), but driving has been quite chill. I’m not sure if I’d want to be behind the wheel in Italy or Egypt, though. Anyway, welcome to Miami. I was expecting lots of skyscrapers, and we mainly encountered them near the bridge leading to South Beach. Our accommodation for the next three nights was on Miami’s South Beach 😊.
A few turns later, we were at the parking garage across the street from Shepley South Beach Hotel. Parking in Miami Beach costs $20 a day. The hotel itself didn’t have parking, even though it had been promised during booking. But the garage we used was the same one they had referred to. We found a spot on the third floor, the second-to-last level. One floor higher would have meant leaving the car out in the open under the hot sun. With suitcases in tow, we crossed the road and entered the hotel. Checking in was smooth, as the total had already been paid in advance. However, most of the hotels charge a deposit, something European hotels don't do. Neither did the hotels when we visited the US in 2019.
The room was fantastic, in a 1930s art deco style. For me, the decor was quite different from the places I’ve stayed in so far. And now that I think about it, I can’t even recall all the places I've stayed at off the top of my head. The hotel is 550 metres from the Atlantic Ocean – just a couple of minutes’ walk and you’re there. The hotel provided beach towels and sun loungers. We used the towels but not the loungers.
Anyway, the first thing we did was go for a meal. In Miami, the third most expensive city in the US, I chose eateries largely based on price. Near our accommodation was FL Cafe, with perfectly reasonable prices. Since most people don’t seem to eat that early, we were the first ones there. The food was tasty, and the portions were large. 
And then, off to the beach! Unlike St. Augustine, Miami had wonderful waves. The water was 30.5°C, and the waves were to die for. We stayed until almost dark. I could have stayed in the water until our time in Miami. 
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