Travel – Page 2 – imperfectly courtney

Costa Rica ATV Tour

January 22, 2013 Courtney

So after our horrible travel experience we were ready to have some fun in the sun! Sunday we were scheduled for our Costa Rica ATV Tour. I was excited. Like excited in the “I’m going to die” kind of way. Something I figured out on this trip: I had no fear or anxiety of heights or anything on the zip lines/repelling… but put me on a piece of heavy machinery and I was terrrrrrified. Also- riding in these Taxi’s they picked us up in was always an interesting experience…

We get to the parking place and strap on our awesome helmets

Then we each had a turn practicing on a small course with turns and such. I was first. Which must have been hilarious. Roy had to correct me along the way and I barely touched the accelerator.

After everyone had a turn on the test course it was time to head out. Roy was in the front and I was right behind him. There were six of us, so I knew that I was setting the pace for the other 5.

As we turned out of the parking area it was very rocky and uneven and I went so slow it was stupid. I kept apologizing to everyone behind me because I was so terrified. When we finally got to the bottom of the hill Roy came back and told me this next part was flat and it was ok to go a little faster. haha.

I finally started getting the hang of it as we went up into the mountains and through trails. I was still a bit shaky, but feeling pretty good. I wish I would have taken in the surroundings a little bit more as we explored. I swear I never took my eyes of our guide and I was holding on to the handle bars so tight my hands went numb. I kinda chuckled at the thought that I was actually driving an ATV through the Costa Rican Jungle. We had been taught to lift our legs up when crossing water so the water from the engine didn’t burn us. I did well crossing a few puddles like that. We eventually came to a stopping point (where Roy helped Caren and I put on some more sunscreen, lol) and he said he was going to cross first so he could get pictures of us crossing the water. Oh ok. No big deal, just cross that little creek right?

WRONG.

It was more like this:

I literally questioned everything in that moment. Roy took off across the MASSIVE FREAKING RIVER and I had no choice…. I had to follow him! And of course… I was first. So I just gunned it. Ok, so maybe I didn’t “gun it” but I got across… and it was terrifyingly exhilarating. And the pictures he took as we crossed did make me look a little Bad-A. Just sayin.

So after that I was pretty confident and starting going faster (much to the relief of the rest of the group behind me). I also kept imagining I was hearing the hubs going “Cmon Courtney!” … turns out it was actually Caren behind me.

We eventually got to a stopping point where we got out and hiked up to a beautiful waterfall and got to swim in it!

After swimming for awhile we hiked a little ways further up to an even taller waterfall. Guys, it was so breathtakingly beautiful that these pictures don’t do it justice.

The funny thing is we didn’t know it then, but this is actually the waterfall we were going to repel down the next day!

The ride back was way more fun. Since Roy knew I was more comfortable he took us across some different water and even a few jumps. That I nearly opted out of. ha. On the last stretch of flat ground before the end we opened it all the way up… we were flying! I couldn’t believe how fast we were going! Roy kept looking back to see if I was keeping up and when he saw I was he would speed up even more. It was such a blast.

After we finished our excursion Roy took us to a local restaurant and we had our first taste of local Costa Rican food. And oh man… it was goooood.

It was rice and beans, chicken with mushroom sauce, fried plantains and yucca.
heavenly.

Also while we were eating there were monkeys everywhere!!

The whole experience was just such a blast. I loved that I was able to do something that I was ~~terrified~~ apprehensive of and end up having a blast with by the end of the day. Roy even told me I was his favorite driver… which my husband didn’t really appreciate… he ended up getting “payback” later in the week for this… haha.

Have you ever driven an ATV? (in or out of the jungle)
Have you ever done something you were scared to do and ended up loving it?

Travel

Costa Rica: Travel Days

January 21, 2013 Courtney

This post is alternately titled “Spirit Airlines is Horrible”

We have been talking about this trip for over a year. We started planning it in March of 2012. We found a house (which actually got destroyed in an earthquake… so we found another house, which worked out even better) and then it came time to book our airfare… *whomp whomp whomp*

International flights are pricey. So, we were pretty excited when we found what we thought was “reasonably priced” flights to Costa Rica on Spirit Airlines. It ended up being around $500 a person from DFW to San Jose. We traveled with 8 people, so that was around $4000 total just on airfare. After we booked the tickets we didn’t think about it again until the weeks leading up to our trip when we started to catch wind of their baggage fee rules. If you neglected to pay attention to this… frankly, you’re screwed. If you register for their special club (a $59.95 upsell) pre-pay for your checked baggage before online check in it is $20 each way or $30 each way without their special upsell. If you wait until travel day to pay for your checked baggage it is $50 each way or $100 round trip. They do you the favor of allowing you one “personal item” as a carry on, but if you want to use the overhead bin you have to pay extra for that too. $35 each way. If you wait until the gate to pay for your carry on… another $100!

