I'm back! And Florida - part 1!!

Well, I am sort of among the living again.  About 2/3 of the way through my trip, I came down with a terrible cold.  My whole body ached, my throat felt like I was swallowing sandpaper, my nose dripped like a faucet, and I am surprised I didn't cough up a lung.  So far, the cough is still lingering on, and I am still feeling pretty run-down.  I am sad that my vacation ended that way, but I did have some great memories before that happened.

First off...Miami!  We took off in our rental car (A word of advice...never rent from Avis.  Their customer service was horrible, they totally lied to us about their shuttle that was supposed to take us to the port, and it cost an extra $30 for us to actually get to the port, and they were unapologetic.  I will be writing a huge complaint), and headed out for Sun Life Stadium.  After the utter rudeness at Avis, we made it to Sun Life, only to be informed that the Stadium was closed for a private event, and the jerk at the entrance wouldn't even let us pull in the parking lot for pictures.  Jokes on him, because I just got out of my car and took a few.  The start in Miami was not a great one.

We then drove to South Beach, and called our host from Air BnB to check in to our condo.  She was sweet as punch, but our room wasn't ready, so she called someone else and they let us stay at their one bedroom (vs a studio) for no extra charge so that we could check in right away.  The place wasn't as cute as the original one, but it was big, and we only really slept there, so we didn't care.  And the place was called Orange, which pleased Joel very much.

We decided to take a walk down Ocean Drive, and since we were starving, we started looking for a place to eat.  Man, I just want to say that happy hour in South Beach is divine!  Two for one drinks were everywhere, and we happily indulged.  Plus, it started raining, so it gave us a beautiful view with some cover from the rain.

Now...the people of South Beach.  Folks, I wish I had been brave enough to take pictures.  This was the most diverse group of people I had ever seen.  So much eccentricity, so much skin...  It was crazy!  We chose to sit outside and eat at a place called CJ's Crab Shack for dinner, and happily took in some amazing people watching.  The food was absolutely delicious, and I'm sure touristy, but it randomly had the best hush puppies I have ever had.  I debated getting another order of them, but was stuffed, and the beach was still to come.

The beach and more South Beach pictures are yet to come!  Stay tuned for tomorrow!!