Day 2.10: South Florida Day 1

We got up early because we had to drive to Miami and unlike the sunny Florida weather we had heard so much about, it was raining a lot. We left plenty of time, but still hit a lot of traffic on our way to Arielle’s presentation of her thesis research for the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami. The presentation went great and Arielle hopes that it helps to grow her connections with the Jewish community in South Florida. As we were driving to Miami, we reached the southernmost point of I-95. We continued further south to meet Stephanie Nichol for lunch at Sage, which was completely bare inside with the exception of one other pair of people, but had surprisingly great food. Abe ordered the Korean barbecue veggies, and Arielle ordered the butternut squash and sage gnocchi, both of which were delicious.

It was lovely getting to see Stephanie, and after saying goodbye, we headed north to Boca, where Arielle met with a local rabbi about a future program. During her meeting, Abe drove further north to Boynton Beach to pick up his grandfather, George, better known as Grampye, and brought him back to Boca to pick up Arielle, but more importantly, for Ben’s Deli! This New York deli favorite is always delicious and did not disappoint! Arielle got the Double Dip: chicken soup with half a corned beef sandwich. Abe got mushroom barley soup with a platter of corned beef and pastrami. Grampye got mushroom barley soup with a pastrami sandwich, and root beer in a frosty mug. Of course, there were plenty of pickles they all enjoyed, obviously Arielle more than the men. When we visited Ben’s deli together for the first time with Grampye and Abe’s grandmother, Pearl, more commonly known as Bubbe, Bubbe was impressed and concerned that Arielle could eat five pickles without getting a stomach ache, so in her memory, Arielle once again delighted in five true New York sour pickles.

We dropped Grampye back off at home and drop back to Hollywood, where we had a chance to hang out with Andrew and Lauren for a bit, and talk about their impending trip to Cuba! Exhausted from a long day of just-Florida driving, we went to sleep.

Approximate number of miles covered: 133