So lets do the math here… 8 tickets @ $500 = $4000
Upsell for lower baggage prices $59.95
$40 round trip checked baggage charge for 8 bags – $320

Luckily none of us had to check anything at the gate.

We left STL and flew American to DFW to meet up with the hubs family so we could all fly to San Jose together. We left STL Thursday afternoon and got back to his Uncle’s house around 10ish… got to bed closer to Midnight and were up at 2:45am to take our shuttles to the airport for our flight to San Jose.

We flew from DFW to Ft Lauderdale for our first half of the adventure. We quickly realized that EVERYTHING is an upsell with Spirit. Their seats don’t recline and are SO uncomfortable. If you even want a drink of WATER… $3. FOR WATER, PEOPLE!

We got to Ft Lauderdale and daaaang that airport is a hot mess. The spirit airlines terminal in particular. Over crowded with only 1 hot food place open and not enough bathrooms to accomodate everyone. This is where things really started to go downhill. Mind you, we were also running on less than 3 hours of sleep.

We boarded our flight from Ft Lauderdale to San Jose, which was already running late. Then there were some “passenger issues” where a guy got kicked off the flight for being drunk. Just as we were getting ready to leave the flight attendant realized the people in the seats behind us put their 3 year old on his dad’s lap, which is apparently against the rules. Turns out Dad’s seat was in the front of the plane and instead of trying to get it moved he just took his 3 year old’s seat and put the 3 year old on his lap. Said 3 year old then continued to have a total melt down that he had to sit in his own seat and his mom moved across the aisle. Screaming at the top of his lungs for FOURTY FIVE MINUTES. The flight attendants did NOT deal with this well at all. Did I mention they were right behind us? Poor Aaron had to sit next to them! This is how Payton felt about our Spirit Airlines experience

We eventually got to San Jose. late.

Then we went through immigration. Finally got to baggage claim. and guess what? Spirit lost Chris’ grandma’s walker. She needs that to get around. and they lost it. So we sat at the airport for another 30 minutes filling out lost luggage paperwork. Through customs and then to the rental car shuttle. Realized we had crazy amounts of luggage.

Got to National, which we have used before and never had a problem. We are even Emerald Club Members. It took for-ev-er to get our cars and turns out in ended up costing TWICE as much as we thought. Then they gave us directions to get out to the main road. and a GPS. Neither of those worked. We got lost in San Jose for 2 hours. Talk about the longest day ever! The trip from San Jose to Quepos/Manuel Antonio where we were staying, which should take us 3 hours at the most, took us 6 hours. SIX HOURS. We were up for around 20+ hours most of which was spent traveling.

When we finally got into Manuel Antonio and met up with our rental agent to take us to our house it was raining. The roads are windy and full of hills. It turns out our rental house was at the top of a steeeeeeeep hill. We had 200lbs+ of luggage in the back of our tiny rental SUVs. We drove for 6+ hours on top of the worst flights ever. We tried to get up the hill…. and we didn’t make it. The car started to slip backdown the hill. The clutch was burning. We got back down to the bottom and poor chris was so tired. He decided to try one more time and gunned it. We barely made it to the driveway of our house. but we made it!

The house was beautiful and we were just excited to be done traveling. We spent the evening in the pool and then hit the sacks. The next day some of the folks went on a jet ski excursion but I was still exhausted and Nana still didn’t have her walker, so I stayed back with her and Payt. We ended up getting in touch with our concierge and had a walker delivered from San Jose. It cost a total of $150, including delivery fees. Thanks, Spirit.

I’ll be writing separate posts for our other excursions: ATVs, Waterfall Repelling/Zip Lining, Catamaran, and White Water Rafting.

