I love museums. They bring back memories of summer camp at the museum here in Miami, which has long since moved from Coconut Grove to Brickell, to occupy newer facilities with more space to restore coral reefs. You can always learn more facts from the exhibits. What’s more, you get a few days when history leaps out at you from signs and displays, sometimes from statues that can open your mind to new worlds. I’ve learned many things from museums that I would forget the next day.
We were out of town. The pirate museum had good word-of-mouth and was about twenty minutes away. The location had ample parking spots. In short, it was a good way to spend a day trip, and we all like pirates. I had asked if we could go, assuming that there would be days when it would be too rainy to hit the beach or drive to a distant down to see the sights. We agreed that it would be a fun idea. After all, who doesn’t like pirates?
There was one factor we didn’t consider: driving on the day of a rainstorm, with a potential hurricane warning, would have some reaching effects. We did acknowledge that the area could lose power and that our flights could be canceled. This outcome had happened a few years ago when we were in Europe, no less, and my day job at the time didn’t have allowances for remote work owing to confidentiality and entering paper records into the system. We also noted that it could be really rainy and that we could get soaked even with borrowing the umbrella from the rental, along with wearing all of our raincoats. Mine is bright-yellow but can soak easily due to being made out of a rather comfortable fabric.
Still, we remained optimistic. A short drive meant a few hours of enjoying our last day of being out-of-town before we had to return the next day. Then we got to the museum. It was pretty dark inside and crowded. Families were there, waiting to buy tickets or had already entered.
We thought the darkness was part of the ambiance. Then we saw the cellphone lights, and a museum employee told my brother she couldn’t do walk-in admissions. Power had gone out due to the rain, so the cash register was down. We either could try to pay online or hit the gift shop.
It was kind of funny. We did trawl through the gift shop and debated on a cute pirate hat for my little brother. Books were out of the question since we’d have to carry them back. In the end, we left with nothing but a sense of humor and drenched raincoats.
Some days you see pirates all swashbuckling. Other times you see pirates in the dark. Either way, you can have a good time.
