So it's about time that I updated the blog and what better time to time do it than while on holiday. I am sitting in the lobby of the Essex House Hotel in South Beach, Miami. The art deco hotel is pretty cool and the chill music playing throughout the nice air conditioned reception area can make you forget how hot it is outside. It actually hasn't been too hot since we got here but i have a feeling today is going to be a scorcher. Anyways....to catch you up. Dusti and I decided to get a head start and left on Thursday evening after work. We managed to get as far as Brunswick Ga. This was a very wise idea as the next day we left at 7:30 and were in Miami before 2 and that included a stop in Daytona for some Cracker Barrel breakfast. FYI-There is a Cracker Barrel at just about every exit on I-95 in Florida.
So on Friday afternoon having checked in we walked one block to the beach just to check it out. I was pretty impressed on how clean the beach was. In fact it was spotless. It was also beautiful. The water was that lovely aqua color you see in all the postcards. I was pleasantly surprised as didn't realize it was going to be clear like it is in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Having briefly checked out the beach i was in diehard need of a cold beverage of the alcohol variety. We bellied up to the bar of the Clevelander which is the Essex House sister hotel but as we could clearly see and were told is also the party hotel. It was Jersey Shore meets Las Vegas meets Myrtle Beach with an overall international flavor.
People were very friendly. A young chap from Colombia named Andres insisted on us doing Patron shots with him. I despise Tequila but he convinced me to do it and it actually went down okay mind you it was extra chilled. Drinks at the bar were very expensive and i couldn't get my head around how people afford to party like these people were. Apparently Andres had been there all day and had rung up a $300 bar tab already. The bartender told me he usually spend about $600 to $1,000 when she is working. I saw Andres running around flirting with large groups of girls buying them bottles of Champagne. He was quite the dude at the party. 4 Coronas later it was nap time.
Cheers to Andres.
I woke up about 8 and decided to head back out to take some photos. Dusti stayed in bed and slept through the whole night until morning. I wondered around had a couple of $14 Jack and cokes and took some pics.
Saturday morning i was a little worse for wear but manged to get up and we got some breakfast on Ocean Drive at a little coffee shop called Cafe News. After eating we headed out to Key Biscayne. The drive was awesome. The views of the downtown Miami were really cool and the water everywhere looked so inviting. We hung out on the beach at Crandon Park for about an hour. It was very peaceful. There was a kids beach soccer tournament going on. We heard very little English and one of the teams were decked out in Brazilian national jerseys. These little kids were very good too.
Then we drove to the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park and visited a really old lighthouse. The water around this area was crystal clear and i could see the fish swimming around. The park ranger at the lighthouse told us we should visit Vizcaya Museums and Gardens so we did just that. It was pretty cool. The house was built in 1914 by John Deering and was decorated with the influences that he had seen all around the world. We weren't allowed to take pics inside but i took some of the gardens.
We drove back to the hotel and went for a swim in the ocean. It was lovely.
Finally, the last thing we did on Saturday was walk up to Espaniola Way to an Italian restaurant that had been recommended to us. The place was hilarious. Everyone was singing and shouting in Italian. There was one bloke who tried to charm all the women into coming into the place. The food was okay but the atmosphere was awesome.
On our walk back to the hotel we went up to Lincoln Lane which was really buzzing with people in bars and shops. There was a Hooka bar where a bunch of people were eating/drinking and smoking Hookas. We also walked into the Ritz Carlton just for kicks. It was pretty amazing. You could smell the money and in my case see it as i found a AMEX Platinum card on the floor. Being the honest man i am i turned it in!
So as i sit here i am preparing for the next event of the weekend...Dusti's graduation. We are heading up to Sunrise and Nova SE University this afternoon for the ceremony. Stay tuned for pics.