After an awesome week in Costa Rica we were ready to head home. We woke up early to drive back to San Jose and got back in less than 3 hours, hallelujah. It took for-ev-er to turn the rental cars back in to National. We got to the airport an hour before the Spirit Airlines check in counter was open, so we were literally like first in line. When then finally opened it took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to check in. That isn’t waiting in line. That is standing at the ticket counter working with an agent. Also, it turns out Spirit Airlines puts a 40lb weight limit on their baggage (which we already paid an outrageous amount just to check in the first place) so 7 out of 8 of our bags were over weight. That’s an ADDITIONAL $25 per bag for a total of $175. So far that is $4554 for 8 of us to travel on Spirit airlines. That isn’t including the drinks and snacks that were purchased. Riding Spirit Airlines drove me to drink the most expensive and smallest bottle of Jack I’ve ever had.

Oh yea! Speaking of paying for drinks… when we got through security in San Jose we got snacks and drinks. And guess what? As we boarded the plane… They searched every one of our bags and made us throw out all of our drinks we just bought! I’m guessing it is so we had to purchase THEIR drinks on our nearly 3 hour flight. Ludicrous.

Our flight from Ft Lauderdale to DFW was extremely oversold. And late. No surprise.

All this to say never EVER ride Spirit Airlines. Like Ever. They may seem cheaper, but in the long run it just isn’t worth it.

The good news is we got there and back safely. even if it wasn’t on time.

and we had a heck of a time.

Have you ever flown Spirit?
What is your worst travel story?

Travel

I’m Back!

January 20, 2013 Courtney

Hellllllo Friends! I’m alive!! I’d like to thank all my amazing blogger friends who shared some awesome guest posts while I was out last week. Be sure to check them out:

Allie @ Counting our Cupcakes

Kacie @ Savvy Sassy Me

Katelyn @ Chef Katelyn

Gabby @ Gabby’s Gluten Free

Chuck @ Perfect Couplet

Pamela @ A Renaissance Woman

Last week was amazing. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I needed some time away. Costa Rica was beautiful. Absolutely Beautiful.

Travel was a bit of a nightmare, but more on that later this week. Our rental house was beautiful. The people were amazing. We went on some amazing adventures. ATV’s in the jungle, waterfall repelling, a private catamaran, and white water rafting! The food was simply delicious.

They ate lots of beans and rice with a protein of either fish or chicken. This particular meal had a small cabbage salad and cauliflower, along with the Costa Rican Staple of Yucca Fries. Oh man, so good. It wasn’t fancy or anything, just good.

I plan on writing up full recaps on all our activities, there is too much to share in one post so you’ll probably see a lot of Costa Rica this week!!

In other news… I’m excited to announce that I am hosting another DietBet!

Last time we had over 300 people sign up for a pot of $7300!! I ended up doubling my money! I put in $25 and won $53. This time the buy in is $35 and the dietbet starts on February 4. If you want in be sure to sign up and invite your friends. The more people that join the more money you can win!!

That’s all for now. Be sure to look for some fun posts this week! I already miss the hammock…

What is your favorite vacation memory?

Family Life, STL, Travel

Holiday Travel Tips

November 21, 2012 Courtney

We have been traveling a lot this year. We headed to Florida in January for the WDW Marathon, South Dakota Business Trip in February, Texas in March, Miami in June, Back to South Dakota in September, Chicago in September as well, and most recently to Florida just last week. Traveling can be hectic! Especially if you’re flying… with a toddler. There is so much to try to remember and coordinate. Here are a few tips to help you travel with less stress this holiday season.

I usually like to wear loose layers, depending on where/when I’m traveling. I almost always work up a sweat trying to get through check in and security so it’s nice to have layers. Let’s talk about shoe choices… Please don’t wear shoes that will take you forever to take off and put back on. You will have to take your shoes off for security. I chose my slip on boots last time to make it easy. Don’t wear a belt if you don’t want to have to take it off. Keep your pockets empty until you pass through security.

And please- for the love of chocolate – don’t wear your pajamas.

This one is more for those of you traveling with ~~monsters~~ toddlers/infants. When you travel with kids you know you already have a lot of stuff… sippy cups, extra clothes (just in case), Pull ups, blankies, DVD players, and of course the handful of random toys they collect that you can’t leave the house without…. You don’t want to try to get a kid, your carry on bag, laptop, camera, AND a full size suitcase. Check with your airlines on baggage fees. I’m usually a pretty frugal person, but in this instance I’ll pay the $25 to save my sanity during airport excursions.

