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2/20/2011 - Woke up at 7am and found ourselves at the port at Cape Canaveral with an eerie fog which covered the land. The announcement came over the loud speaker and everyone was kicked out of their rooms.Sadly we said all of our goodbyes to everyone we could, as there was a portion of our group which were scheduled to exit later in the morning. We found the shuttle right away with Eric and Kim and were able to finagle our way onboard. After the 45 minute ride, we arrived at the Melbourne Airport and to the National Car Rental area. We were given a blue Hyundai Accent which had a lot of "character"…roll-down windows, no cruise control, 25,000 miles. Big perk was they had XM radio which had MLB Network radio but Michelle put the kibosh on any sports radio during our three and a half hour ride to Miami. It was another beautiful day driving down the US Highway 1 (right along the coast). The two of us arrived in Miami shortly after 2pm and weren't allowed to check into the hotel until 4pm so we drove around the city. Miami was an incredible sight, with palm trees and high-rise condo buildings at every view. We parked and took a walk down by the harbor. There was a boat show going on so there were tons of people out and about. We didn't see too many of the boats but we did find a little bar area to sample Alligator Tenders. I had had them once in Denver but they weren't as spicy as these ones. Once we finished those, it was time to check into our hotel.I used some free nights in which I accumulated and booked us three nights at the JW Marriott. This hotel was incredible. We pulled into the garage and valet took our dream machine in the Hyundai Accent rental and parked it next to the yellow Lamborghini and we checked in. We arrived at the room (on the 21st floor) and had a master suite with all the goods…TV on the mirror in the bathroom, gigantic 50+ inch TV in the main room, a computer with internet access, and a large balcony which overlooked downtown Miami and had a partial view of the bay. We unpacked our stuff and went down to the front desk to inquire about possible dinner options. We had our hearts set on Little Havana but were told that on a Sunday, there was nothing open. We were redirected to Coconut Grove where there was an art festival just ending for the day and there promised to be a lot going on there. And boy, was there stuff going on. We had not accounted that the next day (Monday) was President's Day and most employees do not work on that day so it felt like a Saturday night. We entered an outdoor mall area which had loads of restaurants and clubs and did some quality people watching!I was surprised as to how many just openly smoke large fat cigars on the streets. We found an Italian joint which offered an incredible eggplant parmesan appetizer and a very sweetened Chicken Marsala. Michelle's pasta was not quite cooked enough which was disappointing but all and all, it was a good first night in Miami.
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