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My trip to Miami was made a little longer after finding out that the Professor I was visiting at the University of Nebraska would not be around due to a death in the family. As a result, I took off both Friday and Monday for travelling, and had myself two full days in Miami over the weekend.
The trip down to Miami from Omaha was a little stressful. A thunderstorm in Dallas-FortWorth (my transfer point) caused a delay of 75mins for all flights arriving and leaving DFW. Despite the delay in leaving Omaha, we were assured that all connecting flights leaving from Dallas would likewise be delayed 75mins. When I got there, however, I found out this applied to ALL connecting flights *except mine*. So, my flight had left for Miami on time, well before I got into DFW. Thankfully though, I'd been automatically bumped onto the next available flight and after some text messages & phone calls to/from Australia and Miami, the entire family had the mess sorted out :)
In fact, we had no problems identifying each other when I came out of the security area at MIA airport, with Pere & Roser waiting for me - they looked exactly like the facebook photos I'd seen :)
That night, Pere & Roser took me to a trendy night area near the beach at Miami called Coconut Grove. We had dinner a stylish french restaurant and headed home for some R&R - especially for me as it had been a long day of stressful travelling :)
The next morning so my room mate Elizabet (Roser's sister) have to get up at 5am to head to the airport as she was heading back to Panama. Apprently I was the third guest in 3 weeks too :) After going back to bed for a couple of hours, I got up and we started planning our day. We headed out to the complex club members area where all residents are able to go swimming in a gorgeous pool as well as make use of the fitness and weights area.
After a couple of photos, we headed on out to Key Biscayne, one of a number of islands along the Florida coast with some beautiful scenery and beaches facing the ocean as well as the 'intercoastal' - that stretch of flat sea between the mainland and the islands. Afterwards, we headed over to Miami Beach proper, where I took photos of Ocean Drive and the Miami Beach itself. Afterwards we went to the Crab House for a late lunch before heading back home. Photos from this day are in "22/08/2009 Miami Day1".
On the second day, I was picked up by Pere & Roser's daughter, also named Roser, but more commonly known as 'Nena'. Her family had gone to sleep at 3am the previous evening, so both her husband, Harold, and daughter, Stephanie, were back at home sleeping in :) Photos from this day in "23/08/2009 Miami Day2".
We headed up to Fort Lauderdale to see the beaches up there. Originally, the plan had been to go on an excursion on a combined car/boat tour of FLL, but we decided instead to visit the beach quickly and then head over to the west of the greater Miami/Fort Lauderdale area to the Everglades.
The beach was beautiful and the water so warm! Perfect for even the pickiest water-testing beach goers like me ;) We also found a baby turtle that must have recently hatched and was making its way down to the water. How cute!! After lunch at a cool beach-side restaurant featuring swing-like tables and chairs, we were on our way to the Everglades.
The Everglades is a subtropical wetlands home to some exotic widelife andalligators. Although it may look like a basic swamp, it's actually one of the world's slowest flowing rivers - also known as the 'River of Grass'. Sawgrass that is - these crazy sharp blades with saw-tooth edges, like a serrated knife!
I took a video of the airboat right which was great fun and point out the various important parts of the Everglades. I'll be uploading it shortly, after I upload a backlog of videos from my Paris trip too. After that, we went to the 'Gator Show' where a crazy performer put his chin on an alligator's closed and open mouth while sitting on him. Very entertaining :)
After the excursion, we headed back home to the Trucco/Agusti household where I gave Stephanie an early birthday present (her birthday was the next day - which also coincided with the first day back at school :( ). I also distributed some Aussie presents and afterwards, Nena took me back to her parents' place.
The Monday was a bit of a lazy morning for me - bit of sleeping in and surfing the net from my bed. Then packing and getting ready. Pere & Roser gave me a miami t-shirt & mug as a souvenir reminder of my trip and then we were off to the airport.
Miami was a very exciting place to visit & thanks to my family who showed me such a great time!!
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