It was last February when my Mom and I had both decided that we were sick of Ohio winters and she suggested that we take a cruise in a nice, warm location to help alleviate the painful winter. Subsequently she took an Alaskan cruise in September with relatively short notice and had almost nixed the idea of the winter getaway. But I hadn’t forgotten. As the time got closer and the weather kicked out all of the Ohio warmness that we had enjoyed over the Summer, I began to ask if she had begun making our plans yet. Although both Denise and Ashleigh were invited to come along, they both declined, and she began making the preparations for three.
Although I had gotten a small amount of precious sleep the night before, I got up at a decent hour to get some last-minute packing completed on Saturday, February 5, 2011. Mom and Bob arrived at my house at about 12:30 that afternoon and we loaded up and headed to the airport. Ashleigh rode along so that she could bring Mom’s car back to my place. We grabbed some Burger King along the way and got to the Dayton International Airport by 1pm, quickly checked in after being body-scanned and waited for our 2:28 flight. However the flight didn’t leave for nearly 45 minutes later because the fuel truck had not filled us up all the way. Nice to know that the airline was being run by folks whose skill level was less than that of gas station attendant.
Ma and Pa Kettle at the Dayton airport
We had one of those really small planes that sat two on one side and one of the other (with me naturally by myself) that had one of those ridiculously out-of-the-way layovers in Washington D.C. Dulles airport. We were supposed to get there at 3:56, but because of the delay, we had just enough time to take a giant moving room-on-wheels over to the correct terminal and immediately board the flight for Miami, Florida, leaving at 7:30pm.
We got to Miami at 9:35 and clumsily maneuvered our way onto the shuttle that would take us to another building where we would pick up our Hertz car rental. Since Mom didn’t really want to drive and Bob isn’t allowed to have a credit card (Mom imposed this, not the courts), I was given the honor of renting the Mazda 3 and driving everywhere in Miami – beginning with our first destination: my first Hard Rock Cafe of the year, my 32nd one overall.
I had brought along my GPS system but it wasn’t being very helpful in getting us to our destination amidst the busy weekend traffic in Miami. It took us the wrong way twice and finally I realized where we needed to be. Denise called at that moment and assisted us in getting to the Bayside Marketplace – giant shopping complex that included among many other restaurants the Hard Rock Cafe. It was nice to walk the significant distance between the parking garage and the Hard Rock in temperatures that were approaching 80 degrees – among a swarm of weekend partyers.
Eventually I got there and ordered my first Hickory BBQ Bacon Burger of the year. This was probably the most crowded Hard Rock I had ever seen, especially considering that there was an Argentenian tour group of young girls celebrating life by hooting, hollering, and doing the locomotive around the joint. In the spirit of fun, I had no objection to this.
Getting in the spirit of vacation, wearing the standard kickoff day Nerdy shirt, I get ready to enter my first Hard Rock Cafe of the year, #32 overall
Hard Rock Miami tile mosaic at entrance to the restaurant
Mom and Bob at the Hard Rock
A new offering: cheese and bacon on the fries, sitting comfortably next to old Hickory
Bob, Mom, and I are ready to dig in. Note standard knife position.
Argentinian dames take over the Hard Rock
Original John Lennon sketch
Original crew jacket from the Beatles 1964 tour of Great Britain
Stained glass at the Hard Rock featuring Duane Allman,
Eric Clapton, and Jim Morrison
We went on the long walk back to our car and drove down Biscayne (frequently recalling the Seinfeld line “Stay on Biscayne!” from the episode The Pen, in which Jerry visits his folks in Florida). We got to our Best Western hotel that night at about 12:30am. We checked in and I located the free internet computer in the lobby.
Vacation had begun and the week ahead would hold so gosh-darn much.
Miami will continue…
Bypass the Florida portion of the trip and jump to California…
Bypass the entire trip and continue with 2011…
I REALLY wish I could have gone with you to Miami and on the cruise. However, no one was around to watch my kiddos for me! Maybe next time…
Denise
February 20th, 2011