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IOWA HAWKEYES and their Fans ~ WELCOME TO MIAMI Part IV

What would a trip to Miami be without experiencing some of the food.  We found a place to park and as my brother took care of the parking we ran across the street to the Starbucks not to get some coffee but to use the restroom - kind of cheesy huh.  It was a matter of life an death - well lets leave it that none of us wanted to do the pee pee dance.  Besides the Starbuck's bathroom seemed it might be better than some of the restrooms at the airport terminals we had visited. 

Of course Starbucks on South Beach was packed -people getting their brew.  Their was a couple people in line outside the one room unisex bathroom.  We just jumped in line.  Couple of people fell in line behind the four of us - line is getting pretty long now- a man joined the line.  We looked at him a bit strangely, not because of his shabby looking attire- but because he had on a light colored nylon sport pants that you could see the outline of his genitals -  as he had on no underwear.  He began to grope and fondle himself causing an erection.  How disgusting - not that this is isolated to Miami or Starbucks - but that when people are busy and focused as were the employees and customers that day-  often times we simply miss things that should catch our eye.  So for the perverts they either don't have their moment of being busted or their moment of shocking the rest of us. We waited for each other - not wanting to leave any one of us alone with this pervert in the hallway.

As we joined my brother back outside - we strolled down the side walk - we met up with our Hawkeye friend who had walked up the street from his hotel.  We enjoyed the sights, sounds of the people, the shops and the smells radiating from the eateries.

We decided to eat at the Crab Shack.

One of the things that caught our eye - was that some of the menu items were half price

It was about 48 degrees - for those of us coming from Iowa that seemed much warmer than -10 degrees.  All of the eateries had tables and canopies outside their establishments.  They also had these kerosene  heaters that lined the sidewalks between the tables.

 

These heaters made it seem even warmer.

We ate, drank and was merry.  Here are a couple of photos of some of what we enjoyed from the menu.

my Cajun shrimp  that was FANTASTIC!

my cousin's Combo Platter that was INCREDIBLE!

. . . well I had a couple of these . . .  Miami Blues - made my play at the beach even more fun!

Come back for our visit to the beach. . .

IOWA HAWKEYES and their Fans ~ WELCOME TO MIAMI Part III

After our visit to FontainBleu we decided to go back to our hotel - change - and then head back to South Beach and meet up with another Hawkeye friend at his hotel on South beach. Dependant on our GPS we got lost for about an hour - until we called him to get better directions. :-)

We did see some parts of South Beach that we would not have otherwise seen had we not got lost. I tried to get a good mix of the area.

coconuts

rowers

There's more to come - stay tuned for Part IV.    

IOWA HAWKEYES and their Fans ~ WELCOME TO MIAMI ! Part II

After a late dinner at our Hotel we were in bed.  We got up around 7:30 AM showered and then headed down to the lobby were we met up with my brother and sister-in-law.  We had alot we wanted to do and very little time to do it all in.  Our first stop would be to South Beach and the FontaineBleu Hotel were our beloved Hawkeye team was staying.

Thank God for GPS - what a  fantastic little piece of equipment for figuring out where you are going in the shortest amount of time.  Well most of the time they are well worth the investment - they do incur a few glitches occasionally as we ended up lost in South Beach for about an hour later in the day - when we attempted to go back a second time. 

 Here are pictures enroute to FontaineBleu - I hope you enjoy the scenery as we did.

 

 

 

 

 FontaineBleau

The FontaineBleu is a spectacular blend of Miami's golden era and stylish modern luxury.  1,504 rooms and suites.  22 oceanfront acres. 11 restaurants and nightclubs.  40,000 square foot spa and a sophisticated pool with private cabanas.

I urge to click on this link and enjoy the official gallery of pictures of the FontaineBleu - pictures I was not able to capture - UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Gallery of Photos of Fontainebleau

 

Entering the driveway up to FontaineBleu

Valet parking at the top of the Driveway

Driveway exiting the FontaineBleu

This is a Home across the street from the hotel

Yacht docked across the street from the FontaineBleu

 

pictures of the pool

Hallway connecting buildings -

There is also an outside balcony that overlooks the pool where the next pictures were taken.

Atlantic Ocean in the background
 

Private Cabana

 
 
   One of the Lobbies

  

A lobby

Unbelievable!  Stay tune for Part III  
 

IOWA HAWKEYES and their Fans ~ WELCOME TO MIAMI!

While I have been to almost all of the states in this country I had not been to Florida.  Imagine my excitement of learning that the Hawkeyes were headed to the Orange Bowl.  After the announcement that the Hawks were headed to Florida many of us began the preparation to make the journey with our beloved team.  We found a package deal on line that included round trip airfare, hotel accommodations and a rental care with unlimited mileage for just $462.00 per person.   Three people, two nights and three days in sunny tropical Miami!   OMG!

  courtesy Des Moines International

We flew out on Monday January 4th, 2010.  We were to depart from the Des Moines International Airport at roughly 7:30 am.  We boarded our flight approximately an hour late.  I guess we were on board our Delta plane about twenty minutes when the pilot announced that due to the ice on the runway we were experiencing difficulty getting a tow back from the gate.  "We will try it one more time" he said.   After about 10 minutes of silence and no movement of the plane the pilot's voice could be heard again. "We are having mechanical problems with one of the flaps on the plane.  I am sorry we will need to de-board the plane at this time.  Further information about the flight will be forthcoming.  I am sorry about the delay to Atlanta this morning."  

