At the end of February, I nominated by one of my carrier partners to partcipate in their Producer Roundtable discussion in Miami, FL. Basically I was selected,
along with about 50 other producers from around the country, to discuss and participate in a roundtable
regarding industry changes, recommendations, and feedback on the sponsoring company. The carrier covered the cost of round trip airfare for me and a guest, ground transfers, two nights accommodations at The Biltmore of Coral Gables, group meals, and a sponsored group activity on one of the afternoons. Of course, I was so honored and agreed to participate. Then, the trip planning began. Since we were flying all the way across the country for a two day business event, Josh and I decided that we should take a red-eye in the night before we needed to be there to enjoy more of Miami. We also decided to stay an extra day to see the sights. Thank goodness that my parents were happy to babysit the kids the entire time. Thank you Grandma and Papa! Josh and I were so excited to have a little vacation on our own. This was the first time that we had vacationed by ourselves since October 2010 when we left Madilyn with my parents for a two day trip to Las Vegas. Can we say that it was long overdue!
On the evening of departure, we enjoyed dinner with my parents, put the kids to sleep there and then headed to the airport. We figured we could get there a little early to relax and enjoy an adult beverage in the terminal before the red-eye. Guess what! Sky Harbor Terminal 3 closes all restaurants passed security by 9pm. I couldn't believe it. No night cap for me. The blessing of the evening was that our flight was only at half capacity, so at least Josh and I were able to lay out to sleep. When we arrived in Miami it was 5:30am and there was a car service waiting for us to take us to the hotel. We reached the hotel and checked in our bags even though we were not able to check into our room quite yet. We grabbed some coffee, rested a little and developed our plan for the day. We decided to head out by foot to find a nearby breakfast nook. We finally found this cute little french bakery. Wow, did they have the best chocolate croissants we have ever had! The coffee was very tasty as well. Anyway, after an enjoyable breakfast, where Josh made friends with a very old Jewish insurance man who provided us with some Miami history stories, we hopped in a cab to visit Vizcaya Museum & Gardens.
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is owned and operated by Miami-Dade County. It was built by agricultural industrialist James Deering in 1916. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens features a Main House, ten acres of formal gardens, and a rockland hammock (native forest). Josh and I spent the morning admiring the amazing architecture and scenery. It really was outstanding. After our museum visit, Josh wanted to try Miami's public transportation system instead of getting a cab back to the hotel. So, we ended up taking their metro from near the museum and then ended up on a trolley that took us to within walking distance of the hotel.
We grabbed a quick lunch at the hotel poolside and then headed up to the room for a nap before the business portion of our trip began. That evening we had happy hour and dinner with all of the other invitees and the carrier's hosts. Since our day started at 5:30am that morning, we decided to call it a short night and headed up to the room for bed.
The next day was a more business than pleasure day. The morning was spent in business meetings learning about industry updates and providing feedback on what my experiences and wants. Our afternoon included a massage and some time lounging by the pool. And the evening was another group cocktail hour and dinner out on one of the patios under the stars. It was quite beautiful. After dinner, Josh and I walked over to one of the outside bars to enjoy the live band until it stopped playing when we headed up to bed.
Friday, the morning was the same as the day before. However, the entire conference ended at noon, so Josh and I were able to venture out to South Beach for the afternoon and evening. This ended up being quite the adventure. Since we had already figured out some of Miami's public transportation, we decided that we could probably figure out how to make it to South Beach. We did, eventually. Let me just say that for the few dollars more to get to a destination in a quicker fashion, I vote to pay a little bit more. But we did make it to South Beach and walked around town for a while. I have to admit that South Beach is no different, for me, than any other beach town you find in California. Maybe it was because we were there in the middle of the afternoon, but I was not that impressed. We did stop at a beach side restaurant to enjoy a drink while the sun begin to set and the cruise ships depart to sea. After walking around a little more, we decided to begin our trip back to the other side of Miami to have dinner at a Cuban restaurant the hotel concierge recommended called Versailles. I know, it doesn't sound Cuban, but believe us, it was really good food once we finally made it there after many bus rides (including a private bus ride that took us only two blocks), one light rail trip, and walking through a very sketchy part of town. But we made it and the food was outstanding. After dinner, we both agreed that it would be much easier to just take a taxi back to the hotel from there.
Our last day was spent exploring Key Biscayne and the Miami Seaquarium. The Seaquarium marine park was established in 1955, offering shows and participatory programs concerned with marine biology, the oceans, and animals such as killer whales, dolphins and sea lions. The park is not as impressive as SeaWorld, but it is quaint and the shows are still pretty entertaining. Josh and I both agree that our favorite show was the hilarious adventures of Salty the Sea Lion and his Reef Rangers. The sea lions and otters have so much personality and great facial expressions. We also learned by going to the dolphin show, titled Flipper, that this was the home of the original Flipper (aka Bebe) and the show was filmed there in the 1960's.
