I live in Indiana, so "warm" is a really novel concept in February (as anyone who lives in the midwest would be happy to tell you)
We arrived on Thursday at about 6pm, went straight to our hotel and unpacked. We went downstairs to the attached hotel restaurant and had a wonderful meal. Then we went upstairs, had amazing sex, and went to sleep. It was wonderful!
The Hotel we stayed at was the Fontainebleu Hilton. Here are a couple pics of what it looked like. In the picture on the left, it's the hotel kind of in the center that's curved. In the picture on the right, you can see the tennis courts we played on. I played barefoot, and it got so hot up there that I took off my shirt and ended up playing in my bra and capri pants! It was funny. Joseph accused me of doing it to gain an unfair advantage so I could win more easily!
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On Friday we started our "tour de force" The first place we went was driving around to absorb "local culture" we went to south beach, walked on the tip of Miami Beach, and just had a great day overall.
Saturday we went to A georgeous mansion called Viscaya - I've been looking for a link so you can see pictures of this FABULOUS home, but haven't come across anything yet. I called the place yesterday and they told me they don't HAVE a website yet. So sad...it's really beautiful. It was built in 1918 by James Deering (the owner of International Harvester) who had anemia or somthing so the doctors told him he had to go someplace warm. So he moved to Florida (shock, shock) He hired four interior designers and so the house is this freaky mix of Italian, rennaisance, victorian, and other stuff. Plus out of the first 100 phones in the whole of Dade County, this guy's house had 40 of them. Very rich guy...acres and acres of gardens. It was beautiful.
After that, we went to the Science Museum and Planetarium (which also houses a wildlife refuge...go figure) It's all in one building. It's pretty small, but very nice. The planetarium had a wonderful skyshow that told you how to find Orion's Belt and find other stars from there. I've never had anything close to an astronomy class, so for me this was just the most amazing thing! Joseph knows how to find the stars, and he even knows the correct names for them (like Serious=Dog Star) that kind of thing. I found out that you can't see the Southern Cross from Chicago, but also that the people in Florida can't see The big dipper! I can't imagine not being able to see the big dipper, that's the only thing in the sky I CAN identify without serious help!!
The science museum was a little vague...not exactly sure what they considered the "science museum" because after the planetarium all you go through before hitting the wildlife refuge is a local history section and then you find yourself going outside and seeing a bunch of animals. Very surreal experience, that. They also had 10 computers in the museum hooked up to the internet that you could browse on! So I was able to check my email (the only time I did for eleven days...I was so proud of myself)
The wildlife refuge part was really interesting. They had a hawk, two kinds of owls, an alligator, a panther, and a BUNCH of giant tortioses. I'd never seen turtles have sex before. It was interesting. The bottom turtle was trying to mosey away while the poor guy turtle was pumping away and trying to keep up. I found it terribly amusing. I have my immature moments. One of the greatest things about the wildlife refuge is that you can Adopt a Bird-of-Prey Go check it out, these people have huge hearts and care for the animals wonderfully.
Sunday we went to ... uh ... OH we went to the local library and took a really long walk around to see the area close up, I bought a bathing suit at a store called "Absolutely Suitable" which I thought was just the cutest name for a bathing suit store. I was impressed that they had some nice suits...Miami Beach is so ..Neon..that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find anything I liked. I was expecting a bunch of tiny bright lime green bikinis. I got a really nice grey suit. It was eighty bucks tho. That really made me unhappy, but what can you do when you don't have a suit and you're in the middle of one of the most expensive towns in the United States!? Sunday night..aw hell, I don't remember what we did...I know that Joseph's conference started then and that's about it. Oh well.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning were Joseph's conference days so i had to fend for my poor little self. Let me see if I can find a pic of the pool..It had two waterfalls..well the freshwater pool did, they also had a saltwater pool, five hot tubs, and were ten feet from the Atlantic Ocean. I LOVE water..I was in heaven.
Monday morning/day. Aaaaah...the best Monday I've ever had in my LIFE! I went out to the beach and rested on a beach chair until about 11, then I put on a BUNCH of sunblock and just rested. I didn't leave that beach till three. I only left then because I could feel the burned skin on my legs and my arms..and I knew if I didn't leave then, I might end up at a doctor. I thought at one point I could smell my burning skin...but that was probably just paranoia *grin*
Monday evening just entailed dinner and more great sex.
Tuesday - Nothing special...If I remember anything I'll let you know.
Wednesday evening we went to a supper show. It was FABULOUS! It was at the Club Tropigala
This was the pic on the flyer  | |
This was the orchestra we danced to *sigh* |
And this is the cast of the show |
This is a drawing of what the inside looks like. It's pretty accurate. |
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