This one should be a given, but I’ve heard way too many horror stories of people missing flights. One time I missed a flight by 5 minutes. Seriously?! Yes. Make sure that you leave enough time to get to the airport, check in, get through security, find your gate, and get starbucks. Some people boast that smaller airports don’t require as much time, while that may be true at other times of the year I wouldn’t risk it during the holidays.

Since we’re talking about getting to the airport… let’s talk about how to get there. Instead of begging for rides or paying a random taxi driver, I’ve found the easiest way to is drive your own car and park it at the airport. Then you have to figure out which parking place to use. My recommendation: The Parking Spot

Dropping off the car was a breeze. Just drop it off and hop on one of the friendly shuttles going back and forth to the terminal every 5-7 minutes. We went with the covered parking option, but if you don’t mind it the uncovered parking is a little cheaper. It was nice not to worry about our car the whole week we were gone.

Coming back we were pretty exhausted. Our flight home was delayed and when we landed in St Louis we were just ready to get home. We got our luggage and headed out to the parking shuttle station. Some locations have just one Parking Spot Lot, but STL has 3! One thing to make sure of is that you remember which of the 3 Parking Spot locations you parked at. Your claim ticket should say this. We waited a few minutes before the Parking Spot 3 bus pulled up and as we were getting on the friendly driver told us our ticket was for the main Parking Spot… Whoops! Just another few minutes before the right shuttle came back around. The shuttles were very clean, something I am always looking for. Little Dreamer loved riding on the poka not (polka dot) bus!

A short ride and we were at the parking garage, where they had our truck ready for us! The parking garage is well lit, which is something the CSI and SVU fan in me appreciates. It felt safe, which as a woman is something I appreciate. No sketchiness here!

They also offer all sorts of different car care options while you are away – including washing and detailing. Nothing like leaving a dirty car and coming back to a clean one. If only that happened to my house! The lovely people there helped us get our bags into the car and we drove through the exit. There was someone there to assist us quickly, and they also had self checkout stations.

They offered us a complementary bottle of water, which was just what I needed after a long day of travel. Had it been before 9am we could have gotten a complementary copy of USA Today as well! They also have a rewards program called The Spot Club that lets you earn rewards points for each stay!

Overall I was very pleased with our service at The Parking Spot and will be returning again on our next trip.

Have you tried The Parking Spot? What are some of your Holiday Travel Tips?

Thankful Thoughts

21. Thankful that my husband did the dishes last night when I was overwhelmed with homework.

FitFluential LLC compensated me for this Campaign. All opinions are my own.

EAT, Travel

WIAW: Clearwater Style

November 14, 2012 Courtney

Hellllllo From Clearwater, FL!

I worked the Tampa Pretty Muddy Event over the weekend, and I’m heading to the event in Miami next weekend so we are taking the week in-between to visit with family and friends here in Clearwater. We are renting a condo for the week. Here is the view from our Balcony:

Awesome, right?!

It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s time to link up with Jenn for WIAW!

Eating on vacation is always hard for me. I want to justify my “indulgences” with the fact that I’m on “vacation” but I also want to keep up with the healthy eating. We decided to find a compromise. Since we have an amazing kitchen in the condo we have been making our regular breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. With a little coffee on the side. Or maybe it’s Coffee with a side of eggs and bacon? LOL

Since we are staying right on the beach we have been visiting local hot spots for lunch or dinner. It is so weird being around here with all the changes they have done! I hardly recognize the area, but I knew that one of the best spots to eat is Frenchy’s! We went over to the Main Frenchy’s the other day. I loved being able to sit outside right on the beach. So did Little Dreamer!

The hubs had the fish tacos and thought they were great. I had the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich and it was awesome! Of course, I was so smitten with the scenery that I forgot to take pictures…. Bad Blogger!

Last night we decided to walk over to Frenchy’s South Beach location since it was right down the road from where we are staying. It is a part of the new Beach Walk area.

We sat in the outside area and I finally figured out how to use the panoramic feature on my phone. It was an epic day.

Little Dreamer and I decided to share the Greek Salad. This area (well, more Tarpon Springs… but Pinellas in general) is known for legit Greek Food.

This was totally legit. There was potato salad on the bottom, with peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and a massive block of Feta on top. It was totally filling, and with the dressing on the side I barely even used it.

