Miami and then home

 

It was now our day to get off the ship.  We were leaving our home of 15 days.  We got up early to go and have breakfast and then waited in our lounge for our number to be called so we could leave.  We disembarked a little late as they had troubles with all our luggage but we were off the ship by 9:45am or so.  We waited for our car rental shuttle to pick us up but had to fight for space with some Americans, and even though we were first in line, they figured they had preference on getting on, so I nicely shouted to my dad (who as arguing with the driver)… “don’t worry Dad, we can be the Canadians and wait until the next shuttle” … we got the next shuttle and waited patiently.  We got to the car rental company and then got upgraded to a Yukon… it still didn’t fit 6 adults and all our luggage properly… oh well… we managed.

We got to our hotel (Marriot Villas at Doral) around 12:30 and got our room.  I got a travel agent rate here and couldn’t believe how beautiful this property was.  We just about didn’t want to leave here.  We got unpacked and right away ate a free lunch that they had set up for the guests and then had 2 for 1 smoothies after.  For dinner I went to the grocery store and bought some salad, a loaf of bread and a chicken.  I also bought ingredients for breaky the next morning.  The rest of our day was just relaxing by the pool and not working hard at all.

Our last day in Miami consisted of me making breakfast for everyone… bacon, eggs, toast and hashbrowns.  I also tried to deep fry my finger, but managed to get it cooled down before it blistered.  After breakfast we drove about 20 minutes for our Coopertown Airboat ride.  I had done my research ahead of time and this company was close and got good reviews.  Everyone seemed to enjoy this trip and we even got to see some Alligators.  After the ride we went to their restaurant and had Alligator meat.

We went back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon and did some swimming and Doug even did some fishing.  For the evening we had done our research and found a Cuban restaurant in Little Havana that we wanted to check out.  We ate way to much here and couldn’t finish all our food.  After dinner Doug went and bought a few cuban cigars and then it was back into the Yukon to explore South Beach a bit.  I loved seeing all the buildings and the yachts.  I think we saw some houses that have been featured in CSI: Miami.  It was exciting to see it all.  We saw the tail end of the sunset on South Beach.

We got back to the hotel around 8pm and packed a bit and then watched a movie.  We all enjoyed The Blind Side.  We should have gotten to bed earlier, but we didn’t.  We were all having too much fun. 

On flight day we got up at 5am and were out of the hotel by 6am.  We made it through security at the airport without any issues (i got the full body scan) and had a great 6 hour flight home.  Even though it was long, we all managed pretty good.  There was a bit of space to spread out and we had books to read or music to listen too.  I think this was one of our better flights even though it was so long. 

We managed to get home around 4ish after a short stop at Costco and a late lunch at Old Country Buffet.  The evening consisted of us unpacking a bit, sorting some laundry and watching some recorded TV.  We were in bed by 9:30pm.

What a great vacation this was.  We had 3 weeks of lots of excitement, relaxing and eating.  Even though Doug was limited a bit, I think it was still one of our better vacations together.  We didn’t get into any major fights and the GPS didn’t cause us too many quarrels.  We had a blast vacationing with my parents.  It is always nice to go on vacation with someone else.  My friends Conny & Eleanor where a lot of fun to vacation with too.  We spent every dinner on the cruise together and we all had some great dinner conversations.   All our tours went really well and I think we all had a great time.  There are always a few stressful times when it comes to embarkation and disembarkation, but all in all, we did well. 

I hope everyone enjoyed the blog posts.  This will help me remember all the fun we had on this first time ever to South America through the Panama Canal.  Here is to many more vacations with my parents.