Heading north...

We were thrilled that our friends, Steph and Saj, were able to make it down to Florida for a few days to visit over the holidays.

The New Year's Eve timing made booking a hotel in Miami a tad tricky so we opted instead to head north to Vero Beach.  The town itself is small and a touch sleepy but we hoped that this would actually appeal to Steph and Saj who were likely a little sleep-deprived after recently becoming parents of twin girls.

Vero Beach's main street was short but boasted lots of upscale and attractive seaside shops.  The real attraction of the area , however, was our hotel, the Costa D'Este.  This chic waterfront boutique hotel was built by Gloria and Emilio Estefan and offered a clean, modern look and a wide variety of perks including frozen grapes at the pool and free sunglasses cleaning, neither of which we either saw or experienced during our stay!

Although the weather was fairly rainy and grey during our visit, we were lucky to be able to get in two hours of tennis each morning before the skies opened and rain poured down.  The public tennis courts where we played were quiet and in good condition and the club manager who helped us daily was charming and friendly, even though he charged us a completely different court rate each time we visited.

During the downpours, we spent our time enjoying long meals and coffees, dreaming up new entrepreneurial ventures including a promising baked potato food truck, and going to the spa.

The restaurants in Vero Beach were quaint but a little light on vegetarian options.  One restaurant - which surprisingly never had any menus available - actually told us their chefs were too busy to be able to make anything vegetarian!  Luckily, Geoff knew well the art of getting someone to take seriously the need to offer at least one vegetarian meal on a menu.  He watched and learned, however, as Steph artfully negotiated with the waiter to remove the extra costs that had been added to our bill for the kitchen's work in creating those options!?

After our meetups with Steph and Saj in Paris and then Vero Beach - two of the least friendly vegetarian  locales - perhaps next time our meetup should be in India, a true vegetarian haven!