The hubs ordered the Cuban and as soon as I saw it I wished I had ordered it too.

My grandpa is Cuban and we grew up eating REAL Cuban sandwiches. This is probably as close as I’ve ever found it to his. Hot Pressed Cuban with Rice and Black Beans…. I’d eat that any day of the week!

I’d say Frenchy’s was a hit!

While the food has been delicious, I am seriously craving some spinach. I’m almost to the point that Linzi was when she thought about bringing her own handful of spinach to the Barista’s at starbucks to mix in with a smoothie. Almost.

What is your eating strategy for vacation?

Thankful Thoughts

14. Thankful for a flexible job that allows me to work from anywhere

Life, Travel

5 Apps to Make Life Easier

October 16, 2012 Courtney

Sometimes life can overwhelm me. I feel like I have so much to do that I never actually start doing any of it. I started trying to make lists, but always ended up losing them. Recently my saint of a husband got me an ipad and I started researching different apps to try to make life a little easier. There are SO many apps out there, but I am just going to share my top 5 Apps to Make Life Easier.

1. Buffer (Free)- This is an app that lets you schedule your tweets and facebook posts. I absolutely LOVE this. It allows me to be involved in social media without it consuming my life. I can schedule tweets during peak hours, be involved in twitter chats, or share blog posts without having to be on the phone or computer constantly (not that I’m not on it still… but this helps cut down the volume!)

2. Yelp (Free)- I absolutely love this app! We travel quite a bit and one of our favorite things about traveling is finding fun new things to do and places to eat. The problem is how do you know if some place is good or not? Enter: Yelp. Real people write real reviews. We found one of our favorite places to eat in Miami on Yelp! (and we could have avoided the nasty hotel fiasco had I looked up the hotel on before booking it).

3. Menu Planner ($2.99)- Meal planning is something that saves me lots of time, money, and calories. Having a way to do it all on my iphone/ipad is even better! It can be a little tricky figuring out how to set it up, but it allows you to import recipes from top recipe sites automatically and from other sites manually. Once your recipes are entered its a breeze to lay out your meals. It also tracks what you have in your pantry to make shopping even easier. Totally loving it.

4. Wunderlist (Free) – I have this app on my phone, ipad, and laptop. It syncs between devices, which rocks! I keep it open during the work day to help me keep track of my tasks. I use it to write down blog post ideas. I also use it for my shopping list! I love that I can check things off as I go, I can star certain items, set up due dates, and even email tasks to others.

5. Home Routines ($3.99) – This is by far one of my favorite apps ever. It has changed my house cleaning life. I have been struggling to keep up with housework since working full time, blogging, school, marriage, parenting, etc… I always felt so far behind that I was just keeping up with the clutter. This app gives you morning and evening routines, as well as “zone” cleaning. Each week you focus on a different zone in the house and clean it for 15 minutes a day. I love knowing exactly what I should be cleaning at a certain time. It makes cleaning seem so much less daunting. Highly worth the $3.99 for me!

So these are just a few of my favorite apps to help make a busy life easier.

Do you use any of these apps? What other apps make your life easier?

Life, Travel, workouts

Coffee Date!

September 14, 2012 Courtney

Good morning, dreamers! This morning it is overcast and cool here in St Louis! I feel fall coming on!! I was excited because it was the perfect excuse to wear my new North Face Fleece that I ordered from Zappos this week. I also made a cup of Pumpkin Spice Coffee with So Delicious Coconut Creamer. Bring on the hayrides and bonfires! I know it’s been awhile since we had coffee. I didn’t get a chance to do a vlog- so we will do it “old school” style.

If we were having coffee today I would tell you I got my hair cut this week! It is short again! I was going for a short choppy style and I’m still playing around with how I style it. I am going to get some color in it next week. This was the inspiration…

short and choppy with big chunks of color. Not as much blonde… I don’t do blonde very well…

Anyway- Back to coffee. If we were having coffee today you would probably see this messy face

And she would probably interrupt us by screaming “CUSE ME” because I told her it wasn’t polite to interrupt and now she thinks it is as long as she says excuse me…

I would also tell you how excited I am to run my first Mud Run tomorrow in Chicago at the Pretty Muddy Mud Race! They put up some pictures of the obstacles on their facebook and I’m pumped! I’m also excited about meeting up with some fellow FitFluential Ambassadors!