After our trip to the seaquarium, we walked down the key to a restaurant on the marina for lunch. Their fish tacos were fabulous and the local beer on tap was refreshing. We then hopped back on a bus back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and took a cab ride to the airport to board our plane that end our couples' trip. We had a good time, but missed our kiddos immensely. Until the next one ...
Below are some photos of the kids at Grandma and Papa's while we were away. I am not convinced that anyone missed us while we were gone.
On the evening of departure, we enjoyed dinner with my parents, put the kids to sleep there and then headed to the airport. We figured we could get there a little early to relax and enjoy an adult beverage in the terminal before the red-eye. Guess what! Sky Harbor Terminal 3 closes all restaurants passed security by 9pm. I couldn't believe it. No night cap for me. The blessing of the evening was that our flight was only at half capacity, so at least Josh and I were able to lay out to sleep. When we arrived in Miami it was 5:30am and there was a car service waiting for us to take us to the hotel. We reached the hotel and checked in our bags even though we were not able to check into our room quite yet. We grabbed some coffee, rested a little and developed our plan for the day. We decided to head out by foot to find a nearby breakfast nook. We finally found this cute little french bakery. Wow, did they have the best chocolate croissants we have ever had! The coffee was very tasty as well. Anyway, after an enjoyable breakfast, where Josh made friends with a very old Jewish insurance man who provided us with some Miami history stories, we hopped in a cab to visit Vizcaya Museum & Gardens.
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens is owned and operated by Miami-Dade County. It was built by agricultural industrialist James Deering in 1916. Vizcaya Museum & Gardens features a Main House, ten acres of formal gardens, and a rockland hammock (native forest). Josh and I spent the morning admiring the amazing architecture and scenery. It really was outstanding. After our museum visit, Josh wanted to try Miami's public transportation system instead of getting a cab back to the hotel. So, we ended up taking their metro from near the museum and then ended up on a trolley that took us to within walking distance of the hotel.
We grabbed a quick lunch at the hotel poolside and then headed up to the room for a nap before the business portion of our trip began. That evening we had happy hour and dinner with all of the other invitees and the carrier's hosts. Since our day started at 5:30am that morning, we decided to call it a short night and headed up to the room for bed.
The next day was a more business than pleasure day. The morning was spent in business meetings learning about industry updates and providing feedback on what my experiences and wants. Our afternoon included a massage and some time lounging by the pool. And the evening was another group cocktail hour and dinner out on one of the patios under the stars. It was quite beautiful. After dinner, Josh and I walked over to one of the outside bars to enjoy the live band until it stopped playing when we headed up to bed.
Friday, the morning was the same as the day before. However, the entire conference ended at noon, so Josh and I were able to venture out to South Beach for the afternoon and evening. This ended up being quite the adventure. Since we had already figured out some of Miami's public transportation, we decided that we could probably figure out how to make it to South Beach. We did, eventually. Let me just say that for the few dollars more to get to a destination in a quicker fashion, I vote to pay a little bit more. But we did make it to South Beach and walked around town for a while. I have to admit that South Beach is no different, for me, than any other beach town you find in California. Maybe it was because we were there in the middle of the afternoon, but I was not that impressed. We did stop at a beach side restaurant to enjoy a drink while the sun begin to set and the cruise ships depart to sea. After walking around a little more, we decided to begin our trip back to the other side of Miami to have dinner at a Cuban restaurant the hotel concierge recommended called Versailles. I know, it doesn't sound Cuban, but believe us, it was really good food once we finally made it there after many bus rides (including a private bus ride that took us only two blocks), one light rail trip, and walking through a very sketchy part of town. But we made it and the food was outstanding. After dinner, we both agreed that it would be much easier to just take a taxi back to the hotel from there.
Our last day was spent exploring Key Biscayne and the Miami Seaquarium. The Seaquarium marine park was established in 1955, offering shows and participatory programs concerned with marine biology, the oceans, and animals such as killer whales, dolphins and sea lions. The park is not as impressive as SeaWorld, but it is quaint and the shows are still pretty entertaining. Josh and I both agree that our favorite show was the hilarious adventures of Salty the Sea Lion and his Reef Rangers. The sea lions and otters have so much personality and great facial expressions. We also learned by going to the dolphin show, titled Flipper, that this was the home of the original Flipper (aka Bebe) and the show was filmed there in the 1960's.
After our trip to the seaquarium, we walked down the key to a restaurant on the marina for lunch. Their fish tacos were fabulous and the local beer on tap was refreshing. We then hopped back on a bus back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and took a cab ride to the airport to board our plane that end our couples' trip. We had a good time, but missed our kiddos immensely. Until the next one ...
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Below are some photos of the kids at Grandma and Papa's while we were away. I am not convinced that anyone missed us while we were gone.
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