Delano

There is an incredible hotel in Miami's South Beach...the Delano Hotel. After paying $22 to valet the car, you enter a curtain-framed entrance and after that, jaw-drop after jaw-drop all the way through the hotel to the pool bar. Think Alice in Wonderland meets Andy Warhol meets Italian/English countryside in South Beach.

Huge 40-foot curtained panels of white sheer curtains floating over cherrywood floors, strategically placed one-of-a-kind chairs (metal, rickshaw, throne, italian wrought iron) and columns from 3 feet to 8 feet diameters plus creating optical illusions on your stroll through the lobby.

The entrance to the pool, with grass separated brick steps, chairs clustered on the grass with mirrors, candelabras, giant chess set, hammock and then onto the pool where 20 and 30-somethings lounge on poolside beds, sipping margueritas and martinis under the stars. White clad staff at the ready to deliver top-notch service and gentle ocean breezes tossing everyone's hair gently.

So, why am I writing about Delano hotel? Well, this little visit is experienced in two ways. As a twenty-something, thirty-something...easily lounging on the beds (many, many beds....many) or as a 40, 50 or 60-something sitting on the lawn chairs and at the tables and chairs strategically placed for those with limited flexibility.

I sat on a lawn chair, listening to disco music and thinking back, perhaps a little too fondly, on my younger party days, well...

At any age at all, the experience of a great hotel can be as invigorating to creativity as visiting a museum. I highly recommend it.