After I finish the race tomorrow we are heading to IKEA! Be still my beating heart. We are taking the hubs truck… ya know, just in case I decide to buy something that needs to fit in the back of a truck… hehe.

After all the giggles and excitement I would tell you that this week has been so weird… and Random. Hence – Yesterday’s post. I haven’t been feeling like myself. Kinda jumbled. I did download an app on my computer and phone called Wunderlist, it is helping me keep track of my to-do lists. And it’s pretty. You should try it.

I would tell you how I haven’t lost anymore weight this week. I kinda felt like I just needed a week to slow down- ya know? I still went to CrossFit 4x. I guess that’s not really slowing down. But it is slower for me.

This morning at CrossFit we did “Jackie”
Row 1000m
50 Thrusters @ 35#
30 Pull Ups (With Green/Blue bands)

I did this back at the end of July and my time was 14:57. Today it was 11:50! How’s that for progress?!

Another reason why I love CrossFit… You can see your progress in your stats!

I’m linking up with Alissa from Rags to Stitches for Coffee!

If we were having coffee today, What would you tell me?

PS- Voting for the Promax DOers Contest is still open! You can vote once per day per IP address. Show me some love!

Travel, WIAW

WIAW #7 – Away From Home!

September 5, 2012January 9, 2019 Courtney

Hello Friends! I’ve been busy on a business trip to South Dakota but wanted to take some time to check in with you! How’s your week going? We have been in and out of meetings and brain storming sessions. I actually got a workout in this morning in the hotel gym.I grabbed 2 hard boiled eggs from the breakfast bar at the hotel to hold me over, along with my protein shake. (no picture, use your imagination!)Then we headed to do a group Deep Water interval class. HOLY SMOKES – that was crazy. I will never make jokes about water aerobics again. We wore some awesome aqua jogger belts and did different exercises and tabatas. It was a nice change of environment from the normal workouts. I wish I had some pictures, because it was hilarious. We stopped by The Original Pancake House for brunch after water class. Holy yum, those pancakes looked delish! However, I refrained. I had some great coffee, Fruit with a dab of fresh whipped cream, and a Greek Omelette. It was eggs, spinach and Feta. Oh, Feta. I love Feta. And that whipped cream? Heavenly. For the record, I may have eaten 2/3 of that massive omelette.We set off to the boardroom to do some work, but broke for a coffee break a few hours later. There is a coffee place called Coffea right across from the hotel we are meeting at. This is seriously one of the things I actually enjoy about South Dakota, lol. I got a Cafe Masala. It has spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom. We made friends with the baristo and he made me a heart in my coffee.It was almost too beautiful to drink. Almost. They also had a coffee Syphon. It was SO cool. It was like a science experiment!We still have some work left for the day, but I think we are heading to a Brazilian Place for dinner. One of those where there are huge pieces of meat they shave off with swords. Exciting!

What are some good travel habits you have?

Travel

Welcome To Miami- Part 2

June 26, 2012 Courtney

I’m still recovering from this weekend. It was most certainly memorable, but also tiring! Yesterday I promised to tell you the horrible hotel story… so here goes…

We booked a cheaper rate hotel room for Friday night on travelocity since we were getting in so late and my family wouldn’t be joining us until Saturday Night. No big deal, right?

wrong.

After finishing our dinner we finally found the hotel. First problem: It was SO far North there was nothing around it.

We walk up to the hotel and the “sign” was literally a poster board that said “Hawaii Hotel.” We were both just like uhhh ok? So we walk into the hotel and find what should be the lobby/check in area. It was totally empty. There was a random shirtless dude on a couch and we asked him where to check in. He said we had to go back outside and check in at the hotel next door. Whhhaaa? Ok…

So we go next door. They didn’t have our reservation. The guy had to call travelocity while we stood there for what seemed like forever. We finally get checked in and head back to our hotel next door. We got to our room opened the door and could hardly believe what we saw. It was dirty, crusty, aged, nastiness. At this point it was already 11pm. We contemplated leaving but it was so late we figured we should just try to get some sleep. We tried not to use the blankets, that’s how gross it was! It just didn’t seem safe either. The next morning when trying to shower we realized the shower head shot streams of water across the whole bathroom, and it was moldy too! If you are ever in Miami Beach, DO NOT STAY AT THE HAWAII HOTEL. ick.