Atlanta?  I am thinking maybe it is a good thing that we are de-boarding this plane.  We are suppose to be headed to Cincinnati not Atlanta.  YIKES!!  I need a pilot that knows where we are going!  The lady at the gate inside the terminal announced that the mechanic was coming over to take a look at the flap and hopefully he would be able to fix it.  Since I am not a frequent flyer- I am not sure BUT don't they check the plane out before the passengers board?

courtesy Delta    

So as we waited in the terminal I noticed the plane remained attached to the gate and running. There was not one bit of ice around or anywhere near the tires of the jet.  So what exactly was the problem?  The ice, the flap, or a disorientated pilot confusing the destination of Atlanta with Cincinnati?  So perhaps this delay was a good thing outside of missing our connecting flight in Cincinnati.  9:30 am and counting.

 

While in the Des Moines International Airport  I had the opportunity to visit the restroom numerous times.  I did not know at that time that the Des Moines International Airport would have the cleanest restrooms and would offer the newest technology.  In the women's restroom all the toilet seats are covered in plastic with a red button on the side.  When you push the button the plastic rotates exposing a new section of plastic to set your butt upon.  For those of you who have to meticulously line the toilet seat with toilet paper before sitting down will find this new technology totally refreshing as I did.  I am wishing we had these toliets at work.

It is now 10:30 am and some customers are being told they may not be able to get out until tomorrow. The Orange Bowl is tomorrow - the Hawkeye huddle is tonight- TOMORROW IS NOT GOING TO WORK!  My cousin got on the phone with Delta and rescheduled our connecting flight as it had become apparent that we would not arrive in Cincinnati on time. Amazing - she's standing in line at the gate and on her cell phone to work with Delta to correct a situation that they created. The Delta employee at the gate announces over the PA system the 800 number for Delta's phone customer service.  She yells "It may be quicker for them to help you."  What?  Delta uses a computer for all their booking and they can't automatically with a few computer strokes dump all flight information over into the next available connecting flights?  AMAZING!

It's 11:oo am and we have a new connecting flight from Cincinnati to Fort Lauderdale.  That's the good news. The bad news instead of arriving at 4;30 pm we are now scheduled to arrive at 7:30 pm.  Goodbye Hawkeye Huddle!

For those of you who fly often know that once you go through security you are limited to what is available beyond the checkpoint.  Such as eateries, magazine/news stand and other business and services.  We decided to grab a quick bite to eat where we could sit down.  I don't remember the name of the place but the view overlooked the runway.  I am not sure if the eateries aren't able to produce excellent food and service or they don't need to because the competition is limited beyond the security checkpoint.  The food menu at this place just had a few basics - fries, hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken tenders.   At 11 am they were out of chicken tenders - which left me wishing I could drive down the street to at least McDonald's. This was a common theme in all of the airports we visited - at least until we got to the DC Airport - where your selections and competition increased signifcantly . Once we got past security checkpoint there was a McDonalds- at last chicken selects!   At last edible food.  You know the fast food industries standard remains consistenet no matter what state or country you are in.  They have at least figured that much out- if they could just cut sodium and calories - they would leave the Ma & Pa's would be near distinction. At the Fort Lauderdale we tried to have breakfast - the food was horrible but very expensive.  

While I wish I had employed the use of my camera to bring you photos of the airports  -  their best and worst of their qualities - getting items in and out of your carry on bag proves to be cumberson at best. Just getting my bottle of hand sanitizer out to use required extreme care in order to get everything back in and the bag closed. I did notice that the Des Moines International Airport had Hand Sanitizer stations in the terminal.

So okay the most stressing time of our trip was not going through security but dealing with the Airlines and their employees.  Why make a reservation if you get there and you are told they have no seat for you because they overbooked?  Which is what happened to my brother and sister-in-law trying to fly out of Oakland to Miami on Delta.  They were rerouted to San Francisco.  Okay so they give you some airline tickets to flyagain with them for your inconvience.  But do you really want to fly with them again?

Our Delta flight finally left Des Moines at 12:30 pm CST.  It was dark when we landed in Fort Lauderdale.   The cool crisp air felt good as we climbed down from our plane. When we left Des Moines Iowa some seven hours earlier it was -10 degrees.  This 40 degree weather in Miami felt oh so good!

courtesy US Airways

Coming back our US Airways flight from DC to Chicago  was canceled. Just canceled. So after more stress and standing in line my cousin is able to get us on a new flight - a straight flight from DC to Des Moines with Delta.  We have to zig zag across the DC terminal to confirm our seats with Delta.  Here is what the Delta employee says at we step to the counter, " Are any of these people using the Kiosks before stepping to the counter?"  I tell her that we were instructed to come to the counter and talk with them to confirm our seats.  After her difficulty maneuvering the computer system and finally with the aid of her supervisor our seats are confirmed.  I ask her "Is Delta Union?" She replies "No."  I ask her "surely you don't want the Kiosks replacing you and eliminating your job do you?"  I was trying to be nice instead of telling her that her attitude and her customer service sucked!  After leaving the Delta counter we spoke with another passenger on our flight who tried to use the kiosk and couldn't confirm his seat. He was waiting for the Delta employee to return to the gate to assist him.

So enough already about the stress of flying- lets get on with our trip to Miami.  We picked up our Rental car and headed to our hotel - Marriott in Miami south of the airport.

 

courtesy Shellie Murphy

View outside our Hotel Window 

Outside Hot Tub beside the pool

Stay tune for Welcome to Miami Part II - The FontaineBleu Hotel where the Iowa Hawkeye team stayed .