Florida Marlins

Well, well, well. Surprise, surprise.

Yesterday, I mentioned that they were forecasting for rain today. It said that we had a 100% chance of precipitation, and the hour-by-hour forecast looked like crap. We were not happy, as we're heading home tomorrow. We were hoping for one more day of spectacular sunshine.

As it turns out, we got it. Not only did it not rain (not a single drop), but it was never even cloudy. The vacation gods were clearly looking down upon us today.

Upon waking up to the gorgeous weather, we pretty much immediately went downstairs and right out to the pool. Even when it's summer and nice out at home, we don't have much opportunity to lounge around a pool, so this is sort of a special treat for us. Love, love, love.

Between all of the reading I did today, and our trip home tomorrow, I'm definitely going to be finishing my book! I probably should've brought a second one with me. Whoops. Anyway, book recap/review will be coming soon. :)

We took frequent dips in the pool to cool off, as it was pretty hot out there! I love to swim. I wish we had access to someone's pool at home so I could enjoy it more often!

The beach, just across the boardwalk from our hotel.

At one point, since the weather was so nice, we took a walk out to the street so I could take a few pictures of Miami Beach.

Back at the pool, I ordered a virgin strawberry daquiri. Perfect refreshment on such a beautiful day!

After spending pretty much the entire day at the pool, we went inside to get cleaned up and to figure out what to do for dinner. We wanted to go someplace nice, and we wanted to try out some Cuban cuisine. We ended up choosing Lario's on the Beach, which I guess is owned by Gloria Estefan. Once we discovered that, I couldn't stop singing "The Rhythm is Gonna Get You" in the shower. Oh, Gloria.

Before we drove to dinner, we took a quick walk on the beach. We took some photos, one of which is going to serve as my official belly pic for the week. But I'll post that separately so that I'm sure to document the week appropriately! :)

Palm trees in South Beach, across the street from Lario's.

A funny story about parking in South Beach for dinner: We wanted to drive down because it was a pretty long walk, plus we had to go straight from the restaurant to the stadium for the baseball game. Our concierge told us that it would cost us $5-10 to valet park at Lario's, and that we shouldn't bother trying to park elsewhere because there's no way we would find street parking or anything. We thought that $5-10 sounded reasonable for the convenience, so we went with it.

When we pulled up in front of the restaurant, the valet came to the car. I got out, preparing to give him the keys, and he said to me, "It'll be $20." I was surprised. I know South Beach is expensive, but $20? For AN HOUR? PLUS TIP?? I guess I'm cheap, but I immediately said, "No thanks, I think we're going to check out our options for street parking" and we got back into the car. I made our next right on a side street, and wouldn't you know... we immediately found street parking. We fed the meter and paid all of $2 for parking for like an hour and 45 minutes. Our spot was literally half a block away from the restaurant. SCORE.

As for dinner, the food was good, but the service was only so-so. Our waiter took his merry time to do everything, and the restaurant wasn't even busy since it was pretty early. We saw him hanging out with other waiters on the street instead of worrying about clearing our plates or getting our check. Lovely.

South Beach.

Soon, we were on our way to the ballpark. Because of traffic, it took us a bit to get there, but it wasn't too bad.

(BOOOOO Dolphins!) Shortly after arrival, we discovered that it was "dog night" or something... everyone was allowed to bring their dogs to the game! It was pretty hilarious to see all of these dogs walking into the stadium. It made us miss Tessa!

We had pretty decent seats. We were in the first row, right behind the bullpen for the visiting team. I'm not surprised we were able to get tickets like this, considering it seemed like NO ONE was at the game. I guess Floridians don't really give a crap about the Marlins. It's OK; I didn't give a crap, either. The funny thing is that Michael isn't even a baseball fan. He has just started some kick about wanting to visit as many professional ballparks as possible, so I get dragged along. I've not complained about the games in the past (Giants and Cubs were both cool), but the MARLINS?? C'mon, man.

I was pretty damn bored. Especially since the Marlins quickly fell behind by 5-0. I tried to keep myself busy with my BlackBerry.

Look, even these guys are bored. And they were winning!

But Michael seemed to enjoy himself, which I guess is all that counts.

Sun setting outside of Sun Life Stadium.

We left at the beginning of the 7th inning. *YAWN* We got a little turned around and confused getting back to the hotel, so it took us much longer than it should have. Ughhh, I hate getting lost. It was aggravating.

Now, it's packing and off to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow to get to the airport and get home. Although I don't want vacation to end, there is always something to be said about being home, don't ya think?