Chris showing how nasty the bed was.

Nasty shower (with my shampoo… that I left there because we were in such a hurry to leave)

Crusty moldy floors

Me, wondering if I’m even clean after showing in that nasty shower.

So after our hotel fiasco we decided to head back towards the South Beach area. I looked at Yelp for a good breakfast place. The one that caught my eye was called The Front Porch Cafe.

We didn’t have to wait for a table, score!
after talking with the waitress I decided on the Chicken Satay Omelet.

It was basically an omelet with curry, coconut milk, cilantro, peanut sauce… Some of my all time favorite things!! It also had a side of thick, delicious tomatoes and a baguette.

Seriously, this pretty much changed my life.
best omelet ever.

Here is Chris with his Ranchero Omelet, it had refried beans and salsa.
He was actually just excited that we were out of that hotel. ha.

Breakfast redeemed our hope for a good time in Miami.

We cruised around with the top down for awhile just seeing what was around the area.

Ready to Cruise

Crusin A1A (which is apparently in a Vanilla Ice song?)

Cruisin

After crusing around in the convertible, we decided to walk the beach!

This dude was skateboarding… but using a kite to pull him. So cool!

The Ocean! and a hot dude.

Miami Beach, baby!

We’re at the beach, yes!
(also we were photo bombed by the guy behind us, awesome)

Palm Trees and Blue skies.
oh, Florida I missed you!

After walking for awhile we saw people riding around on segways. Mr Dreamer was all about that. I was slightly terrified, to be honest. I knew how excited he was so I tried to play it cool and go along with it.

Learning the ropes

I was really freaked out. When I stepped on I was wobbling all over the place. The rental dude gave us a quick lesson and we were off on our own. The first 10-15 minutes were rough, but once we got to a more open area I was loving it! We might not have looked cool, but it was some of the most fun we’d had in awhile!

After about 2 hours we headed back. Man, that is more of a workout than you’d think!

We got lunch at Caffe Milano. I had the Cuban with a Side Salad

Soooo yummy!

We finally got to check in to our nice hotel and lounged for a bit.

My parents were on their way so we just had some downtime.

Once they got there we went out to Tequila Chica’s for dinner.
It was below average at best. Guess that’s what you get for an 11pm dinner.
At dinner we found out my brothers drove out. They met us back at the hotel and we hung out for a bit.
Before we knew it it was 230am.
whhhat?
I’m such a party animal. HA.

So that was day 2 in miami beach.

Have you ever ridden a Segway? Would you if you had the chance? Why or Why Not?

Travel

Welcome to Miami – Part 1

June 25, 2012 Courtney

Since we have been married, Chris and I have always talked about how we wanted to take some random spur of the moment trip. When Grandma offered to take Little Dreamer for the weekend we started joking about taking a trip. When we looked into flights we found a good deal on flights to Miami… so we booked them! Four days out. Random, right?

Friday after dropping off Little Dreamer with Grandma we packed up and headed to the airport

this is our “before” picture.

the flight itself was awesome. we made friends with the first class flight attendent and he gave us some first class perks, plus tips for miami! the guys in the rows across from us were a hoot. we ended up talking most of the way there, but I did actually get to watch most of the Hood To Coast relay movie (awesome, by the way)

It was so totally weird to fly without a toddler in tow.

We landed and headed to find our rental car. We ended up at the rental place and found out they were having an upgrade special because the Miami Heat won the NBA championship. So, when you’re away for a weekend at Miami beach… there is an upgrade special… and you don’t have to worry about fitting a car seat in the back seat?

you rent a mustang convertible, of course!

guys, I highly recommend you do this once in your life at least.
driving down the beach in a convertible is SO worth the upgrade price.

We were driving to find our hotel that we got on travelocity for Friday night. My family was going to join us for Saturday and Sunday night, so we thought we’d just get a cheap little hotel for Friday since we were getting in so late.

worst.decision.ever.

rewind: we stopped to eat dinner at Norman’s (awesome name, right?)

Mr Dreamer got a steak… it was phenomenal.
I got the buffalo chicken salad … it was okay.
the service was not good at all.

so back to the horrible hotel story…

I’ll have to finish it tomorrow since we are at the airport and my computer is about to die.
stay tuned tomorrow, you will be amused and enlightened i’m sure.

What’s the most random thing you’ve ever done?